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Jerry Richert memorial results?

Must be a late night at the track?

Right before the A Feature (around 9:30pm) the cars were pacing the track and it started to sprinkle. With enough moisture building on the track the officials were forced to send the cars back to there haulers. During the rainfall which lasted a good 20-30 minutes the push trucks continued to packed the track and around 10:45pm it was ready to be raced on again.

34 Cars

13 Mark Dobmeier set quick time however after his heat with possible mechanical problems they parked it for the rest of the night.

Top 5
1. 5 Brooke Tatnell (lead all 25 laps, cut short from 30 due to time/curfew)
2. 2W Scotty Neitzel
3. 9 Travis Whitney
4. 17 Bill Balog
5. 23W Scott Winters

go to irasprints.org for complete results sometime shortly.

Mike "Pencil" Priefer

Great night of racing, extremely fast track with the moisture.

WOW! Was Bill Balog hooked up in the feature. 16th to 4th on that super fast track was really fun to watch. That man has really become one of the most exciting drivers in the IRA to watch.

Curfew wasn't the problem. They are allowed to finish a race, they just can't start anything after curfew. I spend a lot of Saturday nights out there all season long, not Sprints only, and have seen them run up against the curfew many times.

Fuel was the issue, a couple of cars ran out. The IRA made the call because they didn't want the fans to have to sit through a red to fuel the cars with only a few laps to go. We got that from someone who was up in the scoring tower.

Stan Meissner

Repost of GRP's race summary:

Tatnell Captures 8th Annual Jerry Richert Memorial at CedarLakeSpeedway

09/06/07

By Greg Parent

Brooke Tatnell wanted to win the Jerry Richert Memorial as much if not more than any of the 34 outlaw 410 sprint car drivers on hand at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday September 6. Now a member of the Richert racing clan, Tatnell accomplished his goal when he drove the Forbrook #5 sprinter to victory in the 8th Annual edition of this popular IRA versus Knoxville Challenge event. Tatnell put on a dominating performance in leading all 25 laps, as he bested a strong field of outlaw sprint car competitors in what has become one of the IRA Outlaw Sprint Series biggest races each season with lots of extra bonus money and contingencies available.

Grand Forks, North Dakota's Mark Dobmeier was the only driver of the 34 cars on hand to break into the 10 second barrier in IRA time trials, as he turned a quick lap of 10.925 seconds around the 3/8 mile high-banked oval. Dobmeier's lap was less than 2/10ths off of Terry McCarl's track record of 10.757 seconds set at the 2004 edition of this race. The four IRA qualifying heat races were run off in very quick fashion with all four running nonstop. Making his first CLS appearance ever, Knoxville Raceway weekly competitor Bronson Maeschen drove to a convincing win in the first heat over fellow Knoxville competitor Kaley Gharst. With a large contingent of Richert family, friends and fans in attendance, Jerry Richert, Jr. gave them something to cheer about when he led all the way for the victory in the second heat. Long-time IRA racer "Smokin" Joe Symoens raced to the win in the third heat, besting two-time and defending Jerry Richert Memorial Champion Mike Reinke. Scott Uttech led the first four laps of the fourth heat, but Royce City, Texas driver Justin Zimmerman found the quick way around on lap 5 and went on to record the win in his first appearance at CLS driving the Karl #7K sprinter.

A special 8 lap Dash for Cash was held prior to the running of the B Main. Brooke Tatnell wasted little time in blasting into the lead from his pole starting position and never looked back enroute to a $500 win. Two-time and defending IRA Champion Travis Whitney raced from sixth to second. With a brief rain delay earlier in the evening, track and series officials kept the program moving along quickly with the B Main rolling out trackside soon after the dash was completed. Scheduled to start on the pole, Mark Dobmeier had experienced some engine problems in the dash and was unable to run the B Main. This moved Billy Hafemann up to the pole position. After one false start, Hafemann raced to the win 15 nonstop laps later to defeat Davey Heskin, Brad Barickman, Gary Dewall, and Donny Goeden. Scott Biertzer just narrowly edged out Brian Kristan for the sixth and final transfer spot into the feature race, as all 17 starters were able to run the entire distance.

The Northern Vintage Stock Car Racers were also on hand. They ran two series of heat races for their two divisions, the full body or stock cars and the open wheel or super modified class. Winning the NVSR feature race for the second year in a row at CLS in the stock car division was weekly late model racer Dave Friendt. Not to be outdone by a fellow weekly CLS competitor, modified rookie Keith Lepinksi drove to a convincing win in the super modified division besting the likes of Dennis Olson and Butch Bethke. Following the vintage car features, the outlaw sprint cars were pushing off for their main event when the light rains returned for a second time. This time the delay was much longer than the first time. Well over one hour later, the light rain had subsided and the track was packed backed in to racing condition.

