Quincy, MI – Local favorite, Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI), driving the Smith Motorsports 71H took the lead from Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) in the 11th lap and held off past GLSS Champions Gressman, Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) and Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) for his first win of this funky pandemic season!!!
Last Saturday night, an enthusiastic crowd was treated to some great racing by a full field as Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP, rolled into Butler Motor Speedway for their visit since August 2016.
Rolling out for qualifying, 2018 GLSS Champion Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) laid down the quick time of the session with an average lap time of 13.813 seconds. Horstman was 2nd quick with a 13.868 second lap, Ruhl, Keith Sheffer (Jerome, MI) and Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL) rounded out the top five qualifiers.
In the Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1 as the green flag dropped, there was contact at the flag stand as a car inadvertently got into Daggett’s car, breaking the left rear shock bracket, causing his left rear to blow, bringing out the caution. Daggett returned to the pits and the remaining cars were restarted. Gressman takes the checkered, with Sheffer, Kobe Allison (Lima, OH), Ryan Coniam (Denver, Co) and new comer Logan Easterday (Coldwater, MI) rounding out the top 5 spots.
Max Stambaugh (Lima, OH), wins the Specialty Fuels & Logistics Heat 2, with Horstman grabbing the second spot putting them both in the redraw. Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI), Morrell and Ken Mackey (Brooklyn, MI) rounded out the top 5 transfer spots.
In the Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 3, Jay Steinbach (Hudsonville, MI) leads the way to the checkered flag with Ruhl grabbing the last redraw spot. Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI), who won his first feature here at the Battle Grounds, along with local, Quentin Blonde (Conord, MI) and Ridenour rounded out the top 5 finishers.
Ten cars rolled out in the Beacon and Bridge Last Chance Race. Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) jumped out to the lead and led all 12 laps taking the checkered flag and punching his ticket to the A-Main Feature. Starting in the next to the last row, Daggett clawed his way forward to secure the 2nd spot in the transfer. Frank Neill (Vickery, OH), Tyler Bearden (Onsted, MI) and Shane Simmons (Jackson, MI) grabbed the last 3 spots, moving them onto the A-Main.
Stambaugh and Horstman drew a 1 and 2 respectfully in the redraw and started the field on the front row as the feature rolled out. As the green flag dropped on the 25 lap feature, the cars roared to life and made it safely through the first lap. Running 11th at that point, Jone’s car got loose at the top of turn 3 and turned perpendicular to the track and came to a rest there. Already passing 4 cars and running 14th, Daggett set up to run the top of turns 3 and 4. Unfortunately with the blind spot to the left of the driver, Daggett came in to 3 on top and never saw Jones till it was too late and knocked Jones upside down and doing severe damage to the 85 car.
Horstman gave up the lead in the 9th lap as he went too high and Gressman and Ruhl made it by him underneath. In the 11th lap, Ruhl was able to get by Gressman on the high side of turn 2. In lap 15, and running 8th, Blonde got up high coming out of turn 4, hitting the wall and doing a 180 and coming to a stop in the middle of the turn 4 exit. With no were to go, Scheid, Dalman and Coniam all got caught up in the pile up with Scheid getting the brunt of the damage. During the clean up, an open red was called to allow the remaining cars to splash in some fuel, since we were already at 60 crossings.
As the race gets back underway, the battle up front continued between Ruhl, Gressman and Hosrtman to the checkered. While everyone watched the battle up front, Ridenour quietly worked his way up to 4th place from 15th, earning him the Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger. Sheffer rounded out the top 5 at the checkered flag.
Thank you to our series sponsor, Engine Pro and ARP, as well as marketing partners Beacon & Bridge Markets, Advance Heating & Cooling and Speciatly Fuels & Logistics. Also a big thank you to Engler Machine & Tool, Kistler Engines & Racing Products, Midland Steel and Hoosier Racing Tires.
Our next race will be Friday, July 24th at I-96 Speedway and Thunderbird Raceway on Saturday, July 25th. Be sure to check out the revised schedule on our website www.greatlakessprints.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
- Barry Marlow on Jul 24, 2020
- Article Date: 7/18/2020 by GLSS Staff Writer