5/23/2015
Joseph Kouba Doubles Up At Rice Lake
Last year Joseph Kouba of North Branch, MN drove to an impressive victory at the Rice Lake Speedway on the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Once is good but twice is better, as Kouba captured an exciting win in the UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series (TSCS) feature on Saturday night May 23. Although Kouba led all 25 laps, by no means did he have an easy go of it. A pack of four cars battled for positions throughout the nonstop 25 lap feature right behind Kouba. That group reeled him in with less than 10 laps remaining. Kouba, running his patented bottom lane, suddenly saw 2011 TSCS Champion Kevin Bradwell to his outside. Bradwell, running up on the cushion, pulled alongside on a couple of occasions but was not able to make the winning pass. Kouba held off all challengers to pick up his third career TSCS feature victory, as he was all smiles in the UMSS RockAuto.com Victory Lane following what turned out to be a very entertaining race for this competitive group of non-winged sprint cars.
Following heat race wins by Neal Matuska and Joseph Kouba, the top four drivers in passing and finishing points redrew for the top four starting spots. Both heat race winners drew the front row with Kouba on the pole position. Kouba quickly took off in the bottom lane while the battle raged behind him with cars running both high and low. Near the halfway mark, Kouba had opened up a decent lead. That lead soon evaporated with a pack of four cars closing in quickly. The "wake up call" came from inaugural series champion Kevin Bradwell of Luck, WI. Bradwell pulled alongside Kouba while under pressure himself from two-time series champion Rob Caho, Jr. of Wyoming, MN. Also in the mix were Mike Mueller and Jimmy Kouba. Bradwell was never quite able to gain the lead and had to settle for a runner-up finish behind Joseph Kouba. Caho, Mueller and Jimmy Kouba rounded out the top five.
For the second consecutive night, the Traditional sprints ran their feature race with no cautions and all starters were still running at the end on the lead lap! Racing action continues for the TSCS sprints on Friday night May 29 and June 5 at their home track, St. Croix Valley Raceway. Then it's a big triple header weekend when they race at SCVR, Hibbing and Proctor on June 12-14. Come on out and watch this very competitive group of wingless warriors, as they generally put on an entertaining show for the fans.
TSCS Race Results, Rice Lake Speedway, May 23, 2015 (Race #3):
GRP Motorsports A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 55-Joseph Kouba[1]; 2. 95-Kevin Bradwell[3]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 87-Mike Mueller[6]; 5. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[5]; 6. 27-Mike Walters[7]; 7. 6-Jake Kouba[11]; 8. 48-Neal Matuska[2]; 9. 21J-Jori Hughes[9]; 10. 7B-Scott Brandt[10]; 11. 11-James Giossi[12]; 12. 69S-Jon Lewerer[8]
Lap Leader: Joseph Kouba 1-25. No cautions. Outstanding feature race!
Meeks Video Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Neal Matuska[1]; 2. 78-Rob Caho Jr[3]; 3. 95-Kevin Bradwell[5]; 4. 27-Mike Walters[6]; 5. 21J-Jori Hughes[4]; 6. (DNF) 6-Jake Kouba[2]
No cautions.
Mora Motorworks Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 55-Joseph Kouba[1]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[2]; 3. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[5]; 4. 69S-Jon Lewerer[3]; 5. 11-James Giossi[6]; 6. 7B-Scott Brandt[4]
No cautions.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
