Lake Odessa, MI – Starting on the pole, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) slipped behind Brett Mann (Goshen, IN) and Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) early and had to work his way back and forth with them before he was able to take the lead for good in the 17th lap, holding off a charge by Gressman and a late charging Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, MI) for an exciting win at the checkered flags.
With clear skies and a light breeze, the evening turned out to be a great night for racing. With 25 sprint cars in the pits, only 24 made the call for qualifying. The last car in the pits, Tyler Bearden (Onsted, MI) used his slot to put heat in the motor and tagged on the back of the first heat race.
Gressman set fast time for the night with a 14.574 second lap, followed by Ruhl, Andy Teunessen (Kalamzoo, MI), Chase Ridenour and Dustin Daggett rounded out the top five qualifiers.
Rolling out for the Kistler Engine Heat Race 1, and starting 4th, Gressman wins the heat over Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI), Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI), Joe Geibe (Sturgis, MI) and Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) who rounded out the top 5 transfer spots.
In the Campbell Performance Heat Race 2, Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) held off Daggett, Ruhl, Connor Morrell and Tony Bures for the win.
Brett Mann starting 3rd in the Kistler Racing Products Heat 3 wins the heat over Jay Steinbach (Hudsville, MI) Matt Foos (Fremont, OH) Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) and Danny Sams III, all of which secured their spots in the A-Main.
Ten cars reported for the B-Main of which the top 5 would be moving on to the A-Main. Tuenessen won the B-Main from the 6th position, with Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI), Michael Summers (Warsaw, IN), Eli Lakin (Buchanan, MI) and Linden Jones (Edwardsburg, MI) rounding out the remaining five moving on to the Feature.
As the cars were reporting for the feature, there was an unfortunate accident in the pits that delayed the start with the drivers sitting on the track ready to push off. With the ambulance and emergency personnel tied up in the pits attending to the crew member, an open red flag was called and crews were allowed on the track to help get the drivers out of their cars and get them water.
The crew member being attended to was helping to pull back their car for the feature when the tire rolled on his foot, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward. Hitting his head on the cement and momentarily knocking him out as the car rolled over him. He was checked out and appeared to be ok and we were told that he was sent for precautionary observation. With all emergency personnel returned to the track, the drivers were once again strapped in and pushed off for the Feature.
The cars were lined up and as the cars came around to do our 4 wide salute to the fans, a Missing Man formation was formed and a moment of silence was observed to honor Jason Johnson #41 and the impact he has had on our sport.
As the field came out of turn 4 with the green flag flying Mann was able to beat Daggett into turn 1. As they came around completing the first lap it was Mann, Daggett, Gressman and Dalman. Our fast qualifier, Gressman, gets around Mann in the 2nd lap.
In lap 4, with car contact, Sams flips and lands on his wheels bringing out a red flag, with Teunessen and Jones coming to rest next to Sams. Jones was quickly rolled down the turn and pushed to the work area and Teunessen was put on a hook and delivered to the work area with a flat right rear. Sams night was down with a crushed wing, broken rear shocks and a bent frame.
Jones and Teunessen were able to make repairs and returned to the field as cars were pushed off for a restart. With Mann leading the field and Gressman, Daggett, Dalman and Ridenour right behind him. Gressman gets a good run on the restart and is able to get around Mann for the lead.
With Gressman looking like no one would catch him, the action was going on behind him. In lap 6 Daggett gets around Mann for second, then in lap 12 Mann gets around Daggett to reclaim it. In lap 14, Daggett once again gets around Mann for 2nd and then puts his sights on Gressman.
In lap 17 Daggett gets around Gressman in lapped traffic. In lap 18 a caution as Ridenour does a 180 in the bottom of turn 4 and comes to rest looking at oncoming traffic. Ridenour is able to be restarted and goes to the tail in 19th.
After a single file restart, Daggett is able to hold off Gressman and give himself some breathing room. Gressman still working hard at reeling Daggett in, does so in the 21st lap where he catches Daggett on the backstretch and the two of them go into turn 3 side by side. With a real battle going on for the 1st and 2nd spot, they remain side by side down the front stretch and thru turn 1 with Dagget getting a little space coming out of 2. With all eyes on the leaders going into turn 3 the caution comes out as Summers does a 180 at the bottom of 1 and 2.
With only 3 laps to go, a battle for speed is taking shape as the cars come around for the green flag. The leaders get good starts and Daggett puts his best time in during the 23rd lap giving him some space. As the Mann/Daggett and Daggett/Gressman battles were going on, Ruhl who started 8th had slowly worked his way up into 3rd in front of Dalman and Mann. As the cars fly under the white flag with one lap to go, Ruhl is able to get around Gressman coming out of turn two and Mann has pulled up next to Dalman challenging for 4th.
As Daggett takes the checked at over 100 mph, Ruhl follows just .992 seconds behind, Gressman .228 seconds behind Ruhl and Dalman and Mann crossing the finish line side by side. Mann gets Dalman for 4th by .059 seconds!!! Poortenga finished a strong 6th with Foos finishing 7th.
Ridenour was able to work his way up from the tail to finish 8th, but the Engler Hard Charger was Jared Lamberson finishing 9th after starting 17th. Conner Morrell (Bradenton, FL) rounded out 10th with his first top 10 finish.
Tonight we roll into Merritt Speedway rounding out another double header weekend and closing the first half of our season. We won’t return to the track until our Triple Header weekend July 20th at Tri-City Motor Speedway.
For a complete list of results and points, go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates.
- Barry Marlow on Jun 30, 2018
- Article Date: 6/29/2018 by Barry M. Marlow