8/31/2013
At Late Hour, Hahn Gets Second Mighty Axe
Cody Hahn Captures A Second Mighty Axe Trophy
(Gives Himself Nice Birthday Present)
Brainerd, MN
Battling a long rain delay, the opening night of the 12th Annual Mighty Axe Nationals actually concluded in a different month. The racing program featuring the Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series (UMSS) winged sprints in action at the 1/3 mile North Central Speedway oval began on Saturday night August 31, but following a two hour rain delay, the feature race did not take the green flag until 12:30 AM on Sunday morning September 1. Throughout the course of the marathon evening and at the final checkers early Sunday morning, 2010 UMSS Champion Cody Hahn of Oak Grove picked up his first UMSS win of the season and his second career Mighty Axe title. Hahn got this first Axe back in 2010 also on the opening night. For Hahn, it was his third career UMSS win and came on his birthday! Hahn led the entire 20 lap distance on his way to the $1,000 payday.
With sprint car hot laps and a few stock car heat races in the books, a line of storms blew through the area. Although North Central Speedway received some rainfall from the storms, the heaviest cells moved north and south of the track. Once the storms had passed, the long process of getting the track back into racing condition got underway. Finally it was time to go racing well over two hours later. UMSS officials decided, after consulting with the drivers, to scrap the Challenge races and run three 10-lap heats before the scheduled 25-lap feature.
Ultimate Sprint Heat wins went to Jordan Wilmes, Wade Nygaard and Tony Kaus. Passing and finishing points were still utilized, and Thomas Kennedy was the high point driver. Kennedy pulled the #8 pill for the feature race invert, putting Cody Hahn and Wade Nygaard on the front row. Of the 24 cars on hand, 23 were able to start the feature. Sye Anderson, who had lost a motor in hot laps, was the only car that did not make the call for the feature.
One could tell right away that things probably were not going to go smoothly in this feature race, as both Jordan Wilmes and Tony Kaus required a second push to refire their cars. The scheduled inside row 2 and row 3 starters were relegated to the rear of the field. Hahn grabbed the early lead, but the race was under caution when Davey Heskin stalled on the back stretch with one lap in the books. Two laps later, Wilmes spun in turn 2 for another caution. Hahn continued to show the way up front when Jerry Richert, Jr. and 2012 UMSS Rookie of the Year James Broty made contact in turn 2 causing Broty's car to flip over the concrete wall. Following the red flag, Hahn maintained his lead.
A spin by Leigh Thomas slowed the pace one lap later before a run of four green flag laps brought out another caution when Hahn and Kevin Bradwell made contact in turn 2. Bradwell rode the hook to the pits while Hahn kept his car going. Scotty Thiel, who was running second at the time, was collected in the incident and suffered a flat right rear tire and some other damage to his car. Thiel was done for the night. UMSS officials decided to cut the distance to 20 laps at this time. We almost made it to the end, but coming to the white flag, Tony Norem and Wilmes made contact in turn 2 with Norem tipping on his side and Wilmes needing wrecker assistance under the red to remove his car from the track. This set the stage for a two lap dash to the finish.
Cody Hahn held off current UMSS point leader Chris Graf, Lou Kennedy Jr, Lee Grosz and 18th starter Jerry Richert, Jr. for his second career UMSS victory and his second Mighty Axe title. Jason Tostenson, Dave Becker, Davey Heskin, Thomas Kennedy and Tony Kaus rounded out the top ten finishers. With the UMSS being the first feature race on the track, North Central Speedway then completed their stock car program with the final checkers waving on the modified feature at 4:00 AM in the morning. Then it was time for fireworks at four! Yep, they shot up a pretty nice fireworks display at that hour.
The UMSS sprints continued later on Sunday with the second night of the Mighty Axe Nationals, as the weather and the racing was much improved along with the hour of the evening.
UMSS Race Results - North Central Speedway August 31, 2013 (Race #13)
Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Race #1 (10 laps): 21 Jordan Wilmes, 20k Thomas Kennedy, 64 Scotty Thiel, 21k Lou Kennedy Jr, 4J Lee Grosz, 31 James Broty, 95 Kevn Bradwell, 9 Jared Goerges DNF.
Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Race #2 (10 laps): 9N Wade Nygaard, 23 Cody Hahn, 36 Jason Tostenson, 7 Dave Becker, 34TW Gunner Cummings, 7N Brad Nelson, 63 Jerry Richert Jr DNF, 29 Leigh Thomas DNF.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Ultimate Sprint Race #3 (10 laps): 3TK Tony Kaus, 20G Chris Graf, 91 Davey Heskin, 48 Neal Matuska, 10x Jennifer Eriksen, B1st Tony Norem, 5 Joe Kouba, 37 Sye Anderson DNS.
GRP Motorsports Feature (20 laps): Hahn, Graf, L. Kennedy, Grosz, Richert, Tostenson, Becker, Heskin, T. Kennedy, Kaus, Thomas, Matuska, Goerges, Norem DNF, Wilmes DNF, Eriksen DNF, Nygaard DNF, Thiel DNF, Bradwell DNF, Cummings DNF, Kouba DNF, Broty DNF, Nelson DNF, Anderson DNS.
Lap Leader: Hahn 1-20.
Cautions: (6)
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Hahn family.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
