Gressman wins GLSS feature, Losh tops tough modified field at Plymouth Speedway

Mother Nature threaten to spoil the show but provided blue skies and mild temperatures for an exciting night of racing at the Plymouth Speedway. The Great Lakes Super Sprints brought a full field of 360 winged sprints and Kenny Wallace’s presence attracted a stacked field of UMP Modifieds. Throw in the usual large talented field of 600 mini-sprints and visitors were treated to three B-mains along with the full slate of feature races.

The first feature race of the night was the GLSS 20 car, 25 lap event. Gregg Dalman of Bellevue, Mich. and Danny Same III from Englewood, Fla. started on the front row. With only four laps complete Andrew Scheid, Sparta Mich., made contact with Etna Green’s Joe Swanson on the front stretch with Swanson left on his side and Scheid up and over but landing right side up and rolled to a stop in turn two. Both drivers walked away from the accident. Dalman had checked out on the field when the red flag flew. On the restart Phil Gressman, Helena, Ohio, took over the lead which he would hold onto for the rest of the event.

Local racer Zane Devault made a bit of a homecoming returning to race at the “Playground of Power” Saturday night after graduating from Plymouth High School Friday evening. While Devault had a good heat race finishing third in his nine car heat ahead of Goshen’s Brett Mann, Devault lost power with two laps to go while running sixth. Devault’s stalled car brought out the yellow for a two lap shoot out.

Gressman was just too strong even with the field bunched up behind him and held on to win ahead of Dustin Daggett of Grand Ledge, Mich. and Devon Dobie from Wapakoneta, OH.

Plymouth regular Pro-Sprint racers Eli Lakin, Buchanan, Mich, and Micheal Summers, Warsaw, Ind., both made the feature race. Summers car overheated during a red flag and was credited with a 18 finish. Lakin took the checkers in 14th in his inaugural 360 sprint event.

The Pro-Sprints will return to action in Saturday night’s regular weekly show. Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champions 410 winged sprints will be racing Friday June 29 at Plymouth Speedway.

Kenny Wallace brought his UMP dirt modified to challenge the area racers and attracted a very stout field of racers. 25 modifieds signed in to race which provided a 10 car B-Feature which transferred 5 into the A Feature. Zeke McKenzie, Claypool, Ind., has seen numerous podiums would have a tough night needing to race in the B feature was collected early and pinned  to the wall by a fellow racer and was denied a spot in the A-feature. Lynn Johns, Roger Cavness, Tim Walter, Cameron Head and Tim Sullivan Jr. would all transfer to the A-feature.

Warsaw’s Dylan Woodling and Frank Marshall of Valparaiso would start the A-feature on the front row.  South Bend’s Bobby Stremme would start sixth behind Rennsselaer’s Derek Losh but would loop it around in turn three on the opening lap, facing the wrong way as the remainder of the field streamed past. Stremme would have to restart on the tail and set up an exciting run from 20th to finish just ahead of Kenny Wallace for sixth.

At the front of the field Woodling would lead Marshall on the restart with Losh battling Marshall for second, Lafayette’s Matt Mitchell in fourth and Randy Lines, Marion, Ind., tangling with Wallace for fifth.

After just a couple laps Marshall had found the handle and moved past Woodling for first. Losh got past Woodling and soon set his sights on Marshall. Woodling and Lines would trade places, often a couple times a lap, as the front of the field was soon putting cars a lap down. A yellow with about ten laps remaining put these four nose to tail again with a clear track ahead. Losh would take a lap to slowly move past Marshall on the cushion after doing the same in the heat race but on the bottom of the track. Lines would use the same move on Woodling to move into third. A final restart with six laps to go would give Lines a chance to race Marshall for second allowing Losh a chance to get away. Marshall would again be on the bottom trying to hold off Lines on the cushion. Lines would get past Marshall and that was how they finished, Losh, Lines and Marshall. Rennssalaer’s Devin Wright would get by Woodling for fourth and Wallace would finish in seventh getting passed by Stremme at the finish. Next weekend will be a busy one for the UMP Modifieds with a regular night of racing on Saturday and the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour makes a special stop Sunday with Modifieds again and Late Models. This will be the only visit this summer of the Late Models.

The 600 non-wing mini sprints provided their usual exciting close racing feature. North Webster’s Kyle Gunkel sat on the pole along side Kevan Free in the 21F. Brenton Lamb would start third and Plymouth native Brian Kunze would start fourth.

