[Pavement Dave]

GERSTER GRABS ROCKFORD; MCCUNE 2015 MUST SEE CHAMPION

October 4, 2015 – Rockford, IL – Brian Gerster limped home a wounded machine the final 25 laps while Jimmy McCune clinched the 2015 Must See Racing Sprint Series (MSRSS) presented by ENGINE PRO championship Sunday afternoon at Rockford Speedway. Both drivers accounted for all but two MSRSS feature event victories in 2015. It was only fitting both drivers played a huge part of Sunday’s event.

The MSRSS event was part of the 50th annual National Short Track Championships. It was the third appearance for the MSRSS to the legendary high-banked ¼ mile. McCune had won both of the previous MSRSS visits to Rockford Speedway.

Jimmy McCune got the action started when he set quick time with a lap of 11.697 seconds.

Brian Gerster got the jump at the start of the 50-lap event from his front row starting spot. Gerster, who was making his first-ever start at Rockford, looked impressive early. He managed to build a sizeable lead early. Jason Cox, Jimmy McCune, and David Byrne put on a thrilling battle for second up to the halfway point. Towards the end of the race Gerster appeared to be slowing and struggled to get around lapped cars. The trios battling for second were able to close on Gerster late in the race. Gerster was able to hold on for the win despite a right rear tire that was going flat the last 25 laps. Cox came home second followed by McCune, Byrne and Chris Neunschwander rounding out the top five.

“We had a good race car today but we also got lucky “Gerster explained in victory lane.”We ran over something and got a hole in the right rear tire. The last half of the race it was losing air. Late in the race it got pretty low and the car started bottoming out pretty bad. Luckily it stayed green the rest of the way. It ended up being a lot closer than what we would have liked. We got through it and the car was super-fast. It’s a real neat place and I’d never been here before. I’d like to dedicate this win to Tony Elliott and his family. He was a true champion and a great ambassador to our sport and will be missed” conclude Gerster.

The MSRSS paid tribute to Tony Elliott, who had lost his life Friday afternoon in a plane crash, by doing a missing man formation before the start of the feature event.

Jimmy McCune officially became the 2015 Must See Racing champion at the conclusion of Sunday’s event.” This is probably the best season of my career explained” McCune.” I can’t say enough about everything these guys do. We worked our tails off this season. It’s pretty cool to win this Must See championship. This is actually my first-ever championship of any kind. Everything just seemed to go perfectly for us this year” concluded McCune.

ROCKFORD SPEEDWAY MSRSS 50-LAP FEATURE RESULTS

1. Brian Gerster (50m) 2. Jason Cox (1c) 3. Jimmy McCune (88) 4. David Byrne (40b) 5. Chris Neunschwander (10k) 6. David Gough (6) 7. Matt Vandevere (10v) 8. Anthony McCune (43) 9. Brian Vaughn (71) 10. Jeff Bloom (26) 11. Tim Cox (07)

DNS Ron Koehler (1x) Christian Koehler (0k) Tony Neunschwander (10)

[interpreter66]

very nice gesture by Brian and the the MSRSS