7/13/2018
Jimmy Kouba First At Spring Lake Speedway In First Traditional Sprint Show
The POWRi UMSS Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series was making its first-ever appearance at the Spring Lake Speedway along with the Wisconsin WingLESS sprints from southern Wisconsin. In fact, it was the first time wingless sprints had ever raced at the track dating back to the old Monster Hall name. Veteran driver Jimmy Kouba from Byron, MN topped the 20 car field when he took the lead on lap 10 from Brad Peterson and drove to his 12th career TSCS feature victory. Kouba parked his 2k non-winged sprinter in Rock Auto Victory Lane at the conclusion of the 25 lap main event. The win paid Kouba $500.
Winners of the three 10-lap heat races included Jimmy Kouba in the Pirtek Fluid Handling Solutions heat, Jake Kouba in the Rock Auto heat and Neal Matuska in the GRP Motorsports heat. All three heats ran caution-free. The POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints also ran a six lap Rock Auto Barb Brandt Memorial Dash for Cash. The top two finishers in each heat race redrew and it was Peterson and Blake Anderson on the front row. A quick six laps later saw Peterson pocket the $140 winner's share. As usual, passing and finishing points from the heats were used in determining the starting lineup for the feature with the top six cars redrawing. For the 25 lap main event, it would be Anderson and Peterson swapping front row starting spots.
Peterson immediately took the lead on the opening lap and looked strong up front. However, Jimmy Kouba was quickly passing cars from his sixth starting position and was soon in second just a few laps into the race. The first caution flew when Jake Kouba got crossed up exiting turn two and spun around. On the restart, Jon Lewerer and Mike Mueller made some contact entering turn three with Lewerer's car taking a heavy tumble into turn three, rolling over numerous times. Jon was okay but the same could not be said for his destroyed sprint car. Jon reported that they will regroup but likely not be back out until next season. Lewerer was currently in fourth place in the season point standings.
Peterson continued to lead on the restart following the red flag, but Jimmy Kouba applied the pressure and made the winning pass on lap ten in turn three. Just two laps later, Peterson and Craig Campton made contact in the same corner with Peterson spinning around. Peterson was steamed about the incident but had to tag the tail. The remaining 13 laps clicked off caution-free on Friday the 13th with Jimmy Kouba driving to a comfortable lead. Most of the fans however were focused on Anna Hippe. Anna started 12th on the grid and moved up to second in the latter stages of the race in a fine run forward. Current point leader and 2014 champion Cam Schafer rode home in third ahead of Campton and Anderson. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Bryan Roach, Doug Schenck, Matuska, Scott Brandt and Jake Kouba recovering from his lap six spin. Peterson finished 11th. Sixteen of the twenty starters were still running at the end.
The next race for the POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints will see the series right back in action the following night July 14 at the Cedar Lake Speedway along with the UMSS 360 winged sprints for another CLS Shootout Series event. The wing portion will be a Midwest Power Series race as well. 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 - Spring Lake Speedway July 13, 2018 (Race #11)
POWRi Lucas Oil A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [6]; 2. 16-Anna Hippe, [12]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer, [10]; 4. 7S-Craig Campton, [8]; 5. 12X-Blake Anderson, [1]; 6. 99-Bryan Roach, [3]; 7. 71S-Doug Schenck, [11]; 8. 48-Neal Matuska, [4]; 9. 7-Scott Brandt, [9]; 10. 6-Jake Kouba, [5]; 11. 93-Brad Peterson, [2]; 12. 20-Natalie Klemko, [13]; 13. 1-Rod Colburn, [15]; 14. 4-Jordan Paulsen, [16]; 15. 70-Chris Klemko, [19]; 16. 22-Bruce Waterworth, [18]; 17. 0-John Fahl, [17]; 18. (DNF) 87-Mike Mueller, [7]; 19. (DNF) 69S-Jon Lewerer, [14]; 20. (DNF) 26T-Tyler Tischendorf, [20]
Lap Leaders Peterson 1-9, Jimmy Kouba 10-25. Cautions: (2) yellows and (1) red.
Rock Auto Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 93-Brad Peterson, [1]; 2. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [3]; 3. 12X-Blake Anderson, [2]; 4. 48-Neal Matuska, [4]; 5. 6-Jake Kouba, [5]; 6. 7-Scott Brandt, [6]
Lap Leader: Peterson 1-6. No cautions.
Pirtek Fluid Handling Solutions Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba, [2]; 2. 12X-Blake Anderson, [6]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller, [5]; 4. 7S-Craig Campton, [7]; 5. 1-Rod Colburn, [4]; 6. 70-Chris Klemko, [1]; 7. 26T-Tyler Tischendorf, [3]
Lap Leader: Kouba 1-10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba, [2]; 2. 93-Brad Peterson, [3]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer, [4]; 4. 20-Natalie Klemko, [1]; 5. 71S-Doug Schenck, [7]; 6. 4-Jordan Paulsen, [6]; 7. 22-Bruce Waterworth, [5]
Lap Leaders: Kouba 1-10. No cautions.
GRP Motorsports Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Neal Matuska, [2]; 2. 7-Scott Brandt, [1]; 3. 99-Bryan Roach, [6]; 4. 16-Anna Hippe, [4]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [5]; 6. 0-John Fahl, [3]
Lap Leader: Matuska 1-10. No cautions.
Footnote: Following the July 6 race at Cedar Lake Speedway, Harry Hanson was DQed for an illegal carb. All cars finishing from fifth on back in that race moved up one position in the standings.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
