Meeuwsen, VanAllsburg, Hermiller, Reimersma and Jansen victorious

Marne, MI-- After dodging rain showers during the afternoon and drying the track a few times, the racing program was started on time and the fans on hand were treated to an exciting night of racing.

The Vintage Racing Organization of America cars were the first feature of the night, making up their race from August 1, #30 Max Wirebaugh and #47 Larry Mollohan started on the front row. Mollohan took the lead after the flag flew, but the car to watch was that of #16 Samantha Jansen. Janson started 14th and was up to 8th by the time the first caution of the night came out on lap 6; the #43 Rick Nelson slowed on the backstretch and #28 Glen Parker slapped the wall on the front stretch. They got one lap in before caution was out again for a single car spin involving #4 Mike Ouendag. Just on lap later, caution was out again for a multi-car incident in turn 1. After the clean up was completed, the race was restarted and Jansen was challenging for second. She took that, then grabbed the lead from Mollohan on lap 10 and proceeded to check out. She was lapping cars with three to go, but all of her progress was halted when caution came out moments later. The #86 of Bob Martin was giving chase to Jansen, but she held him off to get the win. Completing the top ten were Mollohan, #20, Don Deyman, #80 Fred Otterbein, #00 Jamie Gritter, Wirebaugh, Ouendag, #3 Lou Caposey and #7 Jim Lawson.

The Burnips Equipment 4-Cylinders rolled next with #51 Grady Gerken and #T11 Jim Rhodes on the front row. Gerken was the early leader, but it was short-lived as the #76 of Brian Tillema was there and took the lead on lap 3. Gerken wasn’t giving up so easily and kept on Tillema. The #7 of Ryan Hamm came through the field and by lap 10, he was the new leader. The first caution of the race came on lap 9, the slower car of #50 Frank Davis stacked up the leaders on the front stretch and was involved with an incident with #6 Ben Kleis. Caution was out again at the half-way point for a two car spin with #20 Tyler Nawrocki and #07 Jason Emanouil. On the restart, #13 Dan Reimersma was challenging for the lead and took it with four laps to after starting 34th. There was no catching Reimersma, he won the race and the rest of the top ten were Hamm, #74 Paul Namey, Tillema, #354 Chris McKinley, #025 Cole Roelofs, #100 Jason Scheid, #01 Rob Shoemaker, #12 Jay Platz and #4 Ron Myers.

Up next were the cars of the Young Guns division, #18 Mitch Meppelink started on the pole with #16 Kelsey Steele on his outside. By the completion of lap 2, the cars were single-file, but #32 Gabe Ensing was making a charge at Steele and took second from her on lap 4. The next lap, caution was out for the #101 of Lauren Bush in a single-car spin. The battle for the lead heated up on lap 9, it appeared that Meppelink and Ensing touched, breaking their momentum thus handing the lead over to Steele. With 2 laps to go, Hermiller made a stunning pass for the lead and got his second feature win. Steele had to settle for second and the rest of the finishing order was Ensing, Meppelink, Bush, #19 Dalton Haney and #61 Tommy Willet.

The Coors Light Late Models took the track next for a 75-lap feature, starting on the front row were #19 Nick Shotko and #27 Billy Shotko. B. Shotko was scored as the leader and he was putting some distance between himself and N. Shotko when the caution flag flew; the #4 of Joel Baker was off of the backstretch. Just as the field came to complete the lap on the restart, caution was out again. Contact between the #61 Alec Carll and #32 Ross Meeuwsen caused an multi-car wreck on the front stretch involving Carll, #222 Caleb Bisacky, #101 Joe Bush, #1 Randy Sweet, #1 Barry Hartwell and #21 Terry VanHaitsma. After an extensive clean-up the race was restarted and #28 Scott Thomas was on the move, up to second and then reeling in the leader. On lap 24, Thomas got sideways coming out of turn 4, saved it and regrouped; he was back on Shotko’s bumper on lap 35. Meeuwsen was on his way to the front and he grabbed the lead while he and Shotko were navigating traffic. The third caution of the race came on lap 46 when #71 Kyle Ballard spun on the front stretch. Just as the field would get a good pace going, caution flags would slow them down; two more came out on laps 56 and 67 for single-car incidents. There was just no stopping Meeuwsen who got his second feature win of the season. Shotko, Grega, #12 Tim DeVos, #6 Dave Zagaiski, #28 Scott Thomas, #77 George Wilson, #7 Justin Claucherty, Ballard and #55 Chris Anthony.

The final feature race of the night came in the form of the Engine Pro Super Stocks; #5 Ray VanAllsburg and #77 Andrew Nylaan started from row number one and the pair put some distance between themselves and the rest of the field. VanAllsburg was able to shake off Nylaan and left him to defned second from #18 Denny Anderson. Anderson took second on lap 13 and the top 3 were pulling away from the field, leaving the battle for 4th between #8 Billy Eppink, #13 James Haney and #1 Brian Wiersma. With three laps to go, Anderson was making a charge on VanAllsburg, but didn’t have enough for him. VanAllsburg got his first win since August of 2004. The rest of the top ten were Anderson, Nylaan, Eppink, Haney, Wiersma, #11 Nick Bonstell, #26 Chris Muyskens, #10 Bob Spencer and #51 Justin Ryan.

Next Saturday, August 29 is the 9th annual “The Chet.” The Coors Light Late Models will run a special 100-lap feature and they will be joined by the Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks. The Late Models will also have an on-track autograph session. Tickets are $13 for adults, $5 for kids 6-12 and five and under are free. Pit passes for those 14 and up are $25 and the first race starts at 7 p.m. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.berlinraceway.com.

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Lisa Walker
Berlin Raceway
lwalker@berlinraceway.com
616-662-2051

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