KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The humor in a Canadian winning with the Must See Racing Perfit Sprint Car Series on Independence Day wasn’t lost on Ryan Litt Friday night.
After a fierce early battle with Dorman Snyder, Litt flexed his muscle and pulled away at Kalamazoo Speedway, driving to his fifth career victory and first of the season by a dominant 4.488-second margin.
The veteran from London, Ontario took the lead on the initial start from the outside pole and led 33 of 40 laps at the three-eighths-mile oval to capture the checkered flag with his No. 07 BS&B Radiator-sponsored Diablo Chassis sprinter.
Litt was the easy leader when a lap-four caution waved for woes to Tom Geren’s No. 13, but a double-file restart allowed Snyder to use the momentum of the outside lane to scoot past on the fifth circuit.
Snyder finally cleared Litt on lap seven, but the early toll on his tires caught up with him shortly after. Once Litt got back past on lap 12, he steadily increased his lead and there was no catching him.
In fact, Litt had as much as a half-track lead on runner-up Jason Blonde at times during the second half before pulling back the reins to conserve his tires down the stretch.
“It was a really technical track, especially with the weather conditions today,” Litt said post-race. “The cars were sliding all over the place. We had a pretty good car all day, qualified well, second in the heat. I knew it was going to be a tough start with Jason [Blonde] there. I got him a little bit on the start, and clean air helps significantly.
“Yeah, pretty much a perfect day.”
Litt admitted the challenge he got from Snyder early on wasn’t an expected one, but that the battle was fun nevertheless.
“I honestly had no idea the top was going to be that fast, and he was pushing really, really hard, and it made me step up my game to catch up to him,” Litt said of Snyder. “Hats off to them, they were flying all day, and like I said, I really had to step my game up to even get back up to them.
“He had the top working, and I had the bottom working, so it actually played in my favor. Cool to win here and on the Fourth of July. I guess we spoiled the party a tiny bit,” he laughed.
After starting from the pole, Blonde was second ahead of five-time series champion Jimmy McCune, with Joe Liguori crossing fourth as the final car on the lead lap. Snyder faded to fifth at the finish.
Litt kicked off the night’s action with the fastest time of 11.578 seconds (116.600 mph) in qualifying, before a pair of 10-lap heat races served up a blistering appetizer for the main event.
The first heat saw Blonde make a last-corner pass of Schultz to take the win by .050 seconds, while McCune fended off Litt in the second heat in a thrilling battle that saw the pair touch wheels coming to the white flag.
