9/11/2015
Caho With Championship Run At Earl Kouba Memorial
Earning his third UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series championship in five years, Rob Caho, Jr. of Wyoming, Minnesota put an exclamation mark on his 2015 season by winning the Traditional sprint car portion of the 23rd Annual Earl Kouba Memorial at the St. Croix Valley Raceway on the final weekend of the season. Caho took the lead on lap 12 of the 25 lap feature from his good friend and fellow non-winged racer Jon Lewerer following an exciting battle for the lead. Caho went on to lead the remainder of the race en route to his seventh win of the season and 27th career TSCS victory. Caho celebrated his win with his crew in Rock Auto Victory Lane and also posed for series championship photos.
What a difference one week made, as the previous Friday night for the Bullring Blast the weather was near ninety degrees. For the Kouba Memorial, the temperature never got past the mid-sixties and dropped like a rock when the sun set for what would be a chilly evening at the 1/4 mile western Wisconsin dirt oval. With the UMSS winged sprints slated to run a 55 lap feature, the Traditional sprints utilized the usual winged sprint qualifying format with three heat races and two Challenge races for the 23 cars on hand. Heat wins went to Johnny Parsons III, Brian VanMeveren and Lewerer. The Challenge races were won by 2015 TSCS Rookie of the Year James Giossi and Jimmy Kouba. Caho earned the most passing and finishing points in the double round of qualifiers, and he drew the pole position with Lewerer to his outside. Jake and Jimmy Kouba occupied the second row for the 25 lap feature.
With Caho on the pole, everybody kind of expected he would bolt into the early lead. However, it was Lewerer up on the cushion who grabbed the top spot. Caho put heavy pressure on Lewerer for several laps until the first caution waved with six laps scored when Giossi did a 360 spin in turn one and collected Chase Viebrock. Both drivers were out of action. On the restart, Jake and Jimmy Kouba had contact in turn three which resulted in Jimmy's car rolling over. As cars were slowing down, Josh Hendrickson hopped over the right rear tire of Joseph Kouba's car and did a slow rollover as well. The race was under the red flag with three cars unable to continue.
When the race returned to green again, Caho challenged Lewerer for the top spot as the lead duo often times crossed the start-finish line less than a car length apart. On lap 12, Caho made a bold move past Lewerer to take over the lead. As the remaining laps clicked off under the green, Caho edged away some from the field. Scott Brandt turned in his best finish in a Traditional sprint when he got by Lewerer on lap 18 for second. Three laps later, Parsons edged by Lewerer for third. Lewerer held on to finish fourth. Cam Schafer earned the Kouba family Hard Charger Award, as he advanced nine positions to finish fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Jake Kouba, Blake Anderson, VanMeveren, Mike Walters and Mike Mueller. Caho earned $550 for his win thanks to some sponsorship from Midwest Power Equipment.
The Traditional sprints then headed to the Cedar Lake Speedway the following night for their season finale at the Richert Memorial. With Caho locked into his third championship and Giossi the top rookie, the only remaining battle to be determined will be for fourth and fifth in the final point standings between Viebrock and Jake Kouba.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - St. Croix Valley Raceway September 11, 2015 (Race #23)
23rd Annual Earl Kouba Memorial
Midwest Power Equip & GRP Motorsports 23rd Annual Earl Kouba Memorial Feature (25 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[1]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[6]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[9]; 4. 69S-Jon Lewerer[2]; 5. 14-Cam Schafer[14]; 6. 6-Jake Kouba[3]; 7. KA1-Blake Anderson[11]; 8. 24-Brian VanMeveren[13]; 9. 27-Mike Walters[10]; 10. 87-Mike Mueller[12]; 11. 21J-Jori Hughes[19]; 12. 95-Kevin Bradwell[16]; 13. 73-Sid Denzer[17]; 14. 13K-Katrina Sautbine[20]; 15. 90-Tony Klose[21]; 16. (DNF) 31-Doug Taubert[23]; 17. (DNF) 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[8]; 18. (DNF) 55-Joseph Kouba[18]; 19. (DNF) 23-Josh Hendrickson[15]; 20. (DNF) 2K-Jimmy Kouba[4]; 21. (DNF) 50-Chase Viebrock[7]; 22. (DNF) 11-James Giossi[5]; 23. (DNF) 81-Rick Kobs[22]
Lap Leaders: Lewerer 1-11, Caho 12-25. Cautions: (2) first yellow for 11 360 spin turn 1, collected 50 on lap 6 (both cars out), second for red flag on restart after contact between 6 & 2k resulted in 2k turning over in turn 3. 23 also turned over in turn 4 after hopping wheel of 55.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race 1 (11 Laps): 1. 11-James Giossi[2]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock[4]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer[1]; 4. 7B-Scott Brandt[6]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer[8]; 6. KA1-Blake Anderson[3]; 7. 87-Mike Mueller[7]; 8. 95-Kevin Bradwell[10]; 9. 73-Sid Denzer[5]; 10. 21J-Jori Hughes[11]; 11. 13K-Katrina Sautbine[9]
Lap Leader: Giossi 1-11. No cautions.
Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race 2 (11 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[3]; 2. 78-Rob Caho Jr[6]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 4. 27-Mike Walters[4]; 5. 23-Josh Hendrickson[2]; 6. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[7]; 7. 12-Johnny Parsons III[9]; 8. 24-Brian VanMeveren[8]; 9. 55-Joseph Kouba[1]; 10. 31-Doug Taubert[10]; 11. 90-Tony Klose[11]; DNS 81-Rick Kobs
Lap Leaders: Joseph Kouba 1-3, Hendrickson 4-5, Jimmy Kouba 6-11. Cautions: (1) for 12 sideways in turn 1 lap 9 while running second.
Meeks Video Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III[1]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[2]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 50-Chase Viebrock[3]; 5. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[6]; 6. 14-Cam Schafer[5]; 7. 95-Kevin Bradwell[8]; 8. 21J-Jori Hughes[7]
Lap Leader: Parsons 1-8. Cautions: (1) for 14 spin turn 3 lap 7.
Driverwebsites.com Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Brian VanMeveren[1]; 2. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[4]; 3. 73-Sid Denzer[2]; 4. 27-Mike Walters[5]; 5. 11-James Giossi[7]; 6. 55-Joseph Kouba[3]; 7. 31-Doug Taubert[6]; 8. 90-Tony Klose[8]
Lap Leader: VanMeveren 1-8. No cautions.
Sprintsource.com Heat 3 (7 Laps): 1. 69S-Jon Lewerer[2]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[3]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 4. KA1-Blake Anderson[7]; 5. 23-Josh Hendrickson[4]; 6. 13K-Katrina Sautbine[1]; 7. (DNF) 81-Rick Kobs[6]
Lap Leader: Lewerer 1-7. Cautions; (1) on opening lap turn 1 contact between 13k & 81, 81 out of race.
Victory Lane Photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
