FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Friday night’s opening act to the 23rd Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales had all the makings of an instant classic.
From top to bottom, the entertainment level was electric inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, headlined by a wild national midget feature which saw Peru, Ind., veteran Russ Gamester reach victory lane for the fifth time in his Rumble career.
Gamester defended his longstanding nickname of “Mr. Friday Night” by winning the 50-lap headliner after a late pass of Travis Welpott, who was seeking his first career Rumble win and appeared to have the race well in hand for much of the event.
The main began with three-time Rumble winner Justin Peck on the pole of the 14-car field, and Peck led the opening lap before a souring engine dropped him quickly out of contention for any shot at the victory. Welpott took control of the race for the first time on lap two and quickly brought both Billy Wease and Gamester along with him into the early podium positions.
A lap-four caution for Charlie Schultz, who had a right-rear tire come off the rim in turn four, bunched the field back up but did nothing to stall Welpott’s roll. The driver of the No. 18 Ernie Gorman Racing Munchkin surged back to the point on the ensuing restart and comfortably held the spot before entering traffic on lap 16.
Though Wease and Gamester closed to Welpott’s back bumper, the threat of traffic was eliminated for a brief period by a lap-21 yellow flag, necessitated when Brandon Knupp spun on his own in turn one.
Wease began applying heavy pressure to Welpott’s rear nerf bar after that, with the lap-22 restart being the first time the leader looked vulnerable all night long. Welpott held serve, however, and Gamester began his charge by moving past Wease into second place on the 24th time around the temporary seventh-mile concrete oval.
As the race moved into its second half, Welpott led Gamester, Wease, Derek Bischak and feature rookie Trey Osborne, with that order holding steady through a caution flag with 19 laps left when Joey Payne looped the Tony Stewart Racing “Deuce and a Half” in turn four.
The next restart saw the night’s only red-flag stoppage of the feature, after Knupp and Joe Liguori crashed off the second corner, leading to a quick repair of the safety barriers.
Welpott scooted away when the race resumed for the final time, but disaster struck seven laps later, when a broken u-joint exiting turn four forced him to limp to the infield and scuttled his hopes at a landmark victory.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Welpott said later. “We had the car to beat; I really believe that. But sometimes in here, it’s about having a little luck and we just didn’t quite have that to the end tonight.”
Gamester took over the race lead at that point and, despite rising temperatures aboard his No. 46 Grant King-built midget over the final 12 laps, held off a determined Wease to notch the victory.
All five of Gamester’s Rumble wins have come during the opening night of the weekend. His fifth win ties him with Wease for second in national midget wins at the Rumble in Fort Wayne, behind Tony Stewart’s event-leading 11 checkered flags.
“I want to thank all the fans that support the Rumble; it takes everyone coming out here so that we can do our thing,” said an emotional Gamester in victory lane. “It’s special to win here again. It really is. This is my grandmother and grandfather’s car. They’ve passed on now … but the tradition goes on.
“It means a lot to me.”
Gamester tipped that Welpott had him beat before the issue that ended his night, noting that he wouldn’t have been able to mount a serious challenge due to the rising engine temperatures aboard his race car down the closing stretch.
“I’ll be honest; Travis had us covered,” said Gamester. “I got into him there when he had his issue, but this thing was running about 240 or 250 (degrees) at the end. It was so hot that I didn’t think it was going to make it. I knew Wease was working on me at the end. I’ve run a lot of these races, though, and I just knew not to get loose at the end and give him a chance.”
Wease finished as the runner-up, marking his eight career podium finish in Rumble action, followed by Bischak, Ligouri and Bryan Nuckles.
Event debutant Jack Macenko, a graduate of the Mel Kenyon Midget Series, was Friday’s rookie of the race after a stellar effort to make the field in his first Rumble appearance. He finished seventh.
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Stewart – who was seeking his 12th Rumble victory – saw his perfect record of making the feature field snapped when he tagged an infield tire in turn one during his B-main Friday night. The contact broke the right-front suspension on Stewart’s black No. 2 Munchkin and relegated him to the role of spectator for the first time in 22 Rumble attempts.
Stewart was the fast qualifier for the night, however, with a lap of 7.616 seconds in group qualifying.
Friday’s 600cc micro features featured plenty of action in their own rights as well, with both the winged and non-winged divisions going down to the wire and ending with surprise victors in the winner’s circle.
Gamester followed his national midget win as a driver with a non-winged 600cc micro win as a car owner, after Justin Harper snuck past Brian Busz coming to the white flag in traffic for his first Rumble micro score.
The 25-lap feature saw four lead changes among four drivers, but Harper’s late move proved to be the winning one. Sixteen-year-old Grant Valkner crossed the finish line second, ahead of Busz, polesitter Tyler Gunn and past winner Blane Culp.
The winged 600cc micro main was even more hotly contested at the finish, as Cap Henry made a last-lap, last-corner pass of his car owner John Ivy for an impressive win that avenged a tough night in the national midget class for the Ohio sprint car ace.
Ivy, who led laps 13 through 24 in the winged event, crossed second and saw his streak of four straight micro wins at the Rumble in Fort Wayne ended. Clay Sanders, Brian Busz and Tylar Rankin closed the top five.
In preliminary action, Phillip Schneider tied Zach Axlen and Brandon Dunn for the title of Rumble go-kart king with two victories – in the Clone 330 and Clone 360 classes – which pushed his career total to 14 Rumble wins in go-kart action. He’ll go for his record-setting 15th kart win at the Rumble on Saturday.
Other go-kart winners on night one included Dylan Trost (Junior Caged), Travis Fisher (Clone 400), Landen Francis (Junior 3), Evan Verdun (Wedge Kart), Missy Bootes (Senior Caged) and Kear Mills (Kid Karts).
Kamden Hibbitt (Light 160, Animal Combined) and Austin Kryta (Heavy 120, Heavy 160) led the way among the quarter midget feature winners with two victories apiece. Cam Lindsay (Junior Honda) and Lucas Waber (Senior Honda) were also victorious Friday night in quarter midget features.
Saturday’s action at the Rumble in Fort Wayne features another complete program for all 17 divisions in attendance, beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Just like the opening night, every lap of racing is available to watch live online for the first time ever through SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Pit Row TV.
The finish:
1. 46-Russ Gamester [2], 2. 99-Billy Wease [5], 3. 31-Derek Bischak [4], 4. 8up-Joe Liguori [10], 5. 59-Bryan Nuckles [7], 6. 6-Trey Osborne [11], 7. 24m-Jack Macenko [12], 8. 2.5-Joey Payne [6], 9. 97-Mike Fedorcak [8], 10. 18-Travis Welpott [3], 11. 99-Brandon Knupp [14], 12. Jordan Caskey [13], 13. Justin Peck [1], 14. Charlie Schultz [9].