The following excerpt was taken from the official race report from Terry Lehnertz for the St. Croix valley Raceway Traditional 30 on June 8.
The penultimate race of the night was the headlining UMSS Traditional 30, featuring the Sterling Bank UMSS Traditional sprint cars. In just their second year of existence, an all-time record high twelve wingless warriors checked in to vie for the largest payout to date in the growing class. Of the twelve competitors, only the #71H of Mike Huesmann was unable to take the green flag for the night’s main event.
After winning the evening’s first heat race, Strum, Wisconsin’s “Flyin” Ryan Olson found himself chasing Rob Caho with one lap in the books. Behind the rookie Olson, ageless Jack Clark was fending off Jeff Pellersels and reigning champion Kevin “Rocketman” Bradwell in the battle for third. By lap three, Bradwell had blasted up to third and was chasing Olson with Caho still running strong in the high groove out front. After a lap ten caution for Olson, Johnny Parsons III, despite a heavily smoking engine, was a consistent factor in the top five battle, and Pellersels climbed to the runner-up spot. The final caution of the race was on lap 21, after which Travis Jehlicka broke into the top five along with “Hurricane” Katrina Sautbine. Third running Kevin Bradwell pulled off at this time with overheating issues. the feature distance was reduced to 25 laps at this point. At the final double checkers, it was Caho by a comfortable margin ahead of Pellersels, Parsons, Jehlicka and Sautbine. In post-race tech inspection, the cars of Jehlicka and Sautbine were disqualified for illegal carbs moving rookie Lucas Milz and Jack Clark into the top five. Milz was making his first-ever start in a TSCS sprint car.
RACE SUMMARY (Traditional 30) - Feature: Caho, Pellersels, Parsons, Milz, Clark, Porter, Bradwell DNF, Stordahl DNF, Olson DNF, Huesmann DNS, Jehlicka DQ, Sautbine DQ.
Heat 1: Olson, Caho, Clark, Stordahl, Jehlicka, Sautbine.
Heat 2: Bradwell, Pellersels, Milz, Porter, Huesmann, Parsons DNF.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.