Caledonia's Monte Tolan, Middleville's Seth Moody grab first feature victories at Berlin

Caledonia's Monte Tolan, Middleville's Seth Moody grab first feature victories at Berlin

By Steve Kaminski | The Grand Rapids Press MLive.com

MARNE -- Monte Tolan and Seth Moody won their first career feature races Saturday night at Berlin Raceway, and they took different roads to victory.

Moody was the hunted, while Tolan was the hunter.

Tolan, of Caledonia won the 11th annual Chet, a 100-lap Late Model feature race in honor of the late Berlin founder Chester Mysliwiec. Tolan overtook Tim DeVos with seven laps to go to grab the win.

Tolan overtook Tim DeVos on lap 71, but he eventually lost the lead to DeVos on a lap 82 restart. But Tolan didn’t panic.

"You sit here and work so hard, and you race against the Tim DeVos’ and Ross Meeuwsen’s of the world, and to be standing here in Victory Lane, I’m pumped," Tolan said. "I knew I had enough laps to pass him back, and we were able to hunt him down."

Moody, of Middleville, won the 30-lap Super Stock feature. He held off last week’s winner Justin Ryan by 0.229 seconds in the main. Moody was pulling away from the field when caution dropped with three laps left, wiping out a 1.5 second advantage and putting Ryan right on his rear for the restart. But Moody held off Ryan.

"When that caution came out, I’m saying, ‘Oh man, oh man, Justin is right behind me, I have to stay in front of him,’" Moody said. "He got underneath me, but the car held strong on the outside.

"I was pretty confident. I had built up a pretty big lead, and I knew I could do it again if I got back in front of him."

Dave Moody, also of Middleville, spotted for his grandson Saturday. He said he probably was more nervous than his grandson.

"I knew if he could get out in front, he could stay there, but (Ryan) was pushing hard," Dave Moody said. "I was a little nervous. This is fantastic. He has raced at Kalamazoo (Speedway) and has won a lot of races at Winston (Motor Speedway)."

Brandon Hermiller, of Coopersville, won his track-high seventh Pro Stocks feature, overtaking four-time defending champion Brian Tillema for the lead with two laps remaining. Hermiller entered Saturday’s program with a 53-point lead over Tillema, but no way would he playing it safe.

Hermiller started eighth in the 18-car field but patiently worked his way to the front.

"You always have to go for the wins," Hermiller said. "You can’t settle for second. I know from last year that 50 points can go like that. You can have 50 points in the bank, and in one race, it’s gone. You have to keep going.

"In the beginning, we were kind of struggling with the car. But once it came to me, we were good. That’s how it goes."

Jared Lyzenga and Tyler Nawrocki won 15-lap 4 Cylinder features Saturday, with Lyzenga winning his first career A main and Nawrocki claiming his sixth B feature. It was the fourth consecutive win for Nawrocki, the division’s points leader.

Lyzenga was beaten by Chris McKinley by 0.08 of a second last week, but he got the best of McKinley on Saturday, winning by 0.740.

"I changed up the tire pressure, but that was about all," said Lyzenga, a 20-year old second-generation driver from Byron Center. "I was OK with last week, I knew there were more weeks left. We felt like we had something for them this week."