BIRCH RUN, Mich. – Jason Blonde snapped a Must See Racing Sprint Car Series winless drought dating back to 2017 on Friday night at Birch Run Speedway and Event Center.
Blonde, who was a distant second to Ryan Litt for much of the 30-lap feature, got a breath of new life in the form of a caution flag with five laps to go – after rookie Bobby Komisarski spun in turn two.
That set up a restart with Blonde on Litt’s back bumper, and the home-state veteran took full advantage.
Blonde trailed Litt for a lap and a half before ducking to the inside off turn two on lap 28, powering past the Canadian in turn three and pulling away over the final two circuits for his sixth-career series win.
The victory ties Blonde for fifth all-time on the series win list with Troy DeCaire, who made his return to Must See Racing competition after a five-year absence on Friday night and finished fourth.
“Ryan was checked out tonight; if it wasn’t for that yellow, I wouldn’t have had a chance,” noted Blonde. “I just have to thank this No. 42 crew, because we were really good in one hot lap session today, but in qualifying, we weren’t that good and in our heat race, we were really bad. They just kept working on it, though, we threw the kitchen sink at it and it worked well enough to get here to victory lane tonight.”
Litt was solid for the first 25 laps of the race, picking his way through traffic from sixth on the grid and taking the lead on the 10th round with a diving move around Charlie Schultz in turn two.
Once out front, Litt extended his advantage over the field to nearly five seconds despite slower traffic that hassled his No. 07 at times. However, Litt’s attempt to take home the winner’s plaque and his first Must See Racing victory since March of 2013 at Five Flags Speedway was foiled by the late yellow.
He nailed the final restart and opened a quick gap over Blonde, but Blonde quickly carved the deficit back down before making the race-defining pass entering turn three with three laps to go.
Blonde noted afterward that “it was simply a case of who was going to lift first, and I wasn’t lifting.”
“My car started off really good. I was actually surprised I picked my way through there like I did. We just started to get loose, and I wasn’t sure what we’d have after the caution,” added Litt. “Jason’s always really strong on the restarts, and I knew he would try and come at me. My car just wasn’t good enough to hold him off at the end. It’s a good points day, but all I know is I just lost and I hate losing.”
Anthony McCune completed the podium after passing Schultz following the final restart. DeCaire, driving Wayne Stickney’s No. 99, trailed the younger McCune in fourth and Schultz finished fifth.
Fast qualifier Brian Gerster, Joe Liguori, Tom Jewell, Kevin Feeney and Frank Neill completed the top 10.
Four-time defending series champion Jimmy McCune saw his hopes of a fifth-straight title take a huge blow when engine issues after his heat race Friday night left him unable to take the green flag.
His nephew, Anthony McCune, took over the top spot in points as a result of those mechanical woes.
The next race for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series will be Aug. 10 at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.
RESULTS: Must See Racing Sprint Car Series; Birch Run Speedway; July 5, 2019
Hamilton Trucking Time Trials (best of two laps): 1. #50m – Brian Gerster, 13.287; 2. #88 – Jimmy McCune, 13.580; 3. #99 – Troy DeCaire, 13.583; 4. #07L – Ryan Litt, 13.587; 5. #8 – Anthony McCune, 13.636; 6. #9s – Charlie Schultz, 13.698; 7. #42 – Jason Blonde, 13.716; 8. #97 – Ike Beasley, 13.777; 9. #13 – Joe Liguori, 13.842; 10. #75c – Jerry Caryer, 13.891; 11. #6k – Kevin Feeney, 13.905; 12. #7 – Tom Jewell, 13.924; 13. #88n – Frank Neill, 14.001; 14. #8a – Adam Biltz, 14.063; 15. #26 – Jeff Bloom, 14.202; 16. #72s – Joe Speakman, 14.357; 17. #44 – Teddy Alberts, 14.423; 18. #17 – Bobby Komisarski, 14.431; 19. #85 – Rick Holley, 15.277; 20. #00 – Joey Irwin, 15.453; 21. #32 – Todd McQuillen, 15.715; 22. #74 – Ivan Shaver, 16.635; 23. #13J – Jacob Dolinar, NT
Abe’s Auto Parts Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Bobby Komisarski [3], 2. Teddy Alberts [4], 3. Jeff Bloom [6], 4. Rick Holley [2], 5. Joe Speakman [5], 6. Todd McQuillen [1], 7. Ivan Shaver [7], 8. Joey Irwin (DNS).
B&B Machinery Movers Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Tom Jewell [2], 2. Frank Neill [1], 3. Kevin Feeney [3], 4. Joe Liguori [5], 5. Jerry Caryer [4], 6. Adam Biltz [6], 7. Ike Beasley (DNS).
RAM Engineering Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. Anthony McCune [2], 2. Troy DeCaire [4], 3. Charlie Schultz [1], 4. Ryan Litt [3], 5. Jason Blonde [5], 6. Brian Gerster [6], 7. Jimmy McCune (DNS).
1-800-RADIATOR A-Feature (30 laps): 1. #42 – Jason Blonde [3], 2. #07L – Ryan Litt [6], 3. #8 – Anthony McCune [5], 4. #99 – Troy DeCaire [7], 5. #9s – Charlie Schultz [4], 6. #50m – Brian Gerster [8], 7. #13 – Joe Liguori [2], 8. #7 – Tom Jewell [10], 9. #6k – Kevin Feeney [9], 10. #88n – Frank Neill [11], 11. #75c – Jerry Caryer [1], 12. #26 – Jeff Bloom [13], 13. #8a – Adam Biltz [12], 14. #17 – Bobby Komisarski [16], 15. #44 – Teddy Alberts [15], 16. #85 – Rick Holley [17], 17. #00 – Joey Irwin [20], 18. #32 – Todd McQuillen [18], 19. #74 – Ivan Shaver [19], 20. #72s – Joe Speakman [14], 21. #88 – Jimmy McCune (DNS); 22. #97 – Ike Beasley (DNS); 23. #13J – Jacob Dolinar (DNS).
Lap Leader(s): Liguori 1-4, Schultz 5-9, Litt 10-27, Blonde 28-30.
Hard Charger: #07L – Ryan Litt (+4)