Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series results
Barickman collects top cash at Kouba Memorial
By Greg Parent
BRAINERD, Minn. (July 24) – Picking up where he left off the weekend, Brad Barickman continued his Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series winning streak when he raced to victory in the prestigious 18th annual Earl and Ethel Kouba Memorial at North Central Speedway on Saturday night.
Brad Barickman topped Friday’s Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series Kouba Memorial at North Central Speedway. (Photo by Stan Meissner)
Barickman drove around early race leader Mark Toews on lap four and never looked back to earn his third straight UMSS feature win.
“This is a very special race honoring a special family in this sport. This win means a lot to me,” he said from victory lane. “I’m honored to be able to add my name along side some outstanding drivers who are previous winners.”
Toews led the first three circuits before Barickman blasted around him for the top spot. Defending race winner Jerry Richert Jr. zipped into second on lap six.
Barickman stretched out his lead over Richert following a lap six restart and Cody Hahn snuck into third.
Barickman continued to show his strength up front during the four-lap sprint to the finish. Richert, Hahn, Tim Johnson and Kouba rounded out the top five.
A strong run forward by 15th starting rookie Jared Goerges produced a sixth place finish. 19th starting Scotty Thiel was seventh.
Three heats were completed before the event was rained out on June 5. The feature race alone had an $8,500 payout while the total Kouba Memorial purse was $9,550.
Feature results – 1. Barickman; 2. Jerry Richert Jr.; 3. Cody Hahn; 4. Tim Johnson; 5. Jimmy Kouba; 6. Jared Goerges; 7. Scotty Thiel; 8. Mark Toews; 9. Joseph Kouba; 10. Sye Anderson; 11. Shannon Eriksen; 12. Leigh Thomas; 13. Jack Zweber; 14. Jennifer Eriksen; 15. Troy Manteufel; 16. Ronnie Erickson; 17. Kevin Nickel; 18. Anna Kouba; 19. Mark Yetter; 20. Andy Jones; 21. Brandon Allen.
Heat winners were Chris Graf, Nickel and Jimmy Kouba. Richert and Thomas won the challenge races.
Long tow from Wisconsin pays for Thiel in second UMSS event at Brainerd
By Greg Parent
BRAINERD, Minn. (July 24) – Making a nearly eight hour tow from Sheboygan, Wis., to North Central Speedway to race in two feature events, young Scotty Thiel put an end to Brad Barickman’s three race winning streak when he trounced the field and the win the Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series’ second event of the evening Saturday at Brainerd.
A full UMSS program was run following the rescheduled Kouba Memorial and Thiel decided to make his second series appearance of the season. His first, back in April to Kopellah, ended up with a wrecked car.
This long haul was much more profitable, as the young hotshoe wheeled his Sprinter to victory from his outside front row starting spot.
“This is just awesome to make a long haul over here and come away with a win. I love racing with the UMSS on their smaller tracks,” he said. “This will make the long drive back home tomorrow go a little bit faster.”
Hopefully that was the case as Thiel had some problems during the last 30 mile jaunt of his journey on Saturday when his tow vehicle would only pull the trailer at about 30 miles an hour. At that pace, Thiel joked, they might get back home in time to race next weekend.
Rookie contender Jared Goerges and Scotty Thiel brought the Brainerd field to the green and Thiel immediately bolted into the lead after Goerges caught a rut.
Brad Barickman, who had won the Kouba Memorial earlier in the evening, shot to second on the opening lap from his fourth starting spot. When the lone caution of the race flew with five laps in the books, Thiel had already opened up a bit of a lead.
Thiel gradually pulled away from the field following the restart as the battle for sec ond heated up behind him. Goerges recovered from his earlier miscue on the opening lap and raced back to the runner-up spot on lap nine. One lap later, Mark Toews got by Barickman for third.
Toews swapped the second place spot a couple of times with Goerges before taking control on lap 15.
The race stayed green to the finish with Thiel winning by a very comfortable margin over Toews. Goerges turned in his best finish of the season with a solid third place effort. Sye Anderson also raced to his best finish of the season with a charge from tenth to finish fourth. Completing the top five was Cody Hahn.
Feature results – 1. Scotty Thiel; 2. Mark Toews; 3. Jared Goerges; 4. Sye Ander son; 5. Cody Hahn; 6. Tim Johnson; 8. Jimmy Kouba; 9. Jerry Richert Jr.; 10. Brad Barickman; 11. Jack Zweber; 12. Jennifer Eriksen; 13. Anna Kouba; 14. Shannon Eriksen; 15. Kevin Nickel; 16. Troy Manteufel; 17. Joseph Kouba; 18. Erickson DNF.
Heat winners were Hahn, Goerges and Toews. Challenge race winners were Zweber and Johnson.
