By Zach Hiser
Auburn, MI – Many drivers in the MacAllister CAT Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP pit area had been looking for an opportunity to race a smooth, technical track this season. So far, many weekend visits have been hammer down and “pony up”. But Tri-City Motor Speedway was just what the Doctor ordered.
Max Stambaugh and Kelsey Ivy led the field to the green flag Friday night in front of a packed house in Auburn, MI. Stambaugh took hold of the race lead early while Mike Keegan and Dustin Daggett argued over who would hold down the second spot.
After the negotiations for second fell to the liking of Daggett, he set sights on catching Stambaugh in lapped traffic. A defisit that was over 1.2 seconds at one point in the race, was quickly cut down to just four-tenths-of-a-second by the halfway mark. Dicing through traffic, Daggett used every ounce of race track he could find to try and get to Stambaugh’s tailtank. As he was setting up a lapped car to get to Stambaugh, the caution flew with just seven laps to go.
The pause in the action gave fans a chance to realize who else was now in the picture for a win – four-time feature winner, two-time GLSS Champion, and leader on the all-time wins list at Tri City, Jared Horstman.
On the restart, Horstman went straight to the top of the race track while Daggett again went on the hunt for a quick line around Stambaugh, who remained committed to the bottom. Horstman went by Daggett on the top of the race track and but down six money laps trying to outperform his closest championship rival.
At the finish, Stambaugh collected his fifth win of the 2025 season while Horstman kept the championship hunt tight by finishing second. Daggett held on for third, Chase Dunham climbed to fourth, and Gregg Dalman came home fifth.
Stambaugh won the Ti22 Performance Fast Qualifier Award.
Ivy won Engler Machine and Tool Heat Race number 1.
Keegan won Beacon & Bridge Markets Heat Race number 2.
Daggett won MacAllister CAT Heat Race Number 3.
The next event for the MacAllister CAT Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP is Saturday, June 28th at Crystal Motor Speedway. Gates open at 4:00 PM with racing slated to begin at 5:00 PM. Fans who can’t make the trip can catch the action LIVE at GreatLakesSprints.Tv.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 71H-Max Stambaugh[1]; 2. 17-Jared Horstman[9]; 3. 85-Dustin Daggett[4]; 4. 66-Chase Dunham[6]; 5. X-Mike Keegan[3]; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman[8]; 7. 7C-Phil Gressman[7]; 8. 38-Chase Ridenour[11]; 9. 14-Keith Sheffer Jr[5]; 10. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[2]; 11. 10S-Jay Steinebach[10]; 12. 23-Charlie Baur[13]; 13. 49-Brian Ruhlman[16]; 14. 27K-Zac Broughman[17]; 15. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[12]; 16. 67-Kevin Martens[18]; 17. 31-Jim Girard[15]; 18. 84-Levi Poortenga[14]