With less running around to do, Blake Brown probably won’t lose as many pounds this summer.

He may wind up being worth his weight in gold, however, as a Mid-American division champion at Grundy County Speedway.

The Twin Lakes, Wisconsin resident got off to a great start Friday night. He took the lead from Vinnie Kuelbs on the fifth lap and stayed there the rest of the way in the 25-lap feature.

Brown withstood a challenge from fast qualifier Tristan Batson. Aaron Shelton took third, ahead of Kenny Benson and Ricky Mathis Jr.

“We were good,” Brown said. “Tristan, though, he had me sweating there. He’s a great driver. He’s going to be one of the guys to beat out here.

“Jeff Olson and all of my guys have been working hard to get more speed out of this car. We weren’t where we wanted to be last week, and I think we found what we needed.”

On May 1, Brown finished third in a non-points Mid-Am Racing Series event behind Ron Vandermeir Jr. and Josh Nelms.

Last season, Brown did double duty at Grundy. He drove Olson’s No. 71 Mid-Am to a second-place finish in points behind Kevin Murphy. He also subbed for Anthony Danta in his No. 51 late model and was seventh in points.

It made for a lot of shuttling back and forth between races. Brown often weighed a few pounds less on Saturday morning.

“It was a workout, Brown said. “It wasn’t that hard, though, because the cars were both on the same tires. It was just obviously a lot more work on my end, running multiple races and running back and forth.”

Danta, recovered from a back ailment, is behind the wheel of the No. 51 this season. Brown has no set plan for a late model.

Olson, meanwhile, is glad not to have to share his driver, but ...

“I feel bad for him that they don’t have a late model team out here,” Olson said. “He deserves to be in one, surely. Hopefully, he can put something together in the future.

“But for this year, this is what we have. I’ll try to make sure I give him the best car possible every week and we can run for a championship.”

Dad’s challenge: Jacob and Zack Senerchia will have their work cut out for them following in their dad’s footsteps. John Senerchia won 10 racing titles at five different tracks. His 10th came in the street stock division in 2018 at Grundy.

Now, Senerchia is devoting himself to helping his sons take their next steps.

Zack, 7, runs in the junior champs division at K3 Karting in Kankakee. Jacob, 11, made his Grundy debut in the Super Cup division Friday night, finishing fourth in the 20-lap feature.

Senerchia is, at least for now, happily retired.

“I have just as much fun, if not more fun, with the kids racing,” Senerchia said. “It’s a lot of work. I spend as much time as I used to with my cars. But they’re both running really well and that’s all I can ask.”

Jacob almost nabbed his first track title in 2020. He finished second in points last summer in the junior champs class at K3 Speedway.

He likes having an expert chassis man on his crew.

“I’m really proud of my dad because he knows a lot of stuff,” Jacob said. “I’m just hoping one day to be better than him and win more championships.”

Two for two: For the second week in a row, Paul Shafer Jr. pulled off last-lap magic in the late model feature. This time, Shafer passed Larry Schuler for the victory, while Ricky Baker, Eddie Hoffman, Mike White and Jim Weber completed the top six.

Shafer now has two victories with two laps led.

“Yeah, it’s just kind of working out like that,” Shafer said, laughing. “All of the cars are pretty good this season. I just can’t thank my guys enough for giving me a good car.”

Eddie Ligue was tops in the street stock feature ahead of the father-son team of Scott and Scotty Gardner. Amanda Clubb earned her first career feature victory in the 4-cylinder class, while Landon Hocking won in the Super Cups.