8/9/2013
Caho Captures 14th Career TSCS Win
Cloudy skies and moderate temperatures greeted fans and drivers to Friday night’s races at St. Croix Valley Raceway. Close contests and tiny victory margins were the order of the evening from the first heat race through the night’s final feature, as several races weren’t decided until the very last possible moment. Rob Caho, Jr. became the leading feature winner in the Traditional Sprint Car Series with a narrow victory over Mike Mueller.
In UMSS Traditional Sprint competition, Rob Caho Jr. has earned a reputation as a high-flying throttle stomper, frequently using the cushion to power his sprinter to wins. Johnny Parsons III, on the other hand, usually can be found running smooth and steady in the low groove. That duo has used contrasting styles to become the co-leaders in career TSCS wins. The roles were reversed Friday, with Caho running the bottom and Parsons in a group of drivers using the cushion and the throttle in search of checkers. To start things off, third heat race winner Mike Mueller and first heat race winner Parsons brought the seventeen sprinters to green with Mueller holding the point early point over Parsons. Fourth starting Kevin Bradwell held down the third spot, chased by reigning Open Wheel Nationals champion Cam Shafer. It wasn’t until one looked back to the sixth position of Caho that a driver dared move off the cushion and utilize the lower groove. By lap five, Caho had powered under Shafer, and then Bradwell. With Caho up to third, Shafer followed the points leader to the bottom and high-low battle was on. Still working low on lap six, Caho made the paradoxical low-side pass of Parsons into second place and kept powering forward in pursuit of Mueller. As the lead duo passed the start-finish line completing lap seven, Caho was ahead by a whisker. After Caho edged out front, things were far from settled as Mueller was successfully keeping pace up high, with Bradwell chasing him – while Shafer was dogging Caho in the low groove. Things got still more interesting by the race’s midpoint, as sixteenth starting Brian “The Dragon” VanMeveren had ventured both high and low to crack the top five. Caho’s lead would yo-yo between a few car lengths and a few inches as he and Mueller continued their high-low battle for the win and the rest of the field battled in those same grooves behind them. It was a saw-blade, low-high finish with Caho becoming the all-time series win leader over Mueller, Shafer, VanMeveren and Bradwell. After the race, several fans stayed as the Traditional drivers gave an on-track tribute to UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series racer Jack Clark. Clark has been a stalwart competitor in the wingless series since its inception and the veteran racer has been instrumental in growing the series by providing untold hours of assistance and a wealth of advisement and mentoring to the series’ drivers. Clark raced to an eighth place finish in his final TSCS race prior to moving back to northern California later this month. Clark marked his last moments at the track with a victory lap, flying SCVR’s unique red-and-white checkered flag.
UMSS Traditional Sprints Results:
Heat 1 – Johnny Parsons, Cam Shafer, Katrina Sautbine, Tom Porter, Joe Jesmore, D Taubert.
Heat 2 – Kevin Bradwell, Jake Kouba, Rob Caho Jr., Denny Stordahl, Jake Hendrickson.
Heat 3 – Mike Mueller, Jack Clark, Jeff Pellersels, Jesse Tripp, Brian VanMeveren.
Feature – Rob Caho Jr., Mike Mueller, Cam Shafer, Brian VanMeveren, Kevin Bradwell, Johnny Parsons, Denny Stordahl, Jack Clark, Jake Kouba, Katrina Sautbine, Jessie Tripp, D Taubert, Tom Porter, Jeff Pellersels, Jake Hendrickson, Joe Jesmore.
Lap Leaders: Mueller 1-6, Caho 7-20.
Article Credit: Terry Lehnertz
