October 4, 2009
 
"Lightning" Leigh Thomas put together a consistent campaign during the 2009 Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series (UMSS) season and garnered the series' first ever championship.  Thomas, who calls Duluth, Minnesota home, competed at all 16 UMSS race events, making the feature every race night where all UMSS points are earned.
 
"It was a storybook ending.  This was the most unlikely of all my racing seasons to win a championship for many reasons," said a happy Leigh Thomas after a third place finish clinched the championship at Cedar Lake Speedway.  "I'm in the construction business and times are tough.  I finance my own team.  We didn't buy a new tire for the first two months of the season, the fuel we used this year was bought last year, we ran on seven cylinders one night, had to drive seven hours round trip to buy parts so we could race the next night, and more than once we showed up at the track with just enough money to buy pit passes.  We went through a lot, but it was worth it.  We'll be back next year to defend our championship."
 
Finishing second in the final point standings was Jerry Richert, Jr.  Jerry amassed seven feature wins during the 2009 UMSS season and made all but one feature event.  His crash in hot laps on the night of his dad's memorial race kept him from the night's feature and allowed Thomas to pass him in the points standing, where he stayed through the last race of the season.
 
Long-time Twin Cities racer Joseph Kouba started every feature event and took home third place honors in the final UMSS points tally.  Rounding out the top 5 in UMSS points are first year racer Cody Hahn, who finished fourth, and UMSS' most dedicated racer, Kevin Nickel, finished fifth.
 
"What a great group of core drivers we have in the UMSS," exclaimed Ron Bernhagen.  "Leigh tows the farthest to probably 80% of our shows, Jerry could have raced elsewhere but chose to support the UMSS, Joseph was at every race and helps me out a lot with driver perspective input, Cody chose to race with us in his first year, and Keven got upside down three times this year and only missed one show.  I thank each and every one of them.  I'd also like to thank the other core drivers for making the 2009 season a great one: Brad Barickman, Sye Anderson, Mike Luks, John Nelson, Kenny Melanson, Jack Zweber, Jimmy Kouba and Lynn Franklin."
 
The UMSS is a value-based racing organization that offers reasonable and cost-effective rules for the participants, a purse structure that is sustainable for the race tracks, and a fan-friendly program with double rounds of qualifying races for the race fan.  To learn more, go to www.umsprints.com or call Ron Bernhagen at 612-363-5302.