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Lou Kennedy Jr Tops Billy Anderson Memorial at Cedar Lake Speedway

New Richmond, WI

By: Greg Parent

The second race of the inaugural season for the UMSS sprint cars brought the group to the Cedar Lake Speedway for the 7th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial on Saturday night April 25. A cool spring evening did not put a damper on the racing action at the 3/8 mile high-banked western Wisconsin speedplant. When the checkered flag waved over the 20 car field, Winnipeg driver Lou Kennedy Jr had become the seventh different winner of this prestigious early season event held in memory of a fallen sprint car comrade. Kennedy earned $1,000 for his victory.

Taking top honors in the first round of qualifying races, Ultimate Sprint Race wins went to Leigh Thomas, Brad Barickman and Jody Roseboom. The second round of qualifiers called the Ultimate Challenge Races saw John Nelson and Jerry Richert Jr earn victories. John Nelson was the high-point driver following this round, and he drew the zero pill so the feature would line straight up based on points from the qualifiers.

With three cars unable to take the green, John Nelson and Jason Tostenson paced the 17 car starting grid for the scheduled 20 lap Billy Anderson Memorial feature race. Tostenson blasted into the early lead from his outside front row starting spot, but it was seventh starter Lou Kennedy Jr the big gainer on the opening lap. Kennedy moved all the way to second by the end of lap one with Nelson running third. Just as fourth starter Jody Rosenboom moved to third with seven laps in the books, contact with the lapped car of rookie driver Mike Louks caused his Mighty Mouse #27 sprinter to spin sideways in turn one. Even though it was not his fault, under UMSS rules if a car stops on the track it must tag the tail of the field on the restart. Rosenboom would be on a mission over the course of the next 13 laps. Kennedy had also just taken the lead from Tostenson.

When the green reappeared, Kennedy held the point over Tostenson with Brad Barickman holding off Nelson for third. The second caution of the race waved when fifth place runner Jerry Richert Jr looped his sprinter in turn four with 12 laps in. Kennedy continued to show the way with Tostenson, Barickman, Nelson and Chris Graf in the top five. Rosenboom had already raced his way back to the sixth position, but his charge forward was certainly not done by any means. Just one lap after the race went green, young Thomas Kennedy spun in turn two to bring out the third yellow. The running order remained the same, but that would change soon.

Two laps after the green blinked on, Rosenboom moved past Graf for fifth while the second spot swapped around a couple of times. The final caution came when Kevin Nickel spun his sprinter in turn four with 16 laps in the books. This set up a four lap dash to the finish. Rosenboom had just passed Nelson for fourth while the top three spots remained unchanged. Not for long though, as the drivers raced hard during the final four circuits with several positions changing hands more than once. With just two laps to go, Rosenboom got by Barickman for third and set his sights on Tostenson. At the white flag, Rosenboom edged past Tostenson for the runnerup position while Barickman applied the pressure. Rosenboom was clearly the fastest car on the track, but he did not have enough laps left to catch Kennedy. Lou Kennedy Jr rode home first followed by Rosenboom. Barickman as able to get past Tostenson for third on the final lap. Nelson completed the top five finishers. Rounding out the top ten was Graf, Leigh Thomas, Friday night winner Tony Norem, Richert Jr from the back after his lap 12 spin and Thomas Kennedy, son of race winner Lou Kennedy Jr. Young Robby Wolfgang appeared headed for a top ten finish, but a complete 360 spin in turn four following the lap sixteen restart dropped him down in the running order at the finish. Wolfgang was able to keep going, so no caution was necessary. Unlike the previous night at Kopellah, the 20 lap feature event completed an evening of sprint car racing without any red flags.

Lou Kennedy Jr placed his name in the record books along side of previous Billy Anderson Memorial winners Tony Norem, Bill Boles, Jerry Richert Jr, Loren Langerud, Jake Peters, and Chuck Swenson. Having completed their doubleheader weekend debut, the UMSS sprint cars next race will see them return to the 1/4 mile Kopellah Speedway on Friday evening May 8. Thanks to all the sprint car fans and drivers who supported the series on its opening weekend.

UMSS Feature Finish (Billy Anderson Memorial): Lou Kennedy Jr, Jody Rosenboom, Brad Barickman, Jason Tostenson, John Nelson, Chris Graf, Leigh Thomas, Tony Norem, Jerry Richert Jr, Thomas Kennedy, Scott Thiel, Joseph Kouba, Jeremy Schultz, Robby Wolfgang, Kenny Melanson, Mike Louks, Kevin Nickel. DNS: Gene Kelly, Adrian Wagner, Billy Balog.

