By T.J. Buffenbarger
QUINCY, MI (August 17, 2024) – Jett Mann was able to outrun one of his father’s biggest rivals in Van Gurley, Jr. to win the winged 410 sprint car feature Saturday night at Butler Motor Speedway.
Mann, from Goshen, Indiana, had Van Gurley Jr. stalking in in second position for a majority of the race before splitting between a pair of lapped cars three wide, driving through the middle of the track to build up a sizeable advantage. Mann then pulled away from Gurley with a restart with five laps to go, blasting around the top of the racetrack for the victory.
The win was Mann’s second victory of the 2024 season at Butler, and pointed to the lessons his father Brett Mann, a long-time standout sprint car driver in the area, taught him about racing in slower traffic.
“Dad always told me if you get to lap traffic, you’ve got to attack them,” said Mann about his aggressive moves through the slower cars. “You don’t want to get picked off by the guy behind you, so you just have to pick them off and go wherever the guys in front of you don’t go and hopefully it works out in the long run.”
It worked out well for Mann in the long run building up a comfortable 2.847 second lead at the finish.
Gurley was able to finish in second and extend his point lead at Butler Motor Speedway by 39 points. Thomas Schinderle, Keith Sheffer Jr from 10th starting spot, and Luke Griffith rounded out the top five.
Dan McCarron and Mark Yearling both suffered heavy flips in the early stages of the A-Main event. Both McCarron and Yearling were able to exit their cars under their own power. Jason Ferguson also flipped in his heat race but was able to make repairs to start the main event.
The winged 410 sprint cars have next week off at Butler with the Valvoline Iron Man Late Model series coming to the speedway with the sprint cars returning to action on August 31st for the Terry Wilber Memorial.
Butler Motor Speedway
Quincy, Michigan
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Winged 410 Sprint Cars
Qualifying
1. 41-Thomas Schinderle, 13.173[10]
2. 22M-Dan McCarron, 13.275[11]
3. 10BR-Jason Blonde, 13.284[8]
4. 51-Mark Yearling, 13.378[12]
5. 12-Luke Griffith, 13.494[15]
6. 27-Chris Jones, 13.558[3]
7. 13-Van Gurley Jr, 13.565[4]
8. 19-Jett Mann, 13.579[13]
9. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 13.583[14]
10. 7-Alex Aldrich, 13.633[6]
11. 3-Kyle Locke, 13.761[2]
12. 51S-Keith Sheffer Jr, 13.785[18]
13. 4-Josh Turner, 13.797[17]
14. 33F-Jason Ferguson, 13.838[9]
15. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 14.036[5]
16. 22J-Jeremy Luther, 14.426[16]
17. 99-Jack James, 14.634[1]
18. 31-Mike Astrauskas, 15.106[7]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 10BR-Jason Blonde[3]
2. 13-Van Gurley Jr[1]
3. 41-Thomas Schinderle[4]
4. 12-Luke Griffith[2]
5. 3-Kyle Locke[6]
6. 4-Josh Turner[7]
7. 99-Jack James[9]
8. 20A-Andy Chehowski[8]
DNS: 16-Ryan Ruhl
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 19-Jett Mann[1]
2. 51-Mark Yearling[3]
3. 22M-Dan McCarron[4]
4. 27-Chris Jones[2]
5. 51S-Keith Sheffer Jr[6]
6. 22J-Jeremy Luther[8]
7. 31-Mike Astrauskas[9]
8. 7-Alex Aldrich[5]
9. 33F-Jason Ferguson[7]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 19-Jett Mann[2]
2. 13-Van Gurley Jr[1]
3. 41-Thomas Schinderle[5]
4. 51S-Keith Sheffer Jr[10]
5. 12-Luke Griffith[7]
6. 27-Chris Jones[8]
7. 7-Alex Aldrich[16]
8. 4-Josh Turner[11]
9. 20A-Andy Chehowski[15]
10. 3-Kyle Locke[9]
11. 22J-Jeremy Luther[12]
12. 99-Jack James[13]
13. 33F-Jason Ferguson[18]
14. 31-Mike Astrauskas[14]
15. 10BR-Jason Blonde[3]
16. 16-Ryan Ruhl[17]
17. 51-Mark Yearling[4]
18. 22M-Dan McCarron[6]