MERRILL, MI - After a big opening weekend May 10th and a double header weekend of racing with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, May 17th and 18th, Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI) leads the field in the first official posting of the 2019 Points Race.
Running his own car and sporting a new graphics design, Ruhl put in a solid performance opening night with a field of 37 cars showing up for the first race of the season at I-96 Speedway near Lake Odessa, MI. Ruhl set quick time in his group which included 2016 GLSS Champion Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI), 2017 GLSS Champion Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) and Phil Gressman (Fremont, OH), who set quick time over all in 2018 13 times out of 17 races.
Starting 4th in his Heat, Ruhl was able to move up and take second behind Horstman which was good to put him in the re-draw for the feature. Drawing a 7, Ruhl started in the 4th row of the A-Main, next to 2018 GLSS Champion Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) and behind a stout field including 3 time NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart.
Holding his ground, Ruhl finished 8th in the feature that night, but came better prepared for last weekends showdown between the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour and Great Lakes Super Sprints.
With 41 cars on had last Friday, Ruhl had a productive and efficient night winning his heat race and his qualifier race, which put him on the pole of the A-Main. With 21 talented drivers behind him, Ruhl had his work cut out if he was going to hold them off. Sam Hafertepe, Jr (Sunnyvale, TX) the 3 time reigning Champion of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour, gets by Ruhl after about 3 circuits around the track. But Ruhl held on for 2nd, with a charging Gressman as well as tour members Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK). Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, OK) Harli White (Lindsay, OK) and GLSS regular Horstman.
His 2nd place finish locked him in for the feature on Saturday night. Only getting hot laps on Saturday, Ruhl needed his good fortunes from Friday to stay with him for Saturday. Ruhl made a great run Saturday bringing home 4th place for the night.
Ruhl and his fellow GLSS members ran well Friday and Saturday. Along with Ruhls 2nd and 4th place finishes, Gressman finished 3rd Friday and 2nd Saturday. GLSS had 4 top 10 finishes both nights and won 4 of 9 heat races, 3 of 6 qualifier races and 1 of 2 B-Mains.
This weekend we will be back in action starting Friday night at Tri-City Motor Speedway, Crystal Motor Speedway on Saturday and we'll be back to I-96 Speedway on Sunday to share the track with the FAST 410 Winged Series for another all Sprint show.
For up to date information, schedule, results and points go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest pictures and posts and on race day, download Race Monitor on your smart phone and you can watch live scoring and listen to the race announcer live.
Thank you to our sponsors, Beacon & Bridge Markets, Addvance Heating & Cooling, Specialty Fuels & Logistics, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Kistler Engines and Racing Parts, Campbell Performance, Perfit/Engine Pro and Engler Machine and Tool.
- Barry Marlow on May 22, 2019
- Article Date: 5/22/2019 by Barry M. Marlow