6/9/2017
GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints
Horstman Nips Gressman
Auburn, MI – Jared Horstman (Cloverdale, OH), gets by Phil Gressman (Helena, OH) in the 24th lap of the A-Main at Tri-City Motor Speedway Friday night to secure his 5th victory in 7 races.
With the threat of rain passed, the cars started trickling into the pits at Tri-City. Texts and phone calls were being made to series owner, Barry Marlow from teams caught up in traffic jams on I-75. With 21 cars in the pits or headed to the track, it appeared we’d have a full field of cars. As qualifying approached at 6:30, only 17 cars were ready to push off.
Drawing the low pill at registration, Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) led out the first group of 3 cars and laid down a qualifying time of 11.8 seconds or 114.4 mph. Being first proved not to help Daggett as his time was only good for 5th fastest of the night with the track getting faster each group. Rolling out in the next to the last group, Horstman recorded a qualifying time of 11.436 seconds or 118.8 mph. Kyle Sauder (Archbold, OH), Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI) and Devon Dobie (Wapakoneta, OH) rounded out the top five qualifiers.
By 7:45 when the first heat group pushed up to start off the night of racing, we had 19 cars ready to go. Shawn Dancer (Delphos, OH) and Trevor Berry (Clio, MI) led the first flight of cars on the track after the singing of the National Anthem. Behind them in the second row were fast qualifiers Dobie and Horstman, followed by Joe Geibe (Sturgis, MI) and rookie John Debats (Kawkalin, MI). With a clean start, Horstman and Dobie were pushing hard in the first lap. Dancer led the group past the grand stands, but Horstman, Berry and Dobie got by Dancer in the second lap, leaving Geibe and Debats behind fighting for 5th. With an average speed of 110 mph, Horstman took the checkered flag followed by Berry, Dobie, Dancer and Geibe rounding out the the top 5.
Mike Burkin (Clyde, OH) and Chris Pobanz (Sebewang, MI) led the 2nd flight of cars out on the track, followed by Daggett, Horstman, Joey Irwin (Davison, MI) and Jarrod DeLong (Cridersville, OH). Fighting engine problems since the Attica race, Burkin was able to take the lead and stay out of the fray that was going on behind him. Pobanz running 2nd was able to keep fast qualifiers Daggett and Sauder behind him for most of the race. In the 4th lap Sauder was able to get by Daggett, but couldn’t make a move on Pobanz. Coming into turn 3 it looked like Pobanz would take the checked flag in 2nd but coming out of 4 Sauder got the edge and beat Pobanz to the flag. Daggett and DeLong rounded out the top 5.
Flight 3 was led around the track by rookie, Cody Howard (Millington, MI) and Eric Smith (Lakeview, MI). Behind them were fast qualifiers Gressman and Ridenour, Tank Brakenberry (Pigeon, MI), Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) and Lukas Smith (Lebanon, IN). As the group passed the flag stand, Ridenour took advantage of a gap between the front row and beat everyone into turn 1 taking the lead. Leaving Eric Smith, Howard and Gressman behind. Lukas Smith having engine problems pulled off immediately. In lap 2 Poortenga gets by Howard for 4th. In lap 5, Gressman gets by Eric Smith, only to have the caution come out as Howard spins in turn 4. Gressman moved back to 3rd for the restart, but quickly gets passed on the restart and regains 2nd for good. Eric Smith holds off Poortenga for 3rd and Brakenberry rounds out the top 5.
Taking the top 2 heat race finishers to a 6 lap dash, a redraw was done under the flag stand by 6 young fans to determine how the 6 cars would start the dash. With the drawing done, Ridenour would set on the pole with Berry next to him and Sauder, Burkin, Gressman and Horstman bringing up the back. We had a clean start and Ridenour built a quick lead leaving everyone in the pack trying to chase him down. Finding good traction down low Ridenour with a 100 yard lead, shot down out of 3 into the bottom of 4 catching a tire and spinning him out in a dead stop at the top of turn 4 scattering the pack of 5 hard charging cars. Sauder taking a high line to begin with took the brunt of Ridenour’s caution, making contact and bouncing off the top of turn 4 with a flat tire. With Ridenour and Sauder gone, Horstman was able to take advantage of the field after the restart driving by Gressman, Burkin, and Berry. Gressman used the last four laps to over come Burkin and Berry to grab the last front row spot for the feature. Horstman, Gressman, Berry, Burkin, Ridenour and Sauder would be the starting order for the front row.
At 9:40 pm, Horstman and Gressman led the field of 19 cars out for a 4 wide salute to the fans at Tri-City Motor Speedway. With the parade lap done and the field lined up, the green flag was out and we had a clean start. Horstman took the early lead for one lap as Gressman chased him down and took over the lead in lap 2. Gressman quickly lengthened his lead and looked as if he was checking out on the field. In lap 8 however, back in the pack and trying to make something happen after fighting engine troubles, Lukas Smith spun in the bottom of turns 3 and 4. With many more hours of seat time in a non-wing, Smith stayed on the peddle and kept the car spinning in a 360 and was passing the flag stand as a late caution flag came out. In all the excitement a 9th running Dobie simultaneously shot of the end of turns 1 and 2 coming to a stop in the pit area behind the modifieds, not to return to the track.
As the green flag came out, Gressman remained the car to beat with Horstman not having anything to give him at this point. Dancer who started 10th and DeLong starting 14th methodically worked their way through the field moving up 7 spots. Daggett and Lukas Smith starting 11th and 18th respectively bettered their positions by 5 spots and Poortenga starting 12th was able to work his way up into 8th.
In lap 15 as Gressman was starting to encounter some heavy and stiff lap traffic, there seemed to be life coming from Horstman who appeared to be closing the gap on Gressman. By lap 20 Horstman was in Gressmans hip pocket and both cars were doing what they could to get the advantage. In lap 24, Horstman made his move getting around Gressman on the high side. Gressman stayed on his tail thru turns 1 and 2 of lap 25 but Horstman pulled away on the back stretch and bought himself enough room to assure another feature win. Gressman held on to 2nd place with the hard charging Dancer bringing up 3rd, and Sauder and Ridenour rounding out the top 5.
The field of cars was as diverse as we’ve had, with non-wing regulars of Pobanz, Irwin, Brakenberry and Burkin on hand, first time winged sprint racers Howard and Debats, rookie Berry and feature win veterans like Gressman, Sauder, Daggett and Horstman. The drivers and teams put on a great show to an appreciative crowd. The competitiveness of the leaders does not take away from the respect, camaraderie and the helpfulness of the veterans to the new drivers and rookies. It is a display of all the best attributes of the sprint car racing community.
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Thank you for the support of our co-sanctioning body, NRA Sprint Invaders and National Championship Racing Associaiton (NCRA). Thank you also to Environmental Waste & Recovery Service and Specialty Fuels & Logistics for their sponsorship and support.
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