Dave Lake wins feature at Berlin Raceway, then is wrecked by Andrew Nylaan after finish

Dave Lake wins feature at Berlin Raceway, then is wrecked by Andrew Nylaan after finish

Steve Kaminski
The Grand Rapids Press

MARNE -- Berlin Raceway track photographer Tom DeVette has shot Victory Lane pictures since the early 1970s, and he said he has never seen anything like it.

There was Dave Lake, who came racing down the frontstretch on foot and stood in Victory Lane, jumping up and down, celebrating his win in the 30-lap Super Stocks feature race. His car came moments later, arriving by wrecker.

Moments earlier, Lake dove under Andrew Nylaan on the backstretch of the final lap for the lead and went on to win the race.

Nylaan then caught up to Lake on the cool down lap and turned into Lake, forcing both cars into the retaining wall between turns three and four.

Berlin promoter Mike Blackmer said Nylaan lost his points for the evening and will be suspended for the final two points races of the year.

“He told me he just wanted to rough me up after the race, and he didn’t want it to go that far,” Lake said. “Me and Andrew have raced for many years, and we have raced good. We have rarely traded paint, and we have a lot of respect for each other. I made a little contact with him on the pass, just enough to move him up the track half a lane so I could drive underneath him. But I didn’t do anything to warrant this.”

Nylaan declined to comment to The Press.

“People are going to think I am sticking up for (Nylaan), but he did follow Lake for 20 laps and didn’t touch him,” Blackmer said. “Dave gets behind (Nylaan) and hits him about three or four times. The last lap, they are going for the win. That’s what Dave did. I don’t think you can fault him for that.

“But Andrew should not have retaliated like that. You can’t do that. That’s why we are suspending him.”

NASCAR’s Skinner competes
Saturday’s program include a visit by NASCAR Camping World Trucks veteran Mike Skinner, who arrived at the Marne half-mile after finishing 23rd in Friday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

Skinner participated in Modified Night, driving the No. 97L open-wheel car fielded by owners Jeff Striegle, Norm Jelsema and Mike Bursley, and he won the 50-lap feature race.

It was Skinner’s first trip to Berlin. The car serves as a fund raiser for the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“I feel like a rookie,” said Skinner, 53, after taking some practice laps, “I would like to have a few more laps here, but the people have been awesome, and hopefully, we will be able to raise some money.”

Tillema aiming for No. 4
Brian Tillema of Dorr won his track-high seventh feature race when he nosed out Brandon Hermiller by 0.032 seconds in the 25-lap Pro Stocks feature race. The big picture is even more impressive for Tillema, who is on the verge of doing something no driver has done at the Marne half-mile in nearly 30 years.

Tillema appears headed to his fourth consecutive track championship, something no driver has done since Fred Campbell reeled off four straight Late Model titles from 1979-1982.

Tillema entered Saturday’s program with a 70-point lead over Weston Jewett, and after Jewett was caught up in a lap-two accident and finished last in the 18-car field, Tillema is in ideal position with two Pro Stock races remaining in 2010.

Jewett led the standings early in the spring, but Tillema is pulling away after a red-hot summer.

“It was us being behind so far at the beginning that has made us so good at the end,” Tillema said. “There was a point where we were like forget it, we are so far behind, we are going, forget about the points. We went to work on the car to try to make it better, and every week, we got the car a little better.

“We don’t like getting beat. Weston beat us by a couple of car lengths on the frontstretch one week, and I didn’t like getting beat running that close. So we went to work to try to make it better. We got it better."