7/22/2018
GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints
TRIPLE HEADER WEEKEND...MOTHER NATURE 2 1/2 - GLSS 1/2
Merrill, MI – On a triple header weekend that kicked off the second half of our season, Mother Nature scored 2 ½ rainouts and we got in half of last nights race at I-96 Speedway.
With an unusual summer weather pattern rotating into the Great Lakes Region Friday afternoon our Friday night race at Tri-City Motor Speedway was cancelled. This race will not be re-scheduled and we will be back at Tri-City on Friday, August 31st for our Championship night and last points race of the season and then racing the next night, September 1st in the Great Lakes Fall Sprintacular for a $5,000 to win $500 to start race. Also racing with the Lane Automotive Michigan Traditional Sprints (non-wing) and the North Coast Vintage Oval Racers. A scheduled rain date will be Sunday, September 2nd.
On Saturday, our all sprint race with MTS Sprints was cancelled around 10:30 am, after on and off rain the prior 18 hours and predicted rains moving in late afternoon and early evening. The only saving grace was Sunday was shaping up to clear off early in the day and looked promising for racing.
We woke up to rain Sunday morning, however the forecast was still showing things clearing off after 1 pm. After many discussions Sunday morning, it was decided we could get our race in and we moved forward and headed to I-96 Speedway for our 3rd annual Sunday race. Driving in rain all the way to Portland, MI, it finally cleared off and we arrived at the track to a great field of 26 cars.
We had a good turnout considering a Sunday evening race, with Conner Morrell and Danny Sams III from Florida, Justin Whitall from New Jersey, Phil Gressman, Max Stambaugh and Jared Horstman from Ohio, Brett Mann and Tony Bures from Indiana and the remaining 18 cars from Michigan.
After hot laps, we moved right into 3 car qualifying. For the 7th time this season, Phil Gressman (Fremont, OH) sat on top as fast qualifier of the 26 teams posting a 14.379 second lap on 4/10ths mile track. Brett Mann (Goshen, IN) was 2nd quick posting a 14.657 lap, Justin Whitall (South Hampton, NJ), Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) and Max Stambaugh (Elida, OH) rounded out the top 5 qualifiers.
In the Kistler Engines stacked Heat race 1, Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH) holds off Gressman by 4 tenths of a second, followed by Daggett, Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) and Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) rounding out the top 5 transfer spots.
Stambaugh slipped to 3rd in the second lap, but clawed his way past Andy Teunessen (Kalamazoo, MI) and reeled in Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) in the 5th lap to win the Campbell Performance Heat race 2. Lamberson held on for 2nd, while Teunessen, Mann and Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) rounded out the top five transfer spots.
In the Kistler Racing Products Heat race 3, Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) rode the cushion to 5 second lead and victory. Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI), couldn’t hold off Ridenour, but was able to hold a charging Jay Steinbach (Hudsonville, MI) to take second. Steinbach held on for 3rd, while Whitall and Danny Sams III (Northport, FL) rounded out the top five transfer spots.
Rolling out for the B-Main with Bill Jacoby (Village, FL) and Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) on the front row, the initial start was called back after Jacoby was called for a jump, moving Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL) to the front row. After a clean re-start, Jones jumped out to the lead and never looked back, winning the feature by 6 seconds. The battle went on behind him, with Robert Huisken (Marne, MI) working his way up to a second place finish. Jacoby worked his way back to a third place finish, narrowly holding off Joe Geibe (Strugis, MI) who worked his way up from seventh to grab the 4th transfer spot and grabbing the last spot was Morrell.
Then the rain started…a sprinkle toward the end of the B-main, then a heavy mist, to a light rain and then a moderate rain for about 20 minutes. The rain cell wasn’t on the radar an hour earlier, and there were other cells forming and rain was moving backward in the sky toward the southwest. The humidity was high and rather than try to run in the track for the next hour or so with no guarantees that more rain wasn’t going to come in, and being a Sunday night the hard decision was made to cancel the race. This race will most likely not be re-scheduled. We will make our last appearance at I-96 Speedway on Friday, August 17th on our double header weekend with Thunderbird Speedway.
Not the weekend any of us had hoped for, but it was good to get a little racing in none the less. Our next race will be this Saturday, July 28th at Montpelier Speedway in Montpelier, IN. For up to date results, points and news, go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com and be to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Article Credit: Barry M. Marlow
Submitted By: Barry Marlow
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