6/6/2015
Ryan Bowers Blasts To Big O Sprint Showdown Victory At Ogilvie Raceway
Returning to the track where he picked up his first career victory in a sprint car last August, Ryan Bowers of Ham Lake completed his weekend sweep of UMSS feature races when he bolted from his pole starting spot and put on a dominating performance in the 25 lap Big O Sprint Showdown main event for the Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series. For Bowers, it was his fifth career UMSS feature win and second in a row at Ogilvie. The racing program was delayed twice prior to the UMSS feature. The first for some light rain. The second time during the Midwest Modified main event for a wild flip in turn three that damaged the catch fence, requiring the track crew to make temporary repairs. The weather held off long enough for the full racing program to be completed. Bowers was joined by his family and crew in RockAuto.com Victory Lane, as he earned $1,000 for the win thanks to sponsorship help from Mastell Brothers Trailer Sales and GRP Motorsports. Bowers drives for MBR and GRP is also one of the sponsors on his car, so the young driver who earned top rookie honors last season certainly kept the top prize "in-house" for his race team.
Following heat race wins by Leigh Thomas and Chris Graf along with Challenge race victories by Cody Hahn and Jared Goerges, the top four drivers in passing and finishing points from the double-round of qualifiers redrew. Graf was the top point driver, and he drew the #4 pill. Bowers' luck was spot-on, as he drew the pole position next with Cody Hahn starting third and Jamey Ogston outside front row. Leigh Thomas turned a transponder scored lap in his heat race win of 13.026 seconds for an average speed of 103.639 MPH around the high-banked 3/8ths mile dirt oval. That ended up being the fastest lap of the evening. Graf turned the quickest lap in the feature race.
The 25 lap feature race saw Bowers blast into the lead at the drop of the green flag and never look back. He opened up a comfortable lead by the time the lone caution waved with 12 laps scored for a two car incident in turn two involving Jerry Richert, Jr. and Jared Goerges. Graf had worked his way to second early on and was closing just a bit on the leader who was in lapped traffic, but following the restart Graf had nothing for Bowers during the final 13 lap sprint to the checkers. Lou Kennedy, Jr. moved forward from his 7th starting spot to finish third while Cody Hahn (with his all-girl pit crew) finished fourth and Jamey Ogston fifth. Thomas Kennedy, who was leading the UMSS point standings coming into Ogilvie, was relegated to helping his dad in the pits due to heavy damage to his sprint car the previous night at Princeton. Lou Kennedy, Jr. took over the top spot in the standings following Ogilvie.
All four UMSS champions were on hand at Ogilvie with Graf (2013) besting Hahn (2010), Richert (2011-2012, 2014) and Thomas (2009) to earn a $100 GRP Motorsports Bonus for being the highest finishing past champion in the feature race. In the current 2015 GRP Motorsports Rookie of the Year battle, Jake Lempelius is leading Jeff Pellersels after just five events. The rookie title is determined by taking the top 12 shows during the course of the season. Pellersels, who had planned to compete at Ogilvie, had to sit this one out after destroying the frame (and other bolt-on parts) of his sprint car during his Princeton crash the night before.
The UMSS has another double-header next weekend on June 13-14 when the series makes its annual trek north to the Hibbing Raceway and Proctor Speedway with both the winged and Traditional sprints on the program each night. Both events feature increased purse money in both divisions. The purses are posted on the UMSS website at www.umsprints.com in the Rules/Forms section. Can Ryan Bowers keep his winning streak alive, will Cody Hahn look to repeat his victory at Hibbing next Saturday, can Thomas Kennedy return to Victory Lane, or will another driver earn top honors during the annual UMSS Northern Tour? The answers to those questions await us at Hibbing and Proctor!
UMSS Race Results - Ogilvie Raceway June 6, 2015 (Race #5)
GRP Motorsports & Mastell Brothers Trailer Sales A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 199-Ryan Bowers[1]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf[4]; 3. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[7]; 4. 23-Cody Hahn[3]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston[2]; 6. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[8]; 7. 29-Leigh Thomas[5]; 8. B1ST-Tony Norem[11]; 9. 52-Jake Lempelius[12]; 10. (DNF) 95-Kevin Bradwell[10]; 11. (DNF) 9-Jared Goerges[6]; 12. (DNF) 55-Joseph Kouba[9]; DNS 91A-Reed Allex
Lap Leader: Bowers 1-25. Cautions: (1) yellow with 12 laps scored for 63 & 9 turn 2.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Cody Hahn[2]; 2. 199-Ryan Bowers[3]; 3. 03-Jamey Ogston[4]; 4. 29-Leigh Thomas[5]; 5. 55-Joseph Kouba[1]; 6. 95-Kevin Bradwell[6]; DNS 91A-Reed Allex
Lap Leader: Hahn 1-8. No cautions.
Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Jared Goerges[2]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf[5]; 3. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[3]; 4. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[4]; 5. B1ST-Tony Norem[1]; 6. 52-Jake Lempelius[6]
Lap Leader: Goerges 1-8. No cautions.
Meeks Video Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 29-Leigh Thomas[1]; 2. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[3]; 3. 199-Ryan Bowers[6]; 4. 9-Jared Goerges[4]; 5. 55-Joseph Kouba[5]; 6. 95-Kevin Bradwell[7]; 7. (DNF) 91A-Reed Allex[2]
Lap Leader: Thomas 1-7. No cautions. 91A DNF with broken lifter & rocker, done for the night.
Driverwebsites.com Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 20G-Chris Graf[2]; 2. 03-Jamey Ogston[3]; 3. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[5]; 4. 23-Cody Hahn[6]; 5. B1ST-Tony Norem[1]; 6. 52-Jake Lempelius[4]
Lap Leader: Graf 1-6. No cautions.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Rob Kocak Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
