9/16/2018
Dream Come True! James Broty Wins First at Deer Creek Speedway.
Dream Come True! James Broty drove a tremendous race on Saturday night September 15 at the Deer Creek Speedway in the season-ending Deer Creek Open Wheel Nationals for the UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Series and Midwest Power Series event to earn his FIRST career feature win. The young Lonsdale, MN driver had dreamed of winning a feature for a long time, and he made the dream come true on a stage in front of a large crowd and in the process defeated some very strong competitors. The race had a thrilling finish, as Roger Crockett of Broken Arrow, OK dove underneath Broty in turn four on the final lap to grab a brief lead exiting the corner, but Broty drove back under Crockett and the dash to the checkers saw Broty win by .140 seconds! Broty celebrated his $2,500 win in Rock Auto Victory Lane on a truly memorable evening for the Midwest Power Series and the UMSS.
Another very warm late summer evening on the final weekend of the season drew a twenty car field to the Deer Creek Speedway for the Midwest Power Series and UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil season finale. Derrik Lusk of Jackson, MN came into the final event knowing that he was the 2018 Midwest Power Series Champion. What was not determined was the UMSS title. Chase Viebrock, two-time series champion Ryan Bowers, and Jamey Ogston all had a shot at the title. When the final checkers waved, it was the young New Richmond, WI racer Viebrock earning the 2018 UMSS season championship. Congrats to both Lusk and Viebrock on the championships.
Heat race wins went to Viebrock, Jon Agan of Knoxville, Iowa and Broty. Each driver earned $100 from Factory Direct Mattress. Roger Crockett earned $200 from Factory Direct Mattress for the dash win which put him on the pole for the 25 lap feature. Viebrock lined up outside of Crockett. In the second heat, misfortune came calling for Ryan Bowers, as he got upside down in a three car mishap which also involved Derrik Lusk and Carter Chevalier. All three cars were able to make repairs and started the feature.
Crockett raced to the early lead on the opening lap, as fourth starter James Broty was quickly on the move forward. Passing Jon Agan for second on the second lap in turn two and then diving low to grab the lead coming off turn four ahead of Crockett, Broty took command of the top spot. The first of two cautions flew with four laps scored when Indianapolis, IN driver Geoff Dodge stopped on the front stretch and retired from the race. At the same time, Jamey Ogston broke a rear axle and rode the hook to the pits ending any chance for a championship title. When the race went green again, several drivers were moving up from deeper starting spots including Bill Balog and Brooke Tatnell as the laps clicked by. Broty continued to lead but had to survive some anxious moments trying to lap Jason Tostenson. A brush up against the turn two wall allowed Crockett and the rest of the field to close up, but Broty was able to regain his momentum to hold the lead after Crockett tried a couple of times to wrestle it away from him in turn four.
The final yellow flag flew with seventeen laps in the books when Bowers stopped in turn two and was done for the night. At this very moment in time, Chase Viebrock was the last of the three remaining UMSS championship title contenders still running and wrapped up the title. The final eight laps in the race went by quickly and set the stage for the thrilling finish. Broty capped off a memorable evening with the win ahead of Crockett. Balog, Tatnell and Agan completed the top five. Rounding out the top ten finishers was West Burlington, Iowa driver John Schultz, Ankeny, Iowa racer Chris Martin, Ramona, South Dakota rocket Ryan Bickett, UMSS Champion Viebrock, and Tommy Barber of Brandon, SD.
The $200 GRP Motorsports/Minnesota Mafia Hard Charger Award went to the "Ramona Rocket" Ryan Bickett. Bickett advanced nine positions from his 17th starting spot in the feature race. Earning GRP Motorsports UMSS Rookie of the Year honors was Carter Chevalier from Andover, MN.
Special thanks are in order to all of the drivers, crews, sponsors and tracks that comprised the 2018 racing season for the Midwest Power Series and UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Series for the 360 winged sprint cars. A huge thanks to all of the fans that attended one or more events for their support! What a way to close out the season for both series at the Deer Creek Speedway. Racers and fans alike can keep track of the off-season news and post-season accolades from both series on their Facebook pages and on the UMSS website. See you again in 2019.
UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Race Results - Deer Creek Speedway September 15, 2018 (Race #15)
Midwest Power Series Event - Deer Creek Open Wheel Nationals
Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 33-James Broty, [4]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 3. 2B-Bill Balog, [8]; 4. 63-Brooke Tatnell, [10]; 5. 4-Jon Agan, [3]; 6. 99-John Schulz, [7]; 7. 44-Chris Martin, [12]; 8. 17B-Ryan Bickett, [17]; 9. 50-Chase Viebrock, [2]; 10. 75-Tommy Barber, [13]; 11. 7W-Tasker Phillips, [6]; 12. 2-Derrik Lusk, [16]; 13. 34DD-Justin Henderson, [11]; 14. 20G-Chris Graf, [14]; 15. 36-Jason Tostenson, [9]; 16. 15C-Carter Chevalier, [18]; 17. (DNF) 5-Ryan Bowers, [19]; 18. (DNF) 91A-Reed Allex, [20]; 19. (DNF) 64-Geoff Dodge, [5]; 20. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston, [15]
Lap Leaders: Crockett 1, Broty 2-25. (2) cautions. Yellow with 4 laps scored for 64 stopped on front stretch. Yellow with 17 laps scored for 5 stopped turn 2. Exciting finish. First career win for James Broty!
Factory Direct Mattress Dash for Cash (6 Laps): 1. 11-Roger Crockett, [2]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock, [1]; 3. 4-Jon Agan, [5]; 4. 33-James Broty, [3]; 5. 64-Geoff Dodge, [6]; 6. 7W-Tasker Phillips, [4]
Lap Leader: Crockett 1-6. No cautions.
Factory Direct Mattress/Pirtek Fluid Transfer Solutions Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 50-Chase Viebrock, [1]; 2. 64-Geoff Dodge, [3]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 4. 34DD-Justin Henderson, [4]; 5. 75-Tommy Barber, [5]; 6. 20G-Chris Graf, [7]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex, [2]
Lap Leader: Viebrock 1-10. No cautions.
Factory Direct Mattress/Rock Auto.com Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Jon Agan, [6]; 2. 63-Brooke Tatnell, [1]; 3. 99-John Schulz, [5]; 4. 36-Jason Tostenson, [7]; 5. (DNF) 2-Derrik Lusk, [2]; 6. (DNF) 15C-Carter Chevalier, [3]; 7. (DNF) 5-Ryan Bowers, [4]
Lap Leader: Agan 1-10. After two false starts, red flag on opening lap for 5 flip turn 2. Also out 2 & 15C.
Factory Direct Mattress/GRP Motorsports Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 33-James Broty, [1]; 2. 7W-Tasker Phillips, [4]; 3. 2B-Bill Balog, [5]; 4. 44-Chris Martin, [3]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston, [2]; 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett, [6]
Lap Leader: Broty 1-10. No cautions.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Scott Swenson.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
