By Zach Hiser
Crystal, MI – When the MacAllister CAT Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP entered the weekend, Max Stambaugh and Jared Horstman were separated by roughly a dozen points for the GLSS Tour Championship. In the MacAllister CAT Division, Horstman held an over 100 point advantage for the Championship prior to Friday’s race at I-96 Speedway. Now, after Saturday’s race at Crystal Motor Speedway, the battles for Championship honors continue to peak interest.
Ryan Turner, who set a new track record in qualifying earlier in the day, led the field to green alongside Stambaugh. Turner kept even with Stambaugh on the bottom of the track for the opening two rotations before Stambaugh’s No.71H began clicking off big laps around the cushion.
Behind him, Dustin Daggett and Keith Sheffer, Jr were on the move through traffic. Starting just outside the redraw, Daggett’s No.85 rolled off 8th and was quickly into the top five along with Sheffer who started sixth. They raced nose-to-tail around Turner, Devon Dobie, and Jared Horstman.
The race set a rapid pace, going green to checkered in just six minutes and 19 seconds. Stambaugh navigated lapped traffic flawlessly and fending off advances from Turner before his No.15 fell to Daggett in the closing laps.
“You know, it just played out great,” Stambaugh said in victory lane. “Rachel did a good job in the redraw and you know you get yourself here and set sail a little bit. Track was dicy, getting through traffic, I’m sure Daggett might have been closing there. I didn’t want to get too careful but I didn’t want to go too hard. This win tonight goes out to Anthony [Boyd] (GLSS Scorer). He’s been around since 2016 and he just lost his mom, so you hate to lose a loved one, but this one goes to him.”
After the win, Stambaugh now holds a 65 point advantage on Horstman for the GLSS Tour Championship and moves into second, 70 points behind Horstman for the MacAllister CAT Division Championship. Stambaugh also holds a 135 point lead in the Ohio CAT Division Championship.
The next event for the Great Lakes Super Sprints will be the conclusion of the Ohio CAT Division season at Eldora Speedway on Saturday, August 2nd. Fans who can’t make the trip can catch the action on FloRacing.
Ryan Turner earned the Ti22 Performance Fast Qualifier Award.
Devon Dobie won Engler Machine & Tool Heat One.
Jared Horstman won Beacon and Bridge Markets Heat Two.
Keith Sheffer, Jr won Miami Paint Heat Three.
Skyler Evans won the B-Main and was the Operating Engineers 324 Hard Charger.
Michigan CAT A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 71H-Max Stambaugh[2]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett[8]; 3. 15-Ryan Turner[1]; 4. 23-Devon Dobie[3]; 5. 17-Jared Horstman[4]; 6. X-Mike Keegan[5]; 7. 7C-Phil Gressman[10]; 8. 66-Chase Dunham[9]; 9. 87XS-Skyler Evans[16]; 10. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[7]; 11. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[12]; 12. 6-Ryan Coniam[14]; 13. 70-Eli Lakin[15]; 14. 38-Chase Ridenour[13]; 15. 84-Levi Poortenga[11]; 16. 33-Jeremy Ferguson[20]; 17. 14-Keith Sheffer Jr[6]; 18. 49T-Gregg Dalman[18]; 19. 27K-Zac Broughman[19]; 20. 13-Andy Teunessen[17]