OVID, Mich. – Though he hasn't been able to race "a whole lot" through the summer months of the season, Brian Gerster's will to win has in no way diminished.

That passion for competition was on full display Saturday night at Owosso Speedway, as Gerster dominated to score the victory in round one of Must See Racing's Border Wars doubleheader.

Brian Gerster (50m) races Charlie Schultz for the lead Saturday night at Owosso Speedway. (David Sink photo)

Gerster took the lead from Jason Blonde on lap 11 of the 40-lap sprint car feature and never looked back, driving away over the second half en route to his first series win of the season.

Saturday night's triumph was the 22nd of Gerster's Must See Racing career, second only to Jimmy McCune's series-leading 31 wins, and one that the Indiana veteran described as "much-needed."

"Us drivers don't like to talk about it much, but I'm getting older and these (wins) are fewer and farther between, now," admitted Gerster in victory lane. "That being said, it's really cool to win a race tonight. The 88 car (Jimmy McCune) I knew was going to be tough, but I saw he had some trouble there, so that was certainly a help in a way. It still wasn't easy, though; we still had to race the 42 (Jason Blonde) and the 9 (Charlie Schultz) ... even the 8 (Anthony McCune) was quick. There's a lot of good cars in the field.

"I hope the fans enjoyed that show, because this is a neat little race track and we enjoy coming here."

Blonde started third but powered to the lead on the opening lap, passing polesitter Joe Liguori in turn three before Johnny Petrozelle III and Tom Geren tangled on the backstretch a half-lap later to draw the first yellow flag of the night.

The collision sheared the left-front wheel off Petrozelle's Mike Blake Racing sprinter, ending his night, while Geren also retired after his car left the track on the back of a flatbed.

From there, the course of the race shifted further working lap four, when Jimmy McCune spun from fourth place coming onto the frontstretch to bring another caution out, slowing the pace again.

That relegated the elder McCune to 16th place for the restart, where he took just four laps to improve 10 positions and get back inside the front six. Meanwhile, Blonde, Schultz and Gerster put on an epic battle for the lead up front, with Schultz nearly making a slide job stick several times at the front.

Gerster finaly wrested second away on the ninth round, and it was just two more circuits before he ducked inside Blonde to take a lead he wouldn't relinquish after that.

"This is the best car that we've had here at Owosso, start to finish through the feature," Gerster noted later on. "We were able to get a win here last year, but we were struggling at the end and the 88 was coming hard on us there. Luckily it wasn't 50 laps last year. But the car was really, really good tonight.

"I'm pretty excited to win a race. We haven't raced a whole lot this summer. This one is fun."

Brian Gerster celebrates his 22nd Must See Racing sprint car win Saturday at Owosso Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

After moving into the top spot, Gerster set a blistering pace, opening up nearly four seconds over the field before a lap-21 yellow for a slowing Ryan Litt bunched the field back up one more time.

The final restart of the night saw Schultz power back past Blonde to reclaim the runner-up position, but behind them, Jimmy McCune was charging through the field like a man possessed.

McCune was up to fourth at the 12 to go benchmark, then split his nephew Anthony and the lapped car of Joe Speakman to grab a podium position with nine circuits left.

His final hurrah came with four to go, when he drove around Schultz to secure the runner-up spot, but by then Gerster was gone by a whopping 5.784 seconds.

That left Jimmy McCune to settle for a frustrating second, instead of his third win of the season.

"Our night wasn't too bad. Second sucks, but you know how it is," said McCune. "The car got tight on me? I shook it loose and it got really loose. We spun it after that ... and it's uncharacteristic; I don't think I've spun out in about 10 years, but we did tonight and we still came back to second.

"I just wish we would have had the whole race to show that 50 what we really had."

Schultz completed the podium, followed by Anthony McCune and fast qualifier Ryan Litt.

RESULTS: Must See Racing Sprint Car Series; Owosso Speedway; Aug. 24, 2019

Hamilton Trucking Time Trials (best of two laps): 1. #07L – Ryan Litt, 13.481; 2. #88 – Jimmy McCune, 13.753; 3. #50m – Brian Gerster, 13.759; 4. #9s – Charlie Schultz, 13.784; 5. #8 – Anthony McCune, 13.925; 6. #42 – Jason Blonde, 13.960; 7. #26 – Jeff Bloom, 14.070; 8. #13 – Joe Liguori, 14.092; 9. #8a – Adam Biltz, 14.119; 10. #7 – Tom Jewell, 14.427; 11. #6k – Kevin Feeney, 14.432; 12. #75c – Jerry Caryer, 14.548; 13. #17 – Bobby Komisarski, 14.696; 14. #81 – Johnny Petrozelle, 14.709; 15. #72s – Joe Speakman, 14.826; 16. #44 – Teddy Alberts, 14.932; 17. #13d – Jacob Dolinar, 15.007; 18. #85 – Rick Holley, 15.233; 19. #32 – Todd McQuillen, 15.365; 20. #11g – Tom Geren, 15.418; 21. #15 – Tim Henthorne, 15.483; 22. #51 – Joshua Sexton, 15.631; 23. #4 – Anthony Linkenhoker, 15.951; 24. #74 – Ivan Shaver, 15.979.

Abe's Auto Parts Heat #1 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. Brian Gerster [6], 2. Adam Biltz [4], 3. Joe Speakman [2], 4. Jason Blonde [5], 5. Jerry Caryer [3] / 6. Rick Holley [1], 7. Tim Henthorne [7], 8. Ivan Shaver [8].

