Onekama, MI – It’s Fair time up North in Michigan at the Manistee County Fair Grounds, with elephant ears, corn dogs & French fries, and now Jared Horstman, (Cloverdale, OH) who took home his 10th feature win of the season.
Nestled on the east shores of Portage Lake, Onekama, MI is the home of the Manistee County Fair Grounds. Last year new lighting was installed around the narrow flat ½ mile track that is in the shape of a capital D. Laying more clay on the surface this year and working hard last week, the fairgrounds crew had a tacky and racey track for us Friday night.
Because of the unique shape, sprints rolled out for hot laps to get a feel for the big track, then lined up for single car qualifying. Joe Geibe (Sturgis, MI), who took 3rd last year on our visit, flew out to a great run capturing the track record with a 17.572 second lap. By the time qualifying was over, Shawn Dancer (Delphos, OH), Horstman, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) and Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) came in under Geibe’s new record. Ridenour set the new official record of 17.127 seconds or slightly over 105 mph.
In heat 1, Mike Dunlap (Wapakoneta, OH) and Geibe led the field on the track. Making it down the long front stretch in front of the grand stands and into the first turn, Horstman and Ridenour cleared the field and were racing around the long 1400 feet back stretch. Horstman had the car dialed in and was setting a pace faster than he qualified at 17.262 second laps. Ridenour kept him in his sites, but couldn’t reel him in. At the checkered flag, Horstman took home the heat win, followed by Ridenour, Geibe, Noah Dunlap (Wapakoneta, OH) and Ralph Brakenberry (Pigeon, MI).
D.J. Lamance, Jr (Delton, MI) and Robert Huisken, Jr (Marne, MI) lead heat 2 onto the Big D. As the field races in front of the grand stands, Huisken jumps out front with Daggett in pursuit. Dancer falls behind Lamance, but gets around him on the long back stretch sweep. Tank Brakenberry (Pigeon, MI) pulls off after a lap with car trouble. With Daggett working on reeling Huisken in and Dancer on his tail, Daggett suddenly pulls into the infield with a broken spark plug. At the checkered flag, Huisken led the field followed by Dancer, Chris Pobanz (Sebewang, MI) and Lamance.
Drawing a 1, Huisken leads the field out for the 20 lap A-Main. As the green dropped and the field, navigating the ½ mile track, starts to spread out, a quick caution comes out as Tank Brakenberry’s car comes to a stop on the bottom of the back stretch sweep with a broken drive shaft. With a full restart, Horstman is out front with a quick lead. For 12 laps, Huisken is able to stay in the same zip code as Horstman and keep Ridenour and Dancer from getting around.
Ridenour gets around Huisken in lap 13 and Dancer gets around him in lap 14. At the checkered flag, Horstman secured his 10th feature win of 2017, with Ridenour, Dancer, Huisken and Daggett rounding out the top 5.
Unofficially, Jared Horstman set a new track record in lap 15 of 16.98 seconds or 106 mph. Dustin Daggett was the hard charger, starting 10th and finishing 5th. For all results go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com and follow us on Facebook. Our next race will be this Friday at Tri-City Speedway, Sept 1.
Thank you to the fair board for all their hospitality and for inviting us up North to participate during your fair week.
- Barry Marlow on Aug 27, 2017
- Article Date: 8/25/2017 by Barry M. Marlow