Gunkle got out front with Free close behind. Kunze raced beside Lamb for several laps before he was able to complete the pass. The top three would maintain this running order through a couple restarts but once they caught lapped traffic Free was able to get past Gunkle who got held up behind a lapped car.

On the final restart Kunze’s car stumbled allowing several cars to get past including Chad Hartzell, Granger, Ind., and Dylan Woodling who had battled side by side from their 14th and 13th starting spots respectively.

That is how they would finish just a couple laps latter with Free on top of the podium with Gunkel in second, Hartzell in third and Woodling just missing out.

The other feature of the night was the Thunder Stocks with 16 cars starting. Kevin Kerlin started on the pole and would go on to win his third feature in a row. Bryan Banta started fourth and raced Kerlin hard for several laps before making contact with Kerlin which lead to a right front tire going down. Banta would replace the tire during the yellow and rejoin the field at the tail. Finishing on the podium with Kerliln were Austen Hubbard, Valparaiso, and Chad McLean of Hobart.

The next race will be the St. Joe County Night plus Dads Night featuring the regular UMP Modifieds, Winged Pro-Sprints, Nonwing 600s, Super Streets and Thunder Stocks. Sunday, June 17 the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour will return to the Plymouth Speedway with Late Models and Modifieds. Tickets are $25 for adults, $8 for 6 to 12 year olds and under six are free.

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 7C-Phil Gressman, 05:35.479[6]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett, 05:39.183[4]; 3. 23-Devon Dobie, 05:41.166[3]; 4. 11R-Chase Ridenour, 05:45.649[8]; 5. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 05:46.097[1]; 6. 19-Brett Mann, 05:53.867[10]; 7. 24D-Danny Sams III, 05:50.546[2]; 8. 02-Brandon Long, 05:58.370[5]; 9. 27-Brad Lamberson, 05:58.629[16]; 10. 19J-Linden Jones, 17:28.850[12]; 11. 23G-Joe Geibe, 05:49.231[9]; 12. 84-Kyle Poortenga, 07:31.316[17]; 13. 27J-Jared Lamberson, 05:56.071[19]; 14. 70-Eli Lakin, 05:54.016[20]; 15. 22-Conner Morrell, 08:39.627[15]; 16. 77Z-Zane Devault, 05:58.971[7]; 17. 24-Kobe Allison, 04:45.515[14]; 18. 18-Micheal Summers, 04:58.728[18]; 19. 7-Joe Swanson, 00:59.493[11]; 20. 77-Andrew Scheid, 00:59.063[13]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 27-Brad Lamberson, [1]; 2. 84-Kyle Poortenga, [3]; 3. 18-Micheal Summers, [2]; 4. 27J-Jared Lamberson, [6]; 5. 70-Eli Lakin, [4]; 6. 20A-Andy Chehowski, [7]; 7. 48-Nicholas Hull, [10]; 8. 91L-Alexis Adgate, [9]; 9. 27W-Ty Williams, [5]; 10. 18R-Craig Ronk, [8]; 11. 3-John Gurley, [11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 02-Brandon Long, 01:40.420[2]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett, 01:42.876[4]; 3. 77Z-Zane Devault, 01:43.827[1]; 4. 19-Brett Mann, 01:44.331[5]; 5. 77-Andrew Scheid, 01:45.442[3]; 6. 27-Brad Lamberson, 01:45.959[7]; 7. 70-Eli Lakin, 01:48.192[6]; 8. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 01:49.271[8]; 9. 48-Nicholas Hull, 01:43.136[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Devon Dobie, [1]; 2. 7C-Phil Gressman, [4]; 3. 11R-Chase Ridenour, [5]; 4. 7-Joe Swanson, [2]; 5. 24-Kobe Allison, [3]; 6. 18-Micheal Summers, [8]; 7. 27W-Ty Williams, [9]; 8. 18R-Craig Ronk, [7]; 9. 3-John Gurley, [6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 49T-Gregg Dalman, [2]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III, [4]; 3. 23G-Joe Geibe, [1]; 4. 19J-Linden Jones, [3]; 5. 22-Conner Morrell, [6]; 6. 84-Kyle Poortenga, [7]; 7. 27J-Jared Lamberson, [8]; 8. 91L-Alexis Adgate, [5]

