Ryan Litt ended a 9-year winning streak in the Must See Racing sprint car competition at the Berlin Raceway on Saturday. (MSR photo)
MARNE, Mich. – After a 9-year winless drought with the Must See Racing Engine Pro Sprint Car Series, Canadian Ryan Litt returned to winning ways in style on Saturday night at Berlin Raceway.
The London, Ontario native roared from 10th on the grid to take the lead on lap three, then held up every progress made by a determined Jason Blonde in the second half of Engine Pro Fast Car Dash’s 30-lap Main Event Way back his second win sanctioned by Must See Racing.
It was the first time Litt had been on a winning streak with the series since March 22, 2013, when he won at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla.
“Fast time starting 10th and winning the race – how about that?” a jubilant Litt told the standing room-only spectators on the winning lane. “We’ve been trying something new with the setup over the past few weeks and it’s been just awful. Tonight we decided to go back to our old notes and it has been the best this car has driven all year.
“From the first lap of practice today I knew I had something for them,” added Litt. “It’s amazing to finally be winning again in the caliber of the field that Must See (Racing) and Jim Hanks bring to the track every week. I’ve won a few races in the past, but this is definitely one of the nicest wins we’ve ever had.”
After a roll of 10 on the inversion cube that passed Must See Racing Rookie of the Year Rick Holley on pole, a chaotic opening lap saw the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame’s Jeff Bloom advance to the lead from the outside pole after an accident with multiple cars in the front straight forced a yellow flag with a scored lap.
In the incident, Tom Jewell slammed into the outside wall on the exit of turn four before his blue No. 7 went down the track into the orange No. 48 of Jacob Dolinar, who spun in a puff of smoke to the end of the first corner and no more failed to restart – a broken frame ending his race prematurely.
As the race resumed, Bloom held serve briefly at the point before Litt shot forward and moved from third to first on the third lap before taking a four-second lead just before the half.
A lap 14 debris warning did little to slow Litt’s throw as he charged away from Blonde’s #42 chase on the restart. Instead, it was late lap traffic and a yellow card with five laps to go that scared Litt.
A shredded tire on the rear of Championship leader Charlie Schultz’s No. 9 forced Schultz to pull up from third place at Turn Four, putting a damper on the Ohioan’s title hopes and giving Blonde another shot at Litt in the closing moments.
However, Litt held serve – both on this restart and the last restart of the night after a Bobby Komisarski spin at turn two – and comfortably led the final five laps en route to a 1.681-second win.
Blonde settled for second place and afterwards admitted he burned his gear trying to catch up with the leader as the laps came to an end.
“I just wore out the tires trying to get to him,” said the Litchfield, Michigan native. “Nevertheless, it was a tough fight. He worked me hard and everything was really clean. You love being a part of nights like this.”
Joe Liguori finished third, reducing his deficit on Schultz to a single point, with two races to go in the hunt for the season title. Rick Holley was a career-best fourth and Schultz rebounded in fifth.
The end”
Feature (30 rounds): 1. Ryan Litt [10]2.Jason Blonde [8]3.Joe Liguori [9]4.Rick Holley [1]5.Charlie Schultz [7]6. Tom Jewell [4]7. Adam Biltz [6]8.Teddy Alberts [5]9.Todd McQuillen [12]10. Andreas Bogusz [11]11. Bobby Komisarski [16]12. Joshua Kuster [14]13. Tim Henthorne [13]14. Jeff Bloom [2]15. Tom Geren [15]16. Jacob Dolinar [3].
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