Lap Leaders: Tostenson 1-6, Kennedy Jr 7-20

Very cool to see some first-time sprint car drivers at CLS last night. To the best of my knowledge, making their CLS debut were the following drivers: Robby Wolfgang, Thomas Kennedy, Scotty Thiel, Jeremy Schultz, Adrian Wagner, and Mike Louks. I beleive a couple of the cars came north from the Southern Wisconsin based MSA series. Thanks to the Kennedy team of Lou Jr and his son Thomas for their long trip down south to CLS from their native Winnipeg, Canada. Lou told me there is nothing but flooding up there, so they need to head south to race. He was not sure if they would make it down, but his son was anxious to get going so they decided with an improved weather outlook they would make the long trek south to CLS. Lou thought is was probably around 10 years or so since his last CLS appearance. Fortunately the results were very favorable for the Winnipeg driver at the 7th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial.

Congratulations to the UMSS for a successful opening weekend. A little cool on Friday night and a few cars could not continue on Saturday but overall the opening weekend could be considered a success. I got some feedback from the stands at Cedar and the fans seemed to enjoy the Sprints so that's good to hear.

Stan Meissner

I agree, Stan. Good opening weekend. That was one of the better 360 shows at CLS in the last few years. Kudos to Ron and crew for a good opening weekend.

Chad Patterson

For those fans who like to know how they started the feature race, here was the starting lineup for the 7th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial.

Row 1: Nelson #14 - Tostenson #34TW

Row 2: Barickman #34 - Rosenboom #27

Row 3: Richert #62 - Thomas #29

Row 4: Kennedy Jr #21K - Graf #20G

Row 5: Norem #1T - Wolfgang #1a

Row 6: Kennedy #20K - Schultz #5J

Row 7: Kouba #55 - Nickel #10

Row 8: Melanson #25 - Thiel #64

Row 9: Louks #8

DNS: Kelly #22 (gear trouble), Wagner #9w (front-end damage), Balog #1 (motor vibration)

Foss, Kobs, Schill, Houle & Kennedy are Kings for a Night at Cedar Lake Speedway

New Richmond, WI

by Greg Parent

The 52nd season of racing at the Cedar Lake Speedway continued on Saturday April 25 highlighted by the running of the 7th Annual Billy Anderson Memorial for the UMSS 360 sprint cars. A cool spring evening did not put a damper on the racing action, as a field of 116 cars were on hand in the four weekly NASCAR divisions along with the sprint cars. Lou Kennedy Jr. from Winnipeg became the seventh different winner of the Billy Anderson Memorial when he passed early leader Jason Tostenson on lap 7 and held off Jody Rosenboom for the win in 360 sprint car action. Keith Foss ducked underneath John Kaanta on lap 10 enroute to victory in the nonstop 30 lap NASCAR late model main event. Rick Kobs led all the way in the NASCAR modified main, but Darrell Nelson applied the pressure in the latter half of the race. In only his second night behind the wheel of a NASCAR super stock, Jason Schill turned in an impressive performance to earn top honors. Jeremy Houle was making his first appearance of the season, and it certainly turned out to be a good one as he hustled his way past early leader Mike Gibson and then had to keep Dan Wheeler at bay in the NASCAR midwest modified feature.

The NASCAR midwest modifieds lined up for the first feature race activity of the evening with a full 24 car starting grid. Robbie Franklin and Mike Gibson brought the field to flagman Jeff Stacken's green with Gibson gunning into the early lead. The race was only two laps old when Patrick McCarthy brought out the first caution with a spin on the backstretch. Vince Corbin got into Jeremy Houle on the restart resulting in a trip to the tail for Corbin. Gibson continued to lead with Dave Siercks in second. Contact in turn two between Bob Smith and Jason Vandekamp on lap 7 ended up with last Saturday night's feature winner, Vandekamp, on the hook to the pits. Houle and Smith had worked their way into the second and third running positions behind Gibson. Houle took the top spot a couple laps after the race went green again, as Smith also wrestled the second spot from Gibson. A spin by John Clark in turn four collected Steve Strandlund nine laps into the race and resulted in the fourth caution. It was Houle, Smith, Dan Wheeler, Gibson and Clayton Wagamon holding the top five spots on the restart. Wheeler moved to second on lap 11 and set his sights on Houle. The final caution waved with 18 laps scored when fifth place runner Clayton Wagamon's run ended on the hook. This set the stage for a two lap dash to the checkers. Wheeler tried to get past Houle, but to no avail. Jeremy Houle earned his first win of the 2009 season in his first appearance at CLS. Wheeler finished second ahead of Smith. An impressive performance for 22nd starter and defending track champion Shawn Phillips saw him race forward to finish fourth in front of 18th starter A J Roschen. Heat race wins for the NASCAR midwest mods were captured by Vince Corbin, Clayton Wagamon, Mike Gibson, and Jeremy Houle. Rob Caho Jr. topped Phillips and Josh Bazey in the B Main.