Qualifying 1: 1. 85-Dustin Daggett, 00:12.600[6]; 2. 7C-Phil Gressman, 00:12.718[19]; 3. 24D-Danny Sams III, 00:13.054[7]; 4. 77-Andrew Scheid, 00:13.202[9]; 5. 24-Kobe Allison, 00:13.256[1]; 6. 19J-Linden Jones, 00:13.264[4]; 7. 02-Brandon Long, 00:13.283[24]; 8. 7-Joe Swanson, 00:13.318[16]; 9. 49T-Gregg Dalman, 00:13.346[22]; 10. 77Z-Zane Devault, 00:13.382[10]; 11. 23-Devon Dobie, 00:13.384[15]; 12. 23G-Joe Geibe, 00:13.423[5]; 13. 19-Brett Mann, 00:13.470[17]; 14. 11R-Chase Ridenour, 00:13.502[18]; 15. 91L-Alexis Adgate, 00:13.730[8]; 16. 70-Eli Lakin, 00:13.740[13]; 17. 3-John Gurley, 00:13.855[2]; 18. 22-Conner Morrell, 00:13.980[11]; 19. 27-Brad Lamberson, 00:13.989[21]; 20. 18R-Craig Ronk, 00:14.010[12]; 21. 84-Kyle Poortenga, 00:14.039[14]; 22. 20A-Andy Chehowski, 00:14.150[26]; 23. 18-Micheal Summers, 00:14.157[20]; 24. 27J-Jared Lamberson, 00:14.185[25]; 25. 48-Nicholas Hull, 00:14.484[3]; 26. 27W-Ty Williams, 00:14.820[23]

A Feature 1: 1. 21-Derek Losh, [4]; 2. 18L-Randy Lines, [5]; 3. 28M-Frank Marshall, [2]; 4. 37-Devin Wright, [9]; 5. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [1]; 6. 53-Bobby Stremme, [6]; 7. 36-Kenny Wallace, [7]; 8. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum, [8]; 9. 10-Bradley Jameson, [15]; 10. 2M-Matt Mitchell, [3]; 11. 11-Roger Cavness, [17]; 12. 25-Josh Lolmaugh, [12]; 13. 188-Aaron Orr, [10]; 14. 92-Lynn Johns, [16]; 15. 88-Scott Orr, [14]; 16. 68-Tim Sullivan JR, [20]; 17. 00-Cameron Head, [19]; 18. 555-Will Bennett, [13]; 19. 51T-Tim Walter, [18]; 20. 8C-Corey Beard, [11]

B Feature 1: 1. 92-Lynn Johns, [3]; 2. 11-Roger Cavness, [6]; 3. 51T-Tim Walter, [1]; 4. 00-Cameron Head, [2]; 5. 68-Tim Sullivan JR, [5]; 6. 16W-Phil Hamand, [9]; 7. 0X-Sonny Martine, [8]; 8. 51-Brandon DeLong, [4]; 9. (DNF) 24-Zeke McKenzie, [7]; (DNS) 27J-Jason Jones,

Heat 1: 1. 18L-Randy Lines, [2]; 2. 2M-Matt Mitchell, [1]; 3. 36-Kenny Wallace, [7]; 4. 188-Aaron Orr, [4]; 5. 555-Will Bennett, [9]; 6. 51T-Tim Walter, [5]; 7. 51-Brandon DeLong, [8]; 8. 24-Zeke McKenzie, [3]; (DNS) 27J-Jason Jones,

Heat 2: 1. 53-Bobby Stremme, [5]; 2. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [2]; 3. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum, [7]; 4. 8C-Corey Beard, [1]; 5. 88-Scott Orr, [4]; 6. 00-Cameron Head, [3]; 7. 68-Tim Sullivan JR, [6]; 8. 0X-Sonny Martine, [8]

Heat 3: 1. 21-Derek Losh, [5]; 2. 28M-Frank Marshall, [1]; 3. 37-Devin Wright, [7]; 4. 25-Josh Lolmaugh, [4]; 5. 10-Bradley Jameson, [6]; 6. 92-Lynn Johns, [8]; 7. 11-Roger Cavness, [2]; 8. 16W-Phil Hamand, [3]

