7/7/2018
Cam Schafer Batting .600 In Traditional Sprints
2014 Champion Cam Schafer improved his season batting average winning his sixth feature of the year in ten attempts during the opening night of the popular World of Outlaws weekend at the Cedar Lake Speedway on a beautiful Friday evening. The POWRi UMSS Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series was the support division on the opening night and they provided a very entertaining 25 lap feature. Cam Schafer of Minneapolis swapped the lead back and forth with Denny Stordahl of Centuria and held off a late charge by Jake Kouba for the victory. It was Schafer coming out on top, as he ran up top on the cushion while Stordahl was strong on the bottom. The track had two grooves for racing and the leaders were never separated by more than several car lengths throughout. Schafer led the final seven laps on his way to Rock Auto Victory Lane. The win paid Schafer and his potent Rathpack Racing team $500 thanks to some added money from GRP Motorsports. Schafer tied Johnny Parsons for second on the all-time POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprint win list with 18 career victories. It was also his second win at Cedar Lake this season.
The Traditional sprints fell just one car short of equaling their largest field ever when 27 POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints signed into the pits. Winners of the three heat races included Schafer, Jeremy Kerzman and Jake Kouba. With the top six drivers in passing points redrawing after the heats, it would be Bryan Roach and Schafer going from the front row followed by Stordahl, Blake Anderson, Johnny Parsons III and Kerzman in the second the third rows. The POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints also ran a six lap Barb Brandt Memorial Dash for Cash. The top two finishers in each heat race redrew and it was Jake Kouba picking up the top prize. The second heat saw defending POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series champion Mike Mueller take a wild ride in turn one along with rookie Josh Braford. Anna Hippe also got collected in the crash. Mueller was shaken but appeared to be okay. Neither Braford or Mueller were able to start the feature. Coming into the night Mueller was just 23 points behind Schafer for the series point lead with nine top five finishes. Unfortunately that streak ended with the hard crash, as both cars flipped, Mueller multiple times and sustained heavy damage.
Despite being slowed under caution five times, the 25 lap POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprint feature was a very good race. Not surprisingly, Schafer bolted into the early lead running the high side. Third starter Stordahl was strong on the bottom lane and edged past Schafer on lap 7 for the lead following a couple of cautions for Parsons spins with four laps in the books. The caution blinked on again for the third time when John Lowe looped his car in turn three, with Stordahl up front. Debris on the restart brought out the yellow quickly, then Stordahl led through lap 10. Schafer narrowly regained the lead on lap 11 and one lap later the final caution flew when Jeff Pellersels lost power and stalled on the back stretch. The fourteen lap green flag run to the checks saw Stordahl regain the lead on lap 14 only to see the persistent Schafer take it back again on lap 19. Jake Kouba got by Stordahl for second on lap 21 and closed in on Schafer but came up a few car lengths short at the checkers. Twenty of the 25 starters were still running at the end.
The next race for the POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints will see the series make its first-ever appearance at the Spring Lake Speedway near Unity, Wisconsin on Friday night July 13 and a return trip to Cedar Lake the following night for another CLS Shootout Series event. Keep tabs on all of the POWRi UMSS Lucas Oil Traditional sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com or by following the series on Facebook and My Race Pass.
TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway July 6, 2018 (Race #10)
POWRi Lucas Oil/GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 14-Cam Schafer, [2]; 2. 6-Jake Kouba, [7]; 3. 34-Denny Stordahl, [3]; 4. 7H-Harry Hanson, [10]; 5. 99-Bryan Roach, [1]; 6. N1-Ty Sampair, [8]; 7. 7-Scott Brandt, [9]; 8. 93-Brad Peterson, [18]; 9. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [12]; 10. 12X-Blake Anderson, [4]; 11. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [14]; 12. 101-Paul Schultz, [15]; 13. 19B-Jack Berger, [13]; 14. 15E-Caley Emerson, [11]; 15. 38S-Allen Stettner, [19]; 16. 16-Anna Hippe, [25]; 17. K1-Kevin Lear, [21]; 18. 23-Jake Hendrickson, [16]; 19. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [6]; 20. 2J-John Lowe, [20]; 21. (DNF) 00-Kyle Finnegan, [23]; 22. (DNF) 22-Jeff Pellersels, [17]; 23. (DNF) 33C-Cody Emmans, [26]; 24. (DNF) 12-Johnny Parsons III, [5]; 25. (DNF) 95-Kevin Bradwell, [27]; (DNS) 87-Mike Mueller, ; (DNS) 56-Josh Braford,
Lap Leaders: Schafer 1-6, Stordahl 7-10, Schafer 11-13, Stordahl 14-18, Schafer 19-25. (5) cautions laps 4, 4 restart, 7, 7 restart & 11.
Barb Brandt Memorial Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba, [2]; 2. 15E-Caley Emerson, [1]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer, [3]; 4. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [6]; 5. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [5]; 6. 12X-Blake Anderson, [4]
Lap Leader: Jake Kouba 1-6. No cautions.
Rock Auto.com Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Cam Schafer, [3]; 2. 15E-Caley Emerson, [1]; 3. 34-Denny Stordahl, [7]; 4. N1-Ty Sampair, [8]; 5. 7-Scott Brandt, [9]; 6. 93-Brad Peterson, [6]; 7. 2J-John Lowe, [4]; 8. (DNF) 00-Kyle Finnegan, [5]; 9. (DNF) 95-Kevin Bradwell, [2]
Lap Leaders: Emerson 1-2, Schafer 3-10. No cautions.
PIRTEK Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman, [3]; 2. 12X-Blake Anderson, [9]; 3. 99-Bryan Roach, [8]; 4. 19B-Jack Berger, [1]; 5. 101-Paul Schultz, [5]; 6. 23-Jake Hendrickson, [7]; 7. (DNF) 56-Josh Braford, [2]; 8. (DNF) 87-Mike Mueller, [4]; 9. (DNF) 16-Anna Hippe, [6]
Lap Leader: Kerzman 1-10. Red flag on opening lap for big crash in turn 1 involving 56, 87 & 16. 56 & 87 flipped. 16 front end damage.
GRP Motorsports Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba, [2]; 2. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [6]; 3. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [3]; 4. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [1]; 5. 7H-Harry Hanson, [9]; 6. 22-Jeff Pellersels, [7]; 7. 38S-Allen Stettner, [5]; 8. K1-Kevin Lear, [8]; 9. (DNF) 33C-Cody Emmans, [4]
Lap Leader: Jake Kouba 1-10. One yellow with 4 lap scored when 33c lost left rear tire going down backstretch. 12 had just passed 6 for lead but scoring reverted back to the last completed lap.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
