8/18/2017
Mike Mueller OWNS Granite City Speedway With Yet Another Win
Dominating performances come in different ways in the world of motorsports. For Mike Mueller, the Granite City Speedway is a special place. Once again Mueller completed a clean sweep of racing action in the UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series for the evening, as he sped to his fourth feature win in five attempts at GCS to put an exclamation mark on what it means to dominate at a particular track. Mueller celebrated his third win of the season in Rock Auto Victory Lane with a couple of sprint car racers (Cam Schafer and Cody Hahn) and his dad Herb. In a rare photo op, Herb Mueller was caught on camera smiling in Rock Auto Victory Lane following his son's dominating performance.
A few sprinkles fell about a half hour before racing action was scheduled to get underway, but the skies cleared and a comfortable evening set in for the lone appearance of the season by the Traditional sprints at Granite City. Fifteen of the popular non-winged sprint cars were on hand. Heat races were won by Anna Hippe and Mueller. It was another Dash for Cash night which resulted in another $150 in Mueller's pocket in what turned out to be actually the best race of the night. Mueller led the first three laps before Jake Kouba snuck around him to lead lap 4. Mueller raced hard to regain the lead over the final two laps with the margin of victory a mere 3/10ths of a second.
Following the preliminary races and a popular autograph session with both Traditional and UMSS winged drivers, it was time for the Traditional sprints to run the first feature of the evening. Anna Hippe had drawn the pole position with Mueller to her outside. Jake Kouba and Caley Emerson comprised the second row. Mueller quickly grabbed the lead on the opening lap and settled into his familiar bottom lane. Late model racer convert Caley Emerson fell into line behind Mueller, as the green light stayed on throughout the entire 25 lap feature race. In fact, the UMSS Traditional sprints have made six appearances at the Granite City Speedway dating back to 2012, and only one caution flag has flown in all six feature races that have been run. Although Emerson was able to close the gap some on Mueller in the waning laps, Mueller's strong performance at GCS prevailed for the win by about a half second over Emerson at the checkers. Emerson turned in his best UMSS Traditional sprint car feature race performance so far with a sold second place effort, as Caley is in his first full season behind the wheel of a non-winged sprint car. Scott Brandt finished third with Anna Hippe and Jake Kouba rounding out the top five. Completing the top ten finishers was Jeremy Kerzman, Joseph Kouba, Bryan Roach, 15th starter Jimmy Kouba and Tony Norem. Neal Matuska and Cody Emmans also completed 25 laps, as twelve of the fifteen starters were running at the conclusion of the race. During the entire evening, nary a caution flag waved for the Traditional sprint cars.
The Traditional sprints will now jump right back into action with a Saturday night show at the Cedar Lake Speedway August 19. This will be the only time during the season the sprints are part of a NASCAR Dash Series event, as CLS crowns its NASCAR Champions on this evening. A big night is in store for the drivers and race fans in all divisions, so come out and enjoy a great evening of racing at what several drivers and fans tend to describe as the Traditional Sprint Car Series home track. Keep tabs on all of the Traditional sprint car racing action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Granite City Speedway August 18, 2017 (Race #16)
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [2]; 2. 15E-Caley Emerson, [4]; 3. 7-Scott Brandt, [6]; 4. 16-Anna Hippe, [1]; 5. 6-Jake Kouba, [3]; 6. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [7]; 7. 55-Joseph Kouba, [8]; 8. 99-Bryan Roach, [10]; 9. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [15]; 10. 1-Tony Norem, [13]; 11. 48-Neal Matuska, [12]; 12. 33C-Cody Emmans, [11]; 13. (DNF) 12-Johnny Parsons III, [5]; 14. (DNF) 90-Tony Klose, [14]; 15. (DNF) 69S-Jon Lewerer, [9]
Lap Leader: Mueller 1-25. No cautions!
Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [1]; 2. 6-Jake Kouba, [2]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [4]; 4. 7-Scott Brandt, [6]; 5. 16-Anna Hippe, [5]; 6. 15E-Caley Emerson, [3]
Lap Leaders: Mueller 1-3, Jake Kouba 4, Mueller 5-6. No cautions.
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 16-Anna Hippe, [1]; 2. 15E-Caley Emerson, [2]; 3. 7-Scott Brandt, [4]; 4. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [6]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [5]; 6. 1-Tony Norem, [3]; 7. 48-Neal Matuska, [8]; 8. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [7]
Lap Leaders: Emerson 1-7, Hippe 8-10. No cautions.
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [6]; 2. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [1]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba, [5]; 4. 55-Joseph Kouba, [2]; 5. 99-Bryan Roach, [4]; 6. 33C-Cody Emmans, [7]; 7. 90-Tony Klose, [3]
Lap Leaders: Parsons 1-9, Mueller 10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
