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New Richmond, WI, May 14, 2022 Summer arrived in full force on Saturday when the PIRTEK Renegades took to the high banks of Cedar Lake Speedway as part of the annual School Bus special. Nineteen Traditional sprints checked in to do battle in June-like temperatures on a cloudless evening. Kevin Bradwell scored the win in the Pirtek heat race #1 while Brad Cunningham snared the Reaction TIme Sports Podcast heat #2. Britt, Minnesota’s Nick DaRonco scooped up a whopping 146 passing points to lead the field in that category. Terry and Rachel Galle, along with the rest of the GT Transport family were on hand for the first of three GT Transport Hot Shot Challenge events this summer. For the Hot Shot Challenge, the top two passing points earners may elect to start the feature at the tail. If the challenge is accepted, and the driver wins from the rear of the field, he or she is awarded an extra $1,000 courtesy of GT Transport! Top points earners on Saturday were DaRonco and Bradwell. Both front row starters declined the challenge - meaning the challenge purse increases to $2,000 for the next Hot Shot Challenge event, scheduled for Friday night, July 1, as part of Cedar Lake annual World of Outlaws weekend. For the 20-lap feature, it was DaRonco and Bradwell pacing nineteen sprinters to race starter Jeff Staken’s geen flag, and after an opening lap caution and quick restart, the finale went caution free. DaRonco held the point early, pursued by a gaggle of heavy hitters including Bradwell, Bryan Roach, Cam Schafer, Cunningham, Jon Lewerer, Johnny Parsons III, and Brad Peterson. Surprising no one, Schafer quickly found the high groove and worked from his third row starting spot up to second by lap four and set sail in pursuit of DaRonco. The field spread out under green, with many drivers favoring a higher groove but Roach and Lewerer were locking horns in a thrilling, racelong high-low battle for third. Up front, DaRonco was handed the near impossible task of holding off the winningest driver in PIRTEK Renegade history– for 16 laps. Schafer, never shy about testing alternate grooves, hunted and throttled in vain for those 16 laps as DaRonco was flawless in nabbing the flag-to-flag victory. Schafer settled for second ahead of Lewerer, Roach and Peterson. The PIRTEK Traditional sprints yield to their Winged brothers next week, as the wingers join the regular field at Cedar Lake in a dash series race, May 21. More information on upcoming events for the PIRTEK Renegades can be found at www.umsprints.com, as well as their facebook page. RESULTS: Feature, 20-laps. 1. Nick DaRonco, 2. Cam Schafer, 3. Jon Lewerer, 4. Bryan Roach, 5. Brad Peterson, 6. Kevin Bradwell, 7. Zach Widdes, 8. Johnny Parsons III, 9. Brad Cunningham, 10. Jake Kouba, 11. Mike Mueller, 12. Joseph Kouba, 13. Ryan Buck, 14. John Breitenfeldt, 15. Brian Trembath, 16. Lucas Logue, 17. Joshua Hulberg, 18. Kevin Seidler, 19. Tim Lynch PIRTEK heat #1: Bradwell, DaRonco, Schafer, Peterson, Mueller, Ja. Kouba, Widdes, Buck, Seidler, Lynch RTS Podcast heat #2: Cunningham, Roach, Lewerer, Parsons, Trembath, Breitenfeldt, Jo. Kouba, Logue, Hulberg​

Brady Donnohue sat aside pole starter Trevor Serbus for the 20-lap winged finale, but many eyes in the arena were spying the #50 of Chase Viebrock. Viebrock encountered engine gremlins during hot laps and the team sat out qualifying action to swap powerplants, relegating the reigning champion to a tail end start.

After an early caution, the restart found Donnohue hard into the turn one concrete, sending the 34DD bouncing and spinning back into the #93 of Brad Peterson. While neither car was drivable afterwards, both drivers emerged seemingly no worse the for the wear.

After the red flag, the final 16 laps went green to the checkers with Serbus nabbing his first career Pirtek Renegade win, chased by Owen Carlson, Graf, Viebrock, and Mark Chevalier.

After losing out to Mother Nature for five consecutive weeks, the Pirtek Renegades of the UMSS finally kicked off their season Saturday at Cedar Lake Speedway. Seventeen Traditional sprints checked in to do battle for the lid lifter, and twenty-one Winged chariots signed in for their opener.

In the Traditional ranks, heat race wins went to defending champion Mike Mueller and Bryan Roach, with Cam Schafer tallying the most passing points with 141. The three Winged qualifiers went to Michael Stien, Brad Peterson, and Chris Graf with Graf topping the passing points at 143. After the redraw, Roach and Lucas Logue paced the 16-car traditional field for their 20-lap feature. Roach led early, with several cars charging forward – including Zach Widdes from the tail, and Nick DaRonco and Schafer from mid-pack.

At the crossed flags, Schafer found himself in the same place he did 14 times last season, at the front of the pack, while Roach, Mueller, DaRonco, and Logue all jockeyed for position. Schafer led the last half of the caution-free affair to extend his record Renegade win total to 43, with DaRonco, Mueller, Roach and Logue rounding out the top five.