5/26/2017
Chris Graf Goes To Victory Lane at Red Cedar Speedway
With rain staying to the north, a warm, pleasant spring evening was in store for the first-ever appearance of the Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series (UMSS) winged division at the Red Cedar Speedway to kick off the long Memorial Day Weekend. Although he came up a few feet short in the season opener back in April, Glencoe, Minnesota's Chris Graf left no doubt during the third UMSS race of the season who would park in Rock Auto Victory Lane on this night. The 2013 UMSS champion dominated the 20 lap feature and picked up $1,000 in the process. Thanks to some sponsorship help from Midwest Power Equipment and GRP Motorsports, the top three finishers in the feature earned some extra bonus money.
Several factors contributed to a rather thin field of cars in the winged sprint division. Cam Schafer and Graf topped the heats. Instead of challenge races, the UMSS ran a King of the Hill challenge to determine how the first two rows would line up for the feature event. The third and fourth place drivers in passing and finishing points in the heats ran a two lap race against each other. Jared Goerges defeated Kevin Bradwell to advance to the next round where he went against the second driver in points, Chris Graf. Goerges defeated Graf. High point driver Cam Schafer, after getting called for a jump on the first start, defeated Goerges in the final round. So it would be Schafer and Goerges on the front row with Graf and Bradwell rolling off from row two. When asked afterwards, each of the four drivers enjoyed the change of pace and agreed the King of the Hill race would be fun every now and then when the field is a bit short and challenge races are not feasible.
Schafer bolted into the lead at the drop of the green flag in the 20 lap main event, but after just one lap up front his car rolled to a stop on the back stretch with an engine failure. A quick caution on the restart for debris on the front straight, and it was all Graf after that. One more caution slowed the pace a few laps later for a spin, and the race then ran sixteen laps nonstop to the checkers. Goerges turned in a fine run for second, after he and Bradwell swapped the spot on several occasions for several laps. Bradwell earned his top winged sprint finish in Jim Smith's car in third. Reed Allex and Jeff Pellersels completed the top five. Tony Norem's car broke a rear end in hot laps and was done for the evening.
The UMSS winged sprints then headed to the Rice Lake Speedway for the second of a planned three-race Memorial Day Weekend tour through western Wisconsin. Graf also set himself up to be in line for the $1,000 GRP Motorsports Clean Sweep Bonus should he happen to win the next two races. Keep tabs on all of the UMSS winged sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the red logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS Race Results - Red Cedar Speedway May 26, 2017 (Race #3)
Midwest Power Equip/GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 20G-Chris Graf[3]; 2. 9-Jared Goerges[2]; 3. 77-Kevin Bradwell[4]; 4. 91A-Reed Allex[6]; 5. 22-Jeff Pellersels[5]; 6. 7M-Bob McVitty[7]; 7. (DNF) 87-Mike Mueller[8]; 8. (DNF) 5C-Cam Schafer[1]; (DNS) 1-Tony Norem
Lap Leaders Schafer 1, Graf 2-20. Cautions: (3) Yellow with one lap scored for 5c stopped on backstretch (blown motor). Yellow for debris on front stretch on restart. Yellow with 4 laps scored for 22 spin turn 2.
GRP Motorsports Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 5C-Cam Schafer[4]; 2. 77-Kevin Bradwell[2]; 3. 91A-Reed Allex[1]; 4. 7M-Bob McVitty[3]; (DNS) 87-Mike Mueller
Lap Leader: Schafer 1-6. No cautions.
GRP Motorsports Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 20G-Chris Graf[2]; 2. 9-Jared Goerges[4]; 3. 22-Jeff Pellersels[3]; (DNS) 1-Tony Norem
Lap Leader: Graf 1-6. No cautions.
King of the Hill Challenge (6 Laps): 1. 5C-Cam Schafer[1]; 2. 9-Jared Goerges[3]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf[2]; 4. 77-Kevin Bradwell[4]
Series of three match races for King of the Hill Challenge. Goerges defeated Bradwell in first match, Goerges then defeated Graf in second match, and Schafer defeated Goerges in the third match.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
