5/23/2014
Cam Schafer Captures TSCS Portion of Tabor Memorial at SCVR
St. Croix Falls, WI
Cam Schafer upped his St. Croix Valley Raceway winning streak to two when he led the final six circuits on Friday night May 23 during the UMSS Traditional sprint car portion of the Davey Tabor Memorial. Schafer has been particularly good at SCVR dating back to his Open Wheel Nationals win last June. Since that time, all six of Schafer's TSCS career feature wins have come at the 1/4 mile western Wisconsin dirt oval. On this night, Schafer would be the fourth different leader and eventual winner. The win paid Schafer $334 thanks to some sponsorship from GRP Motorsports.
After Brian VanMeveren, Johnny Parsons III and rookie sensation Chase Viebrock won the heat races for the seventeen non-winged sprints on hand, high point driver Katrina Sautbine, making her 2014 season debut, drew the zero pill for a straight up start in the feature based on passing and finishing points from the heats. Chase Viebrock was actually the high point driver, but Chase was in the third and final night of his three race rookie orientation required under UMSS rules, so he was not eligible to draw and start up front. All seventeen cars made the call for the feature.
With Sautbine and Van Meveren on the front row, little did anyone know at the time that both of those cars would be the cause of the two red flags to fly at the midway mark of the race. VanMeveren immediately blasted to the cushion and into the lead at the drop of the green with Sautbine, Parsons and Caho battling for the runner-up spot. Parsons somehow managed to retain control of his car after he was on two wheels in turn four on lap two. As Caho took command of second and began reeling in VanMeveren, ninth starter Cam Schafer was on the move forward running on the bottom. The first of back-to-back red flags flew with ten laps scored when Sautbine and Jake Kouba made contact in turn two. Sautbine's green 13K sprinter flipped high in the air and bounced off the catch fence. Although Katrina appeared to be okay, her battered race car was not as fortunate.
As the race restarted, it was quickly under red flag conditions once again when the leader, Brian VanMeveren, jumped the cushion in turn three, smacked the concrete wall, and took a wild tumble. VanMeveren walked away but his sprinter was badly damaged. At this point, track and series officials decided to cut the distance to 20 laps. The final ten laps ran caution-free. It was during those final ten circuits that the battle up front got very interesting. With Caho now the leader, Parsons was working hard to get under him. On lap 13, Parson led Caho by a thin margin at the line. Caho retook the top spot on the next lap. Suddenly, Cam Schafer was in the mix and went by Parsons. On lap 15, Schafer scooted under Caho for the lead. Schafer went on to lead the final six laps for his second win of the season. Caho finished second. Joseph Kouba got by Parsons off the final corner on the final lap for third. Mike Mueller completed the top five.
With two heavily damaged cars unable to continue during doubleheader weekend action, the Traditional sprints were set for their second-ever appearance at the Rice Lake Speedway the following night. Fans can follow the TSCS non-winged sprint cars by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com or by tuning into our Facebook page.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - St. Croix Valley Raceway May 23, 2014 (Race #3)
3rd Annual Davey Tabor Memorial
Mora Motorworks Heat #1 (10 laps): 24 Brian VanMeveren, 78 Rob Caho Jr, 87 Mike Mueller, 54 Cam Schafer, 55 Joseph Kouba, 5 Mike Haseltine.
Driverwebsites.com Heat #2 (10 laps): 12 Johnny Parsons III, 13k Katrina Sautbine, 7N Brad Nelson, 31 D Taubert, 69s Jon Lewerer, 27 Mike Walters.
Sprintsource.com Heat #3 (10 laps): 50 Chase Viebrock, 14 Tommy Kamrath, 2K Jake Kouba, 34 Denny Stordahl, 2 Tom Porter.
GRP Motorsports A Main (20 laps): Schafer, Caho, Joseph Kouba, Parsons, Mueller, Stordahl, Haseltine, Jake Kouba, Viebrock, Lewerer, Nelson, Walters, Porter, Taubert DNF, VanMeveren DNF, Sautbine DNF, Kamrath DNF.
Lap Leaders: VanMeveren 1-10, Caho 11-12, Parsons 13, Caho 14, Schafer 15-20.
Cautions: (2) reds
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
