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DeVos, Nylaan, Smith and Steele victorious on Opening Night
Marne, MI-- The 2009 racing season began Saturday night under new ownership and the fans in the stands were treated to an excellent night of racing. CARSTAR’s Best Appearing Car Challenge took place with winners including Rose Leland, Kelsey Steele, Caleb Bisacky and Dave Lake. Taking home the trophies were Kelsey Steele in the Young Guns division, Andrew Nylaan in the Engine Pro Super Stocks, Tim DeVos in the Coors Light Late Models and Ken Smith, Jr. in the Kerksta Services Pro Stock division.
The Young Guns took to the track first to ring in the new season; #16 Kelsey Steele and #18 Mitch Meppelink were on the front row. Steele was quick to establish herself as the leader and held it comfortably until lap 6 when Meppelink was chasing. Meppelink got under Steele with two to go and the two were racing side by side when #32 Gabe Ensing spun in turn three bringing out the caution. On the restart, Ensing got past Meppelink and was challenging Steele when he spun again just as the checkered flag was displayed. Steele got her first win with Meppelink, #19 Dalton Haney and Ensing taking the remaining positions.
The Engine Pro Super Stocks rolled next with #66 Nate Walton and #1 Brian Wiersma leading the field to green. Wiersma grabbed the lead early due to the three-car battle for second with #77 Andrew Nylaan, Walton and #5 Ray VanAllsburg. Caution was out early on lap 3; the incident involving #51 Justin Ryan, #F1 Randy Veldman and #98 Bob Bliss. On the restart, it was a two-car breakaway with Wiersma and Nylaan. Nylaan had been pressuring Wiersma for the lead and on lap 9, he finally got around him. Nylaan then pulled away from the field and was enjoying a 2 second lead until #51 Justin Ryan hit the front stretch wall on lap 20. Nylaan rocketed away with the lead as Wiersma and VanAllsburg battled for second, but caution was out again on lap 24, #5 Cal Castle hit the turn 4 wall. With six laps to go, Nylaan survived two more restarts to take the win by .431 seconds. The rest of the top ten were Wiersma, VanAllsburg, #15 Mat McClarren, #13 James Haney, #26 Chris Muyskens, Walton, #10 Bob Spencer, #55 Dave Lake and #11 Nick Bonstell.
The cars of #32 Ross Meeuwsen and #28 Scott Thomas brought the Coors Light Late Model feature to start/finish line and after a side by side battle, Meeuwsen pulled away with the lead until lap 8 when the caution came out for #222 Caleb Bisacky. Just after the cars we restarted, caution was out again. During a three-way battle for the lead between Meeuwsen, Thomas and #12 Tim DeVos, Thomas spun in turn three in front of the field; all cars were able to avoid him. After the restart, DeVos took the lead from Meeuwsen and began to check out and leaving the rest of the field behind. The #61 of Alec Carll and #101 Joe Bush had a spirited battle for second, but cautions kept plaguing the race. The final caution came out on lap 47 when #19 Nick Shotko got the bad end of a three-wide race out of turn 4. On the final restart, Bush was able to get to DeVos’ bumper, but DeVos was held him off and got the win by .178 seconds after dominated the race. Bush, Carll, #21 Terry VanHaitsma, #55 Chris Anthony, #27 Bill Shotko, #82 Tom Thomas, #1 Randy Sweet, Meeuwsen and #42 Chad Finely rounded out the top ten.
The Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks were the final division to run, #23 Andrew MacIntosh and #81 Marc Coleman were on the front row. MacIntosh led the first few laps, but it was #36 Ken Smith who shot to the lead. The red flag was displayed on lap 7 after #33 Tony Davis’ motor blew. Once the race was restarted, the first battle for position was between #20 Dave Hull and #50 Justin Regnerus for fourth. The lap 12 battle for second between #7 Kevin DeGood and MacIntosh let Smith pull away from the field and go on to win the race by 3.89 seconds. The rest of the top ten were DeGood, Regnerus, #76 Ryan Gruppen, #76 Brian Tillema, MacIntosh, #33 Jerry Groeneveld, Hull, #88 Tom Stricklen and #51 Weston Jewett.
Berlin Raceway is back in action next Saturday with All Faiths Night featuring the Coors Light Late Model, Kerkstra Services Pro Stock, Burnips Equipment 4-Cylinder and Young Gun divisions along with the Faster Pastor Race! Tickets are $12 for adult general admission, $5 for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5. Pit passes for those 14 and over are $25. Gates open at 11:00 a.m. and the first race begins at 6 p.m.
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