Lafayette, LA - After fighting car demons since the first race of the season, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) wins his first feature of the 2019 season over a stout field of cars in an early Sunday evening race at I-96 Speedway.
Missing my second race this weekend, it was a real nail biter for me tonight, making posts and following on Race Monitor from over a thousand miles away from the track! The night started off good with 21 cars making the trip for our last Sunday race of the season.
The cars were given their hot laps like always when we travel to I-96 Speedway and the cars started rolling out for single car qualifying around 5:15 pm. The track held up pretty well through qualifying with fast qualifying Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) going on the track 2nd, 2nd quick qualifier Phil Gressman hitting the track 13th, 3rd quick qualifier Garrett Saunders (Lakeville, IN) going out 10th, 4th quick qualifier Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) going out 20th and 5th quick qualifier Jacob Brown (ONT) hitting the track 5th. There was only 21 hundredths of a second spread between these 5 cars that were spaced out throughout the field.
For the Kistler Engines and Racing Parts Heat 1, Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) and Danny Sams III (Northport, FL) led the field to the chalk line. After the green flag flies, Horstman gets around the front row for first, with Scheid and Dalman following. In the 3rd lap, Dalman gets around Scheid for 2nd and Mitch Brown (ONT) gets around Sams for 4th. In the next lap, Brown gets around Scheid for 3rd and puts Dalman in his sites. Dalman holds Brown off until the final lap when Brown gets by Dalman for 2nd place. Horstman takes the checkered flag, with Brown, Dalman, Scheid and Sams rounding out the top 5 cars.
Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) and Max Stambaugh (Lima, OH) lead the Campbell Performance Heat 2 around the track. With a good run into turn one, Poortenga leads the field at the end of the first lap. Stambaugh gets around him in lap two, with Gressman and Daggett both moving up a spot. As Gressman gets around Poortenga in the 3rd lap, he sets his sites on reeling in Stambaugh. Chasing down Stambaugh and trying to pass for the lead coming out of turn 4, Gressman runs out of track slams into the front stretch wall, presumably ending his night. Stambaugh led the field the remaining 4 laps to take the checkered flag, with Daggett, Jacob Brown (ONT), Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) and Poortenga rounding out the top 5 spots.
In the Perfit/Engine Pro Heat 3, Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) and Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) bring the final group around for the start. Ridenour powers into first corner and comes around with the lead with Brad Lamberson close behind in 2nd. With Saunders moving into the 2nd spot in the 2nd lap, there became a real battle between the Lamberson brothers and Josh Shantz. As Ridenour took the checkered flag with Saunders following for 2nd, Jared Lamberson secures 3rd, with Shantz and Brad Lamberson finishing 4th and 5th respectively!
With the heats done and the feature coming up soon, the story in the pits is taking place at the 7c hauler of Marshall Campbell and Phil Gressman! With most of the fans that saw the wreck in the 2nd heat thinking Gressman was done for the night, they obviously don't know the strength and bond of camaraderie amongst the GLSS teams!!! Without the help of crew members and drivers from no less than 5 competing teams and others offering parts, tools and assistance, the 7c wouldn't have been able to make the call. The last thing Campbell told Gressman after he pushed him on the track was "I didn't work this hard to put this car back together for you to pitter patter around the back of the field, you best move this car to the front!"
The cars were pushed onto the track around 8:15 pm to get fired for the A-Main. Quickly getting the cars fired and lined up, the GLSS drivers paraded in front of the crowd in their 4 wide fan salute, thanking the fans for coming out and watching us race! Breaking back into their double file positions, Ridenour and Mitch Brown led the field around to the chalk mark and the green flag.
Brown got a good jump and came around the first lap with the lead and had Daggett and Stambaugh trying to reel him in. In the 3rd lap Daggett and Stambaugh get by Brown for 1st and 2nd and they held their spots for the next 12 laps. Behind them, Horstman, Dalman, Jake Brown and Lambersons are moving forward. But the real movement was made by Gressman who had already moved up 16 spots to 4th!
With more cautions than Daggett wanted, he was able to keep the wolves that were nipping at him all night at bay to take his first checkered flag of the season. Gressman had moved into 3rd in the 18th lap and was working hard to reel in Horstman for 2nd. As the white flag flew for the final lap, Gressman made a last lap charge to try and overtake Horstman, but to no avail, following Horstman across the line for 3rd. Dalman and Jake Brown rounded out the top 5 finishers at the checkered flag.
The quote of the night came during interviews of the top 3 finishers, Daggett, Horstman and Gressman. When the interview turned to Gressman, he was asked about being able to get his car together so quickly and Gressman said it wouldn't have been possible without the help they received from the other drivers and crew members. "Great Lakes Super Sprints has a great bunch of teams, drivers, cars and puts on great races for the fans...any track that doesn't have a GLSS race, has their heads up their a@%es!"
We will be off next weekend and then traveling to Indiana Friday, July 26th for our only visit to I-69 Gas City Speedway and then pulling into Monpelier Speedway on Saturday, July 27th.
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 Jul 15, 2019
- Article Date: 7/14/2019 by Barry M. Marlow