FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A mix of experience and exuberance characterized the national midget headliners during the kickoff to the 27th Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales.
In a new-look opening night format, Russ Gamester and Ricky Peterson Jr. each won midget qualifying features during Friday’s program, securing their starting spots into Saturday’s Burco Molding Race to 100 inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Unlike previous years, which included complete shows on both days of the Rumble, Friday’s action on the seventh-mile, indoor concrete-and-pop syrup oval saw the national midgets working to accrue points toward their starting positions in Saturday’s heats.
It’s all a lead-up to the first 100-lap midget feature at the Fort Wayne Rumble since 2002.
The 30-lapper for even qualifiers featured two-time Rumble winner Joe Liguori and Rumble midget rookie Jakeb Boxell on the front row, with Ligouri immediately jumping to the lead as Boxell was shuffled from second to eighth.
Past Rumble midget winner Ryan Flores took over second place at that point, but a three-car tangle in turn one between Ayrton Houk, Nick Hamilton, and Thomas Eyman delivered an early yellow with just one lap scored.
Racing resumed with Liguori holding a narrow lead over a hounding Flores, despite the emergence of lap traffic near the one-third mark. However, a wild flip and turn-three impact by Trisdon Brown forced a short stoppage for cleanup. Brown was uninjured, but his night was over at that point.
Calm went out the window on lap 14, when Flores moved Liguori for the lead in turn two, only for Liguori to get back into Flores going into turn three and send both of them skidding to a halt.
Though Liguori continued, Flores’ night was over. It was later revealed that the VW motor in Flores’ Munchkin midget locked up entering the corner, causing the loss of speed that led to the collision by Liguori.
That handed command of the race to Gamester, who held off fellow veteran Bryan Nuckles the rest of the way despite solo spins by Shawn Bonar and David Hair on laps 17 and 19, respectively.
Friday marked Gamester’s sixth career Rumble midget triumph, all coming during the opening stanza of the historic indoor racing classic.
“I guess I’m Mr. Friday Night here, or something,” said an emotional Gamester. “I want to win tomorrow bad, though. … This old girl [a 1977 Grant King chassis] is my grandma and grandfather’s car, and it means a lot to me, this car here does. Every time we win in it makes it that much more special.
“I didn’t want to run too hard. I knew [Nuckles] was working on me, but it didn’t bother me.”
A runner-up finish wasn’t what Nuckles hoped to accomplish Friday, having come so close to Rumble glory in the past without a feature win, but it still locked him into Saturday’s Burco Molding Race to 100 finale.
Jim Anderson, Nick Hamilton, and Liguori were third through fifth, respectively, and led the list of those having to race their way into the Race to 100 through heat races Saturday evening.
Derek Bischak and Michael Lewis led the odd qualifiers to green for their 30-lap qualifying feature, with Lewis powering owner Randy Burrow’s iconic No. 99 to the lead on the first circuit before a John Ivy spin forced a lap-one caution flag.
Subsequent yellows on lap four and six did little to slow Lewis’ roll, but a red flag on a lap-seven restart did halt the action, after Avery Neal lost brakes and flipped into the catchfence in turns three and four.
The next restart led to even more chaos at the front, as then runner-up Cap Henry got into Lewis in turn four and sent Lewis spinning out of the top spot. Henry was penalized for the contact, elevating Bischak to the point and young Kasey Jedzrejek to second place.
Three more quick yellows led to a mandatory air quality break nine laps in, and created an opportunity for Jedzrejek to pounce on the ensuing lap-10 restart.
The second-generation Ohio young gun jumped to the inside down the backstretch after leader Bischak washed up exiting turn two, then was ahead of the chaos behind him after both Bischak and Henry spun from top-five running positions less than a lap later.
Jedzrejek led a caution-laden middle stint before spinning from first place with 11 laps left, elevating Peterson to a lead he wouldn’t relinquish and a surprising maiden Rumble victory.
He beat Henry, who rallied from the rear of the field twice after being involved in two separate incidents, by .498 seconds at the checkered flag. Both Peterson and Henry joined Gamester and Nuckles as guaranteed starters in Saturday’s 100-lap grand finale.
