Auburn, MI (Friday, August 6, 2021) - The Great Lakes Family of Sprint Cars went to work Friday night in front of a nearly full house at Tri City Motor Speedway. In attendance were 25 of the areas best 360 winged sprint car drivers hoping to find their way to a win as the 2021 season races toward the finish line.
Linden Jones started the night on a good note, setting fast time and winning the TI22 Performance Fast Qualifier Award turning in a lap of 11.076 seconds - almost two tenths of a second faster than that of Ryan Ruhl.
Through heat races, won by Gregg Dalman, Keith Sheffer, Jr, and Phil Gressman, as well as the B-Main, won by Mike Keegan, the field was set for the 25 lap main event. Ryan Ruhl and Dustin Daggett led the field to the green flag with Daggett jumping out to the early lead. Duggett led the first five rotations before Ruhl got the positioning needed to go to the front.
It looked as though Ruhl was going to run away with the race without incident, until something changed on the Smith Motorsports 71H. Ruhl suddenly began to struggle getting through the center of the corners, which was allowing Max Stambaugh, who started 6th, to reel in Ruhl at an incredible pace. Stambaugh had erased an almost three second advantage under green, but everything changed when a caution flag waved as Ruhl was coming out of turn four to take the white flag. The caution was displayed for RJ Payne and Dan McCarron who tangled going into turn 1.
While under the caution, the problem with Ruhl’s car became obvious - the left front tire was going flat. As the clean-up efforts took place, the situation became worse for Ruhl as the tire came partially off the rim. Ruhl made the decision to stay on the race track and attempt to hold on for the green-white-checkered finish.
On the restart, Ruhl had no issues getting away from Stambaugh with clean air to his advantage. Surviving the final two laps, Ruhl grabbed his fourth win of the season ahead of Stambaugh, Daggett, Dalman, and Sheffer, Jr.
The Great Lakes Traditional Sprints Presented by PERFIT and the Great Lakes Lightning Sprints Presented by Maxima Racing Oil were also in action. Brian Ruhlman made a last lap pass on Joey Irwin to grab the GLTS win and Jac Nickles rebounded from a penalty on the initial start to collect another win on the season.
The next event for the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP is this Friday and Saturday night at Hartford Speedway and Thunderbird Raceway. For more details, log onto www.GreatLakesSprints.com and find the Great Lakes Super Sprints on Facebook and Twitter.
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