Driver Justin Ryan's 'secret' helps him win feature race on Berlin Raceway’s 61st anniversary

Driver Justin Ryan's 'secret' helps him win feature race on Berlin Raceway’s 61st anniversary

By Steve Kaminski
The Grand Rapids Press MLive.com

MARNE — Justin Ryan of Grand Rapids can keep a secret about as good as he can race a Super Stock.

Ryan captured his second feature race of the season Saturday night at Berlin Raceway when the Marne half-mile celebrated its 61st anniversary. Ryan, who started seventh, powered his No. 51 car by Travis Nylaan for the lead at the midway point of the 30-lap main and pulled away for a 1.594-second win over Nate Walton.

Ryan said he and his team has figured out something special for these hot summer days. But that edge will remain his secret.

“When the track cools off at night, it changes quite a bit,” Ryan said. “I really didn’t know how far to go with the car until the last couple of weeks. We kind of figured out what to do with the car when the track cools off. The first (heat) race, it is so hot. But then it cools off. It’s exciting. It makes all of the hard work pay off.”

Ryan entered the weekend ranked 10th in Super Stock points. He said he isn’t too concerned about the points because he already has had to miss a couple of racing nights. He and his wife, Natalie, are expecting their first child in September, so family life has kept him busy.

Dave Lake of Marne won his first career USA Modified feature, leading from start-to-finish in the 50-lap main. He beat Ryan Hamm by 1.7 seconds, and he overcame adversity earlier in the day to claim the win.

“This was the best car we had all year,” Lake said. “I have to thank my crew for really helping me out because in practice, we put those tire scuffs up on the wall. We smashed the right side of the car.”

Four-time defending Pro Stock champion Brian Tillema of Byron Center won his fourth feature of the season, leading the 25-lap main from start to finish. Tillema entered the program second in points, 54 markers behind Brandon Hermiller, who took second.

“In terms of easy, this is as easy as it gets,” Tillema said. “But I hate to say that they are ever easy, because they are a lot of work. To make it easy, you have to do a lot of work at home.”

Chris McKinley of Sparta held off Jared Lyzenga to win the 15-lap 4 Cylinder A feature. Lyzenga made a late charge, but McKinley held him off by 0.080 of a second.

“Last week, I led the whole race and lost by six inches,” McKinley said. “My car started getting a little bit tight. I started coming into the cars a little easier so I would have a better exit. All of a sudden, with two laps to go, I started hearing somebody. I saw him come alongside of me. I thought, ‘Man, I don’t want to do this again.’ ”

Tyler Nawrocki continued his dominance of the 4 Cylinder B division, winning his fifth feature of the season and third in a row.

“The car was so-so,” Nawrocki said. “It wasn’t the greatest. I had some problems in the heat race. But we came out and fixed those problems, obviously, and we came out and won another one. We are on a roll.”