Jimmy Kouba - Journal Archive

Time for another racing installment from the “Who Is That Guy” guy. Since my last note, Team Jimmy Kouba headed “up” to one of our favorite areas: the Brainerd Lakes region. We also made an attempt for a rematch with the Jackson Speedway.

The short news first. Last weekend’s planned outing at Jackson rained out. Our drive across the miserable, bumpy stretch of road called I-90 (anyone at MN DOT listening???) was cut short when the races cancelled around 4pm. Not a family to lose an opportunity, we went bowling at home in Byron instead. All can be well when you roll with the flow.

On May’s last day, we ventured to the host of last year’s championship, North Central Speedway near Brainerd, MN. Brainerd is a very nice area to visit and vacation in if you ever have the opportunity. That plus the fact the track is less then 50 miles from where I grew up (a cattle ranch near Onamia, MN), makes this a fun trip.

I started last in the last heat. (I’m just not going to mention the draw anymore.) The heat was stacked with stiff competition in Loren Langerud and local favorites Roger Rager and Sye Anderson. Sye jumped to the lead from the start and didn’t look back, taking the win. Loren, Roger and I battled wheel to wheel. We eventually got the better of them and sailed in for a 2nd place finish. Man, is it ever fun to race that hard against those guys!!!

Our heat finish qualified us for the fast dash. Starting in the second row, we never got it all together when it counted. I ran 3rd most of the 6 lap race. On a late race restart, we had a great run underneath 1st and 2nd only to be blown when I did a wheelie over the infield tires. Briefly losing 3rd to Sye, we regained it the following lap when race leader Jerry Richert Jr’s right rear tire went flat. We finished 3rd while another local favorite, John Franzen won the prize.

Our dash finish earned us a 3rd row starting spot for the A Main. Jerry Reichert Jr. and Greg Nikitenko led us in for the green flag. Greg took the advantage at the drop of the green to snag the lead. Sye took up pursuit and was in turn being chased by JR jr. We were able to slip by John Franzen during the first lap putting us in 4th. Taking advantage of a rare Richert miscue, we slipped by Jerry a few laps later to move into 3rd. Here’s where I thought we had a shot for the win. Our car was good low and I thought the top groove would disappear under the hard charging efforts of Greg and Sye. As a further “proof” of my theory, we were able to pull along side of Sye on a couple of the mid-race restarts. But this was not to be our night. Someone else was destined for his first taste of a sprint car victory lane. Late in the race, Sye dove into turn 1 hard stealing the lead from Greg. We were fading fast, coming under pressure from JR jr, Langerud and Rager. I finally decided to move to the high groove (thanks to Jamie’s signals). While this was enough to hold off the charge from behind, it wasn’t enough to move ahead. We finished with a respectable 3rd. With one of his strongest showings to date, Nikitenko powered the Layton family sprinter through an impressive run finishing second. Sye Anderson brought in the checkers for his first win and creating a great home town moment.

What’s next? Hold on to your hats, we are headed to Fargo for the 3-day WISSOTA show running in conjunction with the World of Outlaws. 3 days – 1 track; Learn, apply and … (we’ll have to see).