Tom Thomas wins on Late Model Night
Nylaan and Smith also victorious
Marne, MI— It was Coors Light Late Model Night at Berlin Raceway and the racing was hard and fast. Taking home the trophies were Tom Thomas in the Coors Light Late Models, Andrew Nylaan in the Engine Pro Super Stocks and Ken Smith, Jr. in the Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks.
The #51 of Weston Jewett and #78 Will Olmsted led the Kerkstra Service Pro Stocks to the green flag and taking the lead on lap two was 336 Ken Smith, Jr. On lap 6, the battle for fifth was getting dicey between the cars of #7 Kevin DeGood, #33 Jerry Groeneveld, #50 Justin Regnerus and 376 Brian Tillema. Caution was out just three laps later, the #X of Matt VanHorssen spun off of the backstretch. On the restart, Smith was smooth and got away from the pack, the battles to watch were for third between Rengerus and Tillema and for sixth with DeGood, #40 Dave Cutler and #76 Ryan Gruppen. With 10 laps to go, Regnerus got around Tillema for third and then took second from Jewett on lap 19; he had five laps to catch Smith. The gap was too much to overcome, Smith got his third win of the season by 1.508 seconds over Regnerus. The rest of the top ten were; Tillema, Olmsted, Gruppen, Jewett, #20 Dave Hull, DeGood, #88 Tony Davis and Groeneveld.
Up next were the Engine Pro Super Stocks with #11 Nick Bonstell and #10 Bob Spencer on the front row. From the drop of the green flag, #77 Andrew Nylaan was challenging Bonstell for the lead; after a few laps working the outside lane, he went to the low side and after a four-car battle for the number one spot with Bonstell, Nylaan, #1 Brian Wiersma and #26 Chris Muyskens, Nylaan took it and was under attack from Wiersma. The pair battled for the entire race, with Muyskens not far behind. They rode nose-to-tail and they were all running comparable lap times. It looked as if Wiersma was gaining on him, but Nylaan was holding him off. Wiersma gave up the low side and moved to the top, but he lost ground and Muyskens was there to capitalize. Nylaan went on to win the caution-free race, and his second of the season. The rest of the top ten were Muyskens, Wiersma, #5 Cal Castle, #18 Denny Anderson, #55 Dave Lake, #5 Ray VanAllsburg, #12 Josh Slade, Bonstell and #8 Billy Eppink.
The 75-lap Coors Light Late Model race was last; #19 Nick Shotko was on the pole with #55 Chris Anthony on his outside. Shotko was leading and the battle to watch was for second between Anthony and #82 Tom Thomas. The rest of the field rode single-file and #27 Billy Shotko and fast qualifier #21 Terry VanHaitsma were closing in on Thomas for third. Thomas shook them off, split a lapped car with Anthony, took the second in the process and started cutting into Shotko’s lead. After three laps, Thomas was on his bumper, but couldn’t quite draw even. On lap 40, VanHaitsma had caught the leaders, but was biding his time, letting Shotko and Thomas duke it out. The first and only caution flew on lap 45 when #33 Monte Tolan slapped the frontstretch wall. This jumbled the field up and on the double-file restart, Thomas wasted no time taking the lead and driving away from the field. On lap 61, hard racing for second between Shotko and VanHaitsma made contact, but they both saved it and #1 Randy Sweet closed in on them. With two laps to go, Thomas was in traffic and while VanHaitsma was trying to catch up, he ran out of time. Thomas got his second win of the season and completing the top ten were VanHaitsma, Sweet, Meeuwsen, N. Shotko, #6 Dave Zagaiski, Anthony, B. Shotko, #28 Scott Thomas and #61 Alec Carll.
The Berlin Fair returns to Marne next week, July 13-18. Tuesday, July 14 is the Demolition Derby and Burnips Equipment 4-Cylinder race (tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids 6-12), Wednesday the 16th is Bus Mania (tickets $8 for adults and $4 for kids 6-12), Thursday night, July 16 is the Monsters of Rock monster truck show (tickets $10 for adults and $5 for kids) and Friday, July 17 is the Jesse McCartney concert (tickets are $20 and $25). All shows will start at 7:00 p.m. Racing returns next Saturday, July 18 for the Fair Week Finale featuing the Coors Light Late Models, Engine Pro Super Stocks, Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks and Young Guns. Tickets are $10 for adults and kids 12 and under are free. Pit passes for those 14 and over are $25 and the first race starts at 7 p.m. Grandstand admisson for all Fair Week events is in addtion to a $3 gate admission to the midway. For more information, please visit www.berlinraceway.com
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Lisa Walker
Berlin Raceway
lwalker@berlinraceway.com
616-662-2051
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