Brooklyn, MI – Our 2017 Champions banquet was held last Saturday in the Michigan Room at Michigan International Speedway. For a few of our drivers, it was the first time at MIS and ironically for a dirt sprint car banquet!!! We celebrated and honored our top 12 racers and crowned our 2017 GLSS Champion, Jared Horstman of Cloverdale, OH.
Horstman won a staggering 11 features out of the 17 features he started this season. There were feature wins in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan at 8 different tracks. Horstman was the car to beat all year with him winning the Ohio opener at Limaland Raceway Park and the Michigan opener at I-96 Speedway.
The amount of time and effort Horstman and his dad, Joe, put into studying video and the tracks they are racing paid off this year in a big way. Finishing 2nd three times and 4th once to go along with the 11 feature wins, and setting a new track record at Tri-City Speedway. 2017 was a season of consistency for the #17 team, I’m sure they hope that continues into the 2018 season.
In our inaugural season last year, Chase Ridenour of Perry, MI and the 11R team took home the first GLSS Championship. This year, as the reigning 2016 Champion, Ridenour defended his championship like a champion…making 20 of the 21 features. Taking home 2nd overall, Ridenour finished in the top 5, fifteen times with 2 feature wins at Thunderbird Speedway. Chase Ridenour and Team Ridenour were solid all season and will be looking at turning those 5 second place finishes into feature wins next year!
Finishing 3rd overall this year from Wapakoneta, OH, was Devon Dobie in the #23 car. Dobie and his crew chief, Mike Dobie (dad), traveled to 20 of our 21 races this year and could always be counted on to be one of our top qualifiers every night! Dobie qualified in the top 4, fourteen times, with 4 fast qualifier honors. The 23 car was also consistent this season in the features with 15 top 10 finishes. With 2 second place finishes in a row at the end of the regular season, Dobie needs to ride that momentum into the 2018 season.
Taking home fourth this year was Portland, MI native, Dustin Daggett. Running their first full season in the Daggett family car, #85. Battling engine problems most of the season, Daggett made the most of the races he could, with 2 back to back feature wins at I-96 Speedway and Limaland Raceway Park and 13 top five finishes. Finishing 2nd at the make up race Labor Day Weekend hopefully is a good omen for things to come in the 2018 season.
Finishing 5th this year was veteran driver, Phil Gressman from Fremont, OH. Gressman driving the #28 car owned by Ronnie French could never be counted out when he rolled into the pits. Gressman finished the season with 5 top five finishes and 9 top ten finishes. We’re looking forward to Gressman in the 28 car next year pulling together another solid season.
The remainder of the top 12 finishers were:
6th - #23 Joe Geibe, Sturgis,MI
7th – #2 Kyle Sauder, Archbold,OH
8th – #49T Gregg Dalman, Bellvue, MI
9th - #84 Kyle Poortenga, Woodland, MI
10th – Linden Jones, Edwardsburg, MI 11th - #57 Noah Dunlap, Wapakoneta, OH
12th - #22 Randy Hannagan, Pittsboro, IN
Thank you to our members for another great season! Congratulations to our top point getters and our new 2017 Champion, Jared Horstman!
2017 SEASON IN NUMBERS….
Total number of races scheduled: 27
Total number of races ran: 23
Rain Outs: 4
Average car count per race: 22
Different feature winners: 6
Different drivers in top 5: 30
Different drivers in top 10: 49
Different drivers making the feature: 83
Different drivers raced with GLSS: 98
Total paid membership: 31
Michigan: 16
Ohio: 10
Indiana: 3
Canada: 2
Total winnings paid out in 21 races: $288,550.00
Thank you to all the fans, tracks and racers for your support this season! We’re excited about all the things we will be introducing for 2018. As the owner of GLSS, I apologize for not keeping up on the coverage and news of the series this past fall. I never dreamt when I was called away to Texas to help with Hurricane Harvey in August, that I would still be away from home in December working in Puerto Rico! Hopefully, I will be home by March, but in the mean time I have posted some of our 2018 schedule and I am working on finishing it up. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and feel free to share your thoughts and comments. Thank you again for your support and have a Happy Holidays!
- Barry Marlow on Dec 11, 2017
- Article Date: 12/10/2017 by Barry M. Marlow