Lake Odessa, MI (Friday, June 4, 2021) - In a shocking turn of events Friday night during the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP, Parma, Michigan’s Brad Lamberson found himself on his way to his first career trip to GLSS Victory Lane. The popular win came after an exciting 25 laps at I-96 Speedway.
Lamberson, after winning his Home Pro Hammer Time Heat Race, redrew the number one pill, putting him on the pole for the feature; he lined up alongside veteran racer, Greg Dalman. On the drop the green flag, fans were treated to a three-wide battle off of turn two during the opening lap. Fourth-place-starting Dustin Daggett went straight to the extreme outside in turns one and two, and took the lead by the time the field entered the backstretch.
All throughout the night drivers found themselves struggling to find grip on the top of turn two, with no cushion and a line of dry slick by the end of hot laps. As a result, several drivers went off the backstretch throughout Qualifying, Heat Races, and the feature.
Daggett set the pace for much of the race, and it was a quick one. At one point, Daggett had opened up nearly a straightaway’s advantage on Lamberson who was hard at work holding off a charge from Max Stambaugh. Daggett event survived a lap nine restart following a spin and subsequent soft tip-over of Shane Simmons, who would continue. The complexion of the race began to change when Daggett ran deep into slower traffic after the halfway point.
Daggett had lapped cars all the way up until the 11th spot, where 2016 GLSS Champion, Chase Ridenour was running. These cars proved tougher for Daggett to pass, requiring more patience and harder driving out of the Portland, Michigan driver. As Lamberson and Stambaugh began reeling in Daggett, the no. 85 made a critical mistake, dropping a right rear tire off the exit of turn two, sliding off the banking on the backstretch. In an incredible display of driving, Daggett was able to get the car back on the speedway entering turn three, but the damage had already been done; Lamberson and Stambaugh snuck by underneath the slower machine of Daggett through the corner.
Now, a race that had been fierce for second, was now a race for the win. Lamberson and Stambaugh continued to run in tandem around the outside of I-96 Speedway with Daggett in tow in third. With two laps to go, Stambaugh made a move to try and win the race; entering turn one, Stambaugh went to the bottom of the race track to pull the trigger on a slide-job around Lamberson. Lamberson quickly answered back, coming to an almost complete stop as Stambaugh slid up between himself and Ridenour to take the top spot momentarily. Lamberson turned hard left and drove down the banking of turn two to rocket back to the lead down the backstretch.
With the white flag in the air, Lamberson again sailed off into turn one, this time Stambaugh entered higher, looking for a drive down the backstretch for a shot at the lead in turn three. Instead, Stambaugh lost the top of the race track exiting turn two and slid back two spots before reentering the track in turn three. At the stripe, Lamberson picked up the win, Jared Horstman snuck up to second ahead of Daggett, Stambaugh and Brett Mann, who won the Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger Award advancing 14 positions.
Next up for GLSS is a Saturday night stop in Quincy, Michigan at Butler Motor Speedway. Gates open at 4PM with racing at 7:30PM. For complete results and more information on the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP, log onto www.GreatLakesSuperSprints.com.
Story - Zach Hiser, Horsepower Happenings
Photo - Jim DenHamer
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