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Parsons Over Caho in Great Battle

The following excerpt was taken from the official race report for SCVR by Terry Lehnertz.

In 1971, after watching the #1 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers beat the #2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in a college football game, sports writer Dave Kindred wrote, “They can quit playing now, they have played the perfect game.” Fans in attendance at St. Croix Valley Raceway’s “Thunder in the Valley” special on Friday might think the same thing after witnessing two Traditional Sprintcar heavyweights duel for The Valley’s double checkers. Did Rob Caho Jr. and Johnny Parsons III run the perfect race? The weather was certainly perfect for it, with moderate temperatures and low humidity leading to ideal racing conditions through the evening.

For the second consecutive week, broad smiles were the order of the night for fans at The Valley. In the fourth of six features run on the evening, the Sterling Bank UMSS Traditional Sprints brought their ten car field to Rick Kobs’ green flag. The first of the feature’s twenty laps was led by pole starter Denny Stordahl, followed by Rob Caho Jr., Johnny Parsons III, outside pole starter Jack Clark and Kevin Bradwell. On lap two, Caho took over at the front, and a lap later, Parsons worked around Stordahl into second. From there, the duel was on. Caho settled into his comfort zone, running high off the cushion at full throttle. Parsons, essentially even with Caho, finessed a low-middle groove, smoothing his way through the turns. After Caho led for two laps, Parson led for two laps, before yielding again to Caho. For the entire twenty lap distance, that was the routine – Caho would lead, then Parsons, usually changing multiple times per lap. Through traffic, through the race’s lone caution, nothing would disturb the lead duo in their epic battle for the win. Further back, Bradwell worked his way past Clark and Stordahl to crack the top three, for his efforts, he got the best seat in the house to possibly the best race of the season. All eyes tracked the high-low contest between Caho and Parsons. At the midway point, it was Caho’s turn to lead and he looked as though he might make it three wins in a row, but with just four to go, Parsons found just enough extra speed to will his #12 sprinter back to the point. At the final checkers, Parson held one of the largest leads of the race, which was still less than the length of his car. The win marked the sixth of the summer for Parsons, a series high, while Caho finished an eye-lash later in second in front of Bradwell, Stordahl and Clark.

RACE SUMMARY:
UMSS Traditional Sprints – feature: Johnny Parsons III, Rob Caho Jr., Kevin Bradwell, Denny Stordahl, Jack Clark, Lucas Milz, Jeff Pellersels, Mike Huesmann, Adam Taubert, Tom Porter.

Photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.

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