June 9, 2007

Anderson, Wiersma and Tillema add to their win totals at Berlin
Jason DeVos claims victory in 4-Cylinders

Marne, MI— After two weeks of radar-watching and dodging the rain, good weather returned to Berlin Raceway bringing great racing with it.  The Coors Light Late Model, Engine Pro Super Stock and De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock divisions all saw repeat winners while the 4-Cyinder class had another new face in victory lane.

Feature racing began with the ever-growing 4-Cylinder class.  A 23 car field once again showed up to take part and the caution flag flew early for a big wreck on the first lap.  After a red flag and major clean up, racing resumed.  The quick car, #12 of Jason DeVos, started in the 13th position and he swiftly moved though the field, passing #4 Billy Krupp for the win on the last lap.

The Engine Pro Super Stocks took the track next in a special 50-lap race with #55 Dave Lake and point leader #1 Brian Wiersma on the front row.  On the start, Wiersma had the edge and lead the first lap and Lake followed in his tire tracks. While the top two were single-file, the rest of the field was side-by-side, battling for position. The #23 machine of Mike Bursley was on the move early, going from 7th to 2nd in 10 laps, but Bursley’s night ended early when he had a flat tire and a broken sway bar on lap 26 bringing out the first caution.  On the restart, Wiersma jumped out to a big lead, leaving #15 Pete Ruttan, Lake, #71 Kyle Ballard and #77 Andrew Nylaan to sort it out for second.  The lead that Wiersma had was erased when caution came out on lap 45; #88 Tim Sweeney spun his car in turn 2, he recovered and was ready for the restart.  Lake didn’t let Wiersma get away on this restart, they were nose to tail and Lake was tapping on Wiersma’s bumper as the laps counted down.  The pressure didn’t get to Wiersma, though; he beat Lake by .242 seconds and the rest of the top ten were Ruttan, Nylaan, Ballard, #12 Josh Slade, #6 Bob Bliss, #5 Ray VanAllsburg, #123 Chris Koslek and #10 Bob Spencer.

The Coors Light Late Models were up next, #18 Lee Anderson and #28 Scott Thomas lead the field to green.  Anderson showed early on that he was the car to beat after he took the lead and drove away after the green flag waved.  The first 30 laps saw clean, tight racing throughout the field, but #19 Nick Shotko spun going in to turn 1 bringing out the first caution of the night. After the first caution, two more cautions waved in rapid succession involving the cars of #30 Bryan Clay, #27 Billy Shotko, #82 Tom Thomas, #19 Nick Shotko, #X Ray Clay and #222 Caleb Bisacky.  After the mass of cautions, the rest of the race went caution-free, Anderson went on to lead every lap and win by 5.663 seconds over Scott Thomas followed by #1 Randy Sweet, #21 Terry VanHaitsma, #27 Billy Shotko, #12 Tim DeVos, #32 Ross Meeuwsen, #33 Dave Stehouwer, #47 Fred Campbell and #57 Alan Marcott.

In the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock feature, #50 Justin Regnerus and #76 Brian Tillema were on the front row and this race saw lots of side by side racing in the opening laps.  Tillema made the pass on Regnerus on lap 2 and jumped out to a large lead, but it was quickly erased when the first caution came out on lap 5 for a 4-car accident in turn 2.  This caution, which resulted in a red flag, collected the cars of #5 Jack Russel, #80 Jason Hoogerhyde, #89 Kirk Meissner and #20J Jeremy Munnisksma.  On the restart, second place #15 Scott Root didn’t let Tillema get away, but their battle was halted by another caution involving last week’s winner #24 Lee VanDyk.  By lap 13, Tillema had checked out again, leaving Root and #52 Bruce Chase to fight for second place.  Root held off Chase for 2nd while Tillema cruised to his second victory of the year.  The #20 Dave Hull, #86 Ray Melinn, #76 Ryan Gruppen, #3 Travis Nylaan, #51 Weston Jewett, #97.9 Ryan Schnabel and # 61 Jack DeJong rounded out the top ten.

Berlin Raceway gears up for a special event next Wednesday, June 13, as the PRA Big Car Series rolls into town for the “FOX 17 150” presented by Engine Pro, Mahle/Clevite, and Brad Penn Racing Oil.  NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Ryan Newman will be racing with this series; additionally, there will be an on-track autograph session with all of the PRA drivers.  Berlin’s local Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division will also take the track.  Tickets are $20 for adult general admission; half price for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes for those 16 and over are $30. Gates open at 12:00 p.m. and the first race begins at 7 p.m.

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