The Green Flag Flies on the 2008 Racing Season

Lake, T. Thomas, Bockheim and Tillema victorious

Marne, MI— The 2008 season at Berlin Raceway officially began its 58th year and the drivers put on a great show for the fans on opening night. Engine Pro Super Stock driver Dave Lake was victorious as was Terry Bockheim of the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division. Reigning track champions Tom Thomas (Coors Light Late Model) and Brian Tillema (De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock) also saw the checked flag in their divisions.

The Engine Pro Super Stocks kicked off the 2008 season; #77 Andrew Nylaan and #12 Josh Slade started on the front row. The 30-lap feature began with all cars side by side, but Slade was quick to take the lead and left A. Nylaan, #55 Dave Lake, #98 Bob Bliss, #5 Ray VanAllsburg and #1 Brian Wiersma in a tight battle for 2nd. Lake cleared the fray first and took off after Slade; by lap 6 Lake was on Slade's bumper. On lap 10, Lake took the lead from Slade while #3 Travis Nylaan slowly picked his way through the field. The first caution of the night came out on lap 28 when #26 Chris Muyskens spun. This bunched the field back up and gave Slade one last shot at Lake. Two laps was not enough time for Slade to gain on Lake; Lake started his season with a win and celebrated by climbing the fence in turn 4. Slade, Bliss, Wiersma, VanAllsburg, #10 Bob Spencer, T. Nylaan, A. Nylaan, #15 Mat McClarren and #18 Denny Anderson made up the top ten.

The Coors Light Late Models took the track next, #15 Brain Maxim and #28 Scott Thomas lead the field to the green flag. It didn’t take long for #82 Tom Thomas to pick up where he left off last season as he was starting to march to the front. Lap 5 saw an excellent battle for 3rd between #21 Terry VanHaitsma, #12 Tim DeVos, #27 Billy Shotko and T. Thomas. DeVos cleared the pack first and by lap 14, the field was spaced out. The first caution flag of the night came out on lap 16; #1 Randy Sweet spun after a spirited battle with #88 Tim Yonker. The caution bunched the field back up and on the restart; there were problems for B. Shotko. This caused the yellow flag to come out again in order to have a clean restart. One lap later, #19 Nick Shotko brought out the caution when he spun on the backstretch. Tom Thomas continued passing cars, battling DeVos and S. Thomas after the restart. By lay 28, T. Thomas, who had been working the inside lane, passed DeVos and went after S. Thomas. S. Thomas kept his car low, forcing T. Thomas to the high side, but contact between the two brought out the yellow flag. Maxim brought the field down to the restart and was holding his own against the hard-charging T. Thomas, but on lap 34, T. Thomas made the pass for the lead. On lap 39, N. Shotko brought out the caution again when his car slammed the wall between turns 3 and 4 after contact with #17 Jimmy Tenbrink. T. Thomas got a great restart and was putting more asphalt between himself and Maxim each lap. T. Thomas went on to win in dominating fashion; 3.709 seconds over Maxim. The rest of the top ten were #32 Meeuwsen, VanHaitsma, Yonker, #55 Chris Anthony, #11 Leroy Magoon, #30 Brian Clay, S. Thomas and DeVos.

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division was up next, and they were a little too eager to get the season underway as cautions and red flags marred the race. #48 Brandon Wright and #6 Terry Bockheim were on the front row and by the time the field came around to complete the first lap, Bockheim had claimed the top spot. Just as the racing action was getting interesting between Wright and #44 Brian VanZalen, a huge pile-up on lap 4 brought out the first of two red flags. Involved in the accident were #11 Tim Stuart, #89 Kirk Meissner, #40 Dave Cutler, #81 Marc Coleman and #22 Ken Roelofs. After a 10 minute clean-up, racing resumed. VanZalen looked strong, pulling up to Bockheim’s bumper and the running side-by-side for three laps. Their battle was cut short by another red flag; #51 Sara Moerman and #36 Rose Leland made contact on the frontstrech, leaving a big debris field on lap 13. The raced ended with a green-white-checker, Bockheim held off the field to claim the victory. VanZalen, #33 Allen Davis, Stuart, Wright, #57 Allan Troup, Roelofs, #52 Nick Sherrington, Moerman and Leland completed the top ten.

The finale of opening night was put on by the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stocks. The front row was comprised of #29 Jeremy Munniksma and #15 Weston Jewett. Munniksma lead for the first three laps until Jewett and #61 Jack DeJong got by him on lap 4. Lap 6 spelled bad news for Munniksma; after contact with #20 Dave Hull, he spun on turn 3. On the restart, #15 Scott Root and # 7 Kevin DeGood made contact leaving DeGood spinning and Root driving through the grass; #76 Ryan Gruppen also spun in turn 2. After the cars were lined up again and took the green flag, Jewett took off with the lead and from 2nd place on back, there was a lot of action. A few laps later, the cars got sorted out; #50 Justin Regnerus and #76 Brian Tillema were fighting for 2nd which only let Jewett stretch out his lead. With five laps to go, Tillema began reeling in Jewett and took the lead with two laps to go. Tillema took the checkers and Jewett came took second in dramatic fashion, sliding sideways across the start/finish line. The rest of the top ten were Regnerus, Root, #11 Nick Bonstell, DeJong, Hill, #80 Jason Hoogerhyde, #17 Ryan Meldrum and #23 Andrew MacIntosh.

Berlin Raceway is back in action next Saturday night for All-Faiths Night with Coors Light Late Model, Engine Pro Super Stock, De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock and Instant Cash Advance Sportsman races plus a Faster Pastor race. Late Model and Pro Stock division autograph session on the track before the races, and fireworks will light up the sky after the races. Gates open at 12:15 p.m. and the first race gets under way at 7 p.m. Tickets are $13 for adults, half price for kids 6 to 12 and free for 5 and under. Pit passes for those 14 and over are $25