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Sauder Won't be Denied Taking the Checkered at Crystal

Sauder Won’t be Denied; Takes Checkered at Crystal

June 26, 2016: Crystal Motor Speedway, Crystal, MI

Saturday night started out with great optimism and anticipation with 24 sprint cars in the pits. After the drivers meeting and getting heat in the engines, the drivers were lined up for qualifying. That’s when things got a little challenging.
Two groups of cars had already been on the track for qualifying and a call came down from the tower not to send any more cars because no times were registering. Finding out that we could be 30 minutes to correct the problem and looking at 12 drivers sitting in their cars to go out and qualify and getting the other drivers back out to requalify…the decision was to just hot lap and the pill draw would be used to place the cars in their heat races.
All the drivers were understanding and gracious but it was obvious who the drivers were that drew large numbers!!! #2 Kyle Sauder, from Archbold, OH was one of those drivers and landed in the back row of the 2nd Heat Race in the 7th position. Taking the top 2 cars from each Heat to the Dash, left Sauder with his work cut out for him. But he was not to be denied on this night and he passed 5 cars to end up 2nd in his heat and in the drawing for the Dash, where he took 2nd, putting him on the front row of the A-Main.
In the first Heat race of the night, #24 Eric Smith started on the pole with #11R Chase Ridenour next to him. Ridenour quickly jumped out to the lead in Heat 1. As the race progressed, #16 Ryan Ruhl, #19 Brett Mann and #49T Gregg Dalman navigated their way up thru the field all gaining 3 spots and making the transfer to the Feature. Ridenour took the checkered flag while Smith held on to edge out #48 Mike Burkin at the finish line for the last transfer spot.
#4 Craig Karazim, on the pole, led out the 2nd Heat Race with #35 Mark Strypko next to him. As the flag dropped, Karazim had his car dialed in and led wire to wire. The action was behind Karazim as Sauder put on a show weaving and passing his way from 7th to 2nd in 8 short laps to make the Dash!!! #46 Robert Huisken starting 8th, worked his way in to the final transfer spot to join #89 Chris Pobanz and #84 Kyle Poortenga.
In Heat 3, #37 Rookie Noah “Rooster” Dunlap was sitting on the pole with 6 drivers chomping at the bit to move up to make a transfer spot, including his dad #57 Mike "Bull" Dunlap starting 7th. Running beside Rooster Dunlap was #16B “Mad Max” Stambaugh. The hard charger of the group, starting in the back in 8th, #3R Shane Ross from Thedford, Ontario hussled thru the field to finish 3rd; Right behind #85 Dustin Daggett who started 6th. #17 Jared Horstman finished 4th and Rooster Dunlap held on for the final transfer spot.
Our six top cars from the Heats, drew in the pits for their starting order in the Dash. Ridenour and Sauder started on the front row and with Stambaugh and Dagget behind them and Karazim and Ruhl bringing up the rear. After 6 quick laps, Ruhl gained 1 position moving Karazim to 6th, but all other cars held their position and took it to the Feature as their starting spots.
Disappointed not to make the Feature thru the Heat Races, #48 Mike Burkin and #3 Kyle Locke started on the front row of the B-Main and would not give anyone a chance to take their spots in 12 laps. At the back of the field starting 9th sat #57 Mike “Bull” Dunlap. With his eye on the 5th transfer spot, the Bull charged to the front and finished 3rd. Rounding out the transfer spots was #4L Rookie Brady Locke and #19j Linden Jones.

