5/21/2016
Kobs Scores Four at CLS on Big Night for Viebrock Family
On an absolutely fantastic spring evening for the Chase Viebrock Benefit Night at the Cedar Lake Speedway, veteran Deer Park racer Rick Kobs continued to his own "benefit" with his fourth UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series victory in five nights at the western Wisconsin dirt oval and his fifth over all win in eight races for the popular wingless series this season. Another driver with tons of laps of racing experience, Jimmy Kouba of Byron, Minnesota, made it close on the final lap with the margin of victory less than a car length at the checkers. For Kobs and his Dan Olson owned team, parking his #81 Traditional sprinter in Rock Auto Victory Lane at the end of the night has become commonplace during the early part of this racing season. Kobs stated after the races, "I heard Jimmy behind me during those last few laps, so I knew I needed to be up on the wheel." The Traditional sprints venture out to a variety of different tracks over the course of the next month, so Kobs will have to wait until July 2 in order to see if he can continue his winning ways at Cedar Lake.
Fans and drivers did a tremendous job and their generosity poured out for the young New Richmond driver, Chase Viebrock, who was injured in a series of flips the previous Saturday at CLS. Chase was on hand during the evening, attending the Traditional sprint car driver's meeting ahead of time and then spending a good share of the night on the west side of the track. Marty Gallagher conducted a very nice interview with Chase during the intermission, as funds were raised from a variety of sources. All of the Traditional sprint car drivers went into the stands with their helmets during the intermission to collect money for the Viebrock family in order to help with some of the medical costs associated with his road to recovery. A raffle was also held during the evening for some very nice donated posters, photos and t-shirts along with the sale of "Get Well Soon" decals. In all, several thousand dollars was raised and the Viebrock family wishes to extend their sincere thank you to everyone who donated, helped during the evening, and to all of those who were on hand to be a part of this very special night at their home track. The support was tremendous!
A strong field of (20) Traditional sprint cars signed into the pits. Three heat races with passing and finishing points determined the starting lineup for the 25 lap main event. Heat races were won by James Giossi, Blake Anderson and 2014 TSCS Champion Cam Schafer. The all-important top four in points following the heats saw Schafer draw the pole position with Anderson to his outside. Kobs and Johnny Parsons III made up row two. Parsons was returning to action for the first time since his opening night flip in his familiar blue #12 sprinter.
At the drop of the green flag for the feature, Blake Anderson jumped up on the cushion with Schafer on the bottom. Entering turn three, Kobs slid up alongside Anderson, and although there did not appear to be any contact, Anderson's car spun around and bounced off the turn four wall. A dejected Anderson saw his car hauled off on the wrecker and the race restarted with the outside row sliding up. Schafer led the first three circuits before Jimmy Kouba took his turn up front. Kouba led the next four laps. On lap 8, Kobs worked by Kouba for the top spot. On the following lap entering turn one, rookie driver Ty Sampair and Parsons made contact with Sampair getting upside down. Sampair was okay, but his Liquid Nitro #N1 sprinter was out of action. Parsons' crew made repairs to the front end of his car in the work area under the red flag and he returned to the race at the tail end for the restart. The race would then run 17 laps nonstop to the finish.
During the green flag run to the checkers, Kobs would sometimes stretch his lead to several car lengths or more over Jimmy Kouba, and Kouba would on occasion narrow the gap down to just a few car lengths. Late in the race, the leaders began lapping a few cars near the tail of the field. On the final lap, Kouba really closed in on Kobs over in turns 1-2, slipped back just slightly down the back stretch, and then made a serious bid for the win on the final corner coming off turn four to Jeff Stacken's double checkers. At the line, the margin of victory was just slightly over 1/10 of a second (less than one car length) in what turned out to be an exciting finish. Giossi was strong in third just behind the lead duo. Jimmy Kouba's son Jake came from 10th to finish fourth. Schafer rounded out the top five. Mike Mueller advanced nine positions to ride home in sixth, but once again it was Anna Hippe winning the $100 GRP Motorsports Hard Charger Award with a +10 performance, coming from 17th to seventh! Scott Brandt, Jason Schill and Jeremy Kerzman completed the top ten. Sixteen of the twenty starters were still running at the finish.
