Lofton wins Wolverine Power Systems 200 presented by Generac
Gruppen and Hermiller also victorious
Marne, MI— The ARCA RE/MAX cars were back at Berlin Raceway and kicking off the evening was a concert by Lee Greenwood. Taking the checkers on the night were Ryan Gruppen (Kerkstra Services Pro Stock), Brandon Hermiller (Young Guns) and Justin Lofton (ARCA RE/MAX).
The Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks were the first feature race of the night with #88 Tony Davis and #20 Dave Hull on the front row. Hull was quick to grab the lead, but by lap 8, Davis was challenge Hull for the lead. Davis got loose on lap 10 right in front of #50 Justin Regnerus just as Regnerus and #76 Brian Tillema were battling for position. By half-way, #76 Ryan Gruppen was giving chase and was on Hull’s bumper while they caught the back of the pack. With five laps to go, Gruppen got by Hull and Regnerus rallied up to second, but ran out of time. Gruppen got his first win of the season and the rest of the top ten were Regnerus, Hull, Tillema, #51 Weston Jewett, #36 Ken Smith, Jr., Davis, #15 Scott Root, #7 Kevin DeGood and #40 Dave Cutler.
The #18 of Mitch Meppelink and #19 Dalton Haney started the Young Gun feature on the front row and Haney took the lead as soon as the green flag flew and started to pull away. The #48 of Seth Moody was the car on the move, jumping three positions by the second lap. By lap 8, second place #6 Brandon Hermiller caught Haney and while the two were battling for the lead, Haney spun on lap 10 while leading. This gave the lead to Hermiller, who held off the field and got his first win of the season. The rest of the finishing order was Meppelink, #32 Gabe Ensing, Moody, #101 Lauren Bush, #16 Kelsey Steele and Haney.
The Wolverine Power Systems 200 presented by Generac was the last race of the night, #6 Justin Lofton and #29 Chad Finley lead the field to the green flag. Just as the field took the green flag, caution was out; #73 Dale Shearer spun, as did the #0 of Wayne Peterson. The restart was single file and Lofton rocketed to the lead and by the time he got to turn 3, he already had the tail of the field in his sights. Lap 7, caution was out again; the #18 of Billy Leslie went off the backstretch in turn 3. The field raced single-file until lap 28 when the third caution came out for an incident on the backstretch. Lap 37, the #32 of Matt Merrell was catching Lofton while maneuvering lapped traffic, but as soon as they were clear, Lofton pulled away again. Lap 52, Merrell caught Lofton again, but it wasn’t until lap 66 when Merrell was really putting on the pressure while they were in heavy traffic. The fourth caution of the night came on lap 67, the #23 of Jeremy Petty spun in turn 2. After falling back to sixth from pitting, Merrell was working his way through the field and made it up to third before the fifth caution came out on lap 89. The cars of Shearer, #15 Justin Lloyd, #2 Tim George, Jr. and #11 Bryan Silas were involved in a wreck in turn 3. After the race was restarted, the leaders were rounding turn 3 when Lofton drifted high and the let #44 Frank Kimmel take the lead. He was able to pull away while a three-car battle for third was happening between Lofton, Merrell and #4 Jonathan Eilen. Lap 128, caution was out again, ending Eilen’s luck; he was collected in an accident when the #48 James Hylton got loose coming out of turn 4 and veered into the path of Eilen. Racing resumed on lap 137 and the #16 of Joey Coulter was challenging Kimmel for the lead; Lofton and Merrell were also back in the picture making is a 4-car battle for the lead Lofton swing his car to the outside of Kimmel and regained the lead on lap 145. The next time around, caution was out for the spinning car of #60 Patrick Sheltra. The cars had a run of nine laps before caution was out again for George, Jr.; his car came to a stop next to the turn 3 wall. Coulter was all over the back of Merrell on the restart, but the field spread out and raced mostly single-file. With three laps to go, caution came out; Kimmel spun coming out of turn 4 and after his car came to rest, #21 Michel Disdier got a piece of the wreck. This forced a green-white-checker finish and Lofton was able to hold off the competition to take the win. Merrell, Finley, #25 Pete Shepherd, Coulter, 377 Parker Kligerman, #81 Craig Goess, Silas and #09 Tom Hessert completed the top ten.
Next Saturday, August 1, is 59th Anniversary Night at Berlin Raceway. The Coors Light Late Models will race for 59 laps and joining them will be the Super Stocks, Pro Stocks and the Vintage Racing Organization of America. The night will also feature many prize giveaways and fireworks! Tickets are $13 for adults, $5 for kids 6-12 and 5 and under are free. Pit passes for those 14 and older are $25 and the first race starts at 7. For more information, please visit www.berlinraceway.com.
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