OVID, Mich. — The box score showed Andrew Bogusz led all 30 laps Saturday night at Owosso Speedway en route to his second straight Must See Racing Maxima Midwest Lights feature victory.
The video tape told the rest of the story: it wasn’t quite that simple.
After ripping from the outside pole into clean air and running away over the first 26 circuits at the three-eighths-mile oval, Bogusz had to survive a late restart after Luke Krick’s engine expired and dumped fluid from turn four all the way down the frontstretch.
A short red-flag stoppage for cleanup ensued before the four-lap sprint to the finish, and for a moment it looked as though Bogusz might have given the win away after a divebomb pass by J.J. Henes into turn one gave the 2020 Midwest Lights champion the top spot momentarily.
When Henes washed wide off turn two, however, Bogusz was able to cross back over and retake the lead for good. He ran away to a 1.727-second margin of victory in the end for his fifth career series trophy.
“I just did what I had to do there at the end. I wasn’t going to let him [Henes] take this one away from us,” said Bogusz of the final restart. “It’s good to win a two in a row, and we finally won here, at a place that’s just been eluding me since we came here last year.
“I wanted to do this in front of my Michigan crowd,” added the 18-year-old from nearby Shelby Township. “I’m from north of Detroit, so [the Michigan races] finally got our [winner’s] crown back!”
The late yellow flag erased a lead of more than six seconds that Bogusz had built up, affording Henes a chance to strike with hopes of capturing his second win of the season.
Unfortunately, noted the Lagrange, Ohio teenager, he couldn’t stick the pass to keep the position in the end.
“It’s a struggle having to run guys down after starting deeper in the field,” said Henes, who unofficially moved into the series point lead by one with three races remaining.
“The last restart, I knew I had to try something, with it being single file,” he added. “I just sent it on the bottom hoping for the best … and [the move] just didn’t quite stick enough.”
Two-time defending Midwest Lights champion Cody Gallogly raced from sixth to third in the feature after opening the night with the fastest qualifying time. Rookie Ethan Rader was a career-best fourth and Charlie Baur closed the top five.
After a solid start, first-time feature polesitter Brandon Tregembo faded to sixth at the checkered flag.
Gallogly’s fast time in qualifying was 13.496 seconds (100.030 mph), just three one-hundredths of a second off Henes’ all-time track record set in June of 2023.
Tregembo and Rader won their respective eight-lap heat races prior to the main event.
The Must See Racing Maxima Midwest Lights season continues Friday night, Sept. 13 on the quarter-mile inner oval at Birch Run (Mich.) Speedway and Event Center.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 17-Andrew Bogusz [2], 2. 36jr-J.J. Henes [5], 3. 27-Cody Gallogly [6], 4. 52-Ethan Rader [3], 5. 23-Charlie Baur [4], 6. 1-Brandon Tregembo [1], 7. 51s-Joshua Sexton [7], 8. 37-Keegan Weese [8], 9. 77-Parker Corbin [11], 10. 14x-Matt Double [10], 11. 9-Luke Krick [9].