7/31/2015
Caho Increases Win Count To Six With July 31 SCVR Victory
A breezy afternoon turned into a pleasant evening that was perfect for racing and birthday parties at St. Croix Valley Raceway. MarketPlace Foods of St. Croix Falls once again supplied the birthday cake for The Valley’s annual Birthday Bash celebration, while Josh Bazey, Rob Caho, Jeremy Kasik, Tucker Quinn and Damon Roberts all celebrated feature wins. Through eleven events in 2015, Friday’s race program was the only one this summer that did not feature at least one first time winner as all the victors were making return visits to “The Hill”, the drivers’ nickname for St. Croix Valley Raceway’s elevated victory lane.
Everything was turned upside-down for the UMSS Traditional Sprint cars on Friday, including Neil Matuska’s sprinter. The red flag for Matuska’s cart-wheeling #48 represented a rarity for the sprint cars this summer, a complete stop in action. While Matuska’s race ended barely ten laps into the feature, early reports were that the driver’s condition was fine. Other things out of the ordinary were the preferred racing grooves of the drivers. Johnny Parsons III has developed a penchant over the years for “trolling for catfish”, running the bottom most racing groove on the track. The strategy has proven quite successful for the sprinter with Indiana roots, with two wins on the season and second most in TSCS history. Conversely, Rob Caho Jr. can be most often found at sprint venues in the area working the high groove, flirting with the concrete walls, at full throttle and driving like his hair is on fire. But on this freaky Friday, the two winningest drivers in series history were having success in each other’s preferred grooves. Parsons led the first third of the race throttle stomping in the “Caho” line, while Caho was patiently and methodically willing his #78 sprinter towards the front down low. James Giossi took off from the pole to lead lap one before Parsons raced virtually even with Giossi on the second circuit. Parsons claimed the lead outright on lap three with Caho emerging in Parsons’ catfish line under Giossi. By lap six, Caho had muscled past Giossi and stayed low to reel in Parsons. Also in the mix up front were the #2k of the resurgent Jimmy Kouba and “Mr. Everything”, Rick Kobs.
Coming to the stripe on lap nine, Caho shot out of turn four and into the lead. After the Matuska red and a pair of quick cautions, the sprinters resumed their customary multi-groove attack on the clay for the final half of the race with Caho leading. Giossi stuck to his guns on the high side, and with fewer than ten laps remaining, the #11 sprinter was picking up steam. With five laps to go, Giossi was back up to second, having worked around Parsons – and immediately the rookie set sail for Caho, who was still working down low. Caho had built up a sizable lead, and Giossi was clearly reeling in the series’ top dog. Unfortunately for Giossi, Caho’s lead was too large and the laps too few to mount a legitimate challenge as the checkers waved for Caho while Giossi was still three car lengths back. Parsons settled for third in front of a hard charging Kobs and Kouba. In post-race tech, Jimmy Kouba was DQed for an illegal carburetor, so that moved everybody from sixth on back up one spot in the final finishing order.
Race results July 31, 2015 SCVR:
GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[5]; 2. 11-James Giossi[1]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[2]; 4. 81-Rick Kobs[3]; 5. 87-Mike Mueller[6]; 6. 6-Jake Kouba[12]; 7. 14-Cam Schafer[11]; 8. 7B-Scott Brandt[15]; 9. 69S-Jon Lewerer[16]; 10. 50-Chase Viebrock[13]; 11. 95-Kevin Bradwell[17]; 12. 21J-Jori Hughes[20]; 13. 23-Jake Hendrickson[14]; 14. 27-Mike Walters[10]; 15. 5-Mike Haseltine[7]; 16. N1-Ty Sampair[19]; 17. (DNF) 24-Brian VanMeveren[9]; 18. (DNF) 48-Neal Matuska[8]; 19. (DNF) 31-Doug Taubert[18]; 20. (DQ) 2K-Jimmy Kouba[4].
Lap Leaders: Giossi 1-2, Parsons 3-8, Caho 9-25. Cautions: (3)
Meeks Video Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[1]; 2. 5-Mike Haseltine[2]; 3. 81-Rick Kobs[6]; 4. 14-Cam Schafer[3]; 5. 50-Chase Viebrock[5]; 6. 7B-Scott Brandt[7]; 7. 21J-Jori Hughes[4]
Lap Leader: Kouba 1-10. No cautions.
Driverwebsites.com Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III[2]; 2. 48-Neal Matuska[1]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[5]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[3]; 5. 23-Jake Hendrickson[4]; 6. 95-Kevin Bradwell[6]; 7. N1-Ty Sampair[7]
Lap Leader: Parsons 1-10. No cautions.
Track Rat Photos Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 11-James Giossi[3]; 2. 24-Brian VanMeveren[1]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller[5]; 4. 27-Mike Walters[6]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer[2]; 6. 31-Doug Taubert[4]
Lap Leaders: VanMeveren 1-2, Giossi 3-10. No cautions.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Terry Lehnertz
