FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Two years ago, Russ Gamester and his 1977 Grant King chassis blew the doors off of the Rumble Racing Series National Midget field to win their first Rumble in Fort Wayne A-Feature.

On Saturday night, however, it took capitalizing on the misfortune of another for the veteran driver to find his way back to Victory Lane at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and Expo Center.

Gamester inherited the lead with 14 laps to go after polesitter, race-long leader and Rumble rookie Brad Greenup spun on his own in turn three, holding off a determined Cory Setser over three restarts and a race-deciding three lap dash to notch his third overall Rumble in Fort Wayne victory and second in three years in the headlining National Midget division.

"(Brad) was better than I was in the beginning, and to be honest, I just didn't want to go that fast early on," Gamester, who broke his own record as the oldest Rumble winner in history at 50 years, 11 months and 17 days old, said after the event. "I knew we were going to catch lapped traffic, and he was running pretty fast and pretty hard."

"The way I judged it is if someone was beating on me pretty hard, then I knew I had to pick up my pace a bit. So I was just taking it easy, and then he spun and I didn't really know why -- couldn't see exactly what happened. But after he was out of it then I knew it was my job to lead and be smooth, and if I could protect the bottom then we were gonna be alright. Thankfully it all worked out, and we ended up in victory lane at the end of the night -- so all in all, a successful day."

In a race that saw seven total caution flags, it was that lone lead change that made all the difference. While Greenup led laps one through 26 from the point -- after original polesitter Austin Nemire dropped out on the pace laps due to mechanical troubles -- once the Channahon, Ill. native was relegated due to his spin, he could never recover and Gamester was left able to drive into the distance.

Despite a late-race caution flag with three laps to go for a multi-car pileup involving Chris Neuenschwander, Grant Galloway, Greenup and former winner Jim Anderson, second-running Cory Setser could never get the bite on his restarts to get a wheel alongside Gamester and contend for the win.

Still, however, the Fort Wayne native was able to settle for second -- a career-best effort at the Rumble in Fort Wayne and the highest finish for a Mike Fedorcak-built Munchkin on the opening night of competition at the 2015 Rumble.

"Russ had the faster car," Setser admitted. "We were a little bit loose through the center [of the corner] and that was the difference. I gave him everything I had on that last restart, and bumped him as much as I could without totally taking him out, but he never made a mistake."

"Had he slipped, I think we could have got him, but it just wasn't meant to be tonight. I'm happy to finish second. It's the best finish we've had, and after having the motor rebuilt this year I think it shows more of what we're capable of here. We'll come back tomorrow and try to do one spot better, but this really is special. It's a good feeling."

Former Eldora Speedway track champion Matt Westfall scored his best Rumble finish in several years by rounding out the podium, followed by fast qualifier Derek Bischak and two-time winner Justin Peck in the top five.

But while Gamester's night was all good in the National Midgets, it was not so in the non-winged 600cc dirt outlaw midget class.

The main event was a runaway for Blane Culp, who started on the pole and never looked back en route to his second Rumble victory in the class, but Gamester was involved in a skirmish with Jason Ormsby racing for second with seven laps to go.

Gamester tried to make a move to pass Ormsby on the outside, but was squeezed into the wall and went for a wild, end-over-end ride that ended his night prematurely.

"I just shouldn't have ran [Ormsby] on the outside," Gamester admitted. "You know, there's just certain people that you can't run on the outside. I learned my lesson tonight, and next time it'll be an inside pass. It looked like a hard hit, but I'm all good."

Meanwhile, Culp weathered six caution flags and two red flag periods in wiring the field and leading all 25 laps. The win makes Culp the first-ever multiple winner in the class since it was brought to the Rumble in 2013.

"I think I had a little bit of luck on my side tonight," Culp admitted. "Once Larry Joe [Sroufe] had his issues, I don't think he ever got back to second -- because if he did I'd have been in trouble. This was a lot of fun though, it's his car and I'm just the lucky one that gets to drive it."

Clay Sanders and Ryan Ruhl rounded out the podium in that class, with quick qualifier Sroufe making a heroic charge from the rear after being involved in two separate cautions to finish fourth.

Longtime Rumble veteran John Ivy took top honors in the winged 600cc outlaw midget class, passing polesitter Drew Dorsett on lap 13 and running away to an easy victory over fellow Ohio native and teammate Cap Henry. The win was Ivy's record-tying fourth in the class at the Rumble in Fort Wayne.

"I tried not to think about what might could go wrong while we were leading there in the closing laps, but it was in the back of my head," Ivy laughed. "I'm just so glad we got the monkey off our back finally. It's good to be back in Rumble victory lane; it's been a while, there were a couple close calls, but we made it happen and I'm proud to be here."

Amanda Quinones-Long, Dorsett and Rod Henning were the balance of the top five.

Brandon Dunn led the go-kart field with two victories on the day (Clone Heavy, Clone Medium), while Zach Axlen (Sr. Flathead), Danny Bouc (Sr. Caged), Aiden Williamson (Jr. Caged), Gene Gregoric III (Junior 3) and Garrett Andexler (Kid Karts) each grabbed single victories in karting action.

Taylor Nibert doubled up on Stoops Freightliner Quarter Midget feature wins (Heavy Honda, Heavy 160), with Levei Hargraves (Sr. Honda), Seth Pugh (Jr. Honda), Jacob Denney (Light 160) and Noah Didinger (Animal) also earning quarter midget trophies.