Hartford, MI: With the 2020 racing season in disarray after a summer of Covid-19, the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP found a way to continue the season after the final points event took place four weeks prior. The series found itself in Hartford, MI at the historic Hartford Speedway for a $3000 to win main event that saw Chase Ridenour pick up the win.
The 25-lap main event had Chase Ridenour and Trevor Berry bring the field to the green flag. As the front duo hit the chalk line in turn four, Ridenour quickly jumped out to the lead over Berry with Dustin Daggett in tow. The start was short lived as contact back in the field would bring out the caution for Troy Chehowski, ending his evening. On the second attempt, Ridenour again got the jump as Berry and Daggett raced for the second position. Daggett secured second entering turn three and quickly set his sights on Ridenour for the race lead.
With the leaders setting a blistering pace around the 4/10th mile oval, it was not long before Daggett put pressure on Ridenour for the race lead. As they crossed the line on lap four, Daggett used the bottom side to take the point entering turn one. On lap seven, Daggett encountered lapped traffic where he slowly began to stretch his lead. As the laps continued to tick away, Daggett was strong out front, but Ridenour along with Ryan Ruhl kept the race leader in sight. With just ten laps to go in heavy lapped traffic, Daggett was forced to move from the high-side of turn three, then dive to the bottom in turn four to sneak through the lapped traffic. As the Sweet Manufacturing #85 of Daggett made the move in turn four on the very bottom, he clipped an infield tire breaking his front axle which would result in a caution and ending his evening.
The restart had Ridenour back out front with Ruhl and Jay Steinebach in the top three. With just 10 laps to go, Ridenour took the green with Ruhl on his tail. The front duo began to pull away from the field, but 22nd starting Jared Horstman had made his way through the field sneaking in to the top four on lap 20. By this time, Ruhl had caught Ridenour, and was looking to pounce when on lap 23, Ridenour slipped high in turn four, allowing Ruhl to get by on the bottom. Ridenour stayed close, and used the middle in turns one and two, and then pull alongside Ruhl down the back straight where Ridenour used a lapped car to his advantage to retake the lead. With the white flag in the air, Ridenour gave himself a little breathing room in lapped traffic, as Horstman took over third. At the checkers, Ridenour grabbed his second win in the Greg Wheeler owned, Wheeler Mechanical Service, Doug Richards Well Drilling #16w.
Ryan Ruhl from Coldwater, MI finished a close second with Jared Horstman out of Cloverdale, OH advancing 19 position to finish third and earn the Harold Reynolds Memorial Foundation Hard Charger Award. Trevor Berry and Phil Gressman rounded out the top five. Max Stambaugh, Gregg Dalman, Jay Steinebach, Jett Mann and Keith Sheffer were the top ten.
In heat race action, Phil Gressman took the win in the Engler Machine & Tool heat race followed by Trevor Berry and Jett Mann. The racing action was slowed with two separate red flags as fast timer Chase Dunham was racing three wide for the third position, but ended up spinning in turn three, making contact with the outside wall then flipping. On the second try to start the race, the fifth place car broke loose, sending him down the track and in to Kyle Poortenga who had no where to go and ended up flipping in turn four. Both Dunham and Poortenga would have to scratch for the remainder of the event.
Kistler Engines and Racing Products heat #2 had Chase Ridenour take the win followed by Dustin Daggett and Gregg Dalman. Ryan Ruhl won the Specialty Fuel and Logistics with Jay Steinebach and Nic Rogers the top three. In qualifications, Chase Dunham would be the last car to qualify, but was able to make the fastest lap, setting a new track record with a 14.952.
Up next for the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP, the final event of the 2020 racing season at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI on Saturday, September 26th. Pit gates will open at 3:00 pm, with the grandstands opening up at 4:00 pm. Hot laps at 6:00, with green flag racing at 7:00 pm sharp. For more information, log on to the official Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP website at www. http://www.greatlakessupersprints.com. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GreatLakesSuperSprints, and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GLSprints for all of the latest updates.
Thank you to our series sponsors, Perfit Corp/Engine Pro and ARP. Also to our marketing partners Advance 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.
Event Summery:
Qualifying:
- 66-Chase Dunham, 14.952, 2. 85-Dustin Daggett, 15.044, 3. 17-Jared Horstman, 15.111, 4. 19-Jett Mann, 15.357, 5. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 14.375, 6. 71H-Ryan Ruhl, 15.424, 7. 7B-Trevor Berry, 15.552, 8. 16W-Chase Ridenour, 15.579, 9. 91L-Nic Rogers, 15.637, 10. 7C-Phil Gressman, 15.639, 11. 87-Logan Easterday, 15.670, 12. 3A-Mike Astrauskas, 15.819, 13. 27W-Max Stambaugh, 15.888, 14. 19J-Linden Jones, 15.921, 15. 10S-Jay Steinebach, 15.930, 16. 07-Shane Simmons, 16.076, 17. 21T-Troy Chehowski, 16.417, 18. 18S-Michael Summers, 16.593, 19. 18-Josh Shantz, 16.661, 20. 11-Joe Conway, 16.797, 21. 33A-R.J. Payne, 17.043, 22. 84-Kyle Poortenga, 17.907, 23. 16X-Justin Woodkowski, 20.243, 24. 86 Keith Sheffer n/t
Engler Machine & Tool Heat Race #1
- 7C-Phil Gressman, 2. 7B-Trevor Berry, 3. 19-Jett Mann, 4. 27W-Max Stambaugh, 5. 18-Josh Shantz, 6. 07-Shane Simmons, 7. 84-Kyle Poortenga, 8. 66-Chase Dunham
Kistler Engines and Racing Products Heat Race #2
- 16W-Chase Ridenour, 2. 85-Dustin Daggett, 3. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 4. 10J-Liden Jones, 5. 21T-Troy Chehowski, 6. 87-Logan Easterday, 7. 11-Joe Conway, 8. 16X-Justin Woodkowski
Specialty Fuel and Logistics Heat Race #3
- 71H-Ryan Ruhl, 2. 10S-Jay Steinebach, 3. 91L-Nic Rogers, 4. 3A-Mike Astrauskas, 5. 86-Keith Sheffer, 6. 18S-Michael Summers, 7. 33A-R.J. Payne, 8. 17-Jared Horstman
Feature:
- 16W-Chase Ridenour, 2. 71H-Ryan Ruhl, 3. 17-Jared Horstman, 4. 7B-Trevor Berry, 5. 7C-Phil Gressman, 6. 27W-Max Stambaugh, 7. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 8. 10S-Jay Steinebach, 9. 19-Jett Mann, 10. 86-Keith Sheffer, 11. 19J-Linden Jones, 12. 91L-Nic Rogers, 13. 87-Logan Easterday, 14. 3A-Mike Astrauskas, 15. 18-Josh Shantz, 16. 07-Shane Simmons, 17. 16X-Justin Woodkowski, 18. 85-Dustin Daggett, 19. 18S-Michael Summers, 20. 11-Joe Conway, 21. 33A-R.J. Payne, 22. 21T Troy Chehowski
- Barry Marlow on Sep 21, 2020
- Article Date: 9/21/2020 by Duane Turner