Cam Schafer Wins 2017 UMSS Traditional Sprint Season Opener at CLS

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Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
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Greg Parent on Apr 08, 2017
Article Date: 4/8/2017 by Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director

Pleasant early spring weather allowed the 2017 UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Season to get underway on Friday evening April 7 at the Cedar Lake Speedway. 2014 TSCS Champion Cam Schafer topped a very entertaining 20 lap feature for his twelfth series win and second career at Cedar Lake. The race ran nonstop to the checkers with Mike Mueller leading the opening two circuits before Schafer took over up front to lead through lap 18. Coming to the white flag, Brian VanMeveren edged past Schafer for the top spot only to see Schafer retake the lead exiting turn two and go on to defeat VanMeveren by about a car length at the checkers. Schafer celebrated his opening night win in Rock Auto Victory Lane and commented afterwards on the great condition the track was in for opening weekend. Schafer was driving the Kamrath #14 sprinter.

With several cars not ready yet, a smaller than expected but still decent field of fourteen Traditional sprints were on hand at CLS for the first race. 2011 Champion Kevin Bradwell was never able to get his car running, so he ended up being scratched for the night. Mechanical issues also hampered Joseph Kouba, as the #55 sprinter pulled off during his heat race and just prior to taking the green flag for the feature. Twelve cars took the green and all twelve finished the caution-free race with ten cars still on the lead lap.

Passing and finishing points in the two heats saw Mueller, Schafer, VanMeveren and Scott Brandt earn the right to redraw for the feature. Those four drivers drew exactly the same order as they earned points, so it was Mueller and Schafer going from the front row for the 20 lap feature. Mueller grabbed an early lead on the bottom, but Schafer quickly gained momentum on the cushion and shot past Mueller exiting turn four on lap three for the lead. Several laps later, VanMeveren was also flying up top and got by Mueller, who then decided to move up as well. VanMeveren pulled up right behind Schafer on several occasions and tried a couple times to get by but was unsuccessful. As the leaders approached a couple of cars running near the tail end of the lead lap late in the race, the battle for the lead got real interesting. VanMeveren was able to get under Schafer in lapped traffic to complete lap 19 and take the white flag, but Schafer was able to zip back around VanMeveren exiting turn two on the final lap for the win. Mueller closed back in on the lead duo and finished about a car length behind VanMeveren at the checkers in third. Jake Kouba topped his dad Jimmy for fourth. Rounding out the top ten finishers was Jon Lewerer, Hunter Custer, Johnny Parsons III, Scott Brandt (sliding backwards to the line) and Bryan Roach. Anna Hippe and Neal Matuska finished one lap down.

The Traditional sprints will complete their doubleheader opening weekend at Cedar Lake on Saturday night April 8 with temperatures predicted to go in the seventies. A separate report will summarize the second race on opening weekend at CLS. Keep tabs on all of the UMSS Traditional sprint action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.

UMSS TSCS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway April 7, 2017 (Race #1)

A Feature 1 (20 Laps):
1. 14-Cam Schafer[2];
2. 24-Brian VanMeveren[3];
3. 87-Mike Mueller[1];
4. 6-Jake Kouba[7];
5. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[6];
6. 69S-Jon Lewerer[9];
7. 29-Hunter Custer[10];
8. 12-Johnny Parsons III[5];
9. 7B-Scott Brandt[4];
10. 99-Bryan Roach[11];
11. 16-Anna Hippe[12];
12. 48-Neal Matuska[8];
13. (DNF) 55-Joseph Kouba[13];
(DNS) 95-Kevin Bradwell.

Lap Leaders: Mueller 1-2, Schafer 3-18, VanMeveren 19, Schafer 20. No cautions.

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller[5]; 2. 14-Cam Schafer[7]; 3. 48-Neal Matuska[3]; 4. 2K-Jimmy Kouba[6]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer[4]; 6. 16-Anna Hippe[1]; 7. (DNF) 55-Joseph Kouba[2].
Lap Leaders: Hippe 1-2, Mueller 3-10. No cautions.

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Brian VanMeveren[2]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[1]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[4]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[6]; 5. 29-Hunter Custer[3]; 6. 99-Bryan Roach[5]; (DNS) 95-Kevin Bradwell.
Lap Leader: VanMeveren 1-10. No cautions.