James Giossi won the $100 GRP Motorsports Highest Finishing Past Champion/Rookie Award with his third place finish. Cam Schafer picked up the special $50 Viebrock Award from GRP for his fifth place finish. During the driver's meeting, GRP presented an honorary combined Hard Charger and Highest Finisher Award ($50 each) to Chase Viebrock. Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos produced two great-looking posters replicating the driver hand-out card he did for Chase earlier this season for the raffle drawing. Bill Taylor Photography contributed two awesome 8x10 photos for the raffle, and the UMSS donated two t-shirts signed by all of the drivers on hand, including Chase Viebrock, for the drawing as well. Jake Alton made up the decals, as sales were strong for the "Get Well Soon" stickers. Indeed, it was a great night at CLS as the racing community came together to show their support for Chase and his family. In fact, Chase stated he was already looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a "winged" sprint car next season.
A big weekend of racing action is on tap to kick off the long Memorial Day Holiday weekend with stops on Friday May 27 at the Red Cedar Speedway and Saturday May 28 at the Rice Lake Speedway. Both the UMSS Traditional sprints and winged sprint cars will be in action next weekend at both tracks! At Red Cedar on Friday, it will be the second appearance for the Traditional sprint cars and the inaugural appearance for the winged sprints at the 1/3 mile oval located in Menomonie. The following night will be the annual double division race held at the Rice Lake Speedway on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend with another benefit planned to take place at Rice Lake for Chase Viebrock. 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.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway May 21, 2016 (Race #8)
GRP Motorsports A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 81-Rick Kobs[3]; 2. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[6]; 3. 11-James Giossi[7]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[10]; 5. 14-Cam Schafer[1]; 6. 87-Mike Mueller[15]; 7. 16-Anna Hippe[17]; 8. 7B-Scott Brandt[11]; 9. 22-Jason Schill[9]; 10. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[8]; 11. 69S-Jon Lewerer[14]; 12. 12W-Kyle Wehking[13]; 13. 99-Bryan Roach[12]; 14. 12-Johnny Parsons III[4]; 15. 21J-Jori Hughes[16]; 16. 29-Hunter Custer[19]; 17. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose[20]; 18. (DNF) 24-Brian VanMeveren[18]; 19. (DNF) N1-Ty Sampair[5]; 20. (DNF) 12X-Blake Anderson[2].
Lap Leaders: Schafer 1-3, Jimmy Kouba 4-7, Kobs 8-25. Cautions: (1) yellow for 12x into turn 4 wall on opening lap & (1) red for N1 rollover in turn 1 after contact with 12 on lap 9. GRP Motorsports $100 Hard Charger=Hippe, GRP Motorsports Highest Finishing Past Champ/Rookie=Giossi & GRP Motorsports Special $50 for 5th Viebrock Award=Schafer.
Track Rat Photos Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11-James Giossi[1]; 2. 81-Rick Kobs[4]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[3]; 4. 99-Bryan Roach[2]; 5. 12W-Kyle Wehking[5]; (DNS) 90-Tony Klose.
Lap Leader: Giossi 1-10. No cautions.
Meeks Video Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 12X-Blake Anderson[2]; 2. 12-Johnny Parsons III[4]; 3. 7B-Scott Brandt[1]; 4. 22-Jason Schill[6]; 5. 87-Mike Mueller[3]; 6. 21J-Jori Hughes[5]; 7. (DNF) 24-Brian VanMeveren[7.
Lap Leader: Anderson 1-10. No cautions.
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Cam Schafer[2]; 2. N1-Ty Sampair[4]; 3. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[6]; 4. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[7]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer[5]; 6. 16-Anna Hippe[3]; 7. 29-Hunter Custer[1].
Lap Leader: Schafer 1-10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
