May 19, 2007

Roelofs gets first win, Wiersma ends drought

4-Cylinders return, VanDyk and T. Thomas also win

MARNE, MI---With threatening skies overhead, officials at Berlin Raceway were in hurry-up mode, shuffling the order of events around.  Engine Pro Super Stock and De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock heats were cancelled, pushing the feature events up in order to get them all in before the rain came. 

The night started with the ever-popular 4-Cylinder Race.  The first time the 4-Cylinders raced at Berlin, there were about ten cars in the field.  One month after its inception, 21 cars showed up to race.  The #4 car of Bill Krupp looked like the class of the field, but #42 Mark Kelly took the lead with 2 laps and went on to win the event.

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman Division took the track next with #33 Allen Davis and #81 Marc Coleman on the front row.  Davis and Coleman raced the first lap side by side, but Coleman took the lead from Davis on lap 2.  Not ready to give up that position, Davis kept close to Coleman’s bumper.  The first caution came out on lap 4 for #00 Dennis Mann’s spin in turn 2.  After the restart, #97 Andy Stormzand was on the move, challenging the #59 machine of John Evans for 6th on lap 7, but he was also being pressured from behind by #44 Brian VanZalen.  Meanwhile, Davis and #22 Ken Roelofs were putting on a great show for the 2nd spot, as were #40 Dave Cutler and #15 Garison Jewett for 3rd.  Caution #2 waved on lap 9 when #64 Brad DeJong hit the wall in turn 1; Coleman’s sizeable lead was completely erased.  After the restart, Coleman took off and left Davis and Roelofs to sort it out for 2nd.  Roelofs took 2nd from Davis on lap 12 and began to reel in the leader.  With 3 laps to go, Roelofs passed Coleman for the lead and cruised to his first victory in the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman Division.  The rest of the top ten were Coleman, Davis, Cutler, Stromzand, Jewett, VanZalen, #57 Allen Troup and #88 Tony Davis.

The Coors Light Late Model division immediately followed; #8 Dakota Carlson and #21 Terry VanHaitsma lead the field to the green flag.  Upon the start of the race, VanHaitsma made quick work of Carlson, claiming the lead and pulling away on the first lap.  Not far behind was the #12 of Tim DeVos; he also passed Carlson quickly and settled in to 2nd, slowing catching the leader.  Carlson, falling back to 3rd, fell in to the clutches of #47 Fred Campbell; the two battled for 3rd for almost half of the race before the first caution came out that resulted in Campbell spinning on the backstretch.  It appeared that #82 Tom Thomas, who had been moving up steadily throughout the night, made contact with Campbell resulting in the caution.  On the restart, DeVos had a great run on VanHaitsma, but VanHaitsma kept slamming the door.  DeVos had the advantage on the straightaways, but VanHaitsma’s car was great off of the corners.  T. Thomas, who started the race in 10th, was flying through the field and he joined the battle for the lead between DeVos and VanHaitsma on lap 29. On lap 30, DeVos made the pass on VanHaitsma and after three more laps, Thomas also passed VanHaitsma and set his sights on leader DeVos.  Lap 38 saw a close battle for the lead with DeVos on the high side, holding his ground against Thomas, whose machine was glued to the bottom of the track.  With 6 laps to go, Thomas passed DeVos and started to check out, but caution waved on lap 45 when #33 Dave Stehouwer spun on the backstretch.  With 5 laps to go, Thomas took off went on to win, DeVos, #55 Chris Anthony, VanHaitsma, #27 Bill Shotko, #66 Tim Yonker, #18 Lee Anderson, #8 Dakota Carlson and #77 Brian Campbell rounded out the top ten.

With dark clouds threatening in the distance off of the backstretch, the Engine Pro Super Stock division took the stage, lead by #8 Billy Eppink and #55 Dave Lake. Point leader#1 Brian Wiersma was showing some strength on the initial start, but a caution came out before the first lap was even complete the when #X Ray Clay and #88 Tim Sweeney spun on the front stretch, #23 Mike Bursley was also involved.  Once the race got restarted and one lap in, another caution came out with the leaders spinning off of turn four, collecting leader Lake along with Eppink, Sweeney, #5 Ray VanAllsburg, #27 Bill Shotko and #15 Pete Ruttan.  On the restart, #13 James Haney and #6 Bob Bliss lead the field as Wiersma continued his march to the front, passing #77 Andrew Nylaan on lap 8, Bliss on lap 10 and taking the lead from Haney on lap 12.  Caution waved on lap 16 for a spin by #F1 Randy Veldman in turn 3 and caution was out again on lap 21 when Clay and #22 Adam Hudson got together off of turn three.  All of the cautions had no effect on Wiersma as he continuously pulled away from the field on the restarts.  The final caution waved on lap 22 when the #18 car of Rob Nash and #55 Dave Lake made contact.  With 8 laps to go, Wiersma restarted the race and went on to win by 3.559 seconds over #77 Andrew Nylaan who narrowly beat Haney for 2nd, the difference between them was .062 seconds.  Bliss, Bursley, #12 Josh Slade, #10 Bob Spencer, #71 Kyle Ballard, #66 Nate Walton and #55 Dave Lake were the rest of the top ten.

Weather was still threatening when the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division took the track.  The #2 machine of Shawn Simon and #86 Ray Melinn were on the front row.  Tight, side by side racing was the theme of the night for the Pro Stock racers; the top 5 stayed in a tight pack for most of the race.  The #24 car of Lee VanDyk was in a hurry to get to the front of the pack, battling with #52 Bruce Chase and Simon.  The first caution of the night waved on lap 11 when the #61 car of Jack DeJong spun in turn 4.  Back to green flag racing, Simon, Chase and VanDyk were racing three-wide on lap 16, but caution waved again when #6 Terry Bockheim’s engine let go on the backstretch.  The race got restarted with 8 laps to go and rain was starting to fall.  Caution came out as soon as the race got restarted because #26 Tim Anstett’s car spun and came to a stop on the frontstretch.  Melinn led the field to green for the final restart and with 1 lap to go, VanDyk passed Melinn for the win and the rest of the top ten were #76 Brian Tillema, Simon, Chase, #20 Dave Hull, #7 Kevin DeGood, #3 Travis Nylaan, #23 Andrew MacIntosh and #51 Weston Jewett. 

The evening ended with the much-anticipated Train Race.  After a wild and action-packed race, the Budweiser train ended up in Victory Lane.  Minutes after the event was over, rain started to fall from the sky.

Berlin Raceway is back in action next Saturday night for the traveling CRA Super Series 125. Berlin's Coors Light Late Model and Instant Cash Advance Sportsman divisions will also race.  There will also be $1 Beer and $1 Hot Dogs and a Post-Race Party with Harry Lucas and the Lowdowns. Tickets are $16 for adult general admission, $8 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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