“I have no clue what just happened, but hey, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, right?” quipped an incredulous Peterson in the winner’s circle. “I never expected to run in the top five, let alone win this thing. What a night.”
Jedzrejek fell one spot short of rallying back into the Saturday main, finishing third, with Bischak crossing fourth as the last car running in an attrition-filled odd qualifiers prelim.
The non-winged 600cc micro sprint main event saw a familiar name get back to the winner’s circle in thrilling fashion, as Larry Joe Sroufe won his first Rumble feature in the division since 2019 via a last-lap pass of Brent Busz.
Sroufe nudged Busz sideways in turn four coming to the checkered flag, then darted to the outside and reached the finish line first by a scant .072 seconds in one of the closest finishes in Rumble history.
“I thought I gave it away on the opening lap,” said Sroufe, reflecting on a bad initial start from the front row that set him back for most of the race. “It’s been a long time to get back here [to victory lane].”
Busz hung on for second after being out front for 21 of 25 laps, followed by polesitter and early leader Owen Roush, Tyler Gunn, and Brian Busz.
In the winged 600cc micro sprint main, Tyler Shullick drove to the lead on lap five and never looked back, motoring off to a dominant 3.155-second victory despite six yellow flags along the way.
His teammate John Ivy made a late pass to finish second, ahead of Brad Lamberson, Busz, and Dylan Woodling.
“I don’t know if we plan to go to bed now; we might just keep it rolling!” said Shullick of his fifth Rumble score, which came just before 1 a.m. local time Saturday morning. “We were so good tonight. I don’t even know what we’d change on this thing now.”
Canadian young gun Alex Smolders (360 Clone & 330 Clone) doubled up in go-kart feature action Friday evening, bringing his career karting win total inside the War Memorial Expo Center to 10.
Travis Fisher (400 Clone), Missy Bootes (Senior Champ), Dylan Trost (Junior Champ), Kyle Hager (Senior Predator), Brayden Gressman (Junior 3), Hunter Pierman (Senior Wedge), Kash Tremble (Junior Wedge), and Waylon Bodell (Kid Karts) also won go-kart features during the opening day of Rumble competition.
Colten Carrier (Heavy Honda and Heavy 160) and Weston Kudner (Animal Combined & Senior Honda) were both two-time quarter midget victors Friday, with Connor Crabtree (Junior Honda) and Lukas Waber (Light 160) also visiting victory lane during the Rumble 27 opener.
An on-demand replay of day one from the 27th Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales is available through Pit Row TV, a member of the SPEED SPORT Network and the Rumble’s exclusive broadcast partner.
The finishes:
First Qualifier: (30 laps): 1. 46-Russ Gamester [5]; 2. 59-Bryan Nuckles [4]; 3. 36-Jim Anderson [7]; 4. 1-Nick Hamilton [8]; 5. 8UP-Joe Liguori [1]; 6. 24B-Shawn Bonar [10]; 7. 96-Jacob Boxell [2]; 8. 29-David Hair [14]; 9. 24-Thomas Eyman [9]; 10. 20-Austin Pierce [13]; 11. 4B-Scott Koerner [12]; 12. 15-Ryan Flores [3]; 13. 32-Trisdon Brown [11]; 14. 8-Jared Kimple [15]; 15. 6H-Ayrton Houk [6].
Second Qualifier (30 laps): 1. 92-Ricky Peterson [8]; 2. 41-Cap Henry [3]; 3. 75-Kasey Jedrzejek [5]; 4. 31-Derek Bischak [1]; 5. 42-Lee Pierce [15]; 6. 6R-Bill Rose [10]; 7. 49-Kelsey Mange [11]; 8. 98-John Ivy [4]; 9. 3-Chris Neuenschwander [7]; 10. 24R-Andrew Royer [12]; 11. 99-Michael Lewis [2]; 12. 99C-Mario Clouser [6]; 13. 6-Tony Main [13]; 14. 49H-Sam Hinds [9]; 15. 29N-Avery Neal [14].
