4/16/2016
Kobs Completes Opening Weekend Sweep In Traditional Sprints At CLS
In what will go down in the record books as one of the more exciting and entertaining UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series feature races seen since the inception of the series back in 2011, the 25 lap nonstop feature on Saturday night April 16 saw four lead changes amongst three drivers with plenty of drama playing out in the closing laps. Rick Kobs from Deer Park completed his weekend sweep in dramatic fashion at the legendary Cedar Lake Speedway before a good-sized crowd on a pleasant spring evening. For Kobs, it was his fourth career win in the Traditional sprints and his back-to-back wins on opening weekend at Cedar Lake gave him a confirmed eight different divisions that he has won feature races in during his career at this famous western Wisconsin dirt oval. That in itself is an incredible feat! Once again Kobs commented on the race in his Rock Auto Victory Lane interview and told the fans how much fun it is to race in this division.
Seventeen Traditional sprints signed into the pits at CLS for their second race of the season. Rick Kobs passed Jeff Pellersels on lap eight to win the first heat while three-time series champion Rob Caho, Jr. came from fifth to first with a lap seven pass of Chase Viebrock in the second heat. Passing and finishing points in the heats saw Caho, Kobs, Jake Kouba and Pellersels earn the right to redraw for one of the top four starting spots in the feature. For the second night in a row, Kobs drew the #1 pill followed by Kouba, Pellersels and Caho.
All seventeen cars took Jeff Stacken's green flag to start the feature. Kobs grabbed the early lead with Jake Kouba applying the pressure. Kouba got by Kobs to lead laps 3 & 4. Significant contact between the two leaders on the next lap amazingly saw each of them continue on as if almost nothing had happened, something you don't get by with too often in sprint car racing. Kobs held the top spot for the next nine laps when suddenly 2015 champion Caho came roaring past. Caho would lead the next eight laps, as the leaders began working lapped traffic. The racing up front was exceptionally good with Caho and Kobs battling for the top spot. In heavy traffic as the laps were winding down, Kobs was able to retake the lead on lap 22 from Caho and went on to record the victory. On the final lap, Viebrock blasted into second past Caho. After the race, Caho reported that a large rock ended up getting wedged underneath his accelerator pedal, so he was only able to run about 3/4 throttle during the last 4-5 laps of the race. Rounding out the top five finishers were Jake Kouba and Mike Mueller. Fifteen of the seventeen starters finished the race with ten cars still on the lead lap. 2011 champion Kevin Bradwell advanced the most positions (6) in the feature coming from 14th to 8th.
With two complete shows in the books at CLS, the Traditional sprints ran four heat races and two features for a total of 90 laps of racing with only one caution in a heat race on Friday night. Yes they did have one red flag when Johnny Parsons III flipped while on the warm-up lap prior to the first heat race on Friday, but that is still an incredibly good number of laps run under the green flag with two nonstop features! The UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series has eleven races remaining during the 2016 season at the Cedar Lake Speedway, and the thrilling racing action typical of this popular non-winged sprint car division means race fans will definitely want to be on hand at Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday nights. The next race for the Traditional sprints is next Saturday, April 23 at Cedar Lake. More Traditional sprints will reportedly make their season debut next Saturday. Fans can check results, points, the schedule and much more regarding the UMSS Traditional sprints by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway April 16, 2016 (Race #2)
Rock Auto A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 81-Rick Kobs[1]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock[5]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[2]; 5. 87-Mike Mueller[8]; 6. 11-James Giossi[6]; 7. 22-Jeff Pellersels[3]; 8. 95-Kevin Bradwell[14]; 9. 48-Neal Matuska[11]; 10. 21J-Jori Hughes[12]; 11. N1-Ty Sampair[9]; 12. 16-Anna Hippe[13]; 13. 24-Brian VanMeveren[17]; 14. 99-Bryan Roach[16]; 15. 29-Hunter Custer[15]; 16. (DNF) 69S-Jon Lewerer[10]; 17. (DNF) 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[7]
Lap Leaders: Kobs 1-2, Kouba 3-4, Kobs 5-13, Caho 14-21, Kobs 22-25. No cautions! Note: One of the most outstanding Traditional sprint car features seen since the inception of this series back in 2011. Special thanks to Ron Schaefer for adding $100 to the top three finishing positions.
GRP Motorsports Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Rick Kobs[4]; 2. 22-Jeff Pellersels[2]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 4. N1-Ty Sampair[1]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer[3]; 6. 48-Neal Matuska[6]; 7. 16-Anna Hippe[7]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer[8]; DNS 24-Brian VanMeveren
Lap Leaders: Pellersels 1-7, Kobs 8-10. No cautions!
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[5]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock[1]; 3. 11-James Giossi[3]; 4. 87-Mike Mueller[4]; 5. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[7]; 6. 21J-Jori Hughes[2]; 7. 95-Kevin Bradwell[6]; 8. 99-Bryan Roach[8]
Lap Leaders: Viebrock 1-6, Caho 7-10. No cautions!
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
