August 25, 2007

Billy Shotko earns first victory
Bockheim, Root, Bursley, DeVos and Krupp also victorious

Marne, MI – Over 5,000 fans filled Berlin Raceway to take in an action-packed night of racing. Since the racing events were washed away by rain last week, this 6-in-1 show featured a 20-lap Instant Cash Advance Sportsman race, 40-lap De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock feature, 75-lap Engine Pro Super Stock race, 50-Lap Coors Light Late Model Feature, 20-lap 4-Cylinder feature and an 8-Lap School Bus Race. The fans in attendance were treated to an evening of exciting racing.

The first feature to hit the grid was the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division; #44 Brian Van Zalen and #67 Mike Welch lead the field to the green flag. There was a three-wide battle for the lead on the very first lap between Van Zalen, Welch and #57 Allan Troup; Van Zalen and Troup both made the pass on Welch. Caution was out early, lap 4 saw #11 Tim Stuart and #8 Sadie Klein spin coming out of turn 2. After the restart, fast qualifier #15 Garison Jewett was on the move, as was #6 Terry Bockheim. Bockheim, who had started 4th, steadily worked his way up and passed Van Zalen for the lead on lap 6. Bockheim proceeded to pull away from the field; even after 2 restarts he was able hold off the field to get his first victory of the season. Troup, #22 Ken Roelofs, Van Zalen, Welch, #40 Dave Cutler, #81 Marc Coleman, #33 Allen Davis, #88 Tony Davis and #97 Andy Stormzand were the top ten.

The 40-lap De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock took the track next with #51 Weston Jewett and #86 Ray Melinn on the front row. Once again, on lap 1, there was a three-wide battle for the lead between Jewett, Melinn and #20 Dave Hull, but a caution for debris forced a complete restart. Once the field took a lap, caution was out again for the spinning cars of #3 Travis Nylaan and #24 Lee VanDyk. Melinn got a good jump on the restart and #15 Scott Root was challenging Jewett for 2nd. The cars of #76 Brian Tillema and #52 Bruce Chase were showing strength early, they were making their way though the field after starting mid-pack. Caution was out again on lap 12 when the battle for 5th got messy. It appeared that there was contact between #7 Kevin DeGood and Chase; Chase spun out of turn three and collected #76 Ryan Gruppen. On the restart, Tillema was all over Root, trying to make a pass for the lead. Root held him off and they rode single file, pulling away from the rest of the field. A long green flag run saw Root pull away from Tillema leading to Root notching his 3rd victory of the season. The rest of the top ten were Tillema, DeGood, VanDyk, Chase, Jewett, Hill, #11 Nick Bonstell, #61 Jack DeJong and #97.9 Ryan Schnabel.

Up next was the Engine Pro Super Stock division; #77 Andrew Nylaan and #71 Kyle Ballard started the 75-lap feature on the front row. Ballard appeared to have trouble on the start and that allowed Nylaan to take the lead going in to turn 1 and by lap 3, there was a three-car battle for the lead between Nylaan, #123 Chris Koslek and #23 Mike Bursley. Nylaan and Koslek had a remarkable battle going on for the lead. Koslek was able to get a fender under Nylaan, but Nylaan’s car was working the outside well and held off the charge. On lap 26, Bursley put an end to their battle by getting around Koslek and then taking the lead from Nylaan on lap 28. After Bursley got around Nylaan, he started to pull away, leaving Nylaan and Koslek to battle with #1 Brain Wiersma for 2nd. Wiersma was able to get around Koslek on lap 37 and he began working on Nylaan, but on lap 45 his progress was stopped when he spun after contact with Koslek. Bursley got a good restart and Nylaan and Koslek were once again fighting for 2nd; #12 Josh Slade was looking to join them. There was a long green flag run until caution flew with 2 laps to go, bunching the field up. Slade had spun going in to turn 3 after hard racing with #5 Ray VanAllsburg. This set up a green-white-checker finish; Bursley was able to drive away and get his 5th win of the season. Nylaan, Koslek, VanAllsburg, #8 Billy Eppink, #13 James Haney, Wiersma, #10 Bob Spencer, #15 Mat McClarren and #66 Nate Walton completed the top ten.

In the Coors Light Late Model feature, #27 Billy Shotko was a dominating force. Starting 4th, he made quick work of #1 Randy Sweet and #28 Scott Thomas, reeling in the leader #222 Caleb Bisacky and passing him on lap 17. Once Shotko took the lead he checked out and the battle on track was for 4th between #15 Brian Maxim, #21 Terry VanHaitsma. Maxim had the position; VanHaitsma wanted it and #32 Ross Meeuwsen and #82 Tom Thomas were waiting not far behind. Thomas had been marching though the field, but Maxim was giving him a run for his money. The first caution of the race fell on lap 19; Meeuwsen spun coming out of turn three. On the restart, Shotko got a good lead and left Bisacky and VanHaitsma to sort it out for 2nd. Shotko dominated the 50-lap feature, winning his first Coors Light Late Model race by 7.259 seconds over VanHaitsma. Meeuwsen, T. Thomas, Bisacky, Sweet, Maxim, S. Thomas, #57 Alan Marcott and #70 Ted Omlor rounded out the top ten.

The ever-growing 4-Cylinder class took the track next, a whopping 34 cars showed up at Berlin Raceway to take part in the 20-lap feature! The 4-Cylinders never fail to put on a great show for the crowd; #76 Mike Speet and #100 Jason Sheid were on the front row. The only pass for the lead was made on lap 3 when #4 Tim DeVos passed Speet. There were great battles for position all around the track; three and sometimes four-wide passing took place. The #26 car of Chad Whittengen tried his hardest to catch DeVos, but DeVos was able to navigate lapped traffic better. DeVos went on to win the 4-Cylinder feature and the top five were Whittengen, #00 Robin Maley, Speet and #21 John Pluger.

The School Bus race topped the night off; drivers Ryan Schnabel, Todd Root, Greg Matheson, Billy Krupp and Dave Marshall put on an excellent show. During a heat race Krupp’s bus had tipped over after a battle with Schnabel and Marshall, but after it was righted he was able to run the feature and get his first-ever School Bus race victory.

Next up at Berlin Raceway is the return of the popular Auto Value Super Sprints presented by Auto Value, next Saturday, Sept. 1. Also racing are the Coors Light Late Model, De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock and Instant Cash Advance Sportsman divisions. Bring your appetites for $1 beer and $1 hot dogs all night long! Gates open at 12:15 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults; half price for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes for those 16 and over are $25.

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