Auburn, MI (Friday, May 21, 2021) - In just the third race of the season of the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro & ARP (GLSS), Ryan Ruhl had a perfect night en route to his second win of the season Friday night at Tri City Motor Speedway. It didn't come as easy as it originally seemed it would, with Ruhl finding an unexpected challenge for the top spot during the 25 lap main event.
After setting the overall fast time during qualifying, Ruhl continued to show speed all throughout the evening. The Coldwater, Michigan native led every lap of his heat race, and then with some help from his wife, Courtney, Ruhl redrew the number one pill to start on the pole of the feature.
Early in the race, it seemed as though Ryan was on his way to a convincing and easy win. An early caution flew for a car clipping a tire, but even that was no challenge for Ruhl. With fresh clay on the surface of Tri City, drivers struggled to find a consistent groove around the track anywhere other than the bottom, including Ruhl. His game plan from the start was to work the inside tires, stay smooth, and hope to hold off all comers. His plan worked for the first 13 laps, until slower traffic became a factor.
The entire time that Ruhl was on the bottom, fourth place starting, Brad Lamberson was working to clean off the top of the track. Lamberson was working almost two grooves higher than Ruhl and had been the entire race. When Ruhl got held up in traffic, Lamberson capitalized taking the top spot. As Ruhl struggled to get through traffic, it seemed as though Lamberson was on his way to his first career GLSS win.
That all changed when suddenly slower traffic had a gap and Ruhl had methodically worked his way through all traffic along with Lamberson, leaving the two drivers to their own race. With three laps to go, Lamberson caught Phil Gressman going into turn three. Gressman had also been working a higher line throughout the race and was not done trying to work the middle. When Lamberson caught Gressman, he tried to go high around him and lost all momentum, allowing Ruhl to sneak underneath both drivers coming to two to go.
Despite his best efforts that included going to the bottom of the track, Lamberson could not reel in Ruhl, who cruised to the win. The triumph is Ruhl's second win of the season, going back to the GLSS opener at I-96 Speedway in April. Lamberson held on for second and Max Stambaugh completed the podium.
Next up for the Great Lakes Super Sprints is a double-header Memorial Day Weekend special. On Friday, May 28th, GLSS makes it's first stop of the year at Hartford Speedway in Hartford, Michigan. Then on Saturday, the first visit of the season to Crystal Motor Speedway in Crystal, Michigan. For more information on the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP, log onto www.GreatLakesSprints.com.
- Barry Marlow on May 24, 2021
- Article Date: 5/23/2021 by Zach Hiser