Abe's Auto Parts Heat #2 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. Jimmy McCune [6], 2. Anthony McCune [5], 3. Kevin Feeney [3], 4. Johnny Petrozelle III [2], 5. Joe Liguori [4] / 6. Jacob Dolinar [1], 7. Tom Geren [7], 8. Anthony Linkenhoker [8].

Abe's Auto Parts Heat #3 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. Bobby Komisarski [2], 2. Ryan Litt [6], 3. Charlie Schultz [5], 4. Teddy Alberts [1], 5. Tom Jewell [3] / 6. Todd McQuillen [7], 7. Joshua Sexton [8], 8. Jeff Bloom [4].

Engine Pro Last Chance Showdown (10 laps, top five transfer): 1. Jeff Bloom [1], 2. Jacob Dolinar [2], 3. Tom Geren [5], 4. Rick Holley [3], 5. Todd McQuillen [4] / 6. Ivan Shaver [8], 7. Joshua Sexton [7], 8. Tim Henthorne [6], 9. Anthony Linkenhoker (DNS).

Border Wars A-Feature (40 laps): 1. #50m – Brian Gerster [6], 2. #88 – Jimmy McCune [7], 3. #9s – Charlie Schultz [5], 4. #8 – Anthony McCune [4], 5. #07L – Ryan Litt [8], 6. #42 – Jason Blonde [3], 7. #13 – Joe Liguori [1], 8. #17 – Bobby Komisarski [13], 9. #7 – Tom Jewell [10], 10. #6k – Kevin Feeney [11], 11. #75c – Jerry Caryer [12], 12. #44 – Teddy Alberts [16], 13. #72s – Joe Speakman [15], 14. #85 – Rick Holley [19], 15. #32 – Todd McQuillen [20], 16. #8a – Adam Biltz [9], 17. #13d – Jacob Dolinar [17], 18. #81 – Johnny Petrozelle III [14], 19. #11g – Tom Geren [18], 20. #26 – Jeff Bloom [2].

Lap Leader(s): Joe Liguori 0, Jason Blonde 1-10, Brian Gerster 11-40.

Hard Charger: #50m – Brian Gerster (+5)

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Jacob Seelman
Freelance Writer
Series Announcer for Must See Racing

OVID, Mich. – Must See Racing Sprint Car Series championship leader Anthony McCune is still searching for his first career victory on tour, but one thing he's not short on is speed.

The Sylvania, Ohio native proved that during practice for Saturday night's opening round of the Border Wars doubleheader at Owosso Speedway, turning a quick lap of 13.834 seconds (97.586 mph) around the semi-banked, three-eighths-mile oval.

Anthony McCune was fastest in practice for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series on Saturday at Owosso Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

McCune heads the standings by 14 points over fellow Ohioan Charlie Schultz, piloting the familiar No. 8 Abe's Auto Parts & Sales/B&B Machinery Movers sprinter again this weekend.

His fast lap came in the second of two afternoon sessions on Saturday.

Brian Gerster, a two-time series champion and two-time Owosso winner, was second quick in the No. 50 RAM Engineering Midwest entry for Dick Myers Racing. He toured the Owosso oval in 13.883 seconds (97.241 mph) during the first round of hot laps earlier in the day.

Canadian Ryan Litt was third overall, despite missing first-round practice after he was delayed while crossing the United States/Canadian border. Litt posted a time of 13.932 seconds (96.899 mph).

Four-time defending series champion Jimmy McCune and Schultz completed the Fast Five.

Jeff Bloom ranked sixth on the speed charts, followed by Jason Blonde, Joe Liguori, Kevin Feeney and Tom Jewell.

The first session was delayed briefly after Tim Henthorne stopped in turn two, the culprit being a broken part in the rear end of his No. 15 sprinter which required a wrecker to tow him back to the pit area.

Henthorne later returned for final practice and was 22nd-quick in the 24-car field on site.

Hamilton Trucking Time Trials for the Must See Racing sprints at Owosso are scheduled for 5 p.m.

PRACTICE RESULTS: Must See Racing Sprint Car Series; Owosso Speedway; Aug. 24, 2019

1. #8 – Anthony McCune, 13.834 seconds
2. #50m – Brian Gerster, 13.883 seconds
3. #07L – Ryan Litt, 13.932 seconds
4. #88 – Jimmy McCune, 13.969 seconds
5. #9s – Charlie Schultz, 14.100 seconds
6. #26 – Jeff Bloom, 14.183 seconds
7. #42 – Jason Blonde, 14.365 seconds
8. #13 – Joe Liguori, 14.378 seconds
9. #6k – Kevin Feeney, 14.437 seconds
10. #7 – Tom Jewell, 14.441 seconds
11. #75c – Jerry Caryer, 14.605 seconds
12. #8a – Adam Biltz, 14.657 seconds
13. #17 – Bobby Komisarski, 14.745 seconds
14. #81 – Johnny Petrozelle III, 14.859 seconds
15. #72s – Joe Speakman, 14.893 seconds
16. #44 – Teddy Alberts, 15.060 seconds
17. #85 – Rick Holley, 15.173 seconds
18. #11g – Tom Geren, 15.348 seconds
19. #32 – Todd McQuillen, 15.427 seconds
20. #51 – Joshua Sexton, 15.571 seconds
21. #13d – Jacob Dolinar, 15.759 seconds
22. #15 – Tim Henthorne, 16.092 seconds
23. #4 – Anthony Linkenhoker, 16.227 seconds
24. #74 – Ivan Shaver, NT

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Jacob Seelman
Freelance Writer
Series Announcer for Must See Racing