May 5 , 2007

Bursley wins Engine Pro Super Stock Spectacular

Stormzand and Chase also win, School Bus Racing returns

Marne, MI-- More than 5000 enthusiastic fans were on hand to see Engine Pro Super Stock driver Mike Bursley and Instant Cash Advance Sportsman driver Andy Stormzand win their second races of the season. Bruce Chace from the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division also won and the ever-popular School Bus Races returned to Berlin Raceway. 

The evening started out with bus drivers Dave Lake, Dave Marshall, Andrew Nylaan, Travis Nylaan and Billy Shotko putting on an entertaining show for the crowd.  The first heat race saw Shotko lose a tire and he was forced to retire his bus for the night.  The rest of the drivers were all set for the 8 lap feature.  Marshall won the first bus race of the season and Andrew Nylaan wound up on his side when his bus, which had been having problems all night navigating turns 1 and 2, lost control.  Dave Lake and Travis Nylaan finished 2nd and 3rd.

Second on the agenda was the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman Feature, #40 Dave Cutler and #9 Jeff Sterken lead the field to green.  Caution was out before the race began when #00 Dennis Mann lost control of his car, resulting in a complete restart.  The #97 of Andy Stormzand came from the 4th position early to take the lead on lap 2.  Sterken was stuck on the high side of the track, dropping position after position until finally falling in to line in the 8th position on lap 7.  On lap 9, leader Stormzand began lapping cars and lap 12 saw a close battle for 2nd between Cutler and #57 Allen Troup.  Their tight race lead to a caution flag on lap 15 when they got together going in to turn 1 and that left Cutler spinning on the track and Troup going off the backstretch.  The race got restarted with six laps to go; #15 Garison Jewett and last week’s winner #44 Brian Van Zalen had an exciting race going for 3rd, but on the last lap, they made contact and that brought out the yellow and checkered flag.  Stormzand cruised to his second win in 3 weeks and #22 Ken Roelofs, #64 Brad DeJong, #9 Jeff Sterken, #67 Mike Welch, #59 John Evans, #33 Allen Davis, #00 Dennis Mann, #88 Tony Davis and #38 Maurice Davis completed the top ten.

The Engine Pro Super Stock Spectacular was next up and #77 Andrew Nylaan and #8 Billy Eppink were on the front row.  Eppink was off to a great start, taking off with the lead on lap 1 and lapping cars on lap 7.  Tight racing was happening throughout the field and #X Ray Clay, Nylaan, #88 Tim Sweeney, #23 Mike Bursley and #1 Brian Wiersma were all racing hard the beginning of the race.  Last week’s winner, Bursley, and Sweeney were on a mission to get to the front of the pack, picking cars off one at a time.  Their first victim was #5 Ray VanAllsburg, they then set their sights on Clay.  The close racing for 3rd between Clay, Sweeney and Bursley let Eppink get out to a comfortable lead, but once Sweeney and Bursley passed Clay on lap 37, they slowly began to reel in leader Eppink.  Eppink lost the lead on lap 39 to Sweeney and Bursley followed though for 2nd.  It didn’t take long for Bursley to take lead away from Sweeney, making the pass on lap 41 right in to lapped traffic.  Bursley was navigating lapped traffic better and got out to a great lead, but the first caution flag of the night on lap 51 involving #27 Bill Shotko, #13 James Haney and #12 Josh Slade tightened the field back up.  After the restart, Bursley jumped out in front again, leaving #1 Brian Wiersma and Sweeney to battle for 2nd and Clay and VanAllsburg to battle for 3rd.  Early leader Billy Eppink’s night ended early when his throttle linkage broke on lap 68, retiring him from the race, he was running 9th at the time. On lap 75 in a battle for 2nd, Wiersma passed Sweeney who in turn fell out of the race on the last lap.  Bursley went on to win for the second week in a row and the rest of the top ten were Wiersma, Clay, VanAllsburg, Sweeney, #22 Adam Hudson, #13 James Haney, #15 Pete Ruttan, #12 Josh Slade and #10 Bob Spencer.

The De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division provided the finale for night, #20 Dave Hull and #12 Scott Root started out front.  Hull got an early lead, but Root stayed on his bumper.  The #7 car of Kevin DeGood was on the move early, passing #24 Lee VanDyk on lap 3 and #3 Travis Nylaan on lap 4.  A tight battle for 2nd between #76 Brian Tillema, #52 Bruce Chase, DeGood and Root allowed for Hull to get a big lead.  The first caution waved on lap 11 when the battle for 2nd went three wide, resulting in Root spinning on his own in turn 3.  After the restart, DeGood went after leader Hull and began to pass him off turn 4 on lap 14, completing the pass on lap 16.  Battling for 3rd, Tillema and Chase quickly caught Hull, passing him on lap 19.  This let Chase run down DeGood in the closing laps.  Chase made a last lap pass on DeGood to take the win by .457 seconds.  The top ten finishers were Chase, DeGood, Tillema, Hull, #3 Travis Nylaan, #76 Ryan Gruppen, #23 Andrew MacIntosh, #11 Nick Bonstell, #50 Justin Regnerus and #89 Kirk Meissner.

Berlin Raceway is back in action next Saturday, May 12, for a 4-in-1 weekly show and Grocery Getter Races.  Also, celebrating Mother’s Day, the first 500 Mothers through the gate will eat for free. Tickets are $12 for adult general admission, $6 for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes for those 16 and over are $25. Gates open at 12:15 p.m. and the first race begins at 7 p.m.

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