From Must See Racing
SOUTH AMHERST, Ohio (June 7, 2025) – Andrew Bogusz and J.J. Henes opened the Must See Racing Maxima Midwest Lights season by splitting Saturday night’s Twin 20s held at Lorain Raceway Park.
Bogusz started on the outside pole in race one after a six-car invert from qualifying and led from start to finish, holding off a concerted late charge from Henes, who advanced from the rear of the field to finish second after having to visit the work area prior to the warm-up laps.
In earning his sixth career Midwest Lights victory, Bogusz took the checkered flag a slim .336-second margin ahead of Henes, with Charlie Baur completing the podium in third place.
“Track position was extremely important, as it is in any race, but particularly with these cars … if you can get out in clean air and make the most of it, you’ll have more downforce on your car and be able to make speed,” Bogusz explained. “It wasn’t easy to aero-block J.J. once I knew he was on my bumper, but it was about defending to where I could get him to use his stuff up a bit more.”
Henes tipped that “it’s just so tough to chase down someone who has open track ahead of him” after the first feature, but he didn’t let that hold him back in the nightcap.
The two-time and defending series champion came from fourth to first in just nine laps during race two, passing outside polesitter and early leader Charlie Schultz to take control for good.
From there, Henes set sail en route to his 11th career Midwest Lights feature win, extending his own series record in the process. Schultz was second and teenager Keegan Weese finished third for his first podium finish in a full-size sprint car.
“Getting a good start to get to second on the first lap was definitely key,” said Henes of his path to victory. “From there it was all about stringing together consistent laps to catch Charlie and then making the move to sneak underneath him. It wasn’t easy, but proud of this team for bouncing back strong and getting it done after we missed out on the first one by just a bit.”
Bogusz battled dirty air in the second race, after the top five finishers from race one were inverted, and could only muster a fourth-place finish in that 20-lapper.
“Getting boxed in on the start and having nowhere to go didn’t help us,” said Bogusz of the latter feature. “I could have tried to shoot the gap … but my car built really tight and the stagger closing up for the feature made it really challenging on corner exit to where we couldn’t run the top three down.”
Both Twin 20s ran green-to-checkered without a caution and were completed in four minutes and 38 seconds apiece.
The feature purse was paid out by virtue of combined points from qualifying and both features. The twin-race format awarded half points for each of the two 20-lap contests.
With 64 total points during the night, Henes received the $1,000 winner’s share for his efforts.
The Must See Racing Maxima Midwest Lights Series returns to action June 21 at Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Mich., alongside the national Must See Racing Perfit Sprint Car Series.
The results:
Qualifying (group format): 1. 36-JJ Henes, 13.141; 2. 77P-Charlie Schultz, 13.579; 3. 23-Charlie Baur, 13.598; 4. 37-Keegan Weese, 13.631; 5. 17-Andrew Bogusz, 13.844; 6. 51-Rick Holley, 13.901; 7. 38-Adam Biltz, 14.340.
A Feature #1 (20 laps): 1. 17-Andrew Bogusz [2]; 2. 36-J.J. Henes [6]; 3. 23-Charlie Baur [4]; 4. 77P-Charlie Schultz [5]; 5. 37-Keegan Weese [3]; 6. 51-Rick Holley [1]; 7. 38-Adam Biltz [7]. [4:38.343]
Lap Leader(s): Andrew Bogusz 1-20.
Hard Charger: 36-J.J. Henes (+4)
A Feature #2 (20 laps): 1. 36-J.J. Henes [4]; 2. 77P-Charlie Schultz[2]; 3. 37-Keegan Weese [1]; 4. 17-Andrew Bogusz [5]; 5. 23-Charlie Baur [3]; 6. 38-Adam Biltz [7]; 7. 51-Rick Holley [6]. [4:38.088]
Lap Leader(s): Charlie Schultz 1-8, J.J. Henes 9-20.
Hard Charger: 36-J.J. Henes (+3)