Mt Pleasant, MI - The 2019 Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP Champion, Phil Gressman (Fremont, OH) last stood in the winners circle on 8/16/2019, nearly 3 years! But he and his crew have worked hard to stay up front. Tonight Gressman & Company were able to pull a full night of good running together which rewarded them with a new track record and his second victory at Mt Pleasant.
After a rainy week in Central Michigan, 22 cars still made the haul to visit a track GLSS last visited on June 29th, 2019. Changing it up a little tonight and qualifying 2 cars at a time, Gressman went out in the 8th group to qualify and was on the gas tonight setting a new track record with a 12.74 second lap, averaging 96 mph. Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) recorded the 2nd quickest time with a 13.20 second lap and 2021 GLSS Champion, Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI) was 3rd quick with a 13.21 second lap.
In the Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1, 2018 GLSS Champion Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) jumped out to lead when the green flag dropped and never looked back, taking the checked flag in just 108 seconds. Gressman took 2nd to get himself in the redraw while Keith Sheffer, Jr (Jerome, MI) rounded out the podium taking 3rd.
Rookie Bobby Elliott (Allenton, MI) put one of the most consistent performances in during the Jim Coffey & Sons Plumbing and Heating Heat 2. With his slowest lap being the 1st lap at 13.5 seconds, Elliott clicked off 5 laps at 13.3 seconds, one at 13.4 and 13.2 while cruising to the winners circle of his first heat race win. Max Stambaugh (Elida, OH) and Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) came in 2nd and 3rd.
The Beacon & Bridge Markets Heat 3 was won by Ruhl, who started 4th and was able to work his way into 2nd behind Danny Sams III (Northport, FL) who was leading the race and blew it off the track coming out of turn 2 and hitting the marbles up on top. Sams was able to recover, racing back onto the backstretch finishing 2nd while Frank Neill (Vickery, OH) rounded out the podium with a 3rd.
Taking the top 2 finishers from each heat race to the redraw, resulted with 3 past GLSS champions in the front 2 rows, Gressman and Daggett on the front row and Ruhl in the 2nd row.. As the green flag dropped, Gressman quickly jumped out front where it was apparent that Gressman was the car to beat tonight.
Just as Gressman started to hit lap traffic, Eli Lakin (Buchanan, MI) caught a right rear tire from another car as he entered turn 3, launching Lakin off the top of the track and bringing out the red flag. As safety crews arrived, Lakin couldn't get out of the car with the wing crumpled around the car and the car laying on its side. To add to the anxiety and concerns, a fire broke out as methanol dripped down and made contact with the red hot header.
After extinguishing the fire and getting the car towed to the pits we were able to refire the rest of the field . The cars were quickly lined up and the green flag flew. Gressman once again walked away from the field with Daggett, Ruhl, Stambaugh and Lamberson. With 10 laps in the books, suddenly Ruhl flips off the top of turns 3 and comes to rest in the exact spot Lakins came to rest. An open red to add fuel and check bleeders was called as the safety crew raced to get the Ruhl car clear of the track.
Getting everyone fired once again, the green flag flew once agiain with the final 10 laps to go. No surprise at this point, Gressman charged out front. With 4 laps to go, Max Frank (Williamston, MI) who just won his first nion wing feature just 2 weeks ago, spun off the top of turn 4. Quickly getting him back on the track and fired, we went green once again. This time the checkered flew, sealing the deal for Gressman and team. Daggett, Stambaugh, Sheffer and Lamberson rounded out the top 5 spots.
The 2021 Great Lakes Traditional Sprints presented by PErfit Champion, Stevie Irwin (Fenton, MI) came out in the Don Smith 61 car and started 22nd, but drove up to a 14th place finish earning him the Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger award. Jay Steinebach (Hudsonville, MI) won the Engine Pro Lucky Dog tonight.
Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP will be back in action tomorrow, Saturday, August 6th at Silver Bullet Speedway.