Former IRA Champion Scotty Neitzel and Brooke Tatnell brought the 22 car starting grid to the green for a scheduled 30 lap A Main. The race was immediately under the red flag when contact exiting turn two caused Davey Heskin's car to roll over. The car landed upright with only the top wing sustaining damage. Heskin's crew repaired the wing in the work area, and he returned to restart at the tail of the field. On the second attempt to get the race underway, contact again at the exit of turn two saw Joe Symoens sustain a broken front end on his sprinter. Smokin Joe's night ended with a ride on the wrecker. The third time proved to be the charm, as Tatnell blasted into the early lead. Just two laps into the race, the yellow blinked on for the second time when Ryan Irwin did a complete 360 spin into the infield in turn one. Although he was able to continue on, the yellow was turned on for safety reasons and Irwin was relegated to the tail of the field. When the green replaced the yellow, Tatnell once again quickly swept away from the field leaving Scotty Neitzel and Travis Whitney to battle for the runnerup spot while Bronson Maeschen and Bill Balog moved forward. Lapped traffic came into play just six laps into the race, but Tatnell masterfully maneuvered his sprinter through the lapped cars. During a 14 lap green flag run, Tatnell put several lapped cars between himself and Neitzel while many fan's were watching the progress of current IRA point leader Bill Balog. Balog had started 16th and was marching forward. With 16 laps in the books, fourth place runner Bronson Maeschen got crossed up in turn four while battling for third and brought out the third yellow of the race. This tightened up the field and Balog found himself in fourth place.

Two laps after the race went green, the second and final red flag appeared when something let go in 8th running Mike Reinke's car and his sprinter shot straight up the banking and into the turn one wall. Reinke's car flipped over a couple of times before landing upright in turn two. Reinke's bid for his third straight Jerry Richert Memorial title ended with a ride to the pits on the wrecker. Again Tatnell quickly distanced himself from the field when the race restarted. As the laps clicked by, IRA officials became concerned about fuel and the race was shortened to 25 laps instead of 30. Tatnell had built up a large lead again and went on to record what he called a very special win for the transplanted Australian driver now calling Forest Lake, MN home. It was Tatnell's second 410 sprint car win at CLS, having won a World of Outlaws feature back in July 2005. Scotty Neitzel, Travis Whitney, Bill Balog and Scott Winters completed the top five finishers. On the final lap of the race, a rock was kicked up by another car and hit the arm of Kaley Gharst. Gharst, running seventh at the time, was unable to finish the final lap. Gharst was checked out by medical personnel and was reported to be okay. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Dusty Zomer, Justin Zimmerman, Bronson Maeschen, Jerry Richert Jr and Gary Dewall, as 18 of the 22 starters were able to finish. On the cool down lap after the race, a couple of cars ran out of fuel so the decision by IRA officials to run 25 laps certainly seemed to be a valid one.

With the campfires burning into the early hours of Sunday morning, many fans swapped stories and relived past races as memories were rekindled and friendships made. Brooke Tatnell joined Kim Mock, Don Droud Jr, Terry McCarl, Justin Henderson and Mike Reinke as champions of this great sprint car event. Racing action continues at the Cedar Lake Speedway with the Legendary 100 on September 10-13. Four big nights of action-packed racing will take place under a very popular format. The

Race Summary:

Fast Time (34 cars): Mark Dobmeier #13, 10.925

Heat 1 (10 laps): Bronson Maeschen, Kaley Gharst, Bill Balog, Brooke Tatnell, Mark Dobmeier, Kim Mock, Donny Goeden, Russell Borland, Duane Olson

Heat 2 (10 laps): Jerry Richert Jr, Scott Winters, John Sernett, Troy Manteufel, Billy Hafemann, Gary Dewall, Brian Kristan, Steve Meyer, Leigh Thomas

Heat 3 (10 laps): Joe Symoens, Mike Reinke, Ryan Irwin, Travis Whitney, Andy Hunt, Bill Wirth, Joseph Kouba, Davey Heskin

Heat 4 (10 laps): Justin Zimmerman, Scotty Neitzel, Dusty Zomer, Scott Uttech, Scott Biertzer, Brad Barickman, Bill Warren, Dave Uttech

Dash for Cash (8 laps): Tatnell, Whitney, Zomer, Dewall, Heskin, Hafemann, Dobmeier

B Main (15 laps): Hafemann, Heskin, Barickman, Dewall, Goeden, Biertzer, Kristan, Borland, Meyer, Warren, Hunt, Wirth, Mock, D Uttech, Thomas, Kouba, Olson, Dobmeier

A Main (25 laps): Tatnell, Neitzel, Whitney, Balog, Winters, Zomer, Zimmerman, Maeschen, Richert, Dewall, Biertzer, Gharst, Sernett, Goeden, Barickman, S Uttech, Irwin, Manteufel, Heskin, Reinke, Hafemann, Symoens

Lap Leader: Tatnell 1-25

**Photos are posted in the gotomn gallery**

Stan Meissner

The racing was good, always get a lump in the throat on that parade lap, remembering Jerry, and his many wins at the State Fair(dirt and asphalt) in the Frank Wagner Chevy. What was missing this year was the photos and memorabilia that was set up outside the main gate as you came in. The Richert family would be there to talk and reminise. Didn't see any 8th Annual Richert Memorial shirts for sale.