HARTFORD, MI (June 3, 2016) The debut race event of Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series and Great Lakes Super Sprints had plenty of excitement and left us all looking forward to meeting next year! Hopefully with better luck with Mother Nature!
Johnny Herrera (#45) took the checked flag at Hartford Motor Speedway for the debut event with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series and the Great Lakes Super Sprints. Herrera held off a hard charging Sam Hafertepe, Jr (#15h) at the line. Ending the night with as much excitement as we experienced throughout the night.
Earlier in the evening, 26 sprint cars had filled the pits at Hartford Motor Speedway. With 11 teams from the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour, 14 GLSS teams and a visiting Jeremy Campbell (10c) from Witchita Kansas. The field was set and the anticipation of a strong field of cars and drivers was realized.
After a brief drivers meeting and a pill draw to place the drivers in their heats, the teams were off to put heat in their engines and get ready for heat races.
In Heat 1, with Joe Geibe (#23) and Linden Jones (#19j) leading the front row the wait and anticipation was finally over. Geibe was off strong leading the first lap with Blake Hahn (#52) quickly nipping at his tail. Taking a high line into turn 1 and Hahn going low, Geibe’s car pushed up the bank and hit the wall hard in between turn 1 and 2 causing a couple forward somersaults in the air and landing on its’ wheels…bringing out a red flag.
Emergency crews were at Geibe’s car in seconds followed by the ambulance. Much to the relieve of everyone, the ambulance was waved off and Joe was able to exit the car under his own power.
Heat 1 finished with no more delays with Hahn finishing first and followed by Wayne Johnson (#2C) and Kyle Sauder (#2).
Heat 2 had Kyle Bellm (#14k) and Logan Forler (2) on the front row, while Dustin Daggett (#2m) and Andy Teunessen (#31) were on the front row for Heat 3. Both Heat 2 and 3 went off without a hitch showing a lot of speed and competitive spirit in these groups.
Winners of Heat 2 were Josh Baughman (#17), Forler and Randy Hannigan (#22H). Heat 3 winners were Johnny Herrera (#45x), Daggett and Sam Hafertepe, Jr (#15H).
The B Main was led out with Gregg Dalman (#49T) and Teunessen on the front row. Dalman was challenged early by Teunessen and they were chased closely by Chase Ridenour (#11R), Brett Mann (#19) and Jerrod Wilson (16B). Teunessen pulled off the win, taking the lead for good with 3 laps to go. Lexi Adgate (#91L) and Geibe did not show for the feature, while Jones had an engine issue and had to pull off early.
With the Heats and B-Main finished, the field of 22 cars going on to the A-Main Feature were set. The full field of cars were pushed off and lined up in the traditional ASCS 3 wide salute, with fire works going off as they passed the large crowd in the front grand stands. As the cars sped around to get lined up for the green flag, the start was stopped suddenly with a red flag due to a medical emergency in the grand stands .After the EMS was back in place the cars were fired up and back in line to take the green flag and start the 25 lap Feature.
With Baughman and Herrera on the front row, they led the field around turn 3 and into 4 leading 20 other cars thundering past the flag stand 5 wide going into turn 1. With a cloud of dust blocking our full view, a caution flag quickly came out and when the dust settled, 2 cars sat at the bottom of turn 1 & 2 and two cars were at the bottom of turn 2.
Ryan Ruhl (#16x) was the victim of a car cutting down in front of him and he lost his front axle and was out for the night. Kyle Sauder (#2) made a quick move up front from his 7th starting position only to end up with no where to go when the leader spun out in front of him, resulting to damage to his front end as well, abruptly ending his night.
Ruhl and Sauder were taken back to the pit area, while the other 2 cars were re-started and the remaining 20 cars were lined up to restart the feature. As the green flag dropped, we had a clean start and the race was on! Hannigan quickly picked his way up to 6th place with Daggett on his bumper. With a couple cautions to keep Herrera and Hafertepe reeled in, Hannigan and Daggett crept forward another spot. With 2 laps to go in the feature and Hannigan charging hard for a 3rd or 4th place finish, his car sputtered out of fuel ending his pursuit and scattering the field.
In the middle of 10 hard charging cars, as Hannigans car slowed, the cars following and pushing behind him suddenly had to separate to avoid him. Fortunately, everyone cleared as the last caution flag was thrown on lap 23.
As the final green flag was dropped with only 2 laps to go, Sam Hafertepe, Jr (#15h) was pushing Johnny Herrera (#45) hard. Hafertepe looked to be a little quicker on the start but Herrera was able to keep Sam behind him. On the final lap, with Hafertepe flying down the backstretch and taking the middle line into turn 3, it looked like the 15h car would fly out of turn 4 and into the winners circle. However as Herrera came off the bottom in turn 4, his car slid wide forcing Hafertepe to tap his brakes and shoot underneath him giving the win to Herrera by just a few feet!
Our next race with the Lucas Oil ASCS was to be at Brownstown Speedway on Saturday, June 4th, but was cancelled due to rain. The next event for Great Lakes Super Sprints will be Friday, June 17th at Mount Pleasant Speedway and on to Thunderbird Speedway on Saturday, June 18th.
For continued updates on the Great Lakes Super Sprints, log onto http://www.glss.rocks. You can also follow us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @GLSupersprints .
Race Results:
ASCS National & GLSS
Hartford Speedway - Hartford, Mich.
Friday, June 3, 2016
Car Count: 26
Heat Races (8 Laps, top 16 in Passing Points to the A-Feature.)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[3]; 3. 2-Kyle Sauder[5]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[8]; 6. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[9]; 7. 91L-Alexis Adgate[6]; 8. (DNF) 19J-Linden Jones[2]; 9. (DNF) 23G-Joe Geibe[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[3]; 2. 2L-Logan Forler[2]; 3. 22H-Randy Hannagan[4]; 4. 14K-Kyle Bellm[1]; 5. 16-Ryan Ruhl[5]; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman[7]; 7. 11-Trey Smith[6]; 8. 19-Brett Mann[9]; 9. 3-Kyle Locke[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 2. 2M-Dustin Daggett[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 6. 31-Andy Teunessen[2]; 7. 11R-Chase Ridenour[6]; 8. (DNF) 16B-Jerrod Wilson[3]
B-Feature (12 laps, taking top 6.)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 31-Andy Teunessen[2]; 2. 49T-Gregg Dalman[1]; 3. 11R-Chase Ridenour[4]; 4. 19-Brett Mann[5]; 5. 16B-Jerrod Wilson[6]; 6. 11-Trey Smith[3]; 7. 3-Kyle Locke[7]; 8. (DNF) 19J-Linden Jones[8]; (DNS) 91L-Alexis Adgate; (DNS) 23G-Joe Geibe
A-Feature (25 Laps)
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson[6]; 4. 2L-Logan Forler[8]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 6. 2M-Dustin Daggett[9]; 7. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[12]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 10. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[14]; 11. 49T-Gregg Dalman[18]; 12. 14K-Kyle Bellm[13]; 13. 11R-Chase Ridenour[19]; 14. 31-Andy Teunessen[17]; 15. 22H-Randy Hannagan[10]; 16. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 17. 16B-Jerrod Wilson[21]; 18. 87-Aaron Reutzel[16]; 19. 19-Brett Mann[20]; 20. 2-Kyle Sauder[7]; 21. 16-Ryan Ruhl[15]; 22. 11-Trey Smith[22]
Lap Leader(s): Johnny Herrera 1-25
FSR High Point Driver: Blake Hahn
KSE Hard Charger: Gregg Dalman +7