7/23/2016: Butler Speedway, Quincy, MI
Winning his heat race, then starting 6th in the feature, Linden Jones of Edwardsburg, MI had to make a pass at the flag stand to edge out Brad Lamberson of Parma, MI by .228 seconds to record his first ever sprint car feature win in front of an appreciative crowd!
On a night that the question of “Should we race or shouldn’t we?” was circulating because of the forecasted heat index and with several Michigan and at least one Ohio track already cancelling, Great Lakes Super Sprints made their first ever appearance at the Battle Grounds of Butler Motor Speedway! (Butler Motor Speedway is a 3/8th mile banked clay track, nestled in the country near Quincy, MI.)
Bob Garrett, owner of Butler Motor Speedway was concerned with the challenge of keeping moisture in the track so the track would hold up for the whole night in the predicted high temps. In the end, Garrett and his staff did a great job with track prep and gave us a very raceable track which was definitely tested before the night was over.
Rolling into the pits around 4 pm, there was already 15 sprint cars at the track. By 5 pm we had 19 cars registered and 6 cars that were having hauler/truck troubles and trying to make the race. We set our field just before the drivers meeting with 21 cars registered and ready to go!
With qualifying groups of 3 set and 5 of the groups already lined up and ready to push off, ironically we had spots on the track that were too wet to safely qualify. Working with the track and a general consensus of the drivers ready to push off, the best remedy was to roll out the 15 cars and have them help dry up the corners. The track was in wonderful shape once those spots were worked in and the first group stayed on the track to qualify.
Chase Ridenour, of Perry, MI, set fast time with 13.498 seconds, followed by Ryan Ruhl, of Coldwater with 13.577. We had an additional 4 cars with sub 14 second laps, which included Brad Lamberson of Parma, MI, Andy Teunessen of Hastings, MI, Dustin Daggett of Portland, MI and Gregg Dalman of Bellevue, MI. The following is a full listing of Qualifying: 1. 11R-Chase Ridenour, 13.498[21]; 2. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 13.577[16]; 3. 27-Brad Lamberson, 13.713[19]; 4. 31-Andy Teunessen, 13.796[10]; 5. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 13.930[8]; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 13.967[3]; 7. 19J-Linden Jones, 14.017[7]; 8. 10J-Chris Jones, 14.210[11]; 9. 7K-Ryan Kirkendall, 14.230[14]; 10. 58-Tony Bures, 14.345[9]; 11. 46-Robert Huisken, 14.376[12]; 12. 48-Michael Burkin, 14.400[2]; 13. 57-Mike Dunlap, 14.441[17]; 14. 84-Kyle Poortenga, 14.970[13]; 15. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 15.039[6]; 16. 18-D.J. Lamance, 15.053[15]; 17. 48M-Mike Moore, 15.081[20]; 18. 52-Zac Broughman, 15.906[5]; 19. 37-Noah Dunlap, 16.057[4]; 20. 91L-Alexis Adgate, 16.097[18]; 21. 2T-Ralph Brakenberry, 17.262[1]
Heat one rolled out with Tony Bures, of Bristol, IN and Linden Jones on the front row, followed by Andy Teunessen and Chase Ridenour. With a green to checker finish, Jones jumped out front and never looked back, Ridenour moved up to 2nd and Bures brought up 3rd.
Heat two was led out by Robert Huisken of Marne, MI, Chris Jones of Litchfield, MI, Daggett and Ruhl. Chris Jones was on a mission and pulled out front and was followed at the finish line by Ruhl, Huisken and Daggett.
Going for the trifecta of 3 heat races with no cautions, Mike Burkin of Clyde, OH, Ryan Kirkendall of Pioneer, OH, Dalman and Lamberson led out Heat Race 3. With Kirkendall taking the checkered and Burkin right behind him the rest of the field finished where they started with Dalman and Lamberson rounding out the top 4.
With the top 3 finishers of each heat race needing to scale, our top two qualifiers didn’t report directly to the scale and went back to their pits, costing them their finishes in their respective heat races. So instead of 2nd place finishes for Ridenour and Ruhl in Heat 1 and Heat 2, they were awared last place and would start the feature 20th and 21st.
Shuffling the finishes caused some delays with our feature lines ups, partially magnified by poor internet service in the GLSS Hauler. Working thru the new line up by hand, this placed Teunessen as the fast qualifier of the top 9 heat race finishers. Drawing a 9, we inverted the top 9 cars, setting up an exciting feature with our top 3 fast qualifiers starting 20th, 21st and 10th.
We had a new twist to the evening as it appeared that a storm was rolling in! Anxious to get on the track to get the feature in we rolled out and got the field lined up. With the field set the green flag dropped and Robert Huisken was out front like a shot! With our top 6 qualifiers spread out from 8th to 21st and the threat of rain and a shortened feature there was a lot of passing and positioning going on in the first lap. Making a clean first lap it looked as though we were off to a great start. But as Huisken and the pack started into turn 3 on lap 2, Chris Jones cartwheeled down the backstretch, then as the frame caught the ground, the car did a couple quick barrel rolls coming to rest about 50’ from turn 3.
With everyone holding their breath and emergency personnel rushing to the car, Jones quickly emerged from his car and jumped to the ground. The applause and cheers from the crowd carried across the track as Chris waved to the other side of the track!
After the 10J car was cleared, the cars were pushed off and fired and lined up single file for a restart. Getting a clean start with Huisken in the lead, we got a second lap in the books as #52 Zac Broughman of Cement City, MI went off turn 1 & 2 bringing out a quick caution. Crews quickly got the car fired and sent to the back and the second restart was given the green flag.
With Huisken still leading the pack into lap 3, he was quickly challenged by Linden Jones who had worked his way up from 6th to ride Huisken’s bumper. With a lot of moving and shaking going on in the field behind him, Linden Jones had his eye on the 46 car of Huisken, not worrying about Ridenour, Ruhl, Daggett and Lamberson working their way up into the top 10.
Linden Jones was getting a lot of momentum and speed with his wing back and driving full throttle into the middle of turn 3 and sliding up to the top of turn 4 and slingshotting down the front stretch along the wall. With this move he finally was able to get passed Huisken in lap 12 down the front stretch for possession of 1st place.
With Jones in the lead, the field behind him had shuffled around quite a bit with a lot of passing going on. In lap 20, Jones lost the lead as Lamberson and Huisken reeled him in and got by Jones, moving him to 3rd. Staying with them and now with everyone weaving in and out of lapped traffic, Jones needed to wait for the right opportunity.
That opportunity came in lap 22 when Lamberson lost his brakes. Maneuvering his car through lapped traffic, Lamberson, even without brakes, could see a feature win coming his way in about 30 seconds. But no brakes came back to bite him as coming out of turn four Lamberson got bottled up in lap traffic, forcing him low and as Jones had done all night….he shot off the top of turn 4 and beat Lamberson to the checkered flag by less than a ¼ of a second! Huisken came across third, followed by Daggett, Ridenour and Ruhl!
There was not an official Hard Charger award Saturday night, but the crowd was rewarded from the unfortunate circumstances of Ridenour and Ruhl starting 20th and 21st! The reward was a great race showcasing 2 cars moving up 15 spots, the third qualifier moving up 10 spots to lead the race and a young driver run his best race and taking his first ever feature checkered flag!
For all of Saturday’s results, go to our website at www.glss.rocks and click on the schedule and scroll down to July 23rd Butler Motor Speedway.
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- Barry Marlow on Jul 26, 2016
- Article Date: 7/23/2016 by Barry M. Marlow