4/30/2016
It's Jimmy Kouba Up Top At Cedar Lake In Traditional Sprints
Different track, similar results to complete the double header weekend in late April. There is no substitute for experience, and Jimmy Kouba of Byron, Minnesota likely has more laps in a sprint car than all of the rest of the field combined. Granted a vast majority of those are in a winged sprint, but on a cold, windy spring evening at the Cedar Lake Speedway the veteran racer picked up his second career Traditional sprint car victory at the western Wisconsin dirt track and fifth over all in this popular series. Kouba started the 25 lap feature outside front row next to his son Jake. At the drop of the green, he planted his familiar number 2K sprinter up top and went to work. Following an early caution with one lap in the books, the race ran 24 laps nonstop to the checkers and in the end another very experienced racer, Jimmy Kouba, pulled into Rock Auto Victory Lane to celebrate his first win of the season. Also of interest, Jimmy Kouba was the 1997 Cedar Lake Speedway track champion in the winged sprint division.
With (19) Traditional sprint cars on hand, three heat races saw Jake Kouba, Jason Schill and Brian VanMeveren run up front. Schill, who has raced super stocks, modifieds and late models over the years at CLS, was making his fourth start ever in a sprint car and hadn't sat in one for a few years. Schill was subbing for Jeff Pellersels and ran strong to hold off Mike Mueller for his first-ever heat race win in this division. His pole-to-checkers triumph wasn't quite enough though, as he ended up fifth in passing and finishing points to just miss the top four redraw. The redraw saw the son and father combo of Jake and Jimmy Kouba in row one with young James Giossi and VanMeveren in row two for the feature. All three 10 lap heat races ran caution-free.
On the initial start attempt to get the feature race underway, 2014 champion Cam Schafer, who was making his season debut in the Tommy Kamrath sprinter, was called for jumping the start and put back two rows. The next attempt was good and the race went green. Only one lap was in the books when rookie driver Bryan Roach spun sideways in turn two. There would be no more cautions after that for a long green flag sprint to flagman Jeff Stacken's checkers. Jimmy Kouba jumped up top on both ends of the track and drove into the lead, a lead he would not relinquish. However, in the closing laps as the leaders approached traffic, James Giossi closed in on Kouba to make it close in the end. A winded Jimmy Kouba stated to several fellow competitors after the race that he was about "ready to fall out of the seat" after working hard on the 3/8 mile high-banked dirt oval. Giossi, who also won last July at CLS on the big WoO weekend along with Jimmy Kouba, came up a few car lengths short at the finish. Mike Mueller was strong in third ahead of Jake Kouba and three-time series champion Rob Caho, Jr. to complete the top five. Sixteen of the eighteen starters finished with only one car lapped in what truly is a very competitive division. Last week's feature winner Jeremy Kerzman along with Scott Brandt advanced the most positions in the main event (6).
The UMSS Traditional sprints will take the Mothers Day weekend off and return to action at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday night May 14. One of the largest crowds of the season is typically on hand for the extremely popular School Bus Night, as the Traditional sprints will have the opportunity to put on another entertaining race in front of a big crowd that night. GRP Motorsports will be adding some money to the purse for this show. Check out the schedule, results, points and other news for the Traditional Sprint Car Series on our website at www.umsprints.com by clicking on the blue logo or follow us on Facebook. See you on May 14 at Cedar Lake, as a few more Traditional sprints should be ready to make their season debut.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway April 30, 2016 (Race #5)
Rock Auto A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[2]; 2. 11-James Giossi[3]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller[6]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 5. 78-Rob Caho Jr[7]; 6. 81-Rick Kobs[9]; 7. 24-Brian VanMeveren[4]; 8. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[14]; 9. 69S-Jon Lewerer[12]; 10. 7B-Scott Brandt[16]; 11. 22-Jason Schill[5]; 12. 95-Kevin Bradwell[15]; 13. N1-Ty Sampair[11]; 14. 14-Cam Schafer[10]; 15. 99-Bryan Roach[17]; 16. 29-Hunter Custer[8]; 17. (DNF) 16-Anna Hippe[13]; 18. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose[18]; DNS 12W-Kyle Wehking
Lap Leader: Jimmy Kouba 1-25. Cautions: (1) for 99 spin turn 2 with 1 lap scored, race then ran 24 laps nonstop! Initial start called back when 14 jumped and was penalized two rows.
GRP Motorsports Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 2. 11-James Giossi[5]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 69S-Jon Lewerer[2]; 5. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[3]; 6. 7B-Scott Brandt[6]; 7. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose[7]
Lap Leaders: Lewerer 1-3, Jake Kouba 4-10. No cautions.
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 22-Jason Schill[1]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[2]; 3. 29-Hunter Custer[4]; 4. 81-Rick Kobs[5]; 5. 95-Kevin Bradwell[3]; 6. 99-Bryan Roach[6]
Lap Leader: Schill 1-10. No cautions.
Meeks Video Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Brian VanMeveren[2]; 2. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[5]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer[1]; 4. N1-Ty Sampair[3]; 5. 16-Anna Hippe[4]; 6. (DNF) 12W-Kyle Wehking[6]
Lap Leader: VanMeveren 1-10. No cautions. 12W broke torque tube, done for the night.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
