Horstman Hustles to Drought Breaking Win in GLSS Season Opener

📸 Jim DenHamer

Crystal, MI - Despite all odds that suggested the show wouldn’t unfold, officials with the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP (GLSS) and Crystal Motor Speedway were determined to get the 2025 GLSS season underway Saturday night. Even though chilly temperatures greeted the fans, they came out in full force to see the start of the Michigan CAT GLSS Sprint Division, which turned out just as strong with 31 cars on the property.

The night began with Ti22 Performance Qualifying, where nearly a dozen drivers broke the old Crystal Motor Speedway track record. In the end, Canada’s Ryan Turner got the last laugh with just five cars left to qualify after him, when he turned in a shattering 12.039. Later in the night, however, Horstman shattered the record again in his heat race when he blistered an 11.954-second lap, averaging over 112 MPH. Corbin Gurley, Mike Keegan, Horstman, and Chase Dunham earned Heat Race wins while Turner earned the B-Main victory.

The first event of the season was set to be led to green by three-time-and-defending GLSS Champion Max Stambaugh with Scotty Thiel to his outside, however, a jumped start moved Stambaugh back a row and put Horstman on the point. Another caution before the first lap could be completed when Chase Ridenour and Eli Lakin tangled at the exit of turn two, resulting in a tore up No.38 for Ridenour.

Once the race got the first lap completed, the rest was history. Thiel led the opening rotation, but entered turn three a little hard and nearly went over the banking, was completely sideways, and managed to gather it back up but not before Horstman took advantage on the inside and took the lead for lap number two. On an absolute rail, Horstman set pace to work through lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Thiel was busting out all the stops to get back to Horstman’s tail tank while they lapped through the 13th spot. While Thiel was close enough to get to Horstman’s inside in turns one and two, he couldn’t complete the pass.

Horstman held on for the win over Thiel, Keith Sheffer, Jr earned the Operating Engineers 324 Hard Charger going from 11th to 3rd, Dunham held serve in fourth as did Dustin Daggett in fifth. For Horstman, the win on Saturday night snapped a winless streak that dates back to June of 2023, when he went to victory lane at I-96 Speedway. Horstman now moves within one feature win of Daggett on the all-time GLSS wins list, with 25.

The next event for the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP is Friday, April 25th at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI. Advanced tickets are available at GreatLakesSuperSprints.com. Follow the Great Lakes Super Sprints on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube.

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 17-Jared Horstman[3]; 2. 51-Scotty Thiel[2]; 3. 14-Keith Sheffer[11]; 4. 66-Chase Dunham[4]; 5. 85-Dustin Daggett[5]; 6. X-Mike Keegan[6]; 7. 16-Ryan Ruhl[9]; 8. 7C-Phil Gressman[8]; 9. 12-Corbin Gurley[7]; 10. 24-Kobe Allison[12]; 11. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[10]; 12. 6W-Chad Wilson[13]; 13. 88N-Frank Neill[14]; 14. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[18]; 15. 67-Kevin Martens[20]; 16. 71H-Max Stambaugh[1]; 17. 10S-Jay Steinebach[19]; 18. 15-Ryan Turner[17]; 19. 38-Chase Ridenour[15]; 20. 70-Eli Lakin[16]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Turner[2]; 2. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[1]; 3. 10S-Jay Steinebach[3]; 4. 67-Kevin Martens[6]; 5. 18Z-Brian Razum[4]; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman[11]; 7. 13-Andy Teunessen[8]; 8. 27K-Zac Broughman[9]; 9. 07-Shane Simmons[5]; 10. 33-Jeremy Ferguson[7]; 11. 31-Jim Girard[10]; 12. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[12]; 13. (DNS) 22-Tom Lowe; 14. (DNS) 84-Levi Poortenga

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Corbin Gurley[2]; 2. 71H-Max Stambaugh[1]; 3. 16-Ryan Ruhl[3]; 4. 6W-Chad Wilson[5]; 5. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[6]; 6. 18Z-Brian Razum[8]; 7. 33-Jeremy Ferguson[7]; 8. (DNS) 49T-Gregg Dalman

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. X-Mike Keegan[2]; 2. 51-Scotty Thiel[1]; 3. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[3]; 4. 88N-Frank Neill[5]; 5. 22-Tom Lowe[7]; 6. 84-Levi Poortenga[6]; 7. 13-Andy Teunessen[4]; 8. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Jared Horstman[2]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett[4]; 3. 14-Keith Sheffer[7]; 4. 38-Chase Ridenour[3]; 5. 15-Ryan Turner[1]; 6. 07-Shane Simmons[6]; 7. 27K-Zac Broughman[5]; 8. (DNS) 29-Zeth Sabo

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Chase Dunham[1]; 2. 7C-Phil Gressman[2]; 3. 24-Kobe Allison[3]; 4. 70-Eli Lakin[7]; 5. 10S-Jay Steinebach[4]; 6. 67-Kevin Martens[5]; 7. 31-Jim Girard[6]

Qualifying 1 (99 Laps): 1. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 00:12.195[11]; 2. 51-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.251[9]; 3. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:12.269[2]; 4. X-Mike Keegan, 00:12.294[15]; 5. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 00:12.300[10]; 6. 20I-Kelsey Ivy, 00:12.310[4]; 7. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 00:12.372[7]; 8. 13-Andy Teunessen, 00:12.738[13]; 9. 6W-Chad Wilson, 00:12.835[8]; 10. 88N-Frank Neill, 00:13.453[16]; 11. 3A-Mike Astrauskas, 00:13.563[12]; 12. 84-Levi Poortenga, 00:13.603[3]; 13. 33-Jeremy Ferguson, 00:13.755[14]; 14. 22-Tom Lowe, 00:14.011[5]; 15. 18Z-Brian Razum, 00:14.561[6]; 16. (DNS) 77E-Ashton VanEvery, 00:14.561

Qualifying 2 (99 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Turner, 00:12.039[10]; 2. 66-Chase Dunham, 00:12.156[14]; 3. 17-Jared Horstman, 00:12.267[2]; 4. 7C-Phil Gressman, 00:12.384[5]; 5. 38-Chase Ridenour, 00:12.432[3]; 6. 24-Kobe Allison, 00:12.641[12]; 7. 85-Dustin Daggett, 00:12.750[11]; 8. 10S-Jay Steinebach, 00:12.979[1]; 9. 27K-Zac Broughman, 00:13.075[9]; 10. 67-Kevin Martens, 00:13.457[4]; 11. 07-Shane Simmons, 00:13.925[7]; 12. 31-Jim Girard, 00:14.724[15]; 13. 14-Keith Sheffer, 00:14.724[6]; 14. 70-Eli Lakin, 00:14.724[13]; 15. (DNS) 29-Zeth Sabo, 00:14.724