New 96 to Gressman 2000-07-22

Gressman Wins the GM Powertrain 30
By TJ Buffenbarger

LAKE ODESSA, MI - Phil Gressman aboard Dwight Reidling's Kistler/Chevy powered Eagle Chassis was able to run down early leader Byron Reed in a great side by side battle, and held off a later charge by Kevin Huntley to win the GM Powertrain 30 at the New 96 Speedway on Saturday night. This was Gressman's second All Star Circuit of Champions victory of the season. "The car worked pretty good tonight, I knew Kevin was right behind us", said Gressman in victory lane. "I knew he would put some pressure on us, and you never know how good things are going. You can never take it easy with the All Stars, all the guys push it to the end." ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole man Reed and Huntley were on the front row for the start of the 30-lap feature event. Reed got the advantage heading into turn one on the opening lap, with Brian Ellenberger Huntley, and Gressman in tow. The on lap two Ellenberger quickly flexed his muscle by ducking under Reed on the backstretch. Ellenberger was unable to make the pass. Then on lap three Gressman was able to get around Huntley for the third position on the high side of turn two. This set up a great three car battle for the lead with Ellenberger and Gressman racing side by side right on Reed's back bumper. On lap five Robert Huisken got up over a wheel and flipped down the front straightaway. Huisken emerged from the car uninjured. On the restart Gressman started putting the heat on Ellenberger for the second position with Reed opening up some breathing distance. The best battle was for fourth among Kenny Jacobs and Danny Smith. Jacobs could not get around Smith though on lap seven after ducking to the bottom groove. Then on lap eight, Mason Robertson pounded the front stretch wall by the flag stand, and came to a halt. Robertson was okay, but two wreckers were needed to carry Mason's broken machine to the pit area. Reed, Gressman and Ellenberger raced three wide through the first and second corners for the lead. Reed raced out of two to maintain the top position, while Gressman shot to the high side in turns three and four to grab second. On lap ten Gressman made a move down low on Reed through turns three and four, but could not make the pass. Just as the battle for the lead intensified the caution re-appeared for Stephen Perlmutter's spin in turn two. Perlmutter restarted at the back of the field. Gressman raced to the high side in turns one and two on lap 11, but couldn't quite pull off the pass of Reed. Huntley also drove below Ellenberger down the backstretch to move into the third position in turns one and two. Gressman finally was able to power around the outside of Reed on lap 12 to take away the top position. Gressman then pulled away from the rest of the field, while Huntley and Reed continued to battle for second. On lap 20 Huntley was able to move around Reed on the bottom. Meanwhile Gressman was starting to overtake slower traffic. However, Gressman still was able to keep a sizeable lead through the lapped cars. The caution came out again on lap 21 for Danny Smith, who slowed in turns three and four. Smith at the time had been running in the top five. Gressman pulled away again on the restart, but Jacobs was making the best move through the field. Jacobs made his way up to the fourth position during the last nine laps overtaking Ellenberger for the fourth position. Jacobs was running down third place runner Reed on the white flag lap when his right rear tire blew, dropping him back to the 12th position and putting him one point behind Duncan in the All Star points battle. Up front through it was all Gressman aboard Dwight Reidling's No. 9 sprinter, taking home the victory. Huntley, Reed, Hodges, Ellenberger, Chad Kemenah, Rodney Duncan, who took home the Simpson Lucky seven award, Greg Wilson, Jerrod Hull, and Brett Mann rounded out the top ten. Kenny Jacobs set quick time over the 40-car field with a lap of 15.579 seconds around the ½ mile oval. Hodges, Duncan, Todd Wohlford, and Blake Feese won the heat race events, while Raymond Shank won the Georgia Marketing & Promotions "B" Feature. Gressman also won the Commercial Truck and Trailer Dash. TW METALS conducted one of it's periodic "Special Bonus Nights". The nightly "TW METALS Top 10 Award " was increased to $ 150, and in addition, they paid a total of 5 other positions $ 100 each. TW Metals also contributed promotional items given out during the drivers autograph session as well door prizes throughout the evening. Kelly Kinser broke a U-Joint in time trials and had it hit his leg. He has scratched for the night. Also, Todd Gracey blew a motor in hot laps.

