It doesn't get any better than this if you are a sprint car fan living in the Mpls./St. Paul area. For the first time in my memory, two classes of sprint cars took to a racetrack on the same night at a track within an hours drive of the Twin Cities metro area. 34 IRA sprint cars and 19 UMSS 360 sprint cars put on a nice show. I realize we aren't talking Pennsylvania or Knoxville car counts, but 53 sprint cars at Cedar Lake...awesome!! Brooke Tatnell, driving his brother-in-law Jerry Richert Jr.'s car won the IRA portion of the 9th annual Jerry Richert Memorial. There was an amazing battle between laps 10 and 18 between Tatnell, Johnny Herrera, Terry McCarl, Scott Winters, and Mark Dobmeier. Johnny Hererea led the first 10 laps, then traded the lead twice with Tatnell, before Tatnell passed him for good on lap 15. McCarl lost control and dove into the infield in turn four on lap 18 dropping him from 3rd back to 5th. Dobmeier was the victim of an exploded right rear on lap 25 bringing out the yellow flag. Dobmeier restarted at the back of the lead lap cars which was 15th. The best racing in the last five laps took place between McCarl and Billy Balog who battled for fourth over the last six laps. The two traded the spot several times over the last six laps with Balog holding the 4th spot at the line ahead of McCarl. Balog, started 14th. But, in the end it was Brook Tatnell who took advantage of two yellow flag restarts in the last six laps to pull away from runnerup finisher Scott Winters to take the win. Winters who has only a handful of starts with the IRA had won four IRA features in a row at Cedar Lake over the past two years. Tonight's run was impressive as he started 10th and passed a lot of tough cars to earn the runner-up spot. Johnny Herrera finished third: Unofficial results of the IRA race (these are strictly from what I wrote down, they are not official: 1. Brooke Tatnell (started 5th) 2. Scott Winters (10th) 3. Johnny Herrerea (1st) 4. Billy Balog (14th) 5. Terry McCarl (4th) 6. Erin Crocker (2nd) 7. Lynton Jeffery (7th) 8. Jake Peters (13th) 9. Mike Reinke (15th) 10. Robbie Wolfgang (6th) 11. Scott Biertzer (19th) 12. Davey Heskin (11th) 13. Jerry Richert Jr. (9th, but spun on lap 3 moving him to the tail) 14. Mark Dobmeier (3rd, but blew a tire on lap 25 and restarted 15th) 15. Brad Barickman (12th) 16. Bill Warren (18th) The following cars finished a lap down, but I am unsure of how they crossed the line: Dave Uttech (16th) Todd King (22nd in the K9 car) Kris Spitz (17th) Scott Uttech (8th) The following did not finish: 21. John Haeni (spun for the second time on lap 28) 22. Josh Higday (hit the wall on lap 21) Cars that did not make the A included the cars that finished 7th through 16th in the B which were 7. Ryan Wilson, 8. Billy Hafeman, 9. Russell Borland; 10. Tony Kaus; 11. Duane Olson; 12. Scott Neitzel DNF; 13. Philip Mock flipped hard down the back stretch with four laps to go; 14. Andy Hunt DNF; 15. Joe Symoens DNF; 16. Leigh Thomas (DNF). Travis Whitney and Bill Wirth scratched after time trials. The UMSS feature was a wild affair! Brooke Tatnell in the Nelson car looked like he had this race sewed up as well, but made contact trying to lap Bruce Toll (sp?) on lap 15 of the 25 lap feature. Both cars nearly stalled causing several cars right behind to check up, yet some others were able to get through and pass several cars in a single pass. Tatnell and Toll were able to limp to the pits without bringing out a yellow. Robbie Wolfgang took the lead at his point and he too looked like a sure winner until he blew a tire four laps later bringing out the yellow. Rob Kubli inherited the lead and held on to win his first ever UMSS feature race in what was not only his first appearance at Cedar Lake, but also his first time ever in a 360 sprint car. Kubli also won his heat and looked fast all night! Brad Barickman finished second and Wolfgang who restarted at the tail of the lead lap cars came back to finish third. UNOFFICIAL RESULTS of the UMSS feature 1. Rob Kubli (3rd) 2. Brad Barickman (2nd) 3. Robbie Wolfgang (1st, but restarted 8th on lap 19) 4. Sye Anderson (5th) 5. Danny Schlafer (12th) 6. Brett Geldner (6th) 7. Chris Graff (15th) 8. Leigh Thomas (7th) 9. Kevin Nickel (2 laps down) 10. Lynn Franklin (DNF after 23 laps) 11. Cody Hahn (DNF after 22 laps) 12. Joseph Kouba (DNF 19 laps) 13. Brooke Tatnell (DNF 15 laps) 14. Bruce Toll (DNF 15 laps) 15. Johnnie Parsons III (DNF about 12 laps) 16. Jimmy Kouba (DNF 9 laps) 17. Ronnie Erickson (DFN 2 laps) 18. Al Schlafer (DNF first lap) Jerry Richert Jr. had his 360 here as well, but crashed hard into the turn three wall during hot laps.
