September 15, 2007

S. Root, F. Campbell, Bursley, T. Thomas and Stormzand victorious in Boyne Machine 400 Weekend

Marne, MI--- Berlin Raceway rolled out the welcome mat for the CRA Super Series and had two days packed full of racing action with the Boyne Machine 400 Weekend. Qualifying, heats and dashes for all divisions took place on Friday; Saturday was a night full of extended features. The pits were packed with over 100 cars all chasing the higher payouts and the double points.

The De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division started the evening with their 40-lap feature; #7 Kevin DeGood and #24 Lee VanDyk started on the front row. DeGood jumped out to an early lead and #15 Scott Root showed strength early when he passed VanDyk on the first lap. #20 Dave Hull and #52 Bruce Chase were working their way though the field and while they were trying to make their way to the front, Root and VanDyk were pulling away from the field. After falling back a few positions, #76 Brian Tillema found himself in a battle with Hull and Chase for 3rd. Tillema was unable to pass Hull, though he had been trying since lap 20. There was just no catching Root; he dominated the caution-free race and got his 4th win of the season by 3.082 seconds over VanDyk. Hull, Tillema, Chase, #3 Travis Nylaan, #11 Nick Bonstell, #51 Weston Jewett, #50 Justin Regnerus and #76 Ryan Gruppen completed the top ten.

The CRA Super Series hit the track next; their 125 lap feature saw #16 John VanDoorn and #155 Chris Anthony on the front row. VanDoorn grabbed the lead early and took no mercy on the rest of the field, pulling away early and checking out. #127 Billy Shotko was making moves early in the race, trying to catch VanDoorn for the lead, but Anthony caught up to Shotko and their battle for 2nd let VanDoorn check out again. Anthony got by and took #77 Brian Campbell with him. By lap 13, the racing had spread out and the cars were mostly single file. The first caution of the event came on lap 39 for debris on turn 1; this bunched the field back up, but that didn’t matter to VanDoorn as he was on the gas and pulling away on the restart. The cars rode around until lap 74, #121 Terry VanHaitsma spun out of turn 4, try to avoid getting lapped by the leader. By this time, VanDoorn had put a lap on every car except the top nine. VanDoorn got another great restart and by lap 88 #47 Fred Campbell had made his presence known, passing #77 Brian Campbell for 2nd and setting his sights on VanDoorn. Slowly but surely, F. Campbell reeled in VanDoorn and made the pass for the lead on lap 104. F. Campbell proceeded to check out and took home the checkers, VanDoorn took 2nd and the rest of the top ten were Anthony, #01 Alec Carll, B. Campbell, #72 Scott Hantz, #78 Keith Herp, #17 Chris Gabehart, VanHaitsma and #28 Jack Smith.

Rolling next was the Engine Pro Super Stock division lead to the green flag by #77 Andrew Nylaan and #6 Bob Bliss. Nylaan took the lead with #55 Dave Lake right on his bumper while #1 Brian Wiersma and #23 Mike Bursley were passing Bliss for position, going 3-wide on the backstretch. On lap 4, Lake got around Nylaan and Bursley was challenging Wiersma for 3rd. Once Bursley cleared Wiersma, he went after Nylaan and then set sail for taking the lead from Lake. By lap 19, Bursley was able to pull a fender to the inside of Lake, but Lake wasn’t giving in so easily. They battled side by side for 4 laps until Bursley got by and pulled away. The first caution waved on lap 32 for the #15 car of Pete Ruttan spinning across the frontstretch. This bunched the cars back up, but on the restart, Bursley slowly began to check out again. Bursley earned his 6th win of the season by a dominating 5.809 seconds over Wiersma. #5 Ray VanAllsburg, Lake, #12 Josh Slade, Nylaan, #X Ray Clay, #8 Billy Eppink, #15 Mat McClarren and #71 Kyle Ballard rounded out the top ten.

Segment 1 of the Coors Light Late Model 150-Lap feature was up next with #101 Joe Bush and #37 Terry Senneker on the front row. Senneker jumped out to a big lead early and there was a great five-car battle happening for 5th, but a debris caution came out on lap 7. On the restart, Senneker took off with the lead and he began lapping cars on lap 21. After another debris caution on lap 26, Bush didn’t let Senneker get too far, but a few laps later, he was checking out again. By lap 35, the cars were mostly single file and spread out on the track. Lap 48 saw the first pass for the lead when Bush got around Senneker, two laps later #21 Terry VanHaitsma and #82 Tom Thomas also got by Senneker. Thomas proceeded to get by VanHaitsma and then passed Bush for the lead on lap 51. After Thomas took the lead, there was a long green flag run and after back-to-back cautions for #1 Randy Sweet, Thomas was the leader after segment 1. The second segment was filled with cautions, the first of the segment came on lap 76; #70 Ted Omlor went off the backstretch. Thomas had a great restart and started to check out, but caution was out again on lap 96 when Sweet hit the turn 1 wall. Three more cautions waved in close succession and Thomas was able to maintain the top spot every time. The “Big One” happened on lap 135; VanHaitsma spun and #32 Ross Meeuwsen, #77 Tim Yonker, #16 John VanDoorn, #00 Alec Carll, and #22 Caleb Bisacky were all involved. After another caution for #57 Alan Marcott hitting the wall, VanHaitsma was challenging Bush for 2nd. He made the pass on lap 138 and was on a mission to catch Thomas, but he was unable to do so. Thomas notched his 7th win of the season, finishing 3.180 seconds ahead of VanHaitsma. Bush, #28 Scott Thomas, Bisacky, #8 Dakota Carlson, Yonker, #15 Brian Maxim, VanDoorn and #27 Billy Shotko rounded out the top ten.

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division ran their 30-lap feature between the Late Model Segments; #97 Andy Stormzand and #33 Allen Davis lead the field to the green flag. Stormzand took off with the lead while #15 Garison Jewett and #6 Terry Bockheim were storming though the field. Lap 9 saw A. Davis challenge Stormzand for the lead and while they swapped it back and forth for a few laps, Jewett caught up and joined the fun. Jewett was putting pressure on Davis for 2nd and that let Stormzand pull away. Neither Davis nor Jewett were able to catch Stormzand, he visited Victory Lane for the 7th time this season. A. Davis, Jewett, #57 Allan Troup, #11 Tim Stuart, #22 Ken Roelofs, #20J George Munniksma, #40 Dave Cutler, #8 Sadie Klein and #88 Tony Davis were the top ten.

The points season comes to a conclusion for the four local divisions next Saturday, September 22 on Championship Night. Champions will be crowned followed by a post-race fireworks show. All divisions will also have a pre-race autograph session. Gates open at 12:15 p.m. and the 4-in-1 show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 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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