Time Trials: 1. Kenny Jacobs, Jacobs/Honacker 6, 15.579; 2. Phil Gressman, Reidling 9, 15.601; 3. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15K, 15.833; 4. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 15.840; 5. Kevin Huntley, Ashworth 92, 15.922; 6. Bryon Reed, B&S 5R, 15.923; 7. Steve Suever, Suever 36s, 16.015; 8. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63 16.017; 9. Rocky Hodges, Holbrook 18H, 16.019; 10. Jim Moughan, M&L 1M, 16.221; 11. Danny Smith, Baker 4, 16.258; 12. Blake Feese, Feese 1F, 16.279; 13. Jerrod Hull, Webb 51, 16.354; 14. Rodney Duncan, Harrison 22, 16.444; 15. Todd Wohlford, Wohlford 0, 16.474; 16. Brett Mann, Mann Enterprises 19, 16.839; 17. Raymond Shank, Shank 7x, 16.944; 18. Eric Ely, Ely 5E, 17.146; 19. Joe Conway, Conway 11c, 17.184; 20. Bob Adamson, Adamson 2a, 17.448; 21. Keith Love, Love 77L, 17.528; 22. Darrel Stimeling, Stimeling 30, 17.586; 23. Mike Stemler, Stemler 22, 17.735; 24. Stephan Perlmutter, Mutter Motorsports 18, 17.811; 25. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 17.848; 26. Kyle Poortenga, Poortenga 84, 18.224; 27. Robert Huisken, Shelly 46, 18.240; 28. Cody Smith, Smith 13, 18.285; 29. Damon Bassett, Bassett 35M, 18.427; 30. Mason Robertson, Robertson 19R, 18.741; 31. Oscar Smith, Smith 51s, 18.781; 32. David Davis, Davis 38D, 19.263; 33. Tim Stillwell, Jr., Stillwell 8s, 19.707; 34. Barry Roscoe, Roscoe 54, 19.846; 35. Leo Smith, Smith 6, 19.898; 36. Eric Curry, Thomas 45, 22.373; 37. Kelly Kinser, Kinser 4k, NT; 38. Tom Fedoczyk, Fedoczyk 61F, NT; 39. Todd Gracey, Cooper 25, NT; 40. Ben Rutan, Rutan 23, NT. Heat: 1. Rocky Hodges 2. Kenny Jacobs 3. Jerrod Hull 4. Kevin Huntley 5. Todd Gracey 6. Raymond Shank 7. Barry Ruble 8. Keith Love 9. Damon Bassett 10. Tim Stillwell, Jr. (Top five qualified to the "A" Feature). Heat: 1. Rodney Duncan 2. Phil Gressman 3. Daryl Stimeling 4. Byron Reed 5. Jim Moughan 6. Mason Robertson 7. Eric Ely 8. Kyle Poortenga 9. Barry Roscoe 10. Tom Fedorczyk (Top five qualified to the "A" Feature). Heat: 1. Todd Wohlford 2. Chad Kemenah 3. Danny Smith 4. Steve Suever 5. Robert Huisken 6. Mike Stemler 7. Joe Conway 8. Oscar Smith 9. Leo Smith (Top five qualified to the "A" Feature). Heat: 1. Blake Feese 2. Greg Wilson 3. Bob Adamson 4. Brett Mann 5. Brian Ellenberger 6. Stephan Perlmutter 7. Cody Smith 8. David Davis 9. Eric Curry (Top five qualified to the "A" Feature). Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash: 1. Gressman 2. Jacobs 3. Kemenah 4. Huntley 5. Ellenberger 6. Reed. Georgia Marketing & Promotions "B" Feature (12 Laps): Raymond Shank, Mason Robertson, Joe Conway, Stephen Perlmutter, Barry Ruble, Kyle Poortenga, Keith Love. Eric Ely, Damon Bassett, Mike Stemler, Oscar Smith, Barry Roscoe, Cody Smith, David Davis, Leso Smith, Tim Stillwell, Jr, Tom Fedorczyk, Eric Curry (Top five qualified to the "A" Feature) A Feature (30 Laps): 1 Phil Gressman 2, Kevin Huntley 3, Byron Reed 4, Rocky Hodges 5, Brian Ellenberger 6, Chad Kemenah 7, Rodney Duncan 8, Greg Wilson 9, Jerrod Hull 10, Brett Mann 11, Steve Suever 12, Kenny Jacobs 13, Blake Feese 14, Darrel Stimeling 15, Todd Wohlford 16, Bob Adamson 17, Stephen Perlmutter 18, Joe Conway 19, Danny Smith 20, Jim Moughan 21, Mason Roberson 22, Raymond Shank 23, Robert Huisken 24, Todd Gracey.