By T.J. Buffenbarger
LAKE ODESSA, Mich. (June 18, 2021) — Zane DeVault decision to come north paid off Friday night winning the Sprints on Dirt program at I-96 Speedway. DeVault won his heat race, the dash, and led all 25-laps of the main event. DeVault, from Plymouth, Indiana, picked up $2,000 for his winning effort that was originally planned as something fun for his race team to do.
“It’s kind of funny. I have been running a lot of 360 stuff, non-wing, and we kind of had this weekend off so I decided to take this car up here and have fun to get back in the swing of things,” said DeVault of the trip to Michigan. “I never thought we were come out here and run this good. This Cool chassis has always done me right and did so one more time.”
By virtue of his dash victory DeVault started on the front row with Chase Ridenour. DeVault led the opening lap while Stambaugh quickly drove from fourth starting position into the runner up spot. DeVault and Stambaugh pulled away from the rest of the field.
Stambaugh was able to try a couple of slide jobs on DeVault but could not make the pass stick. Just as the leaders entered slower traffic the caution appeared on lap six when Jared Horstman slid off the top of the track. DeVault pulled way during the restart, but quickly caught the back of the field by lap 11. DeVault soon found himself vigorously pursued by Stambaugh and Ryan Ruhl.
The trio raced through slower traffic until Ruhl jumped the cushion and flipped in turn two to bring out the red flag. Ruhl emerged from the car under his own power.
After Ruhl’s flip DeVault slowly to the restart zone. This allowed DeVault to pull away from Stambaugh. Just as it appeared that restart would be the winning move for Devault, the caution appeared one lap later for Cobin Gurley sliding off the racetrack.
DeVault was able to pull away again after the restart for the victory over Stambaugh, Ricky Peterson, Brett Mann, and Horstman.
“My guys gave me a good car. We fine tuned it a little, we didn’t really change much. All night I had been on the top the whole time. I was a little worried when some of the lapped cars got two wide in front of me to run the bottom.
After the feature DeVault explained that he was trying to mix things up to keep Stambaugh at bay in the late stages of the main event.
“You have to mix it up, you can’t run the same deal every time,” DeVault explained of his dramatically different pace during the restarts. “Max (Stambaugh) is one heck of a driver and he’s going to pounce on you anytime he can. You just have to change it up to where someone like that isn’t expecting something. He was bumping on me wanting me to go. I’m pretty good buddies with him and I’m sure we will talk about this 20 years down the road and laugh about it. It was a good race. Max and Ricky are good, you couldn’t ask for a better night. We won everything we were in except qualifying and I didn’t even have to move the wing back.”
Obtaining Friday’s feature victory at I-96 Speedway also helped DeVault achieve a goal of winning a feature at the fast 3/8-mile oval after coming close on multiple occasions.
We’ve done a lot of brainstorming. We’ve done a lot of running second and fourth here, so I’m finally happy to get a win.”
Sprints on Dirt
I-96 Speedway
Lake Odessa, Michigan
Friday, June 18, 2021
Qualifying:
1. 14-Jared Horstman, 13.648
2. 5S-Max Stambaugh, 13.686
3. 71H-Ryan Ruhl, 13.741
4. 7Z-Zane DeVault, 14.810
5. 19BM-Brett Mann, 13.900
6. 12-Corbin Gurley, 13.992
7. 2-Ricky Peterson, 14.242
8. 4-Joshua Turner, 14.247
9. 39-Tylar Rankin, 14.407
10. 2K-Mike Kane, 14.590
11. 16W-Chase Ridenour, 14.643
12. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 14.673
13. 25M-Ken Mackey, 14.724
14. 27K-Zac Broughman, 14.887
15. 7-Alex Aldrich, 15.130
16. 27QB-Quentin Blonde, 15.197
17. 27-Justin Adams, 15.244
18. 31-Mike Astrauskas, 15.268
19. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 15.513
20. 87-Logan Easterday, 15.642
21. 27W-Tyler Gunn, NT
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 7Z-Zane DeVault
2. 2-Ricky Peterson
3. 14-Jared Horsman
4. 25M-Ken Mackey
5. 27QB-Quentin Blonde
6. 20A-Andy Chehoswki
7. 2K-Mike Kane
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 5S-Max Stambaugh
2. 16W-Chase Ridenour
3. 19BM-Brett Mann
4. 27-Justin Adams
5. 27K-Zac Broughman
6. 4-Joshua Turner
7. 87-Logan Easerday
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 39-Tylar Rankin
2. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
3. 12-Corbin Gurley
4. 49T-Gregg Dalman
5. 3A-Mike Astrauskas
6. 7-A.J. Aldrich
DNS: 27W-Tyler Gunn
Dash (4 Laps):
1. 7Z-Zane DeVault
2. 16W-Chase Ridenour
3. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
4. 5S-Max Stambaugh
5. 2-Ricky Peterson
DNS: 39-Tylar Rankin
Feature (25 Laps):
1. 7Z-Zane DeVault
2. 5S-Max Stambaugh
3. 2-Ricky Peterson
4. 19BM-Brett Mann
5. 14-Jared Horstman
6. 16W-Chase Ridendour
7. 25M-Ken Mackey
8. 49T-Gregg Dalman
9. 27-Justin Adams
10. 12-Corbin Gurley
11. 27QB-Quentin Blonde
12. 20A-Andy Chehowski
13. 7-Alex Aldrich
14. 2K-Mike Kane
15. 27K-Zac Broughman
16. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
17. 87-Logan Easterday
18. 4-Joshua Turner
DNS: 2-Mike Kane
DNS: 39-Tylar Rankin
DNS: 27W-Tyler Gunn