Brooke Tatnell “The Awesome Aussie” residing in Forest Lake, MN and a member of the famed Richert racing family made history on Saturday night September 7 at the Cedar Lake Speedway when he became the first driver in the nineteen year history of the Jerry Richert, Sr. Memorial to race in all three divisions and win two out of three feature races! Tatnell won the Midwest Power Series feature for 360 winged sprint cars and later in the evening, racing a non-winged sprint car for the first time in his long and storied career, took top honors in the UMSS Traditional feature. Tatnell, the all-time leading winner in this area in the 360 sprint car division, earned $3,000 for his fourth Midwest Power Series victory during the past three seasons and his second in 2019.
Coming into the final Midwest Power Series race of the season, Thomas Kennedy of Winnipeg, Manitoba held a 32 point lead over Lee Grosz of Harwood, ND in the battle for the season championship. Grosz was involved in a crash in turn one on the opening lap of his heat race, and with his sprint car sustaining a broken frame in the accident, Lee was done for the evening. Kennedy battled Tatnell for the top spot throughout a good share of the 25 lap feature event, briefly grabbing the lead a couple of times, but he had to settle for second at the checkers behind Tatnell. Congratulations to Thomas Kennedy and the entire Kennedy race team on a well-earned championship, as the 21K sprint car was strong each and every night throughout the season!
The 25 lap feature was just two laps old when Sye Anderson’s car caught fire bringing out the first caution. Sye drove to the infield near the fire safety crew and they quickly extinguished the blaze. Sye was okay. The race then ran what would end up being 22 laps under green. On the final lap, as the leaders were entering turn three, James Broty and Chase Viebrock tangled in turn four with Viebrock tipping on his side. The top three cars blasted around the outside of them and took the checkers and yellow together. The feature finish was deemed complete on the white flag lap with all cars scored where they had crossed at the white flag. No positions changed on the abbreviated final lap anyways. Broty and Viebrock, since they were running on the lead lap, were scored at the end of the lead lap cars.
Rounding out the top five finishers in the main event were Justin Henderson of Tea, South Dakota, Ryan Bickett of Ramona, SD and Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks, ND. Nygaard had won the two previous Midwest Power Series features this season at Cedar Lake Speedway and was looking for the season sweep at the Richert Memorial. Completing the top ten finishers were James Broty, Chase Viebrock, Mark Toews, Carter Chevalier and Tori Knutson. Chevalier earned the $100 GRP Motorsports Hard Charger Award with a +4 effort coming from his 13th starting spot. Viebrock and Henderson picked up $100 Al Parker Engine heat race wins. With the threat of rain throughout the evening and the racing program in hurry-up mode, no dash was run. Henderson was the high point driver after the two heats and earned an extra $100 for his efforts while the other $100 that would have been paid to a dash winner went to Bickett on a random draw. Viebrock was able to hold off James Broty by a mere 20 points for third in the final MPS standings while rookie driver Scotty Broty ended up an impressive fifth just 30 points ahead of Jamey Ogston.
The Midwest Power Series thanks all of the drivers, crews, tracks and race fans for a great 2019 racing season. Special thanks to our 2019 sponsors which include Midwest Power Equipment, GRP Motorsports, Mastell Brothers Trailer Service, Dekalb Asgrow Seeds, Al Parker Engines, BOXO USA Tools, Donnohue Designs, AO Coolers, Grandview Buildings, LIFAN USA, Eagle and Vortex Racing Products. The Midwest Power Series racing banquet will be in conjunction with the Jackson Motorplex and MSTS 360 Sprints to be held on a Saturday during the month of November. The exact date, time and location will be announced as soon as it is firmed up. The top five drivers in the Midwest Power Series will earn point fund money of $3,000, $2,000, $1,000, $800 and $700 respectively. The series was able to run thirteen shows while four events were rained out.
Top 5 Midwest Power Series Final 2019 Points:
- Thomas Kennedy 2787 (2 wins)
- Lee Grosz 2665 (3 wins)
- Chase Viebrock 2525
- James Broty 2505
- Scotty Broty 2096
Other winners: Brooke Tatnell (2), Wade Nygaard (2), Jack Dover (1), Wayne Johnson (1), Josh Baughman (1), Ryan Giles (1).