9/5/2014
Tatnell Completes Sweep of Kouba Memorial With SCVR Victory
St. Croix Falls, WI
Although he had to wait three weeks to do it, Brooke Tatnell completed a sweep of the 22nd Annual Kouba Memorial when he raced to his 31st career UMSS victory on Friday night September 5 at the St. Croix Valley Raceway in the rain-delayed makeup of the Earl Kouba Memorial portion of this prestigious event. As cloudy skies gave way to a beautiful sunset, there was no chance of rain when a field of 23 UMSS winged sprints signed into the pits at the 1/4 mile dirt oval. Tatnell had won the Ethel Kouba Memorial race back on August 15 at the Princeton Speedway, and he and his Protofab Engineering team were looking for the $2,400 top prize at SCVR. Mission accomplished, as Tatnell took the lead on lap 11 from Cody Hahn and drove the #14 winged sprint to Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup Victory Lane 14 laps later to complete his sweep of the Ethel and Earl Kouba Memorial feature races.
Getting the double round of qualifiers in the books would see Tony Norem, Hahn and 2013 UMSS Champion Chris Graf win the heat races. Challenge races were won by 2009 UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas, and with his second challenge race win of the season, 2011 Co-Rookie of the Year Chad Patterson. Not surprisingly, Tatnell was high point driver after the two rounds and drew the "7" pill for the feature race invert. This put Hahn and Norem on the front row for the 25 lap Earl Kouba Memorial feature. In Challenge race action, Cam Schafer blew a hole in his engine and was done for the night while Rick Kobs flipped in turn one causing enough damage to his #34 Olson sprinter to be a scratch for the feature.
Norem grabbed the early lead at the drop of the green, but the feature race was under caution with three laps in when Norem spun in turn one after an apparent mechanical failure on the front end of his B1st sprinter. Hahn inherited the lead on the restart. Following a caution one lap later for a Tony Kaus spin in turn 3, Hahn continued to hold the top spot when the green flag replaced the yellow. Tatnell was on the move to the front when the red light blinked on for third place runner Brandon Halverson. Halverson jumped the cushion and got upside down after contact with the concrete wall in turn two. Halverson was okay, but his damaged car was towed to the infield. A few laps later, Tatnell worked his way past Hahn for the lead.
The final caution flew with 18 laps recorded when Hahn and Jamey Ogston made contact on the front stretch. Both cars ended up out of the race sitting over in turn two in need of wrecker assistance. The remaining 7 laps clicked off under green with 11th starter Ryan Bowers moving past Richert and Graf. Bowers was closing in on Tatnell but ran out of laps to contend for the win. On the final lap coming out of turn four, Richert snuck by Graf for third at the line. Carson McCarl came from 18th to finish fifth. Thomas finished sixth while Kevin Bradwell with his non-winged motor (with a four barrel carb) in his car rode home with an impressive seventh place finish. Jared Goerges, Jeff Pellersels and Patterson completed the top ten. On the final lap, Dean Brown's #85 sprinter went up in flames in turn 3 following an engine explosion. Brown was okay and was credited with an 11th place finish.
The final night of UMSS competition for the 2014 racing season now comes down to the 14th Annual Jerry Richert, Sr. Memorial at the Cedar Lake Speedway on September 6. Can Ryan Bowers catch Jerry Richert, Jr. in the point standings or will Richert emerge from the final night with his third championship title?
UMSS Race Results - St. Croix Valley Raceway September 5, 2014 (Race #20)
22nd Annual Earl Kouba Memorial (makeup from August 16 rain out)
Gillund Enterprises/JB Distributing Heat #1 (8 laps): B1st Tony Norem, 63 Jerry Richert Jr, 5C Cam Schafer, 28 Jeff Pellersels, 15 Chad Patterson, 29 Leigh Thomas, 7M Bob McVitty, 74 Roger McVitty DNF.
Frattalone Companies Heat #2 (8 laps): 23 Cody Hahn, 9 Jared Goerges, 34 Rick Kobs, 03 Jamey Ogston, 5 Anna Kouba, 91A Reed Allex, 95 Kevin Bradwell, 85 Dean Brown.
Ogston Auto Body & Paint Heat #3 (7 laps): 20G Chris Graf, 14 Brooke Tatnell, 32 Brando Halverson, 199 Ryan Bowers, 52 Jake Lempelius, 3TK Tony Kaus DNF, 27 Carson McCarl DNF.
D&D Motorsports Challenge Race #1 (11 laps): Patterson, Halverson, Goerges, Ogston, Graf, Norem, Brown, Allex, B. McVitty, Lempelius, Schafer DNF, McCarl DNS.
JKD Communications Challenge Race #2 (11 laps): Thomas, Tatnell, Bowers, Richert, Pellersels, Hahn, Kouba, Bradwell, Kaus, R. McVitty, Kobs DNF.
GRP Motorsports Earl Kouba Memorial Feature (25 laps): Tatnell, Bowers, Richert, Graf, McCarl, Thomas, Bradwell, Goerges, Pellersels, Patterson, Brown, Allex, Lempelius, B. McVitty DNF, Hahn DNF, Ogston DNF, R. McVitty DNF, Kaus DNF, Halverson DNF, Norem DNF, Kouba DNF, Schafer DNS, Kobs DNS.
Lap Leaders: Norem 1-3, Hahn 4-10, Tatnell 11-25.
Cautions: (4)
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
