Caleb Bisacky savors Late Model feature win in Berlin Raceway's season finale

Caleb Bisacky savors Late Model feature win in Berlin Raceway's season finale

Steve Kaminski
The Grand Rapids Press

MARNE -- Caleb Bisacky of Spring Lake called Saturday night’s victory the biggest win of his career, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Bisacky won the 75-lap Great Lakes Outlaw Late Model Series feature race in Berlin Raceway’s season finale, beating out Mike Lichty and three-time defending track champion Ross Meeuwsen.

Bisacky and his wife, Stacey, lost an infant girl, Stella Marie Bisacky on Sept. 18, so he said it has been difficult focusing on racing the past month. But Bisacky grabbed the lead on lap 32 and led the rest of the way.

“We lost a child at seven months pregnant,” Bisacky said. “But we are all fine and this helps with the grieving. We have been going through hard times, and we needed something like this.”

The series, which was created this season, was making its second Berlin trip. Bisacky, who started fourth in the 21-car field, earned $2,000 for the win. There were five lead changes in the first 27 laps before Bisacky took control.

“It was really strong early, and I wanted to go hard then, but I thought I better not do it,” Bisacky said. “The guys on the radio kept telling me not to go too hard, they kept slowing me down a little bit.”

Lichty, of Innerkip, Ontario, Canada, finished second in the International Supermodified Association feature race two weeks ago at Berlin before taking second Saturday.

Lichty is teammates with Johnny Benson Jr. when Benson races ISMA. Benson raced one of Lichty’s Supermodifieds to victory last weekend in an ISMA race in Massachusetts. Benson then turned over his Late Model to Lichty this weekend and served as his coach and spotter.

What was especially impressive about Lichty’s run was that it was his first race in a Late Model.

“I was supposed to be spotting for him, and we had radio plug problems,” Benson said. “He did that race on his own. I didn’t help him at all. I was helping in practice, but he told me after the race, ‘I couldn’t hear you.’ After that, I was more impressed. He did a great job.”

Berlin also hosted a pair of Run What Ya Brung style races, and Denny Anderson of Walker won a 50-lap stock car race and Chris McKinley of Sparta took top honors in the 40-lap 4 Cylinder main. Both drivers took advantage of the no-rules opportunity and did radical work on their cars.

Anderson removed the roof of his Super Stock and slapped on a wing, then sat fast time, took the lead up on lap 17 and beat out Randy Day by 4.49 seconds.

“This was fun, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time,” Anderson said. “I would like to run this every week. It’s a riot.

McKinley beat out Ryan Hamm, the season’s 4 Cylinder track champion, by 5.80 seconds. It was McKinley’s first career victory.

“I have always seen them on dirt cars but have never ran one,” McKinley said of the sideboard. “I thought what the heck. I spent $7.50 on the cables and gave it a whirl. I got here, and nobody else had one, and they picked on me.

“It was awesome, unbelievable. I could pretty much hold the track wide open all the way around the track. There was a lot more speed through the corners.”