A Feature 1: 1. 21F-Kevan Free, [2]; 2. 18K-Kyle Gunkel, [1]; 3. 57-Chad Hartzell, [14]; 4. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [13]; 5. 10-Garrett Wagoner, [6]; 6. 21-Brenton Lamb, [3]; 7. 49-Brian Kunze, [4]; 8. 12-Jacob Ruppe, [8]; 9. 0C-Andrew Cockman, [11]; 10. 8-Zac Summers, [10]; 11. 3L-Mike Landis, [12]; 12. 13-Jim Sanderson, [9]; 13. 99-Zack Clark, [17]; 14. 69-Blake Lamb, [16]; 15. 89-Doug Nichols, [7]; 16. 51JR-Duane Noe, [19]; 17. 18-Austin Turner, [15]; 18. 16-Robert Blount, [18]; 19. 38-Kenneth Elder, [20]; 20. 07-Tyler Chalk, [5]

B Feature 1: 1. 69-Blake Lamb, [2]; 2. 99-Zack Clark, [1]; 3. 16-Robert Blount, [4]; 4. 51JR-Duane Noe, [5]; 5. 38-Kenneth Elder, [6]; 6. 599-Ronnie Hapner, [7]; 7. 27J-Joseph Irons, [3]; 8. 23-Kevin Hapner, [10]; 9. 76-Hailey Clark, [8]; (DNS) 6-Nick Schaefer,

Heat 1: 1. 18K-Kyle Gunkel, [5]; 2. 21F-Kevan Free, [4]; 3. 89-Doug Nichols, [1]; 4. 8-Zac Summers, [7]; 5. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [8]; 6. 99-Zack Clark, [2]; 7. 16-Robert Blount, [3]; 8. 599-Ronnie Hapner, [9]; 9. 23-Kevin Hapner, [6]

Heat 2: 1. 07-Tyler Chalk, [3]; 2. 49-Brian Kunze, [1]; 3. 12-Jacob Ruppe, [5]; 4. 0C-Andrew Cockman, [6]; 5. 57-Chad Hartzell, [7]; 6. 69-Blake Lamb, [8]; 7. 51JR-Duane Noe, [2]; 8. 76-Hailey Clark, [4]

Heat 3: 1. 10-Garrett Wagoner, [2]; 2. 21-Brenton Lamb, [1]; 3. 13-Jim Sanderson, [5]; 4. 3L-Mike Landis, [4]; 5. 18-Austin Turner, [7]; 6. 27J-Joseph Irons, [6]; 7. (DNF) 38-Kenneth Elder, [8]; 8. (DNF) 6-Nick Schaefer, [3]

A Feature 1: 1. 34-Kevin Kerlin, [1]; 2. 114-Austen Hubbard, [6]; 3. 12-Chad McLean, [7]; 4. 00-Darren Wireman, [3]; 5. 913-Cole Schroeder, [5]; 6. 48C-Wade Clemmons, [2]; 7. 42M-Zach Leyman, [9]; 8. 7B-Bryan Banta, [4]; 9. 7L-Randy Lambert, [8]; 10. 18-Doug Grall, [12]; 11. 01-Tim Grall, [13]; 12. 83-James Williams, [10]; 13. 45-Rodger Dillon, [16]; 14. 11-Rodney Allen, [11]; 15. 51-Rob Fiscus, [14]; 16. 355-Cody Schleman, [15]

Heat 1: 1. 34-Kevin Kerlin, [6]; 2. 00-Darren Wireman, [3]; 3. 48C-Wade Clemmons, [7]; 4. 12-Chad McLean, [4]; 5. 42M-Zach Leyman, [8]; 6. 11-Rodney Allen, [5]; 7. 01-Tim Grall, [1]; 8. 355-Cody Schleman, [2]

Heat 2: 1. 114-Austen Hubbard, [5]; 2. 7B-Bryan Banta, [6]; 3. 913-Cole Schroeder, [2]; 4. 7L-Randy Lambert, [3]; 5. 83-James Williams, [8]; 6. 18-Doug Grall, [1]; 7. 51-Rob Fiscus, [7]; 8. (DNF) 45-Rodger Dillon, [4]

Attached Photos

Derek Losh of Rennsselear, Ind. won the feature Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway against a tough field of UMP Modifieds that included Randy Lines of Marion, Ind., Frank Marshall of Valparaiso, Ind. who finished on the podium with Losh. Kenny Wallace was also in the field, Wallace would finish seventh.

Phil Gressman lead the lion’s share of laps Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway to win the Feature of the Great Lakes Super Sprint show.