Thank you to all of our sponsors, fans, tracks and teams that support Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP, without them none of this would be possible. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@GLSprints).
For our schedule, results and points, go to our website at www.greatlakessprints.com.
Engine Pro & ARP (Automotive Racing Products)
PERFIT
Hoosier Racing Tires
Engler Machine & Tool
Jim Coffey & Son Plumbing and Heating
Beacon & Bridge Markets
EWRS, Inc
Specialty Fuels & Logistics
Addvance Heating & Cooling
Midland Steel
Ti22 Performance
MPD Racing
Media Results for 8/5/2022 at Mount Pleasant Speedway - Mount Pleasant, MI
Great Lakes Super Sprints 22 Entries
PErfit A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:50:48.495
- 7C-Phil Gressman[1]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett[2]; 3. 71H-Max Stambaugh[3]; 4. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr[8]; 5. 27-Brad Lamberson[7]; 6. 5E-Bobby Elliott[5]; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron[11]; 8. 49T-Gregg Dalman[9]; 9. 10S-Jay Steinebach[13]; 10. 2-Tyler Bearden[14]; 11. 88N-Frank Neill[10]; 12. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 13. 21-Linden Jones[12]; 14. 61-Steve Irwin[22]; 15. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[20]; 16. 20A-Andy Chehowski[19]; 17. 8-Justin Ward[16]; 18. 38-Max Frank[18]; 19. 89-Chris Pobanz[17]; 20. 01-Ryan Ruhl[4]; 21. 70-Eli Lakin[15]; 22. (DNS) 23-Ralph Brakenberry
Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:06:55.562
- 85-Dustin Daggett[1]; 2. 7C-Phil Gressman[4]; 3. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr[2]; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron[3]; 5. 10S-Jay Steinebach[5]; 6. 8-Justin Ward[6]; 7. 20A-Andy Chehowski[7]; 8. 61-Steve Irwin[8]
Jim Coffey & Sons Plumbing and Heating Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:53.125
- 5E-Bobby Elliott[1]; 2. 71H-Max Stambaugh[3]; 3. 49T-Gregg Dalman[2]; 4. 27-Brad Lamberson[4]; 5. 2-Tyler Bearden[6]; 6. 89-Chris Pobanz[5]; 7. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[7]
Beacon & Bridge Markets Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:04:52.821
- 01-Ryan Ruhl[4]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 3. 88N-Frank Neill[1]; 4. 21-Linden Jones[2]; 5. 70-Eli Lakin[5]; 6. 38-Max Frank[6]; 7. (DNS) 23-Ralph Brakenberry
Ti22 Performance Qualifying 1 | 00:02:50.109
- 7C-Phil Gressman, 00:12.748[15]; 2. 27-Brad Lamberson, 00:13.205[17]; 3. 01-Ryan Ruhl, 00:13.212[21]; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron, 00:13.366[1]; 5. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 00:13.516[12]; 6. 24D-Danny Sams III, 00:13.534[2]; 7. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr, 00:13.588[16]; 8. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 00:13.619[11]; 9. 21-Linden Jones, 00:13.700[13]; 10. 85-Dustin Daggett, 00:13.707[5]; 11. 5E-Bobby Elliott, 00:13.715[8]; 12. 88N-Frank Neill, 00:13.760[14]; 13. 10S-Jay Steinebach, 00:13.788[19]; 14. 89-Chris Pobanz, 00:13.965[9]; 15. 70-Eli Lakin, 00:14.139[3]; 16. 8-Justin Ward, 00:14.175[18]; 17. 2-Tyler Bearden, 00:14.475[22]; 18. 38-Max Frank, 00:14.498[6]; 19. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 00:14.730[10]; 20. 3A-Mike Astrauskas, 00:14.763[7]; 21. 23-Ralph Brakenberry, 00:15.599[20]; 22. 61-Steve Irwin, 00:15.600[4]
- Barry Marlow on Aug 06, 2022
- Article Date: 8/5/2022 by GLSS Staff Writer