As the Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm International Cherry Pit Spit approaches its 40th anniversary Saturday, it is without — at least for the time being — the Krause dynasty at its head.

The reigning champion, Ronn Matt, 46, shocked the crowd by propelling his Montmorency pit 69 feet in 2012.

The new “roll model” — an unemployed truck driver from Chicago — interrupted the reign of Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause and his son, Brian “Young Gun” Krause, whose dominance meant a dry spell that has lasted longer than the drought, which played havoc with last year’s fruit harvest.

The novice spirited away the championship belt, which had not left the first family of pit spitting in 12 years.

As 15-time-winner and pit-riarch Pellet Gun of Tuba City, Ariz., battled for second with 61 feet, 2 inches, over younger son, Matt, who was third with 60 feet, 11 inches, defending champion and world record-holder Brian sputtered to 52 feet, 10 inches.

That put “Young Gun” behind Pastor Kevin Hester, of Coloma, sporting a Tim Tebow Jets jersey (55 feet), and Dowagiac Union High School guidance counselor Randy Luthringer, of Niles, (53 feet, 6 inches), but ahead of Edwardsburg football coach Kevin Bartz, of Niles, (44 feet, 9 inches), Mike Lynch, of Hawaii (43 feet, 4 inches), Josh Bernstein, an English teacher from Santa Monica, Calif., (44 feet, 1 inch), Curtis Fitch, of Gaines, (45 feet, 6 inches) and “Machine Gun” Mike Cook, of Naperville, Ill., (41 feet, 5 inches).

Brian Krause, who holds the 93-foot, 6½-inch world record set a decade ago in 2003, won his ninth title in 2011 at 66 feet, 1½ inches.

“I’ve always talked about coming here to do this,” said Matt, who has been coming to Hartford for 18 years. “It was completely spontaneous.”

“My (late) mom always told me spitting wouldn’t amount to anything,” said Matt, who stands 6-foot-4. “I’m a two-time champion of the peach pit spit at the Coloma Glad-Peach Festival, so I thought I’d try this. I just winged it. I never spit a cherry pit, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was watching the Krause empire over there earlier. Those guys are for real, but I think I can hang with them.”

Krauses presented Matt with the 30-year-old champion belt Rick’s best friend’s dad, now deceased, made.

“It’s the first time in 12 years we’ve had to give it away,” Brian said.

“My first two didn’t roll,” Pellet Gun said. “The last one I put too high or I think it would have made it. All three of mine beat his second one, but he caught that first one and it took off. A lot of it is just luck. It’s usually hot, and there’s usually a cross wind. No excuses, but the thing that messed me up was using frozen cherries.”

Cherries were in short supply last year after a hot March followed by April frosts decimated the buds.

“It was fair for everybody, but the texture of small, cold pits was different,” Krause said. “Sixty-nine’s a good spit. Matt and I both had one over 60, which would have won any other time. He got a good roll, and we congratulate him. Conditions were good for a long spit.”

 

What: 40th International Cherry Pit Spit

Where: Herb Teichman’s Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, 9351 E. Eureka Road, between Eau Claire and Dowagiac

When: 10 a.m.-noon, qualifying rounds; 1 p.m., dignitaries’ competition; 1:30 p.m., youths compete in three age brackets, 5 and under, 6-8 and 9-12; 1:45 p.m., women’s competition; 2 p.m., championship. Times are approximate.

The qualification round is open to anyone of any age. Top spitters in each category, including past champions, compete for fame and honor.

The contestant who spits the cherry pit the farthest across an asphalt court wins.

Why: To mark the beginning of the southwest Michigan tart cherry harvest.

Event, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, began in 1974 against Woolworth’s wall in downtown Dowagiac.