Crystal, MI – Mike Burkin (Clyde, OH) proposed to his wife, Rachel, in the winner’s circle of Crystal Motor Speedway on September 5, 2015 after winning the Michigan Traditional Sprints (non-wing) Championship. Since then he has raced when his work allows. Burkin has been fighting engine problems since he raced with GLSS/NRA at Attica Raceway Park in May, but he knew good things would start happening. Calling the Great Lakes Super Sprints owner, Barry Marlow, last Tuesday to ask about some rules, Burkin told Marlow that if they could get their engine problems squared away he would be winning at Crystal on Saturday night.
Saturday night in front of a large crowd and under a clear sky, Burkin made good on his promise to Marlow by overtaking Kyle Sauder (Archbold, OH) in the 20th lap of the feature and holding off a hard charging Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) to secure his first ever feature win with a winged sprint car!
On Saturday, 24 cars registered in the GLSS trailer with 15 of the cars returning from Friday’s race at Tri-City Motor Speedway. After a brief discussion with track owner Ron Flynn, it was decided to delay our start by a half hour, hoping the wind would lay down and allowing track personnel a little more time on track prep. With the drivers meeting over at 5:55 the drivers were told to be ready to put heat in their motors at 6:30 pm and we would start group qualifying at 7 pm.
At 6:59 the first group of cars to qualify rolled out on the track with Tyler Bearden (Onstead, MI), Burkin and Mike Astrauskas (Pierson, MI). As the group received the green flag, Burkin’s engine continued to fight him. Yet he was able to get quick time of his group of 13.775 seconds or 98 mph. By the time qualifying was over around 7:17 pm, Burkin’s time was only good for 7th , with Ridenour qualifying nearly 6 ½ mph faster than Burkin at 12.954 seconds. Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH), Rookie Trevor Berry (Clio, MI), Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI), Craig Karazim (Eaton Rapids, MI) and Shawn Dancer (Delphos, OH) rounded out the top 6 cars that qualified ahead of Burkin.
With the heat races set, the first group was pushed on the track with Mike Astrauskas and Burkin on the front row. In the second row fast qualifiers Daggett and Ridenour. Filling out the field were Noah Dunlap (Wapakoneta, OH), Joe Geibe (Sturgis, MI), Tnak Brakenberry (Pigeon, MI) and Tanner Astrauskas (Pierson, MI). As the field came around for the start, a quick caution was thrown penalizing Mike Astrauskas and moving him back a row. With the field reset and a clean re-start, Burkin led coast to coast with Daggett closely following and Ridenour, Mike Astrauskas, and Geibe all making a transfer spot.
Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) and Sauder lead the 2nd heat race around the track to the starting line. Followed by Karazim, Horstman, Jarrod DeLong (Cridersville, OH), Dustin Carl (Jackson, MI) and Eric Smith (Lakeview, MI) rounding out the rest of the field. With a clean start and the track getting slick, Sauder took his keys and checked out. Karazim and Horstman got around Lamberson in lap 4 and DeLong held on for the 5th and last transfer spot.
The 3rd heat race was pushed off and Devon Dobie (Wapakoneta, OH) and Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) led the flight around the track. Fast qualifiers, Dancer and Berry followed with Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI), Chris Pobanz (Sebewang, MI), Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI), Tyler Bearden (Onstead, MI) and Lukas Smith (Lebanon, IN) rounding out the field. As the field came to the line a clean start was called and Gressman and Berry quickly jumped out in 1st and 2nd with Dobie, Dancer and Pobanz following in the remaining 3 transfer spots. The track was now taking rubber and getting slick, making passing tough.
The B-Main rolled out on the track with 9 cars of which only 5 would transfer to the Feature. Dunlap, Lukas Smith, Poortenga and Brakenberry filled out the front 2 rows. Dunlap was given the green flag and Poortenga quickly took the lead. Dunlap was able to maintain 2nd with Smith moving into 3rd. Carl was in 4th and Jones was able move into a transfer spot by getting by Brakenberry. These 5 cars made the transfer and moved on to the A-Main feature.
After the redraw of the top 2 cars from each heat at the GLSS trailer, the field was set, putting Sauder and Burkin on the front row, with Berry, Daggett, Karazim and Gressman filling rows 2 and 3. The rest of the rows were filled in with how they finished their heat races.
We were quickly called up to be the 1st feature race of the evening. Putting a little pressure on the 5 transfer cars from the B-Main and hurrying them along to get lined up. As the cars pushed off and formed into their double file start positions, the field quickly lined up behind Mike Astrauskas, Burkin, Sauder and Lamberson in a fan favorite 4 wide salute. To a cheering, near capacity crowd, they reformed into their double file order and Burkin and Sauder led the field to the start line! It was a great start and Sauder jumped out to the lead with Burkin trying to stay close to him.
As the leaders were going into turn 3 of the 4th lap a car went off the other end of the track bringing out the first caution. After the field was re-set, Sauder quickly brought the field to the start line. As the leaders were finishing lap 7, a caution quickly came out as the Jones and Carl cars made contact coming out of turn 4. Both drivers were fine but their race night was over.
Sauder once again brought the field around for the final restart of the night. Berry, running in 4th, then fading to 5th and 6th place and having engine trouble, he pulled safely into the infield during lap 9 ending his night. Sauder caught up to lap traffic by lap 13 and his edge would start to fade as Burkin was picking his way through the lapped traffic and honing in on Sauder. As Sauder and Burkin weaved their way thru lapped traffic, Ridenour had clawed his way up from 7th to 4th and staying on Daggetts tail. Dancer had also picked his way up 5 spots to be sitting in 7th behind Gressman.
In laps 18 and 19, Burkin had noticed smoke coming off of Sauder’s rear tires and with his engine finally running good, Burkin actually was feeling pretty good about his changes of getting around him. During lap 20 Burkin had his chance and was able to move past Sauder for the lead. Ridenour seeing Burkin move, took the chance and was able to overtake Daggett and Sauder at the same time. Burkin was on a mission now to claim his first winged sprint feature. Ridenour pushed and fought to reel Burkin in. But in the end Mike Burkin was able to take the checkered flag, with Ridenour, Sauder, Daggett and Gressman rounding out the top 5 cars.
For full results and standings, go to our webpage www.greatlakessupersprints.com and be sure to follow us Facebook.
Our next races will be June 17th at Montpelier Speedway in Indiana and then on Sunday, June 18th at Waynesfield Raceway Park for the first night of Ohio Speedweek.
Thank you to our sponsors, Environmental Waste & Recovery Service and Specialty Fuels & Logistics as well as a big thank you to the NRA Sprint Invaders and the NCRA for their support.
- administrator on Jun 12, 2017
- Article Date: 6/10/2017