4/29/2017
Kouba Family Batting .500 in Traditional Sprints at Cedar Lake
Jimmy Kouba added his name to the feature win list at the Cedar Lake Speedway this season when he overtook opening night winner Cam Schafer on lap 15 of the 25 lap feature and went on to record the second win in four nights for the Kouba family on Saturday evening April 29. Jimmy's son, Jake Kouba, won the feature at Cedar Lake back on April 8, so it was only fitting that Jake's dad got in on the early season fun to improve the family winning percentage to .500 so far. For the veteran racer from Byron, Minnesota, it was Jimmy Kouba's third career Traditional sprint car feature win at the popular western Wisconsin dirt oval and his 12th career sprint car victory at Cedar Lake, albeit nine of them have come with a wing overhead.. For Jimmy Kouba, it was also his ninth over all career Traditional sprint car feature win. Kouba was all smiles in Rock Auto Victory Lane afterwards.
Eighteen Traditional sprints were on hand with three drivers making their 2017 season debut on a chilly, windy spring evening. The 10-lap heat races would see Johnny Parsons III and Schafer ride home in first. Several drivers made strong runs forward from deep starting positions in their heats earning them a coveted top four spot in passing and finishing points. Mike Mueller led the pack with Schafer, Joe Lallier and Jimmy Kouba redrawing for the first two rows of the feature. Mueller, who had his dad Herb draw for him, would go from the pole position with Joe Lallier, who was racing for the first time this season, sitting to his outside. Schafer and Jimmy Kouba comprised the second row. Jake Kouba, who had the same number of points as his dad, but lost out on the tie-breaker (driver who earns the point total first gets the nod) would start inside row three while first heat winner Parsons was just one point shy of both Koubas and would roll off sixth.
Mueller bolted into the early lead on the bottom (no surprise which groove Mike picked) and led the first seven laps. On lap 8, Schafer blasted into the lead running the top lane around the track. As Schafer began to edge away, a good battle for several spots behind him developed. The race was under caution for the first time with 11 laps in the books when fourth running Joe Lallier spun in turn 4. On the restart, Jimmy Kouba found the middle lane to his liking as he stayed close to Schafer. Coming out of turn 4 on lap 15, Kouba moved into the lead. A final caution when Anna Hippe spun sideways exiting turn two and collected Kevin Bradwell would see an eight lap green flag run to the checkers. Jimmy Kouba proved to be the strongest car after that on his way to the win. Turning in his best Traditional sprint car performance so far, Neal Matuska ran a solid second. Mueller, Jake Kouba and Schafer rounded out the top five. Completing the top ten finishers was last year's top rookie Ty Sampair, Anna Hippe who raced back to seventh from 14th in the final eight laps, Scott Brandt, Caley Emerson with a long tow down from Grand Rapids, and Bryan Roach. Fifteen of the seventeen starters were still running at the finish with all cars still on the lead lap. Blake Anderson was unable to start the feature race with a problematic fuel leak on his non-winged sprint car.
The Traditional sprints will take a week off when the hugely popular Triple Crown event takes place at Cedar Lake and will return to action at CLS on School Bus Race Night May 13 which typically draws one of the largest crowds each season. With four races in the books so far, still more cars are expected to be race-ready for the season in the upcoming weeks. Keep tabs on all of the UMSS Traditional sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway April 29, 2017 (Race #4)
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[4]; 2. 48-Neal Matuska[8]; 3. 87-Mike Mueller[1]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 5. 14-Cam Schafer[3]; 6. N1-Ty Sampair[11]; 7. 16-Anna Hippe[9]; 8. 7-Scott Brandt[7]; 9. 15E-Caley Emerson[14]; 10. 99-Bryan Roach[15]; 11. 95-Kevin Bradwell[10]; 12. 6L-Joe Lallier[2]; 13. 10S-Trevor Serbus[16]; 14. 90-Tony Klose[13]; 15. 29-Hunter Custer[12]; 16. (DNF) 12-Johnny Parsons III[6]; 17. (DNF) 93-Brad Peterson[17]; (DNS) 12X-Blake Anderson.
Lap Leaders: Mueller 1-7, Schafer 8-14, Jimmy Kouba 15-25. Cautions: (2) First yellow for 6L spin turn 4 with 11 laps in. Second yellow for 16 spin, collected 95 exiting turn 2 on to back stretch with 17 laps scored.
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III[3]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[9]; 3. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[8]; 4. 48-Neal Matuska[5]; 5. 16-Anna Hippe[2]; 6. N1-Ty Sampair[6]; 7. 99-Bryan Roach[1]; 8. 10S-Trevor Serbus[4]; 9. (DNF) 93-Brad Peterson[7].
Lap Leader: Parsons 1-10. Cautions: (2) With 5 laps in 99 spin turn 2. On restart, 10S spin turn 2.
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Cam Schafer[4]; 2. 6L-Joe Lallier[6]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[8]; 4. 7-Scott Brandt[9]; 5. 95-Kevin Bradwell[2]; 6. 29-Hunter Custer[5]; 7. 90-Tony Klose[3]; 8. 15E-Caley Emerson[7]; 9. (DNF) 12X-Blake Anderson[1].
Lap Leaders: Anderson 1, Schafer 2-10. Cautions: (1) yellow with 2 laps in for 12x spin turn 4. 12x out of race on hook with locked up front end.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
