5/23/2018
Jake Kouba With Thrilling Last Lap Pass For Princeton TSCS Win
Sunny skies and windy conditions at the start of the evening gave way to a thin line of thunderstorms later. The POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series was able to complete their 25 lap feature race before the rain came on Friday night May 18 at the Princeton Speedway. Their winged counterparts were not. The Traditional feature was a dandy despite being slowed on six occasions for various incidents, many on the order of cars going over the berm. In the end, Jake Kouba made a thrilling last lap turn two pass of Harry Hanson and parked his non-wing sprint car in Rock Auto Victory Lane for the second time at Princeton. It was Kouba's sixth career Traditional Sprint Car Series victory.
A solid field of (19) UMSS Traditional sprint cars signed into the pits to take part in their portion of the 16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial. Three 10-lap heats were run with veteran late model racer turned sprint car driver Harry Hanson from Eveleth picking up the win the first heat. Defending TSCS Champion Mike Mueller of Andover led all the way in the second heat. 2012 TSCS Rookie of the Year Denny Stordahl of Milltown, WI drove to an impressive win in the third heat. The top six drivers in passing/finishing points redrew for their feature race starting positions. The first three rows would line up as follows: Harry Hanson, Denny Stordahl, Jon Lewerer, Jake Kouba, Mike Mueller and Brad Peterson.
Looking for his first-ever TSCS win in just a couple of starts, Northern Renegade racer Harry Hanson bolted into the lead at the drop of the green. Hanson has just a handful of starts in a non-winged sprint car, but he has decades of experience in the dirt late model division. He looked like a seasoned veteran behind the wheel of a sprint car at Princeton! The race was slowed six times for cautions involving Cody Emmans, Jimmy Kouba, Jeremy Kerzman, Anna Hippe, Gary Mueller and Jon Lewerer. Four of the cautions were for cars going over the berm. Hanson was able to hold off challenges for the lead from several drivers over the course of the race. 2014 TSCS Champion Cam Schafer came from 13th and Kerzman came from 15th to crack the top five in the first half of the race. Schafer briefly held the lead over Hanson in turn two, but Hanson regained it almost as quickly as he lost it on the failed slider by Schafer. Jake Kouba made his presence felt up front as well, but nobody was able to successfully get by Hanson. The final caution blinked on with five laps to go, and the battle up front continued to entertain the large crowd on hand. On the final lap, Jake Kouba made the winning pass in turn two as he ducked under Hanson, made it stick and drove down the back straight with the lead. The move brought the crowd to their feet. Hanson held on for second at the checkers. Peterson, Neal Matuska and Mike Mueller completed the top five. Schafer was in the top three on the final lap but went over the turn 3 berm. He recovered but fell back to 14th.
The POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints were then set to move on to the Cedar Lake Speedway the following night to finish out their double-header weekend. For news and other information, race fans can check out the POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series website at www.umsprints.com by clicking on the blue logo or follow us on Facebook.
TSCS Race Results - Princeton Speedway May 18, 2018 (Race #2)
16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial
POWRi Lucas Oil A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba, [4]; 2. 7-Harry Hanson, [1]; 3. 93-Brad Peterson, [6]; 4. 48-Neal Matuska, [11]; 5. 87-Mike Mueller, [5]; 6. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [15]; 7. 7B-Scott Brandt, [9]; 8. 99-Bryan Roach, [10]; 9. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [14]; 10. 34-Denny Stordahl, [2]; 11. 16-Anna Kouba, [8]; 12. 38S-Allen Stettner, [17]; 13. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [3]; 14. 14-Cam Schafer, [13]; 15. 19B-Jack Berger, [19]; 16. 2J-John Lowe, [18]; 17. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [7]; 18. 33C-Cody Emmans, [12]; 19. 95-Kevin Bradwell, [16]
Lap Leaders: Hanson 1-24, Jake Kouba 25. Despite (6) cautions, it was an outstanding feature race with Jake Kouba pulling off a last lap pass in turn 2 for the win! Several cars came from deep in the field into the top five on more than one occasion.
PIRTEK Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Harry Hanson, [5]; 2. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [1]; 3. 16-Anna Kouba, [4]; 4. 38S-Allen Stettner, [7]; 5. (DNF) 48-Neal Matuska, [6]; 6. (DNF) 12-Johnny Parsons III, [3]; 7. (DNF) 95-Kevin Bradwell, [2]
Lap Leaders: Jimmy Kouba 1-4, Harry Hanson 5-10. (1) red with 3 laps in for Kevin Bradwell flip in turn 3. (1) caution with 6 laps in for Neal Matuska stopped in turn 4 with front end damage.
Rock Auto.com Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [1]; 2. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [4]; 3. 93-Brad Peterson, [5]; 4. 2J-John Lowe, [6]; 5. (DNF) 14-Cam Schafer, [2]; 6. (DNF) 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [3]
Lap Leader: Mueller 1-10. (1) caution with 3 laps scored for Cam Schafer stopped in turn 3 with front-end damage.
Track Rat Photos Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 34-Denny Stordahl, [1]; 2. 6-Jake Kouba, [3]; 3. 7B-Scott Brandt, [2]; 4. 99-Bryan Roach, [4]; 5. 33C-Cody Emmans, [5]; 6. 19B-Jack Berger, [6]
Lap Leader: Stordahl 1-10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