Although the numbers were down a bit tonight, the NASCAR super stocks are always competitive and tonight was no exception. Ryan Wiome and Jason Schill paced the field. The race was under caution right away when rookie Tyler Boumeester got into Mike Loomis in turn two. Boumeester was relegated to the tail of the field. It was Schill with the upper hand when the race went green, although the second yellow blinked on just one lap into the race when Todd Carlson turned sideways in front of the field in turn four. All cars managed to avoid him. The race then settled in for a green flag run with Schill showing the way up front. Jim Gullikson soon worked his way into the runnerup spot while Justin Dodge raced to third ahead of Wiome and Greg Nippoldt. Last week's doubleheader winner Tim Borgeson was on the move forward from his 14th starting spot and took fifth from Nippoldt on lap 8. Borgeson's night ended when he snapped the driveshaft in two 15 laps into the run. Second place runner Jim Gullikson was docked two spots under caution for jumping the previous restart, so the running order saw Schill in first followed by Dodge, Wiome, Gullikson and Loomis. In the five remaining laps, Dodge made a couple of bids for the lead. Schill held strong and went on to win in only his second time behind the wheel of a super stock. Dodge turned in his best performance of the young season with a fine second place run. Wiome also had his best run so far with a third place finish. Gullikson and Nippoldt completed the top five when apparent fourth place finisher Mike Loomis ended up being moved back two spots for jumping on the final restart. The two heats for the NASCAR super stocks were won by rookie Tyler Boumeester and Greg Nippoldt.

Darrell Nelson was looking to make it three straight in the NASCAR modified division, but Rick Kobs had a different idea. Kobs and Mike Kelley Jr. paced the 22 car starting field for 20 racing laps. Kobs rocketed to the lead over third starter Jason Miller on the opening lap with fourth starter Darrell Nelson moving to third. A safety call three laps into the race slowed the pace so track officials could check a fuel leak on Dano Ostrander's car. A lap later, Adam Ackes spun in turn four and Ostrander exited the track under caution unable to resolve the fluid leak. With five laps down, Kelley spun in turn four and collected Ron Schreiner. Terry Hanson also sustained some damage and required wrecker assistance to the pits while Ron Schreiner was also unable to continue. Kelley restarted at the rear. The top three running order remained the same, but Nelson moved past Miller a lap later. The fourth and final caution flew 7 laps into the race when Jeff Lien nosed into the turn one wall. The final 13 laps would see a very good race develop up front between Kobs and Nelson. Nelson applied some serious pressure on Kobs on several occasions, but he was not able to complete the winning pass. Rick Kobs held off Nelson to score the win. Jason Gross got past Miller at the halfway mark and settled for third at the finish ahead of Miller and 2007 midwest modified track champion Greg Chesley. NASCAR modified heat races were won by Kelley and Schreiner.

The ground-pounding action of the NASCAR late models rounded out the weekly racing program with 25 cars lined up for 30 laps of feature race action. Following the sprint car feature event, the late models would see the track take rubber part way into their nonstop run however. That didn't mean polesitter John Kaanta led all the way though. Kaanta led the first nine laps until 5th starter Keith Foss drove underneath him in turn two for the lead on lap 10. Foss had steadily worked his way forward during the first five laps of the race and was really hooked up. Kaanta tried to battle back during the next couple of laps, but Foss was just too strong and with the track taking rubber down low, very few positions changed hands after the 1/3 mark of the race. Keith Foss earned the victory in his second appearance of the season while last Saturday night's feature winner John Kaanta settled for second. Joel Cryderman, defending track champion Brent Larson, and Steve Laursen completed the top five. Rounding out the top ten was John Henkemeyer, Jim Carlson, Rick Egersdorf, Chad Mahder, and Pat Doar. Heat race winners in the 26 car NASCAR late model field included Doar, Larson and Mike Nutzmann.

Racing continues next Saturday night May 2 at the Cedar Lake Speedway featuring fast-paced action in the NASCAR late model, modified, super stock and midwest modified divisions at the western Wisconsin dirt oval. The next appearance for the UMSS 360 sprint cars will not be until the opening night of The Masters. Start time on race nights is scheduled for 6:30 PM. May 2nd will be the first regular race program featuring the Kids 10 and Under Free promotion. Come on out and enjoy a Saturday evening of dirt track racing at the high-banked 3/8 mile facility located near New Richmond, WI.

Thanks to GRP, Ron, Chuck, Joe and all the sponsors and racers for all their support and effort! Somebody needs to pry the water wagon keys out of Bob Cook's pocket. Other than the crummy track, the racing was decent on Saturday. Looking forward to the next UMSS race in a few weeks.....