Hartford, MI - Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI), a member and supporter of Great Lakes Super Sprints the past 4 years, parked it in the winners circle tonight at Hartford Motor Speedway for his first GLSS Feature Win and his 29th overall.
It was finally a beautiful, sunny June day in Hartford and for the first time this season, there was no worries about rain! The Great Lakes Super Sprints rolled in for our first of 2 races this season with 27 cars from Canada, Florida, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
With the heavy rains experienced the past month and the weather suddenly turning sunny and hot, the track turned out to be a challenge for our drivers most of the night. As the cars rolled out for qualifying, there was a stiff breeze out of the east, a high sun and 85 degree temperatures, which also challenged the grounds crews.
As qualifying wrapped up, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) was the fast qualifier over all. with Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI), Danny Sams III (Northport, FL), Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) and Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) rounding out the top 5.
Rolling out with for the Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 1, we had a clean start to get the night going. Brett Mann (Elkhart, IN) got a great run into turns 1 & 2 and took the lead. Mann was able to establish a good lead and led the first group to the checked flag. Daggett, Dalman, Zane DeVault (Plymouth, IN), Kobe Allison (Lima, OH) and Josh Shantz (Waterloo, ONT) rounded out the 6 transfer cars to the A-Main.
The Campbell Performance Heat 2 rolled out and got down to business in a hurry. Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) jumped out to quick lead that he wouldn't relinquish. Horstman and Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) took 2nd and 3rd respectively, but the big story in this heat was visiting Danny Smith (Chillicothe, OH), who was 8th after the first lap, but Smith clawed his way up 4 spots in to a 4th place finish. Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) and Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) rounded out the top 6 transfer spots.
In the Perfit/Engine Pro Heat Race 3 on the initial start, Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI) got a great run on the start and was coming out of 4 building a lead, when suddenly the red flag comes out as Jeff Wilson (Belle Center, OH) and Robert Huisken (Marne, MI) got together going into turn 3 and Huisken ended upside down. With a complete restart, Rookie candidate, Garrett Saunders (Lakeville, IN) learned quickly from the first start and got off to a much better start the second time. Saunders led for the first 4 laps, but couldn't hold off Ruhl, who passed for the lead in the 5th lap. Saunders held on for 2nd, while Sams, Jared Lamberson, Tyler Fitzpatrick (Goshen, IN) and Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL) rounded out the top 6 finishers and transfering to the A-Main.
With the damage received in the 3rd heat race to Wilson and Huisken's cars, they were unable to continue for the night. With that info, it was decided to start all the remaining 25 cars and not run a B-Main to send 1 car home.
Saunders in the redraw, drew a #1 and was on the pole for the feature. As Saunders brought the cars around with Ruhl to his right, we had a clean start and the field of 25 made it cleanly through turns 1 and 2, DeVault got up high into the turn 3 wall bringing out a red flag and catching Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) at the bottom. With DeVault and Jones out for the show, we had a complete restart. With another clean start, the remaining 23 cars make the first lap and are off and running, until Poortenga makes contact with another car going into turn 1, breaking his back axle and digging into the ground, sending Poortenga end over end into the air.
With Poortenga's front end high in the air, Micheal Summers (Warsaw, MI) witnessed the flipping 84 car and ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, ending up being in the exact spot that Poortenga's car tried to occupy on its re-entry from space, crushing Summer's wing.
With a single file restart, since 1 full lap was in the books, Ruhl led the cars out of turn 4 with Saunders, Horstman and Mann chasing. Clicking off the next 24 laps in 7 minutes, Ruhl took the checkered flag with a comfortable 8.22 second lead. The battle the whole night was from 4th to 10th place. Taking second, Saunders was able to keep the 2017 GLSS Champion, Horstman, off his back with good lines and smooth driving. Horstman took 3rd with Mann and Gressman rounding out the top 5.
Our next race will be Saturday, June 8th with our first visit of the season to Plymouth Speedway.
Thank you to our marketing sponsors, Beacon and Bridge Markets, Addvance Heating & Cooling, Specialty Fuels and Logistics and Hoosier Midwest. Also to our race sponsors, Kistler Engines and Racing Products, Campbell Performance, Perfit/Engine Pro and Engler Machine and Tool.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the current pictures and activities. For our schedule, points and results go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com.
- Barry Marlow on Jun 08, 2019
- Article Date: 6/7/2019 by Barry M. Marlow