OVID, Mich. — Davey Hamilton Jr. stayed on a roll and collected his second straight Must See Racing Engine Pro Sprint Car Series victory Saturday night at Owosso Speedway.
Hamilton stayed persistent, and after losing the lead on a mid-race restart to Ryan Litt, re-passed Litt on the bottom of the three-eighths-mile oval with three laps left before driving away to the win.
It marked Hamilton’s third consecutive win in a pavement, open-wheel car, when adding in a USAC Silver Crown Series triumph at World Wide Technology Raceway on Aug. 27.
“Ryan Litt is one of the best in the country … and I knew it was going to take a lot to beat him,” said Hamilton. “Our car was fast, even though I messed up on that restart a bit. We were running about the same lap times, and the lap cars weren’t helping to where he finally made a few mistakes that helped us out.
“Being able to capitalize feels good … and with three wins in a row now, it finally feels like we’re starting to get this bad luck that we’ve had through the summer off our back a bit.”
Hamilton controlled the opening stint of the race, jumping from third starting position to the lead past polesitter Tommy Nichols on the first lap, but it was a lap-13 caution flag that changed the complexion at the front of the field.
After Joe Liguori went spinning through the frontstretch grass, Hamilton chose the outside lane on the ensuing double-file restart and then lost the advantage to Litt when the green flag returned.
However, Hamilton went to work on the inside lane, hounding Litt lap after lap as time ticked away before Litt’s handling went away and allowed Hamilton to the inside in turns three and four coming to three to go.
Hamilton pounced immediately before driving away to a 1.93-second margin of victory over the final three laps. Litt and Blonde completed the podium, followed by Tyler Roahrig in fourth.
After the race, Litt cited a leak in his right-rear tire as the culprit to why his car changed so suddenly in the closing stages of the race.
“After that restart, the car got really, really tight coming off the corners,” said Litt. “Now, I guess we know why that was. I pushed the thing for all it had, it was making it loose on corner entry, but I could hear him all over me and knew I had to try to hold on. I saw him peek the nose and tried to maintain the fastest pace that I could. It just wasn’t enough in the end.”
The day was wild for many in the Must See Racing field, including defending series champion Charlie Schultz, who had to change teams and cars after his familiar No. 9s lost an engine during practice.
Schultz jumped into a Dave Koyan-owned car for the remainder of the program and salvaged a fifth-place finish in the feature.
However, after coming in tied with Blonde for the point lead, Schultz exited Owosso with an unofficial 15-point deficit to Blonde ahead of the finale at Plymouth Motor Speedway in two weeks.
Rick Holley set the all-time Owosso Speedway track record in qualifying – a lap of 12.520 seconds (mph) – eclipsing the 18-year-old mark of 12.565 previously held by Cameron Dodson and owner Dick Myers.
However, Holley’s car suffered an engine failure at the end of his heat race, leading the fast qualifier to start the 40-lap main in fellow journeyman driver Joe Speakman’s entry.
Cody Gallogly won the companion 40-lap Must See Racing Midwest Lights crate sprint car feature, passing 17-year-old Andrew Bogusz on a late restart and going on to his third win in five races this season.
The finish:
Feature (40 laps): 1. 14-Davey Hamilton Jr. [3], 2. 07-Ryan Litt [5], 3. 42-Jason Blonde [6], 4. 36-Tyler Roahrig [4], 5. 9ks-Charlie Schultz [2], 6. Z10-Kevin Mingus [8], 7. 13-Joe Liguori [7], 8. 55-Tommy Nichols [1], 9. 44-Teddy Alberts [9], 10. 72-Rick Holley [10], 11. 36jr-J.J. Henes [12], 12. 17-Andrew Bogusz [14], 13. 40-Sawyer Stout [13], 14. 27-Cody Gallogly [11].