4/23/2016
Kerzman Crates Off Traditional Sprint Win At Cedar Lake
Just as the first heat race for the evening was lined up in the staging area, a couple of light rain showers moved over the Cedar Lake Speedway causing a delay to the start of the Saturday night racing program on April 23. Fortunately, the track was located just far enough to the south that only the very bottom edge of the rainy weather clipped the speedway. Once the light showers moved off to the east, the weather cooperated for the remainder of the evening and the third race of the season was able to be completed. Jeremy Kerzman of Gray Eagle, Minnesota passed race leader Rob Caho, Jr. on lap 18 of the 25 lap feature and went on to record his first win in a Traditional sprint car at Cedar Lake and his second ever in the popular non-winged UMSS division. Kerzman commented on the race in his Rock Auto Victory Lane interview and chatted afterwards about the Pace Performance Chevrolet 602 crate engine in his car.
Kerzman dropped out of the feature the previous Saturday night at CLS with electrical issues. He and his team chased those electrical problems all week long, as they could not seem to get his car to stay running. Working frantically throughout the morning hours and into the early afternoon, Kerzman said, "the car finally stayed running about mid afternoon so we loaded it into the trailer and headed south to Cedar Lake in hopes that it would run." Run it did, as the former super stock, Midwest modified and winged sprint driver who has a good number of laps around the western Wisconsin dirt oval in his racing career put his brightly colored number 3k sprinter in Rock Auto Victory Lane in what was another very good feature race.
The Traditional sprints had the high car count for the evening with 21 non-winged warriors on hand. Three ten lap heat races were run with James Giossi, Caho and Kerzman showing the way in each. The top four in passing and finishing points drew for the 1-4 starting spots in the exact order they earned the top points, so it would be Giossi and Caho on the front row of the feature with Scott Brandt and Kerzman sitting in row two. Brandt, in his third season behind the wheel of a Traditional sprint, was making his season debut after a sore back sidelined him during the opening weekend. Also racing for the first time this season was Jimmy Kouba, Tony Klose, rookie driver Kyle Wehking and Shaun Kelley subbing for Ty Sampair in the Liquid Nitro car. Engine issues sidelined opening weekend double winner Rick Kobs and Neal Matuska in their heat races, as their nights ended early.
Pole starter Giossi grabbed the early lead and looked strong up front, as he was trying to win for the second time in his young career at Cedar Lake in a Traditional sprint. In his rookie season last year, Giossi won during the first night of the WoO weekend in July. Caho rode second behind Giossi until lap 9. While racing through turn four on the bottom lane, Giossi did a complete 360 spin and was able to keep going. Luckily he had built up enough of a lead at the time that no other cars were involved; however, the loss of momentum allowed Caho to pass him for the top spot coming off turn four. A couple of cautions slowed the pace with ten and twelve laps completed for spins in turn four, as Caho continued to lead Kerzman with Giossi and Jake Kouba just behind the lead duo. Kerzman made the winning pass while coming off the top side of turn two on lap 18, ducked in front of Caho in the low lane entering turn three, and held off the three-time champion during the remaining laps. Caho, Jake Kouba, Giossi and Chase Viebrock completed the top five finishers. Jimmy Kouba, rookie Bryan Roach and Jon Lewerer advanced the most positions (4) from their original starting spots in the feature.
The UMSS Traditional sprints are slated for another double header weekend on April 29-30, as they make their first of four scheduled appearances in 2016 at the Princeton Speedway on Friday night April 29 and return for their fourth show of the season at Cedar Lake Speedway the following night. Several more Traditional sprints will be making their season debuts in the upcoming weeks, as the popularity of these local area non-winged sprint cars continues to build. Racers and 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 23, 2016 (Race #3)
Rock Auto A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[4]; 2. 78-Rob Caho Jr[2]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[7]; 4. 11-James Giossi[1]; 5. 50-Chase Viebrock[6]; 6. 24-Brian VanMeveren[5]; 7. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[11]; 8. 7B-Scott Brandt[3]; 9. 16-Anna Hippe[10]; 10. 87-Mike Mueller[9]; 11. 22-Jeff Pellersels[8]; 12. 21J-Jori Hughes[13]; 13. 99-Bryan Roach[17]; 14. 69S-Jon Lewerer[18]; 15. 95-Kevin Bradwell[12]; 16. 29-Hunter Custer[15]; 17. 12W-Kyle Wehking[16]; 18. (DNF) N1-Shawn Kelley[14]; 19. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose[19]; DNS 48-Neal Matuska; DNS 81-Rick Kobs.
Lap Leaders: Giossi 1-8, Caho 9-17, Kerzman 18-25. Cautions: (2) Yellow with 10 laps scored for 29 spin turn 4. Yellow with 12 laps scored for 95 spin turn 4.
GRP Motorsports Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11-James Giossi[2]; 2. 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 3. 22-Jeff Pellersels[4]; 4. 16-Anna Hippe[6]; 5. 21J-Jori Hughes[3]; 6. 99-Bryan Roach[7]; 7. (DNF) N1-Shawn Kelley[5].
Lap Leader: Giossi 1-10. No cautions.
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[2]; 2. 24-Brian VanMeveren[3]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller[4]; 4. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[5]; 5. 29-Hunter Custer[7]; 6. (DNF) 48-Neal Matuska[1]; 7. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose[6].
Lap Leader: Caho 1-9. Cautions: (1) Yellow on final lap for 48 blown engine. Finish reverted back to white flag lap.
Meeks Video Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[1]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock[2]; 3. 7B-Scott Brandt[6]; 4. 95-Kevin Bradwell[4]; 5. 12W-Kyle Wehking[6]; 6. (DNF) 81-Rick Kobs[5]; DNS 69S-Jon Lewerer.
Lap Leader: Kerzman 1-10. Cautions: (1) Yellow with 1 lap scored for 81 stopped turn 4 with engine issue.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
