Jimmy Kouba Returns To Cedar Lake Speedway Victory Lane

It had been quite some time since Jimmy Kouba sat in Victory Lane at the Cedar Lake Speedway, but the Byron, Minnesota racer made a triumphant return to a familiar place on Saturday July 11 when he led the final 19 laps in the UMSS Traditional sprint car feature race for his third win of the season. Kouba, the 1997 CLS Track Champion in the WISSOTA 360 winged sprint car division, had nine career victories at the western Wisconsin dirt oval. The last one came on August 15, 1998. Kouba now can lay claim to winning in both a winged and non-winged sprint car for his 10th career victory at CLS. As he described following the race, it was kind of like a flash-back Saturday for him. “It’s like going home again. CLS was where we won our first championship and one of my favorite tracks. What an awesome team and family.” Kouba reversed his misfortune from the previous night and celebrated with his wife Jamie (who is also his crew chief) in Rock Auto Victory Lane in front of a large crowd on WoO weekend at the track.

Following three heat races for the 22 cars on hand which were won by Brian VanMeveren, Jimmy Kouba and Rob Caho Jr, the top four drivers in passing and finishing points redrew for the first four starting positions in the 25 lap feature. VanMeveren and Scott Brandt sat on the front row with Caho and Mike Mueller in row two. Jimmy Kouba started fifth. Kouba began working his way forward with VanMeveren leading. The red flag flew with five laps scored for a crash involving Joseph Kouba and Kevin Bradwell in turn two. Neither car tipped over, but the track was blocked to the point where a red flag was necessary. VanMeveren, who was looking for his second career TSCS win, led one more lap after the race went green. On lap 7, Jimmy Kouba made the winning pass.

The feature was slowed under caution one more time with 17 laps in, but Jimmy Kouba was too strong up front. Several spots behind the race leader changed hands on several occasions though. In the end, Friday night winner James Giossi rode home in second as he came up one spot short of the GRP clean sweep bonus. The drive of the night however came from 20th starter Chase Viebrock. Viebrock was relegated to the rear of the field following an unsuccessful slide job pass of Jake Kouba in his heat race. The resulting contact damage Jake’s car to the point where they were done for the evening. Under UMSS rules, Viebrock was DQed from the heat race and would have to start tail-end for the feature. Viebrock turned some heads amongst the large crowd with an incredible drive through the field from his 20th starting spot to finish third and earn the $100 GRP Motorsports Hard Charger Award. Caho finished fourth and picked up another $100 GRP Past Champion bonus. VanMeveren held off Mike Mueller for fifth. Finishing behind Mueller was Neal Matuska, Johnny Parsons II, Brandt and Jeremy Kerzman in the top ten. Sixteen of the 20 starters were running at the checkers. Two cars were unable to start the feature.

After a very successful two days at Cedar Lake which included a car count record for the division on Friday night (24 cars), the popular non-winged series returns to its home track next Friday night July 17 at St. Croix Valley Raceway. The following week is a big triple header July 23-25 with the inaugural appearance at the Red Cedar Speedway during the Dunn County Fair on Thursday night, a return to SCVR on Friday, and capped off with their second appearance of the season at the Rice Lake Speedway.

Traditional Sprint Car Series Race Results – Cedar Lake Speedway July 11, 2015 (Race #12)

GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[5]; 2. 11-James Giossi[6]; 3. 50-Chase Viebrock[20]; 4. 78-Rob Caho Jr[3]; 5. 24-Brian Vanmeveren[1]; 6. 87-Mike Mueller[4]; 7. 48-Neal Matuska[15]; 8. 12-Johnny Parsons III[7]; 9. 7B-Scott Brandt[2]; 10. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[10]; 11. 14-Cam Schafer[8]; 12. 69S-Jon Lewerer[9]; 13. 21J-Jori Hughes[11]; 14. KA1-Blake Anderson[17]; 15. 34-Denny Stordahl[18]; 16. N1-Tony Duran[19]; 17. (DNF) 27-Mike Walters[16]; 18. (DNF) 13K-Katrina Sautbine[13]; 19. (DNF) 95-Kevin Bradwell[14]; 20. (DNF) 55-Joseph Kouba[12]; DNS 81-Dan Peper; DNS 6-Jake Kouba
Lap Leaders: VanMeveren 1-6, Jimmy Kouba 7-25. Cautions: (2) Red flag with 5 laps scored for turn 2 crash involving 55,95,21J & Yellow flag with 17 laps in the books for 27 & 13k spin in turn 3 infield.

Meeks Video Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Brian Vanmeveren[2]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[4]; 3. 69S-Jon Lewerer[3]; 4. 13K-Katrina Sautbine[1]; 5. 95-Kevin Bradwell[5]; 6. KA1-Blake Anderson[6]; 7. N1-Tony Duran[8]; 8. 81-Dan Peper[7]
Lap Leader: VanMeveren 1-10. No cautions.

Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[1]; 2. 11-James Giossi[2]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[4]; 4. 14-Cam Schafer[6]; 5. 48-Neal Matuska[5]; 6. 27-Mike Walters[7]; 7. 34-Denny Stordahl[3]
Lap Leader: Kouba 1-10. No cautions.

Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[6]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[5]; 3. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[2]; 4. 55-Joseph Kouba[4]; 5. 21J-Jori Hughes[7]; 6. (DNF) 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 7. 50-Chase Viebrock[3]
Lap Leaders: Jake Kouba 1-8, Mueller 9, Caho 10. Cautions: (1) with 8 laps scored when 50 executed an unsuccessful slide job on 6 in turn 2 and caused 6 car to crash. 50 DQed for the race and 6 done for the night with extensive front end damage.

Victory Lane Photo courtesy of Scott Swenson.

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