|
Reply to:
Posted By: Hansmn on September 13 2009 at 09:52:56 AM
Nice win for Brook! I got a kick out of T-Mac and his problem with Winters on restarts. It looked like Winters motor stumble on each of them. T-Mac would run up along side him and point and wave his hands. T-Mac started 4th and finished 5th, Winters 10th to 2nd.....doesn't look like he needs to much advice from him, at least not tonight. Nice run Scott!
|
That was kind of interesting to see under the yellow during a series of cautions. When Scott did not refire well on the first restart and allowed Tatnell to grab a big lead, T-Mac pulled up alongside him on the next attempt while under yellow and appeared to signal him to get going! Scott's dad Kent told me afterwards that their car had kind of neutralized a bit following the lap 20 yellow, and that it took Scott a little bit to really get going again. Obviously we will never know the outcome, but had that final yellow not waved with two to go, Tatnell was coming up on a pack of cars at the back and Winters was closing in. It would have been a heckuva a final two laps had it stayed green! Great win and repeat for Brooke Tatnell at the Richert Memorial. What a super great way to return to the driver's seat by keeping the Jerry Richert Memorial title in the family. Neat to see Brooke run the #63 car owned by Joe Kouba and Jerry Richert, Jr. A family affair indeed for both car and driver!
From official scoring, here's the lap leaders: Herrera 1-11, Tatnell 12, Herrera 13-15, Tatnell 16-30.
From lap 10-20, positions changed hands frequently. Here's a summary. Crocker runs second through lap 10 with Tatnell in third. Tatnell and McCarl get by on lap 11. Tatnell leads lap 12. Herrera back to first lap 13, Crocker to second, Tatnell drops to third, T-Mac fourth. Tatnell charges back to second lap 14, T-Mac to third, and suddenly Scott Winters to fourth. Tatnell regains the lead on lap 16. Winters to third lap 19. Winters to second lap 20 followed by Herrera, Dobmeier, McCarl, Crocker and Balog. Absolutely incredible racing during that 10 lap stretch!!!
After the lap 20 restart, T-Mac moves up to fourth on lap 22, then Dobby has a flat with 24 laps in while running in fifth. That bumps Crocker and Balog up a spot. Balog moves up to fifth lap 25. After lap 28 caution, Balog to fourth lap 29. Finish: Tatnell, Winters, Herrera, Balog, McCarl, Crocker, Jeffrey, Peters, Reinke, and Wolfgang in top ten. Then Biertzer, Heskin, Richert, Dobmeier, Warren and Barickman on lead lap. Lapped cars D Uttech, King, S Uttech, and Spitz. Only two cars failed to finish: Haeni & Higday. Under IRA rules, lapped cars of Richert, Barickman and Warren got Lucky Dog awards during cautions on laps 20,24,28 and were unlapped.
Cautions (5): With 2 laps in for spin by Richert, 20 laps in for Higday stopped after wall contact, 24 laps in for Dobmeier stopped with flat tire, lap 24 restart for Haeni spin, 28 laps in for second Haeni spin.
|
