By T.J. Buffenbarger
MARNE, Mi. (August 18, 2018) – Charlie Schultz returned to victory lane in a sprint car event for the first time in over a decade Saturday night at Berlin Raceway with the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series. Schultz took the lead early in the 25-lap lap main event and held off Jason Blonde through multiple restarts for the victory.
“The last time I think I won in a sprint car was 2001 when we beat the super modifieds at Sandusky,” said Schultz. “This is the same basic car. Man, it feels good. I knew we could do it.”
Schultz’s victory came after several strong runs in recent weeks with the Must See series on the short tracks, finally putting everything together thought at one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.
“We came so close a couples of weeks ago at Rockford and led so many laps and we were decent at Anderson, but our big track program has kind of suffered, and I think we turned that around tonight.”
Tom Jewell led the opening lap while Blonde and Jimmy McCune were driving three-wide through the field to try and move up from their fourth row starting positions. After a caution after the opening lap for a spin by Tom Geren on the front stretch Schultz drove to second and had the lead by lap three with Blonde driving into second.
The complexion of the race changed on lap five when Tom Nichols spun off turn four and Jimmy McCune had nowhere to go and was collected. Both drivers were able to restart at the tail of the field.
For the remainder of the race Blonde was able to hang with Schultz’s back bumper,but could not make the pass. Even a caution flag with four laps to go was not enough to assist Blonde as Schultz motored away to the victory. Blonde took the runner up spot while Jimmy McCune recovered from the earlier incident to race from the tail to third position.
For Schultz having Blonde, a multiple time winner in sprint car competition at Berlin, on his bumper for the last restart did not phase him.
“Not that bad. I know Jason, he’s a good clean racer,” said Schultz. “He gave me a bump there before we got to the cone. As soon as he did I got in the throttle and was able to drive away from him.”
Must See Racing Extreme Sprint Car Series
Berlin Raceway
Marne, MI
Saturday August 18, 2018.
Qualifying: 1. 42 – Jason Blonde, 13.286; 2. 88 – Jimmy McCune, 11.298; 3. 9S – Charlie Schultz, 13.350; 4. 22A – Bobby Santos, 13.465; 5. 97 – Ike Beasley, 13.573; 6. 44 – Teddy Alberts, 13.668; 7. 10K – Christian Koehler, 13.802; 8. 0 – Doug Dietsch, 13.814; 9. 75C – Jerry Caryer, 14.093; 10. 7 – Tom Jewell, 14.117; 11. 8A – Adam Blitz, 14.376; 12. 6K – Kyle Feeney, 14.685; 13. 88N – Frank Neill, 14.727; 14. 11G – Tom Geren, 15. 81 – Sondi Eden, 15.351; 16. 90 – Tom Nichols, 16.382; 17. 8M – Anthony McCune, 16.733; 18. 13 – HD Carter, 18.136.
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1 .81 – Sondi Eden, 2. 11G – Tom Geren, 3. 90 – Tom Nichols, 4. 13 – HD Carter, 5. 8M – Anthony McCune.
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 7 – Tom Jewell, 2. 8A – Adam Blitz, 3. 75C – Jerry Caryer, 4. 88N – Frank Neil, 5. 6K – Kyle Feeney.
Fast Car Dash (8 Laps): 1. 97 – Ike Beasley, 2. 88 – Jimmy McCune, 3. 44 – Teddy Alberts, 4. 42 – Jason Blonde, 5. 9S – Charlies Schultz.
DNS: 22A – Bobby Santos, 10K – Christian Koehler, 0 – Doug Dietsch.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 9S – Charlie Schultz, 2. 42 – Jason Blonde, 3. 88 – Jimmy McCune, 4. 97 – Ike Beasley, 5. 8M – Anthony McCune, 6. 75C – Jerry Caryer, 7. 7 – Tom Jewel, 8. 8A – Adam Blitz, 9. 44 – Teddy Alberts, 10. 6K – Kyle Feeney, 11. 81 – Sondi Eden, 12. 88N – Frank Neill, 13. 13 – H.D. Carter, 14. 90 – Tom Nichols, 15. 11G – Tom Geren, 16. 10K – Christian Koehler. DNS: 0 – Doug Dietsch, 22A – Bobby Santos.