As the Feature rolled out on the track with Ridenour and Sauder on the front row and preparing to line up in a 4 wide salute to the crowd, Daggett shot off turn 3 and headed back to the pits with a broken lifter and done for the night. Daggetts loss was Karazim’s gain as he moved up to the second row. After the salute and the cars were lined up, Ridenour was ready to drive right to the checkered flag.
With the track not rubbering up as some drivers thought, there were some cars that started to slide back in the field. Sauder seemed to have read the track correctly and had his car on a rail once he got around Ridenour for the lead. While everyone was chasing Sauder, there was a lot of maneuvering and passing going on in the pack that is worth mentioning.
#4K Craig Karazim from Eaton Rapids originally was starting 6th, but started 4th on the second row after Daggett’s exit before the feature. As the race progressed Karazim had the car dialed in and was looking at the 11R of Ridenour and was waiting for his opportunity to pass him and let Sauder know he was behind him. But after 16 laps, as he was taking the high line out of turn 4 and coming up on #4L Rookie Brady Locke, Locke’s car got loose and got together with Karazim. Unfortunately the wall in the front stretch wasn’t very forgiving and both cars came to rest in the bottom of turn 1.
Starting in the 6th row, Friday’s Feature winner #17 Jared Horstman started 12th. He had his work cut out if he wanted to make the top 5 tonight! With good traction and patience, Horstman worked his way thru the cars ahead of him, picking them off one at a time till he ended up passing 10 cars and had Sauder in his sights. Where his night ended watching the checkered flag drop and bringing home 2nd.
At the back of the pack, just making the Feature and starting 20th, #19j Sophomore Linden Jones was on the move. With the story lines going on up front, he was writing his own chapter from the back. Looking for a top 10 finish, Jones used patience and good judgement to claw his way up 9 spots to finish in 11th.
Two other work horses that navigated the heart of the field were #48 Mike Burkin from Clyde, OH and #57 Mike "Bull" Dunlap from Wapakoneta, OH. Burkin starting 16th and Bull Dunlap starting 18th, bobbed and weaved their way up into top ten finishes at 7th and 10th respecitively.
With all the great driving and stories going on behind him, Sauder was able to stay out front and staying out of trouble as he slid and drove his car around lapped traffic and bring home his first GLSS Feature win!

Full Race Results

A Feature 25 laps
1.2-Kyle Sauder[2]; 2. 17-Jared Horstman[12]; 3. 16-Ryan Ruhl[5]; 4. 11R-Chase Ridenour[1]; 5. 16B-Max Stambaugh[3]; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman[10]; 7. 48-Michael Burkin[16]; 8. 19-Brett Mann[7]; 9. 89-Chris Pobanz[8]; 10. 57-Mike Dunlap[18]; 11. 19J-Linden Jones[20]; 12. 3R-Shane Ross[9]; 13. 3-Kyle Locke[17]; 14. 84-Kyle Poortenga[11]; 15. 24-Eric Smith[13]; 16. 46-Robert Huisken[14]; 17. 37-Noah Dunlap[15]; 18. (DNF) 4K-Craig Karazim[6]; 19. (DNF) 4-Brady Locke[19]; (DNS) 85-Dustin Daggett [4]
B Feature 12 laps

1. 48-Michael Burkin[1]; 2. 3-Kyle Locke[2]; 3. 57-Mike Dunlap[9]; 4. 4-Brady Locke[4]; 5. 19J-Linden Jones[3]; 6. 18-D.J. Lamance[5]; 7. 35-Mark Strpko[8]; 8. 91L-Alexis Adgate[6]; (DNS) 2T-Ralph Brakenberry [7]
   Dash 6 laps
2. 11R-Chase Ridenour[1]; 2. 2-Kyle Sauder[2]; 3. 16B-Max Stambaugh[3]; 4. 85-Dustin Daggett[4]; 5. 16-Ryan Ruhl[6]; 6. 4K-Craig Karazim[5]
   Heat 1 8 laps
3. 11R-Chase Ridenour[2]; 2. 16-Ryan Ruhl[5]; 3. 19-Brett Mann[6]; 4. 49T-Gregg Dalman[7]; 5. 24Eric Smith[1]; 6. 48-Michael Burkin[8]; 7. 4-Brady Locke[3]; 8. 2T-Ralph Brakenberry[4]
   Heat 2 8 laps
4. 4K-Craig Karazim[1]; 2. 2-Kyle Sauder[7]; 3. 89-Chris Pobanz[5]; 4. 84-Kyle Poortenga[3]; 5. 46Robert Huisken[8]; 6. 3-Kyle Locke[6]; 7. 18-D.J. Lamance[4]; 8. 35-Mark Strpko[2]
   Heat 3 8 laps
5. 16B-Max Stambaugh[2]; 2. 85-Dustin Daggett[6]; 3. 3R-Shane Ross[8]; 4. 17-Jared Horstman[5]; 5. 37-Noah Dunlap[1]; 6. 19J-Linden Jones[4]; 7. 91L-Alexis Adgate[3]; 8. 57-Mike Dunlap[7]

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