By Jacob Seelman
SANDUSKY, Ohio – After a solo spin during the Saturday portion of Border Wars weekend, four-time Must See Racing Sprint Car Series champion Jimmy McCune came into Sandusky Speedway fired up.
That fire was rewarded Sunday evening with a victory during the Border Wars finale, after a late-race pass of race-long leader Ryan Litt gave McCune his third win in five races this season.
A caution with 10 to go, for fluid from the ailing car of Bobby Komisarski, set up the winning move. Following a lap-21 restart, McCune charged from third to the lead in just two circuits, with a turn-three slide job giving the Toledo, Ohio native a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.
McCune paced the final eight circuits for his 32nd career Must See Racing triumph, extending his own all-time series record.
To make the day even more special, he was celebrating his 44th birthday as well, becoming the first driver to win on his birthday twice in Must See Racing competition.
“How about that, huh? Happy birthday to me,” McCune said in victory lane. “That’s a little redemption for last night after I spun out. I hadn’t done that in about 10 years, so I had a job (to do) and we had a really fast race car to do it with. We had a really fast race car last night, too; we just had to go to the tail come back up through there.
“A second last night, and a win and quick time today on my birthday? I’ll take that,” he smiled. “I think it’s time for a Captain (Morgan). I wish I had some, but we’ve got to go home and get ready for Berlin.”
Though McCune’s nephew Anthony led the field to green from the pole after a six inversion, it was Litt who got the jump on the initial start from the outside pole – a position gifted to him when scheduled second-starter Charlie Schultz was unable to start the feature due to electrical issues on the pace laps.
From there, Litt took off like a rocketship, weaving deftly in and out of traffic lap after lap and holding the determined advances of Brian Gerster at bay for 20 hair-raising laps before the game-changing caution brought out by Komisarski’s issue, later determined to be a broken radiator hose.
That put Gerster and McCune on Litt’s tail tank for the lone restart of the night, and though the Canadian nailed the green flag to get away briefly, McCune tossed out his fish-hook and reeled Litt in.
McCune dove past Gerster on the outside with nine to go to take over second, then changed lanes for the winning pass the next time around and left Litt to deal with the heartbreak of a runner-up finish.
“Man, these nights bite,” admitted Litt, who led a race-high 22 laps. “I thought my car was pretty good. It was a little bit loose off, but the 88 (Jimmy McCune) is just on another level right now. We’re all trying to figure out what he’s doing and catch up to him. Whatever he’s doing, we’ve got to start doing.
“We were good tonight, just not good enough when it counted the most.”
Gerster completed the podium and entertained the fans after the race with his imitation of Litt in a faux interview before Litt’s proper runner-up conversation on the front straightaway.
Anthony McCune and Tyler Roahrig crossed the line fourth and fifth, respectively.
RESULTS: Must See Racing Sprint Car Series; Sandusky Speedway; Aug. 25, 2019
Hamilton Trucking Time Trials (best of two laps): 1. #88 – Jimmy McCune, 15.266; 2. #50M – Brian Gerster, 15.384; 3. #99s – Tyler Roahrig, 15.446; 4. #07L – Ryan Litt, 15.473; 5. #9s – Charlie Schultz, 15.517; 6. #8 – Anthony McCune, 15.573; 7. #8a – Adam Biltz 15.635; 8. #75c – Jerry Caryer, 15.649; 9. #7 – Tom Jewell, 15.705; 10. #7k – Mike McVetta, 15.877; 11. #13 – Joe Liguori, 15.913; 12. #6k – Kevin Feeney, 16.007; 13. #26 – Jeff Bloom, 16.081; 14. #42 – Jason Blonde, 16.163; 15. #17 – Bobby Komisarski, 16.252; 16. #72s – Joe Speakman, 16.355; 17. #13d – Jacob Dolinar 16.378; 18. #85 – Rick Holley, 16.567; 19. #51 – Joshua Sexton, 16.825; 20. #90k – Joey Wyckoff, 16.866; 21. #99k – Brenden Torok, 17.054; 22. #32 – Todd McQuillen, 17.423; 23. #15 – Tim Henthorne, 17.453
Abe’s Auto Parts Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Bobby Komisarski [2], 2. Tyler Roahrig [6], 3. Kevin Feeney [3], 4. Tom Jewell [4], 5. Anthony McCune [5], 6. Rick Holley [1], 7. Brenden Torok [7].
Abe’s Auto Parts Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Jason Blonde [2], 2. Brian Gerster [6], 3. Jerry Caryer [4], 4. Charlie Schultz [5], 5. Joe Liguori [3], 6. Jacob Dolinar [1], 7. Joey Wyckoff [7], 8. Tim Henthorne [8].
Abe’s Auto Parts Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. Ryan Litt [5], 2. Adam Biltz [4], 3. Jimmy McCune [6], 4. Jeff Bloom [2], 5. Joshua Sexton [7], 6. Todd McQuillen [8], 7. Joe Speakman [1], 8. Mike McVetta [3].
Border Wars A-Feature (30 laps): 1. Jimmy McCune [5], 2. Ryan Litt [2], 3. Brian Gerster [4], 4. Anthony McCune [1], 5. Tyler Roahrig [3], 6. Jason Blonde [12], 7. Joe Liguori [9], 8. Jerry Caryer [7], 9. Adam Biltz [6], 10. Tom Jewell [8], 11. Kevin Feeney [10], 12. Brenden Torok [18], 13. Joey Wycoff [17], 14. Joshua Sexton [16], 15. Rick Holley [15], 16. Todd McQuillen [19], 17. Tim Henthorne [20], 18. Bobby Komisarski [13], 19. Jeff Bloom [11], 20. Mike McVetta [21], 21. Jacob Dolinar [14]. 22. Charlie Schultz (DNS).
Lap Leader(s): Ryan Litt 1-22, Jimmy McCune 23-30.
Hard Charger: #42 – Jason Blonde (+6)