5/23/2014
Richert Races To UMSS Tabor Memorial Win At SCVR
St. Croix Falls, WI
For 2011-2012 UMSS Champion Jerry Richert, Jr. of Forest Lake, his first feature win of the 2014 season came in the third race. Last year, it took Richert until the second to last race of the season to get his lone win of the season. On Friday night May 23 at the St. Croix Valley Raceway, Richert drove to a convincing victory in the 25 lap 3rd Annual Davey Tabor Memorial feature race. Richert started fourth on the seventeen car grid, moved to second on lap five, and one lap later he was in the lead. For all intents and purposes, it was over once the bright orange #63 was up front on this particular night. For Richert, it was his 14th career UMSS feature win, and he joined his brother-in-law (Brooke Tatnell) as a previous winner of this prestigious memorial race. The win paid Richert $1,134, as Margaret Tabor and GRP Motorsports added a combined total in excess of $2,000 into the purse.
On an absolutely beautiful spring day, the double header weekend of racing on the long holiday weekend got underway with seventeen cars in both the winged and non-winged divisions. Following Ultimate Sprint Heat wins for defending Tabor Memorial winner Scotty Thiel, Richert and young Gunner Cummings, driving the Margaret Tabor 34TW sprinter, the Challenge Races saw 2013 UMSS Champion Chris Graf and Cam Schafer victorious. Richert was the high point driver following the usual double round of qualifiers that the UMSS utilizes. Richert drew the #4 pill for the feature race invert. This put Rick Kobs and Carson McCarl on the front row.
Richert, who watched the Traditional sprint feature from atop his trailer in the pits, knew exactly where he wanted to run in the winged sprint feature. Commenting after the race, Richert stated "I watched where the winner (Schafer) of the non-winged feature was running, and after talking with Brooke (Tatnell), I figured the bottom was coming in and that is exactly where I was set up to run. The car ran great all night long. Thanks to my crew and the great sponsors of this race. It was a fun night." Richert also remembered back to his very first sprint car feature win when the track was a half mile and called Centuria Speedway. Over the years, Richert has certainly found success on this piece of western Wisconsin real estate.
Rick Kobs, whose family was instrumental in building this track, led the opening five laps before Richert took command. Prior to the winning pass, the race was under caution twice. Chris Graf spun in turn 4 with one lap scored, and then on lap 4, Scotty Thiel got upside down in turn 4 after jumping the cushion and contacting the concrete wall. The race was halted while the wrecker hooked up Thiel's battered car. Richert was an absolute rocket on the bottom of the track, as the high groove was starting to go away some. Once in the lead, Richert was never seriously challenged. The race was slowed three more times under cautions for some spins, but each time Richert would take control up front on the restart.
A mad scramble in turns 3 & 4 on the final lap provided a very exciting several seconds in the battle for the runner up spot in the feature race. Entering turn 3 behind two lapped cars, Cam Schafer, who was also very fast on the bottom, got slowed up behind the traffic. Carson McCarl went to the outside, and fourth runner Davey Heskin somehow managed to squeeze to the inside in a wild finish exciting turn four. Heskin ended up going from fourth to second, McCarl held on to third, and Schafer slipped back to fourth at the finish. Kobs rounded out the top five. Completing the top ten was Graf, who raced from the tail after his lap one spin, Dave Becker, Gunner Cummings, Jennifer Eriksen and Anna Kouba.
The Memorial weekend of double header UMSS action continued at the Rice Lake Speedway the following night. A separate race report on the action at Rice Lake will follow. With several more drivers still working to get their cars ready, the 2014 UMSS season continues on into the month of June. Be sure and follow the UMSS on their website at www.umsprints.com or "like us" on our Facebook page.
UMSS Race Results - St. Croix valley Raceway May 23, 2014 (Race #3)
3rd Annual Davey Tabor Memorial
Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Race #1 (6 laps): 64 Scotty Thiel, 27 Carson McCarl, 34 Rick Kobs, 5c Cam Schafer, 199 Ryan Bowers, 48 Neal Matuska.
Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Race #2 (6 laps): 63 Jerry Richert Jr, 10x Jennifer Eriksen, 7 Dave Becker, 20G Chris Graf, 91 Reed Allex, 7M Bob McVitty.
Driverwebsites.com Ultimate Sprint Race #3 (6 laps): 34TW Gunner Cummings, 91 Davey Heskin, 15 Chad Patterson, 03 Jamey Ogston, 5 Anna Kouba.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race #1 (9 laps): Graf, Kobs, Thiel, Bowers, Eriksen, Cummings, Kouba, Patterson, McVitty.
Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race #2 (8 laps): Schafer, McCarl, Richert, Becker, Matuska, Ogston, Allex, Heskin DNF.
GRP Motorsports/Tabor Memorial Feature (25 laps): Richert, Heskin, McCarl, Schafer, Kobs, Graf, Becker, Cummings, Eriksen, Kouba, Patterson, Bowers, Allex, McVitty, Ogston DNF, Matuska DNF, Thiel DNF.
Lap Leaders: Kobs 1-5, Richert 6-25
Cautions: (5)
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
