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2011 Racing Season comes to a close....

 

CJ Leary Leaps to the Top of the UMRA in 2011

By Alex Wollf

 

As the trailers pulled into the pit area at Twin Cities Raceway Park on Saturday April 30th it was more than your ordinary season opener for the United Midget Racing Association.  It was the lid-lifter on the second half-century of the storied club.  The usual suspects that have entertained fans for years were ready to go but they were joined by new faces that were out to prove that they had what takes to beat the best in the business.

The first feature of the season gave fans a look at the young lion that had the best chance to unseat Terry Goff from the top of the heap.  CJ Leary took the lead early in the feature and was never challenged as he struck first blood in the title fight.  Two weeks later the setting was different (Brownstown Speedway) but the outcome was very much the same (CJ Leary dominating the feature event). 

Competitors hoped that the third race of the 2011 season would be a charm as far as stopping the Leary Express went but it was more of the same at Montpelier Motor Speedway.  On this third consecutive victorious night CJ was joined on the track by his father, and former Midget and Silver Crown standout, Chuck, who proved that he had not lost a step as he took a heat race win and finished fourth in the feature.

The month of June saw the TQs take to the pavement for the first time at the Mount Lawn Speedway.  Terry Goff proved that he was not going to take CJ Leary’s challenge laying down as he won the feature with an electrifying run through the field that showed how he had become a 15-time UMRA Champion.  Next was a stretch of traditional UMRA events.  The races at Rushville during the Rush County Fair are the stuff of legend, a real piece of Americana and this year’s edition added another chapter to what was already an incredible story.  Twin features would entertain the fans on this night as Zach Cougill took his second career win in race one and, after a full-field inversion, Bruce Leisure took an upset win in race two.  The UMRA was back at Rushville on the Fourth of July and Brandon Gray made his long awaited second trip to Victory Lane.  Four days later CJ Leary took another win, this time at the Decatur County Fairgrounds in Greensburg.  A night later Jason Goff took his first checkered flag of the season at Brownstown and CJ Leary rounded out the whirlwind stretch with a victory at Montpelier.

 On July 23 the UMRA made its first appearance at the new “short track” at the Salem Speedway.  CJ Leary would be unable to compete due to an opportunity to race with the CRA Super Series so the seat in the Tom and Susan Sanders #14 was open for the evening.  Enter 1993 UMRA Champion Travis Welpott, exit any chance for the competition to take advantage of Leary’s absence.  Welpott took his first win since June of 2009 at Rushville as he won the inaugural UMRA event at Salem.  The first race of August was at Anderson Speedway as a seven-car melee on lap three eliminated many of the contenders from action.  The race would then turn into a battle between youth and experience as Terry Goff battled his nephew Johnny for the win.  Johnny tried with all his might to hold on for the win but in the end Terry made the late-race pass for the win and took his second win of the season.

The season would end in the same way that it began with CJ Leary winning three straight races, this time it was two wins at Mount Lawn and a victory at the Kokomo Klash to finish off the season.

In the end the final count would show CJ Leary with eight wins on the season as he took the 2011 UMRA Championship.  The Tom and Susan Sanders owned #14 won nine races as they took the owners title.  Jason Goff finished second in points again and his father Terry’s bid for a sixteenth championship came up short in 2011 as he finished third in the standings.  Trent Henderson was fourth and Ron Hamm finished a career year with a fifth place points finish.

So what does the future hold for CJ Leary?  Will he use the UMRA to ascend to the top level of the sport like famous alums Sonny Ates, Tony Stewart, and Ed Carpenter?  His dream season in 2011 showed that the sky could very well be the limit!

 

 

 

We will be updating the website with this years stats as soon as possible.

Thank you for you patience during this time.

2011 U.M.R.A. Final Points posted

2011 U.M.R.A. Pavement Points - NOT posted yet

 

 

 

 

Congratulations!

2011 U.M.R.A. Champion

#14 CJ Leary