Sweetwater, TN – Gavan Boschele of Mooresville, NC at 15 years old and in only his 12th full sized sprint race was able to smoothly navigate the stacked field of cars at the I-75 Raceway to take home his first feature win at the North (GLSS) vs South (USCS) Night 1 Shootout.
The United Sprint Car Series filtercharged by K&N Filters and Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP Racing joined forces this weekend for a 2 day North vs South Shootout in Tennessee. Making the 6-10 hour pull from the North were 11 cars which included 3 past GLSS Champions and the current reigning champion, Max Stambaugh of Elida, OH. There were also 11 cars from the South which included multi-time champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, TN.
Using a passing point format that is regularly used by USCS, the teams were given hot laps, but their line ups in the their heat races were determined by their original pill draw at registration.
In the Engler Machine & Tool Heat one, Boschele was on the pole in a heavily stacked group. With the dry slick conditions, passing was minimal, forcing all the drivers to be on the wheel and not to make a mistake. With no cautions and Boschele driving flawlessly, it appeared he would take the checker with no problem. But Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) closed the gap at the flagstand taking second place by only 4/10ths of a second.
In the Jim Coffey and Sons Plumbing & Heating Heat 2, the back of the heat was filled with Ryan Coniam (Burlington, ON) and past champions Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH), Stambaugh and Gray. Going caution free as well, Horstman was able to move up 2 spots to take the win.
Zane DeVault (Plymouth, IN) started on the pole and held off all comers to take home the win in the PErfit Heat Race 3. Tylar Rankin (Coldwater, MI) started 5th in the heat and moved up to finish 2nd giving him the 2nd highest point finisher after the heats, behind Horstman.
Horstman ended up the highest points qualifier for the night going into the Dash, which earned him the Ti22 Performance Top Qualifier Award.
In the Hoosier Racing Tires Dash, the 6 hightest finishing drivers pulled on the front stretch, which included Horstman and Rankin on the front row, Morgan Turpen Havener (Gallatin, TN) and Terry Gray make up the second row DeVault and Boschele made up the 3rd row.
After the ever familiar and fan favorite 4 wide, the cars are given the one lap to go and as the field comes out of turn 4, they are given the green flag and the twenty two 360 sprints come to life and race for turn one. After one completed lap, Stambaugh ends up backwards and sitting in the middle of turns 1 and 2 as the caution flag flies. Stambaugh is refired and he lines up at the tail of the cars, while in a separate incident at the top of turns one and two, Johnny Bridges’s (Cherryville, NC) night is over with front end damage.
As the field goes green again and the cars start single file, after 3 more completed laps, while leading, Rankin ends up stopped and sideways at the top of turns 3 and 4. During the caution lap, it is noticed that a missing tire bleeder had caused Rankins left rear to go flat. Running 2nd, Havener also has a flat tire. With both leaders getting new tires, they’re able to get them changed and return to the track but sent to the tail.
With 5 laps completed, the field goes green again, with young Boschele as the new leader. Then in one of the more strange incidents, 4 time I-75 Raceway feature winner, Jared Horstman’s car turns sideways and comes to a stop in the middle of turns 3&4! When the USCS Official got to Horstman’s car, he learned that Horstman had been shocked by a rogue wire that came loose from his mag box! When the shock went up his arm, he lost feeling in that arm and couldn’t steer. Our prayers go out to Jared, hoping that he is ok and the numbness goes away!
After all the early excitement we still only had 5 scored laps But as the green flag flew, the crowd was treated to 20 straight laps caution free and Chase Dunham (Leipsic, OH) trading leads with Boschele. Unfortunately for Dunham, and fortunately for Boschele, Boschele took home the win! Lamberson, who started 19th, kept busy moving up thru the field and finishing 4th in the feature. Earning himself the Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger for moving up 15 spots. Rankin was the Engine Pro Lucky Dog for tonight.
USCS 360 Outlaw Sprint Cars 22 Entries
Feature 25 Laps
- 21-Gavan Boschele[6]; 2. 23Z-Zane Devault[5]; 3. 66-Chase Dunham[8]; 4. 27-Brad Lamberson[19]; 5. 85-Dustin Daggett[9]; 6. 7C-Phil Gressman[14]; 7. 71H-Max Stambaugh[7]; 8. 28-Jeff Willingham[11]; 9. 10M-Morgan Turpen Havener[3]; 10. 10-Terry Gray[4]; 11. 46-Ryan Coniam[13]; 12. 16C-Tylar Rankin[2]; 13. 24D-Danny Sams III[12]; 14. 11G-Luke Griffith[16]; 15. 48-Wade Buttrey[10]; 16. 23M-Lance Moss[21]; 17. 0-Brayton Phillips[18]; 18. 7E-Eric Gunderson[20]; 19. 33-Mike Hall[22]; 20. 51X-Matt Linder[15]; 21. (DNF) 17-Jared Horstman[1]; 22. (DNF) 07-Johnny Bridges[17]
Hoosier Speed Dash 6 Laps
- 17-Jared Horstman[1]; 2. 16C-Tylar Rankin[2]; 3. 10M-Morgan Turpen Havener[3]; 4. 10-Terry Gray[6]; 5. 23Z-Zane Devault[5]; 6. 21-Gavan Boschele[4]
Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1 8 Laps
- 21-Gavan Boschele[1]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett[2]; 3. 10M-Morgan Turpen Havener[6]; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 5. 7C-Phil Gressman[4]; 6. 11G-Luke Griffith[5]; 7. 27-Brad Lamberson[7]; 8. 33-Mike Hall[8]
JJ Supply of NC Heat 2 8 Laps
- 17-Jared Horstman[3]; 2. 48-Wade Buttrey[2]; 3. 10-Terry Gray[5]; 4. 71H-Max Stambaugh[7]; 5. 46-Ryan Coniam[6]; 6. 07-Johnny Bridges[4]; 7. 23M-Lance Moss[1]
DHR Heat 3 8 Laps
- 23Z-Zane Devault[1]; 2. 16C-Tylar Rankin[5]; 3. 28-Jeff Willingham[2]; 4. 66-Chase Dunham[7]; 5. 51X-Matt Linder[4]; 6. 0-Brayton Phillips[3]; 7. 7E-Eric Gunderson[6]
Saturday night you can come out to I-75 Raceway and catch all the action of Night 2 North vs South Shootout! Racing starts at 7 pm.
For a full schedule or to follow the points race, go to www.greatlakessupersprints.com or go to www.greatlakessprints.com and click on the GLSS Logo. For up to date news and photos, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
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- Barry Marlow on Apr 29, 2023
- Article Date: 4/29/2023 by Barry M. Marlow