5/28/2019
GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints
GLSS BEATS MOTHER NATURE in a Memorable Memorial Weekend
Merrill, MI – Great Lakes Super Sprints goes 3 for 3 Memorial Weekend, racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Tri-City Motor Speedway, Crystal Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway respectfully. I wouldn’t have bet anyone a dollar that we’d get all 3 races in, given the weather forecast a week ago! But we were blessed with great weather, great fans and great cars!
Friday morning we woke up to a change in the forecast, rain moving in early in the afternoon and thunderstorms moving in around 9 pm. We decided to wait till noon to get a better handle on the forecast. By 11:45 the forecast had changed to no rain in the afternoon and the chance of rain was moved out to 10 pm. Steve Puvalowski, the Tri-City Motor Speedway owner and promoter texted me and said we’re racing! I texted all of our drivers and we prepared to race!
In spite of our plan to race, there were a few cars they didn’t make the trip, but after registration we still had a solid field of 23 cars! Our 2018 Champion, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) started the night off with setting fast time with a 11.11 second lap.
Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 1 winner: Dan McCarron (Britton, MI), Campbell Performance Heat 2 winner: 2017 Champion Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH), Perfit/Engine Pro Heat 3 winner: Jay Steinebach (Hudsonville, MI
The A-Main was won by Horstman with Phil Gressman (Helena, OH), passing Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) at the line for 2nd by 1/100th of a second and Daggett just .35 seconds behind Dalman with McCarron rounding out the top 5. Our 2018 Rookie of the Year, Connor Morrell was our Engler Machine & Tool Hard Charger.
About 1 am some rain moved in and all of Mid-Michigan had lines of thunderstorms move through till about 6 am. Communicating with Ryan and Ron Flinn at Crystal Motor Speedway, I was concerned with pictures that were posted with the infield full of water and that there was standing water in the pits. I was told we were racing and our haulers wouldn’t have any problems parking in the back field where we park!
Arriving at the Crystal, we were all happy to see the clouds clear and the pits in great shape. The track was packed in for the heavy rains that we received. There was some concerns about how racey the track would be, but I knew that our cars would still put a good show on and everyone was thrilled to be able to race two days in a row! We had 26 cars register and race at Crystal.
Visiting the first time this year, Jacob “Little Ben” Brown from Ontario Canada rolled out and set fast time that night with a 13.292 second lap. This was nearly 2.2 seconds slower than the night before, however Crystal is slightly larger than Tri-City…Crystal is a 3/8ths mile track at the bottom and Tri-City is a 3/8ths mile track at the top.
Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 1 winner: Danny Sams III (Northport, FL), Campbell Performance Heat 2 winner: Gregg Dalman (Belleville, MI), Perfit/Engine Pro Heat 3 winner: Mitch Brown (Ontario, Canada), Beacon & Bridge Markets B-Main winner was Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI)
The track was holding up well as the feature rolled out around 10 pm. The drivers would have to work to find some bite but the track was setting up to be racey. Six minutes and 43 seconds after the race started, Danny Sams III took his first checkered flag in a full size sprint car. Running a caution free race was exciting enough, but the packed stands were treated to celebratory 360 spin on the front stretch from an excited Sams! Zane DeVault (Plymouth, IN) took 2nd, with Jacob Brown, Gregg Dalman and our 2016 Champion, Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) rounding out the top 5 spots. Brett “The Hoosier Rocket” Mann was our Engler Machine & Tool Hard Charger.
Wrapping up the night we had already received word that we were racing on Sunday at I-96 Speedway. Unfortunately, I started receiving phone calls around 8:30 am Sunday morning that the rain was just stopping at I-96 and that it was so sloppy that there was no way we could race today. Once again I was on the phone with new owner and promoter, Jeff Dice. He talked to his track crew and we were assured that we would be racing and things would be fine in the pits.
Arriving around 3 pm, the sun finally arrived and the cloud cover had pushed off to the south. With some extra patience and work in the pits, 58 haulers and sprint cars parked the best they could so we could get ready to race. GLSS had 30 cars registered and the FAST 410’s had 28 cars registered.
Rolling out for qualifying after the twenty eight FAST cars qualified, Jared Horstman laid down quick time at 14.196 seconds. Qualifying was extremely close Sunday night. Ryan Ruhl turned a 14.197 lap and Dustin Daggett turned a 14.198 second lap!
Kistler Engines & Racing Products Heat 1 winner: Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI), Campbell Performance Heat 2 winne: Jason Blonde (Litchfield, MI), NEEDMETHANOL.COM Heat 3 winner: Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI), Perfit/Engine Pro Heat 3 winner: Jacob Brown (Ontario, Canada)
Rolling out on the track a little late because of 3 red flags thrown during roll overs in the FAST Feature, the track was full of grip and was primed for some side by side racing. After lining up for our salute to the fans doing a 4 wide parade lap, Phil Gressman pulled away and got the cars lined up to go green.
With the “Ohio Gas Man” Gressman on the pole, the drivers knew they had their work cut out for them. Gressman got out front and quickly fell into a rhythm running the cushion that had developed on top. Max Stambaugh (Elida, OH) who had started 9th had found a lane and was working his way through the front 7 cars trying to reel in Gressman.
With a late caution with 2 laps to go when 2nd place Brad Lamberson went off the top of 4 with a broken rear end, Gressman was going to have a clean shot to put this race away and 28 ½ seconds later he did, taking the checkered flag with Stambaugh, Jacob Brown, Ridenour and Dalman rounding out the top 5. Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI) was the Engler Machine & Tool Hard Charger.
Getting 3 races in a row in was blessing enough, but the level of competition for the weekend was outstanding. 3 tracks in 3 nights, with 39 different drivers, 26 ave cars per night, with 3 different feature winners, 3 different fast time qualifiers, 10 different heat race winners, 2 different B-Main winners and 3 different Hard Chargers. Saturday night was caution free every time we took the track and best of all, the fans supported it and were treated to great racing!
We are off this weekend, but will be back racing in southwestern Michigan on June 7th at Hartford Speedway and Saturday, June 8th at Plymouth Speedway.
Thank you to our marketing sponsors, Beacon and Bridge Markets, Addvance Heating & Cooling, Specialty Fuels and Logistics and Hoosier Midwest. Also to our race sponsors, Kistler Engines and Racing Products, Campbell Performance, Perfit/Engine Pro and Engler Machine and Tool.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the current pictures and activities. For our schedule, points and results go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com.
Article Credit: Barry M. Marlow
Submitted By: Barry Marlow
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