By Zach Hiser
Lawrenceburg, IN – In some of the top sanctions of motorsports, once drivers hit 40 years old, the conversation turns to retirement. At 50 years old, Van Gurley, Jr returned to the seat of a Sprint Car after a 20-year hiatus. Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Gurley, now 53, battled to his first career 360 Sprint Car win with the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP (GLSS).
The performance came on the heels of his best career finish with the GLSS on Friday night at Limaland Motorsports Park, where he finished second. Rolling off from the third spot behind Ryan Conium and Caleb Harmon, Gurley found the second spot by the time they got to turn one. As Conium led, the battles were for third on back.
Just five laps into the event, the racing for the top five was heavy with Chase Dunham trying to hold off Darin Naida, while Corbin Gurley was fending off a challenge from Mason Hannagan. Going into turn three, it looked like a simulation when Naida and Hannagan decided to pull sliders on their dancing partners at the same time. Neither attempt stuck, with both Dunham and Gurley completing the crossover back down the front stretch.
Just three laps later, as the front of the field was approaching lapped traffic, Van Gurley, Jr pulled the trigger on taking the lead from Conium. A slider into turn one slowed Conium enough that Gurley was able to drag race him for the top spot down the backstretch. Van Gurley, Jr opened the lead out of turn four and seemed to be on cruise control.
Meanwhile, second-place-starting Caleb Harmon was sliding backwards. The Elida, Ohio native was fighting to keep his No.11H inside the top five, but eventually spun in turns one and two with a flat left rear tire. The caution came with just seven laps to go.
On the restart, Van Gurley, Jr nailed the launch, paired up with a difficult start for Conium, stacking up the field to the restart cone on the front stretch. Van Gurley, Jr pulled away while Max Stambaugh attempted to get around Conium in one and two. Conium passed Stambaugh back down the backstretch and opened the door for Darin Naida to slide around the Smith Motorsports machine in turns three and four.
Out front, Van Gurley, Jr opened up an over one-second advantage on Conium on his way to his first career win with the Great Lakes Super Sprints.
“Just glad to get that monkey off my back,” Gurley said in Victory Lane. “I think I’ve quit about 10 times in my mind the last few weeks, struggling with these tires. I just want to thank the good Lord above, Fuzz, Zach; they work so hard for me and never lost faith in me. I appreciate them more than I can tell you. After getting our butt kicked at I-96, we really went to work. We hit on something really good, and I think we’ve got ’em figured out now.”
Ryan Conium held on for his career-best finish with the Great Lakes Super Sprints in the second spot, as did Darin Naida, who finished third. Max Stambaugh and Chase Dunham rounded out the top five.
The next event for the Great Lakes Super Sprints is Friday, June 12th at Tri City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Michigan, and Saturday, June 13th at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, MI. For more information, visit GreatLakesSuperSprints.com.
Ohio CAT A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13-Van Gurley Jr[3]; 2. 6-Ryan Coniam[1]; 3. 11N-Darin Naida[8]; 4. 71H-Max Stambaugh[5]; 5. 66-Chase Dunham[4]; 6. 12-Corbin Gurley[6]; 7. X-Mike Keegan[11]; 8. 24-Kobe Allison[15]; 9. 5I-John Ivy[13]; 10. 31-Jac Nickles[12]; 11. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[9]; 12. 23-Devon Dobie[14]; 13. 70-Eli Lakin[18]; 14. 14A-Alex Clute[17]; 15. 11H-Caleb Harmon[2]; 16. 77X-Alex Hill[16]; 17. 17X-Mason Hannagan[7]; 18. 7C-Phil Gressman[10]
Corbin Gurley won Engler Machine and Tool Heat Race number one.
Chase Dunham won Howard Johnson of Lima Heat Race number two.
Van Gurley, Jr won Miami Paint Heat Race number three.
Corbin Gurley grabbed the Ti22 Performance Fast Qualifier Award.
Koby Allison was the Operating Engineers 324 Hard Charger.