Plymouth, IN – Phil “the Gas Man” Gressman moved up from his 6th starting spot in the A-Main on night 2 of the Great Lakes Super Sprints Hoosier Double Header for his first ever GLSS Feature win at the Plymouth Speedway Saturday night.
Saturday morning, just hours after finishing our race at Gas City I-69 Speedway after a rain delay, many of our drivers were tired and many were watching the radar and the weather forecast that it would be raining at Plymouth Speedway that night. As the day wore on, Plymouth Speedway track officials were working hard to prepare for our arrival as the weather forecast changed for the better.
By the time registration was closed, the sun was out, the skies were clear and the water truck was on the track watering while 26 GLSS sprint cars prepared to put heat in their motors in preparation of qualifying.
Rolling out in the second group for qualifying, Dustin “Double D” Daggett (Portland, MI), set fast time of a 12.6 second lap or 107.4 mph around the small 3/8 track. Putting in a 12.718 sec lap good enough for a second place quick qualifier was the Gas Man Gressman from the 7th group. Rounding out the top 5 were Danny “D3” Sams III (Northport, FL), Andrew “Drew” Scheid and Kobe Allison (Lima, OH).
Local favorite, Zane Devault (Plymouth, IN) and Texas native Brandon Long, recently moving to Kokomo, IN, led the Kistler Engine Heat Race 1 onto the track. Going green flag to checker, Long holds off Daggett for the heat win and locking them into the redraw positions. Brett “the Hoosier Rocket” Mann (Goshen, IN), DeVault and Drew Scheid (Sparta, MI) filled out the top 5 and moved on to the A Main.
The Campbell Performance Heat Race 2 was led out by Devon “DD” Dobie and Joe Swanson (Etna Green, IN). With another green flag to checker, Dobie took the checker with a charging Gressman taking second and the redraw position. Chase “Kid Rocket” Ridenour (Perry, MI), Swanson and Allison rounded out the top 5 transfer spots.
Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, OH) and Joe “Dirt” Geibe led out the final Kistler Racing Parts Heat Race 3. Dalman took the checked with Sams taking the second spot. Rounding out the remaining transfer spots were Geibe, Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) and Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL).
Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI), sat on the pole and went coast to coast in the B-Main for the win and a transfer spot to the A-Main. Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI), Michael Summers (Warsaw, IN), Jared Lamberson (Parma, OH) and newcomer Eli Lakin (Buchanan, MI) rounded out the top five and all transferred to the A-Main.
After a pill draw with the top 6 drivers, the A-Main rolled on the track for our main event. With Dalman and Sams on the front row, Dalman quickly jumped out into first and was putting distance between him and the field. With 4 laps into the books, the red quickly came out as Scheid and Swanson got tangled up in the front stretch, leaving Swanson on his side in the front stretch and Scheid resting at the bottom turn 2. Both drivers were able to walk away from their cars.
As the green flag dropped, Dalman’s lead was erased by Gressman who took the lead for good. By lap 9 Daggett had moved into 2nd and Dobie who had slipped back to 6th early and Ridenour who started 8th were working their way up in the pack.
In lap 20, Allison got over the cushion at the top of turn 2. As he tried to drive out of it, he wheelied and slammed right into the cement retaining wall bringing out another red flag as Allison’s car spun to a stop backwards in the back stretch. Kobe was able to walk from the wreck, but was checked out by medical personnel.
After the retaining wall was moved back into place and the car removed, Gressman led the field around and was eying his feature win. With 2 laps to go and running 6th, DeVault lost power and tried to keep his car out of the way of the leaders as the caution came out to remove DeVaults car.
With 2 laps to go, Gressman once again took the green flag and quickly pulled away from Daggett. The Gas Man would not be denied tonight at Plymouth Speedway as he cruised to his first GLSS Feature win this year with Daggett crossing 0.303 seconds behind Gressman. Dobie was able to hold off Ridenour who went 3 and 4 respectively and Dalman was able to hold onto 5th with a nearly flat Left Rear tire due to a stuck bleeder valve from one of the cautions.
Brad Lamberson received the Engler Machine and Tool Hard Charger award moving up from 16th to 9th.
For a complete run down of finishes and the drivers points, go to our website www.greatlakessupersprints.com and follow us on twitter and Facebook.
We will roll into I-96 Speedway next Friday, June 15th to kick off a Michigan double header with Thunder Speedway on Saturday night June 16th.
- Barry Marlow on Jun 10, 2018
- Article Date: 6/9/2018 by Barry M. Marlow & Linda Mansfield