6/2/2019
Former Champs Win at Rice Lake
The unofficial start of summer arrived for the Memorial Day weekend as the PIRTEK UMSS sprint cars made their annual pilgrimage to the Rice Lake Speedway. The swelled grandstands were treated to a season high 26 Traditional sprinters for the event, with six of those drivers electing to do double-duty, running in both the Traditional ranks as well as the newly updated Winged configuration. With the converted cars, a total of nine winged cars competed under the new PIRTEK UMSS engine rules.
Competition kicked off with the winged races, with Gunner Cummings and Kevin Bradwell securing heat race wins. Later in the Traditional qualifiers, Brad Peterson, Jon Lewer, Jack Berger and Cam Schafer won their respective heat races.
All 26 PIRTEK UMSS Traditional teams made the call for the 25-lap main event. Peterson and Rick Kobs paced the field, but at the drop of the green, fourth starting Schafer made his early move and bolted to the point with one lap in the books. As they so often do, the Traditional sprints completed their feature sans cautions, and Schafer proved his mettle as a two-time series champion with the flag-to-flag victory. The win marked the first visit of the season to Rock Auto victory lane for Schafer. Peterson and Kobs followed Schafer to checkers with Lewer and 2017 series champion Mike Mueller rounding out the top five.
In the 20-lap winged finale, eight cars took the green as Eveleth, Minnesota’s Harry Hanson had a power plant expire in the heat and was forced to scratch his entry for the feature. A pair of double-duty drivers paced the field to green in the forms of Kevin Lear and Rick Kobs. Kobs nabbed the top spot on the opening lap and went the distance in a contest slowed just twice for cautions.
Article Credit: Terry Lehnertz
