4/30/2022
GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints
Sams Dominates GLSS Inaugural Visit to Wayne County Speedway
Orrville, OH (Saturday, April 30, 2022) - Nearly one year to the day after Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP attempted to race at Wayne County Speedway before mother nature stepped in, an exciting inaugural visit played out before fans on Saturday night. Nearly 20 drivers made the hike to the 3/8ths mile paperclip for the second race of the young 2022 season.
The night started with Ti22 Performance Qualifying where it appeared as though Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) would grab the award for quick time - that was until the final group of qualifiers rolled to the speedway, including North Port, Florida's Danny Sams III. Sams laid down a blistering opening lap of 15.883, edging out Lamberson by just 0.033 seconds. The top four drivers (Sams, Lamberson, Rankin, Stambaugh) were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Next up in the heats, Sams won the Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1, with Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI) winning the Jim Coffey & Sons Plumbing and Heating Heat 2 and Tylar Rankin (Coldwater, MI) winning the Beacon & Bridge Heat 3.
The field was set for a 25 lap feature via heat races and a six car redraw. Rankin and Lamberson led the field to green, but it was all Sams by the exit of turn two. Getting a great start, Sams jumped from his third starting spot to the outside of the race track by turn one, and rocketed by Rankin and Lamberson down the backstretch. The race was seemingly on cruise control until lap 14.
Rankin, who fell back to fifth early in the race, had tracked down Lamberson for second as the field came to the halfway mark. The Coldwater, Michigan driver was following closely in the tracks of Lamberson entering turn one when mayhem struck. The right rear tire of Lamberson's car seemingly came apart, sending him into the turn one wall, collecting Rankin in the process. Caleb Harmon (Elida, OH) slid into the incident late, drawing the caution flag for the first and only time of the night for the three car incident. The crash ended the night for all three drivers.
On the restart, Sams picked up right where he left off, jumping back out to a sizeable lead, this time over Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, MI) and Max Stambaugh (Elida, OH). That changed within a couple laps, when Stambaugh found a line on the outside of the race track around Dalman who was committed to the bottom. Not only did Stambaugh get around Dalman, but he quickly cut in to the gap opened up by Sams, nearing within two car lengths at one point during the final run.
Stambaugh's efforts weren't enough though, as Sams continued on to the win, his first since the 2021 season finale. Sams night was perfect, from taking the fast qualifier award, to winning his heat race, and winning his feature - Sams led every lap of competition for GLSS at Wayne County on Saturday night. He also went on to win the 410 Sprint Car feature later that evening.
Eli Lakin (Buchanan, MI) earned the Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger, starting 13th and moving up to a 7th finish. Caleb Harmon (Elida, OH) was the nights Engine Pro Lucky Dog, drawn by the winner each night.
The next event for the Great Lakes Super Sprints Presented by Engine Pro and ARP is Friday, May 13th at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan. The event pays a special $3,000 to win thanks to TC Powersports. For more information, log onto www.GreatLakesSprints.com or find and follow the Great Lakes Super Sprints on Facebook and Twitter @GLSprints.
Article Credit: Zach Hiser and Barry Marlow
Submitted By: Barry Marlow
Article Media
