5/20/2018
Rain Claims Feature, Skylar Gee Awarded UMSS Win at Princeton
The evening started warm, windy and sunny, but a thin line of strong thunderstorms blew up later on and eventually claimed the scheduled 25 lap 16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial feature race at the Princeton Speedway on Friday night May 18. The race was the scheduled opener for the Midwest Power Series presented by GRP Motorsports under the sanctioning of the UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series. Since all heat races, the dash and two feature events for support divisions had been completed, UMSS and track officials decided the fairest way to pay out the UMSS feature was to base it on the dash finish for the top six cars in passing points from the heats and then from seventh on back use the points earned by those cars in the heats. Having won the dash, young Canadian driver Skylar Gee, son of former World of Outlaws racer Tim Gee, was awarded the win and will go in the record books as the winner of the 16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial with a footnote next to his name. Gee and his BDS Motorsports team was paid $1,600 for the feature plus $200 from Al Parker Race Engines of Newton, Iowa for his dash win.
The feature race purse for the fifteen UMSS winged sprints on hand was paid based off the procedure determined and all cars on hand were awarded 150 show points, since rain claimed the feature event. No Rock Auto Victory Lane photo was taken due to the rain, so the event photo shot by Track Rat Photos is of Skylar Gee following his dash victory.
Two 10-lap heats were run with Brooke Tatnell and Ryan Bowers picking up $100 wins from Al Parker Race Engines. Parker is the heat race and dash winner sponsor for all twelve Midwest Power Series races. The track was watered following hot laps for the four divisions on hand, and that caused about a 30-40 minute delay in order to get it back into racing condition. Gee led all the way in the 6-lap dash. With a couple of bikes being given away to two young kids, Gee picked a young girl for the invert redraw, and she pulled the number four pill. The invert would never come into play with rain cancelling the feature.
The next Midwest Power Series race is slated for the Jackson Motorplex on Friday May 25. It will be the first of four at the popular southern Minnesota speedway featuring a very strong purse with $2,500 to win. The UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil winged sprint ventured over to the Cedar Lake Speedway the following night after Princeton. Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports bonus money is in play for the top three finishers at CLS who were at Princeton.
Racers and fans can keep track of all the UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil winged sprint car action on our website at www.umsprints.com or on the UMSS Facebook page. Midwest Power Series keeps fans updated on their Facebook page, as the "series within a series" continues to grow in their efforts to help promote 360 winged sprint car racing in this area. Mark Meeks of Meeks Video will be posting video highlights of each race on both Facebook pages throughout the season. A special thank you goes out to all drivers, crews and fans who came out and supported the first MPS & UMSS race of the season at Princeton Speedway. Mother Nature won this time.
UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Race Results - Princeton Speedway May 18, 2018 (Race #1)
16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial
Midwest Power Equip & GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 2. 2-Derrik Lusk, [3]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf, [2]; 4. 5-Ryan Bowers, [1]; 5. 14-Brooke Tatnell, [5]; 6. 64-Geoff Dodge, [6]; 7. 99S-John Schulz, [7]; 8. 34DD-Bill Balog, [8]; 9. 21-Robbie Price, [9]; 10. 13-Brayden Gaylord, [10]; 11. 1-Dean Brown, [11]; 12. 50-Chase Viebrock, [12]; 13. 03-Jamey Ogston, [13]; 14. 91A-Reed Allex, [14]; 15. 28MM-Mike Mueller, [15].
Feature race was rained out. Payout order determined by how the dash FINISHED for the top six cars. The remaining cars 7-15 were based on passing/finishing points earned in their heat races. ALL 15 cars were awarded 150 show points. Full purse for 15 cars was paid based on the above order. Skylar Gee will go down as the winner of the 16th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial with a footnote indicating feature was rained out.
Al Parker Race Engines Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 2. 2-Derrik Lusk, [5]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf, [2]; 4. 5-Ryan Bowers, [4]; 5. 14-Brooke Tatnell, [3]; 6. 64-Geoff Dodge, [6].
Lap Leader: Gee 1-6. (1) caution on opening lap when Tatnell went over turn 1 berm and slid down. Tatnell restarted tail-end.
Al Parker Race Engines/PIRTEK Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Brooke Tatnell, [1]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf, [2]; 3. 2-Derrik Lusk, [4]; 4. 34DD-Bill Balog, [5]; 5. 99S-John Schulz, [8]; 6. 50-Chase Viebrock, [3]; 7. 03-Jamey Ogston, [6]; 8. (DNF) 28MM-Mike Mueller, [7].
Lap Leader: Tatnell 1-10. No cautions.
Al Parker Race Engines/Rock Auto Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Ryan Bowers, [2]; 2. 64-Geoff Dodge, [1]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [6]; 4. 21-Robbie Price, [3]; 5. 13-Brayden Gaylord, [4]; 6. 1-Dean Brown, [5]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex, [7].
Lap Leaders: Dodge 1-3, Bowers 4-10. No cautions.
Dash Winner photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
