7/25/2014
Brooke Tatnell Completes Memorial Win List With Grams Memorial Victory
St. Croix Falls, WI
Coming into the 2nd Annual UMSS Dan Grams Memorial on Friday July 25 at the St. Croix Valley Raceway, Brooke Tatnell had won all of the other UMSS Memorial events at least once including the Davey Tabor Memorial, Billy Anderson Memorial, Earl Kouba Memorial and the Jerry Richert, Sr. Memorial. Tatnell has now completed his resume regarding UMSS Memorial race wins when he led all 25 laps in the 2nd Annual Dan Grams Memorial to record his 29th career UMSS feature win. Driving the Proto Fab Engineering #14 sprinter for the third time this season, Tatnell kept his record perfect in UMSS competition with three wins for the Nelson team to go along with two wins in the Ron Olson sprinter. Tatnell celebrated his $1,300 to win (in memory and honor of Dan Grams #13 car number) in the Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup/Rock Auto Victory Lane at SCVR for the third time this season.
Commenting after the race, the "Hot Rod Aussie" now residing in Forest Lake, stated "When you are leading and not being challenged, you make sure you don't screw up, pay attention to lapped traffic and don't overdrive the car. I was probably running about 80% or so after I got to lapped traffic, but if somebody showed me they wanted the top spot, I was ready to get up on the wheel." The usual double round of qualifiers for the UMSS saw Rick Kobs earn the most points. Kobs drew the six pill for the feature race invert which put Jared Goerges and Tatnell on the front row. If there was any doubt in most race fan's minds prior to who had the best chance to win the feature, starting outside front row for the all-time UMSS career feature winner should have erased any doubt. Twenty five laps later, Tatnell accomplished what he sets out to do every night regardless of where he races, win!
Not surprisingly, Tatnell bolted out to an early lead with Goerges running strong in second. Cam Schafer dropped out early with a power steering failure. With nine laps in the books, the first caution waved when Kevin Nickel slowed dramatically going down the backstretch and was pinned up high by traffic. Nickel eventually drove to the pits under caution. On the restart, Sye Anderson and Gunner Cummings tangled in turn two with both cars spinning sideways. They tagged the tail. That was it for cautions, as the remaining sixteen laps ran nonstop. Goerges' fine run in second came to an end when his car also had a power steering failure causing him to slap the concrete wall and then retire to the infield late in the race. Goerges had actually been closing the gap on the leader prior to his misfortune. Winner of this event last year, Davey Heskin, rode home in second behind Tatnell. For the fourth consecutive race, another impressive run for rookie driver Ryan Bowers saw yet another third place finish. Rick Kobs and Tony Norem rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Jennifer Eriksen, Tatnell and Kobs. Bowers and Schafer topped the Challenge races. Rookie contender Jamey Ogston was done early on in the evening when his sprinter suffered a broken lifter in the motor, causing his #03 team to load up and head for home.
Following the Grams Memorial, the UMSS winged sprints along with the Traditional sprints headed to the Cedar Lake Speedway for the Summer Sprint Special the following night. The UMSS website has plenty of information in a variety of sections. You can check it out at www.umsprints.com or a person can follow the UMSS on our Facebook page.
UMSS Race Results - St. Croix Valley Raceway July 25, 2014 (Race #13)
2nd Annual Dan Grams Memorial
Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Race #1 (6 laps): 10x Jennifer Eriksen, 91 Davey Heskin, 199 Ryan Bowers, 63 Jerry Richert Jr, 37 Sye Anderson, 03 Jamey Ogston DNS.
Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Race #2 (6 laps): 14 Brooke Tatnell, 9 Jared Goerges, 34TW Gunner Cummings, 5C Cam Schafer, 5 Anna Kouba, 91A Reed Allex.
Driverwebsites.com Ultimate Sprint Race #3 (6 laps): 34 Rick Kobs, B1st Tony Norem, 15 Chad Patterson, 10 Kevin Nickel, 74 Bob McVitty.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race #1 (8 laps): Bowers, Kobs, Patterson, Georges, Eriksen, Kouba, Anderson, McVitty, Ogston DNS.
Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race #2 (8 laps): Schafer, Cummings, Heskin, Tatnell, Norem, Richert, Nickel, Allex.
GRP Motorsports 2nd Annual UMSS Dan Grams Memorial Feature (25 laps): Tatnell, Heskin, Bowers, Kobs, Norem, Kouba, Eriksen, Cummings, Anderson, Patterson, Allex, Goerges DNF, McVitty DNF, Richert DNF, Nickel DNF, Schafer DNF, Ogston DNS.
Lap Leaders: Tatnell 1-25.
Cautions: (2)
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
