Lake Odessa, MI - On the final night of points racing for Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro and ARP, Ricky Peterson (Rawson, OH), over took Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) on the bottom of turn 4 and was able to hold him off for his first GLSS Feature win!
Ending our short season where we began in mid-June, at I-96 Speedway, we had 36 cars registered. A great way to end our regular season, having our GLSS veterans and Champions in attendance as well as 6 new cars, getting ready for running more of a normal season with us nevt year!
In our rules, when we have 32 or more cars, we break the cars into 4 groups and each group only qualifies against the times of the cars in their group, rather than against the whole field of 32+ cars. However, for points and quick times, we take the overall field and score how a driver does against the whole field.
After the whole field of 36 cars, single car qualified, Devon Dobie (Wapakoneta, OH), who went out 17th, laid down the quick time of 14.977 seconds or 102.16 mph! By setting Quick Time, Dobie earned $150 cash, sponsored by D. Teunessen Evcavating of Caledonia, MI. Also receiving cash was 2nd place finisher, Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) and 3rd place finisher Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL) receiving $100 and $50 respectively.
Rolling out for the Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1, Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI) got out front and was able to hold off the rest of the field, leading all 8 laps to the checkered. Peterson, Jay Steinebach ( Hudsonville, MI) and Morrell secured transfer spots into the A-Main. The remainder of the field would have to try and pass into the feature thru 1 of the 2 B-Mains.
Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) jumped out to a quick start in the Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 2, cruising the high side of the track. In the final lap, Horstman made his move and Horstman took the checkered just .188 seconds ahead of Gressman, who finished 2nd and made the redraw. Dan McCarron (Britton, MI) recovered from a tough start earlier in the evening and was able to finish 3rd and Morrell grabbed the final transfer spot to the A-Main.
The PERFIT Corp Heat 3, Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) got a great run to turn one and held the lead for the first lap until Daggett got around him. In the 4th lap Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) moved into second. At the checkered flag, Daggett and Ridenour secured redraw spots and Jones and Eli Lakin (Buchanan, MI) grabbed the A-Main transfer spots.
Tyler Gunn (Napoleon, OH) led green to checkered in the Beacon and Bridge Markets Heat 4. Mav Stambaugh (Elida, OH) worked his way into second and secured the final redraw spot of the night. Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) worked his way up from 5th place to secure 3rd and Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) finished 4th and securing the final transfer spot to the A-Main.
In the Addvance Heating & Cooling B-Main, Mike Astrauskas (Pierson, MI) got the job done weaving through lapped traffic and leading all 10 laps and taking the checkered. Shane Simmons (Jackson, MI) raced his way into second and as he went low under a lapped car in the bottom of turns 3 & 4, to take the checkered flag, he got loose and spun, loosing his transfer spots to Logan Esterday (Coldwater, MI) and Troy Chehowski (Coldwater, MI).
Rolling out for the Midland Steel B-Main, Ryan Coniam (Burlington, ON) got up on the wheel and let green to checkered securing one of the remaining 3 transfer spots. Frank Neill (Vickery, OH) was able to keep Coniam in his sites and finish 2nd and Jedd Mann (Goshen, IN) finished 3rd and grabbed the final transfer spot and setting the ENGINE PRO A-Main with 22 cars.
After a pill draw done at the GLSS Hauler, the front 4 rows were set for the feature, putting Daggett and Ruhl on the front row. As the green flag dropped and the engines roared to life, the sprint (no pun intended) was on to turn one and the cars were 3 wide as they entered. Coming out clean and running the top was Daggett. In lap 7, as Neill was coming out of turn 4, he slowed and pulled into the infield. Clear of all cars, no caution came out and the field continued on.
In lap 12 as Troy Chehowski was coming out of 4, in traffic made contact with another car, getting himself turned sideways at the flag stand. Unfortunately this brought out the caution, but Troy was done for the night with damaged steering and couldn't steer. As the green flag flew, the field quickly got some spacing and clicked off 4 more laps.
In lap 16 with Dobie running 10th, Morrell running 11th and Scheid running 12th, all 3 entered turn three. Dobie was running the middle, but Morrell and Scheid were carrying more speed. Morrell who was running the fastest at the time went low coming out of 4, Dobies momentum with Morrell going low, carried him high coming out of turn four leaving Scheid, who was running the top with no time and no where to go as he evited 4 and he made hard contact with the wall and flipped over, entangling the car in the fence bringing out an immediate red flag.
Andrew was good and was removed from the car upside down because of the fence. Once safety crews freed the car, the cars had sat for nearly 20 minutes as we fired the field for the final 9 laps. As the green flag flew, Daggett was able to keep a charging Peterson at bay until the 23rd lap when Peterson was able to get under Daggett on the bottom. Daggett continued to take the high side, but in 2 laps he didn't have anything for Peterson, who found something that worked on the bottom of the track.
Taking the checkered, Peterson claimed his first first GLSS victory, as Daggett followed in 2nd. Stambaugh, Ruhl and Gunn rounded out the top five in the feature. Jared Horstman finished 7th behind Gregg Dalman, but secured the 2020 Great Lakes Super Sprints presented by Engine Pro & ARP Championship.
Making Horstman our first repeat champion in our 5 years, giving him the 2017 and 2020 victories.
Tonights Lucky Dog winner (drawn by the feature winner, who is not eligible) was Mike Astrauskas who finished 17th in the A-Main.
The Hoosier Hard Charger, moving up 11 positions was Mann, securing a bonus of $250 in cash, thanks to Homeworks Construction. Gregg Dalman who started 13th in the feature moved up 7 spots and finished 6rh.
We currently have no races scheduled, but be sure to follow us on Facebook and twitter for any updates. For stories, pictures and standings, go to our website, www.greatlakessupersprints.com or www.greatlakessprints.com.
Thank you to our series sponsors, Perfit Corp/Engine Pro and ARP. Also to our marketing partners Addvance Heating and Cooling, Midland Steel, Beacon and Bridge and Specialty Fuels & Logistics. Our racing partners, Engler Machine & Tool, Kistler Engines & Racing Products, Campbell Performance and Hoosier Mid-West. Without these generous sponsors, we couldn't do the things we love to do on the weekends!
- Barry Marlow on Aug 22, 2020
- Article Date: 8/21/2020 by Barry M. Marlow