7/9/2016
Jeremy Kerzman Completes Weekend Sweep at Cedar Lake
On a perfect summer evening for racing, Jeremy Kerzman of Grey Eagle, Minnesota completed a nearly perfect two days of racing for he and his team when he led the final seventeen laps of the UMSS Traditional sprint car feature at the Cedar Lake Speedway on the second night of the big two-day World of Outlaws weekend. The only race Kerzman did not win was his heat race on Friday night. His sweep of both features gave him three wins on the season, all at Cedar Lake, and four in only 20 career starts in the series since jumping into the popular non-winged sprint car division during the latter part of the 2015 racing season. Kerzman parked his brightly colored number 3K sprinter in Rock Auto Victory Lane to conclude a successful weekend. He picked up $500 for his win thanks to some sponsorship help from GRP Motorsports, giving him total earnings for the weekend of $1,600, also a series record.
Another very strong field of (23) Traditional sprint cars signed into the pits for night #2 action at the high-banked dirt oval. Ten lap heat race wins went to Johnny Parsons III, Rick Kobs and Kerzman. Once again Rick Kobs was high in passing and finishing points following the heat races and drew the outside front row starting spot for the 25 lap feature event. Parsons drew the pole. Brian VanMeveren and Kerzman would go from row two. All three heats ran off caution-free with only one car dropping out. All 23 cars would start the feature.
Parsons took the lead at the start of the feature running his usual low lane while Kobs was up in his usual line against the cushion. The race was only three laps old when contact amongst the leaders saw VanMeveren get sideways in the middle of turns 3 & 4. The incident collected a total of seven cars but nobody went over, so the yellow light blinked on. It took several caution laps to get everything sorted out and cars cleared from the scene. Four cars were knocked out of action with some damage, as Jimmy Kouba, Kobs, Mike Mueller and Blake Anderson were unable to continue. Tagging the tail for the restart was VanMeveren, James Giossi and Mike Walters. The race would then run 22 laps nonstop to the checkers!
With Kerzman now in second behind Parsons on the restart, Parsons led the next five circuits before Kerzman drove around him on lap 9. With laps clicking off under green, Kerzman slowly was able to open up a comfortable lead and was never seriously challenged for the top spot the rest of the way. Three-time and defending series champion Rob Caho, Jr. came from his ninth starting spot to finish second. Parsons held on to third. In yet another tremendous run forward from a deep starting spot, Anna Hippe advanced ten positions to finish fourth. Talking about runs forward, Giossi restarted tail-end (19th) following the lap 3 caution and drove back up to fifth at the checkers. Jake Kouba, Scott Brandt, rookie Bryan Roach, Jason Schill and another rookie Hunter Custer completed the top ten. Yet another rookie racer, Ty Sampair, saw his bid for a top five finish end late in the feature when he pulled into the infield with electrical issues on his N1 sprinter. Seventeen of the 23 starters were still running at the end with fifteen cars on the lead lap.
The UMSS Traditional sprint cars venture south on Friday night July 15 for their first-ever appearance at the Chateau Raceway in Lansing, Minnesota (located near Austin). Some added sponsorship from GRP Motorsports and the UMSS will see the feature winner earn $500. There are also several bonus prizes from local area southern Minnesota businesses in effect. The 1/3 mile semi-banked dirt oval should be well-suited for the Traditional sprint cars. Racers and fans can stay updated on the Traditional Sprint Car Series on our website at www.umsprints.com by clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway July 9, 2016 (Race #13)
GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[4]; 2. 78-Rob Caho Jr[9]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[1]; 4. 16-Anna Hippe[14]; 5. 11-James Giossi[7]; 6. 6-Jake Kouba[11]; 7. 7B-Scott Brandt[16]; 8. 99-Bryan Roach[10]; 9. 22-Jason Schill[17]; 10. 29-Hunter Custer[13]; 11. 21J-Jori Hughes[15]; 12. 24-Brian VanMeveren[3]; 13. 27-Mike Walters[19]; 14. 69S-Jon Lewerer[20]; 15. 12W-Kyle Wehking[18]; 16. 34-Denny Stordahl[21]; 17. 90-Tony Klose[22]; 18. (DNF) N1-Ty Sampair[6]; 19. (DNF) 00-Kyle Finnegan[23]; 20. (DNF) 2K-Jimmy Kouba[8]; 21. (DNF) 81-Rick Kobs[2]; 22. (DNF) 87-Mike Mueller[5]; 23. (DNF) 12X-Blake Anderson[12].
Lap Leaders: Parsons 1-8, Kerzman 9-25. Cautions: (1) yellow with 3 laps scored for big mess in turn 3 involving 24,81,2k,11,87,12x & 27. Four cars ended up out of the race.
Meeks Video Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III[2]; 2. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[1]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller[5]; 4. 99-Bryan Roach[6]; 5. 12X-Blake Anderson[7]; 6. 7B-Scott Brandt[3]; 7. 69S-Jon Lewerer[4]; 8. 90-Tony Klose[8].
Lap Leaders: Parsons 1-7, Kouba 8, Parsons 9-10. No cautions.
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Rick Kobs[3]; 2. 11-James Giossi[2]; 3. N1-Ty Sampair[5]; 4. 16-Anna Hippe[4]; 5. 21J-Jori Hughes[6]; 6. 22-Jason Schill[1]; 7. (DNF) 00-Kyle Finnegan[7].
Lap Leader: Giossi 1-6, Kobs 7-10. No cautions.
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[2]; 2. 24-Brian VanMeveren[3]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 5. 29-Hunter Custer[7]; 6. 12W-Kyle Wehking[1]; 7. 27-Mike Walters[6]; 8. 34-Denny Stordahl[8].
Lap Leader: Kerzman 1-10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
