LAKE ODESSA, Mich. — Anytime that 27 Michigan CAT Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by PERFIT & ARP unload at the track, fans can expect a fantastic program. Friday night, I-96 was in rare form, and the battle for the win was worth the price of admission.
Jared Horstman, who opened the 2025 season with a win at Crystal Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 19th, brought the field to green alongside the most recent winner of the last two GLSS shows, Max Stambaugh, for the 25-lap, $2,500-to-win main event.
Just as quickly as the race started, it was halted when a pair of Ohio drivers, Chase Dunham and Phil Gressman, met in the middle of the inside and outside rows as they hit the throttle.
The result was a destroyed No. 66 for Dunham after he tumbled at least two times down the frontstretch and collected Mike Keegan and Aaron Shaffer in the process. Gressman’s No.7c suffered damage as well.
The second attempt to start the race went better, technically; but not much. When the field reached turn one, Keith Sheffer, Jr’s No.14 stepped around on him from the fourth spot, simultaneously, Ryan Conium’s No.6 collided with Eli Lakin’s No.70 outside the top 10.
Conium went for a massive tumble off the end of the race track. Meanwhile, Sheffer collected Gressman with a huge hit that nearly sent Gressman tumbling. After a lengthy clean-up, the third start was money.
Max Stambaugh jumped out to the early lead while Horstman slid into second with Scotty Thiel in third ahead of Dustin Daggett. Another caution waved when Jac Nickles did a 360 in turn two and nearly drove out of it when he was clipped by Gregg Dalman and forced to stop on the backstretch.
On the restart, Stambaugh held the lead but not without challenge. Horstman nearly took the lead on the outside in turn two but lost the top of the race track and was forced to fall back in line until the leaders hit heavy lapped traffic. With crossed flags showing, Horstman was credited with the lead at the halfway mark, but again blew it over the cushion in turn two and allowed Stambaugh and Thiel to drive away.
Four laps later, Thiel took the top spot around the outside of Stambaugh in turns three and four. A lap later, deja vu; Thiel jumped the turn two cushion and lost the lead to Stambaugh as Horstman pulled back in for second. Into turn three that same lap, Horstman threw a slider for the lead and never looked back as Stambaugh tried to hang on to second but relinquished the position to Thiel by the end of the night.
With the win, Jared Horstman now becomes the winningest driver all-time with the Great Lakes Super Sprints sitting at 27 and nine wins at I-96 Speedway alone.
“This is awesome,” Horstman said. “I knew we had a good car. Slipping it off of turn two twice, I just stepped on it. To stick after it, and a couple of mistakes from the other guys, [I] was able to capitalize.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 17-Jared Horstman[1]; 2. 51-Scotty Thiel[3]; 3. 71H-Max Stambaugh[2]; 4. 85-Dustin Daggett[5]; 5. 38-Chase Ridenour[7]; 6. 01-Brad Lamberson[6]; 7. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[12]; 8. 16-Ryan Ruhl[16]; 9. 31-Jac Nickles[8]; 10. 49T-Gregg Dalman[18]; 11. 13-Van Gurley Jr[11]; 12. 22-Aaron Shaffer[15]; 13. 10S-Jay Steinebach[19]; 14. 3A-Mike Astrauskas[20]; 15. (DNF) X-Mike Keegan[13]; 16. (DNF) 14-Keith Sheffer Jr[4]; 17. (DNF) 7C-Phil Gressman[10]; 18. (DNF) 70-Eli Lakin[14]; 19. (DNF) 6-Ryan Coniam[17]; 20. (DNF) 66-Chase Dunham[9]
