Saturday, April 14, 2012, 9:09 PM
By Steve Kaminski | Skaminsk@mlive.com MLive.com
Print MARNE - Race fans who attended Saturday night’s season opener at the Berlin Raceway will never guess where Brian Tillema found his latest hotrod.
“I found a ’70 Chevelle in a cow pasture in Wayland, and we made a race car out of it,” said Tillema, of Byron Center.
It sure didn’t look like or run like it had been rusting away in a pasture for the past 15 years, considering Tillema was able to park it in Victory Lane after the 25-lap Sportsman feature.
Saturday’s races marked the first under Berlin’s new management team, which is led by Don DeWitt of Zeeland. One change the track implemented was to take the Pro Stock division and make it the new Sportsman class by requiring drivers to slap older style metal bodies on them.
Tillema, who dominated Pro Stocks in recent years, appears to have the magic touch in Sportsman, too. Tillema led all 25 laps and beat out Tony Davis by 2.7 seconds to take top honors. Tillema, who won four consecutive Pro Stock championships before finishing runner-up a year ago, said Saturday’s victory wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“At the beginning, we were off quite a bit,” Tillema said. “In practice last week, the car wasn’t that great, and we came out and practiced again today on new tires, and it still didn’t come in as good as I thought it would. We didn’t qualify that great, and then in the heat race, it wasn’t that great, either.
“We made some changes on it before the feature, and when it was all said and done, it came alive. I am really surprised that it ran as well as it did, because the way things were going in the heat race, we couldn’t pass anybody. I’m really surprised how much the changes helped it.”
Defending Late Model track champion Terry Senneker Jr. of Wayland changed teams during the off-season, now that he is racing for Larry Zent of Fort Wayne, Ind. But Senneker enjoyed the same old results, winning the 100-lap Outlaw Late Model feature race.
Senneker set fast time, took the lead on lap 70 and drove away from Ross Meeuwsen on the final restart with six laps to go.
“We pretty much picked up where we left off last year,” Senneker said. “In dirty air, the car got a little bit slippery, and I heard through my earphone that Ross was gaining. I was confident if the car got any clear air it would balance right back out.”
Berlin also has implemented new bodies for its Super Stocks, and the rules change didn’t slow down Justin Ryan, either. Ryan, who won three races a year ago, edged out Nate Walton by 0.446 seconds in the 30-lapper.
Yellow fell with five laps to go, giving the 19-car field one last crack at Ryan, who started on the pole and led from start to finish. But Ryan drove away on the restart, then held off a late surge by Walton.
“You couldn’t have asked for anything more, except for maybe a little bit of sunshine and a little more warmer weather,” Ryan said. “I was kind of on the fence about (the late caution) because I was hoping the caution would help cool the tires down and maybe give me a little more of an advantage at the end. But it worked out for the best.”
Mike Speet of Holland failed to win a race in each of the past two years, but the 4 Cylinder veteran looks to be back on track. Speet set fast time, won a heat race and captured the 15-lap main.
“Everything came together for me tonight,” Speet said. “I have tried a lot of different things, I don’t stop trying. I came to practice (Friday night), and everything felt good. I made a few more changes, and I came out and surprised myself.”
SATURDAY NIGHT RESULTS
LATE MODELS – 1. Terry Senneker Jr., 2. Ross Meeuwsen, 3. Derrick Griffin, 4. Tom Thomas, 5. Terry VanHaitsma, 6. Chris Anthony, 7. Mike Root, 8. Harold Fair, 9. Ray Clay, 10. Dave Zagaiski, 11. Alan Marcott, 12. Brian Maxim, 13. Scott Thomas, 14. Barry Hartwell, 15. Kristopher Fewless, 16. Tim DeVos, 17. Steve Needles, 18. Adam Terry, 19. Dakota Carlson, 20. Dave Stehouwer, 21. Leroy Magoon, 22. Tim Yonker, 23. Monte Tolan
SUPER STOCKS – 1. Justin Ryan, 2. Nate Walton, 3. Will Olmsted, 4. Seth Moody, 5. Andrew Nylaan, 6. Bob Bliss, 7. Joel Baker, 8. Dave Lake, 9. Jeremy Munniksma, 10. Dave Hull, 11. Dennis Mann, 12. Josh Hobson, 13. Trever McCoy, 14. Brett DeKraker, 15. Weston Jewett, 16. Denny Anderson, 17. Kelsey Steele, 18. John Norder, 19. Cole Roelofs
SPORTSMAN – 1. Brian Tillema, 2. Tony Davis, 3. Scott Root, 4. Andrew MacIntosh, 5. Randy Veldman, 6. Mitch Meppelink, 7. Allen Davis, 8. Dave Cutler, 9. Tyler Nawrocki, 10. Jared Miller, 11. Gerry Shepard, 12. Tyler Sterken, 13. Mike Sherrington
4 CYLINDERS (15 LAPS) – 1. Mike Speet, 2. Zack Clark, 3. Jackson Walker, 4. Jason Essex, 5. Dave Duyst, 6. Todd Worden, 7. Kyle VanDrunen, 8. Rob Ream, 9. Seth VanHorssen, 10. Christian Wynbelt, 11. Steven Holtzlander, 12. Dan Schoenborn, 13. Jared Lyzenga, 14. Charlie DeJong, 15. Paul Ritchie, 16. Darrell Holtzlander, 17. Jake Loesch, 18. Dan Ream, 19. Rikki VanHorssen, 20. Jim Woltanski
HEAT WINNERS – Dave Hull, Andrew Nylaan, Bob Bliss (Super Stocks); Tony Davis, Scott Root (Sportsman); Mike Speet, Zack Clark, Jared Lyzenga (4 Cylinders)
FAST QUALIFIERS – Terry Senneker Jr. (Late Models) 104.286 mph, Seth Moody (Super Stocks) 92.060 mph, Tony Davis (Sportsman) 86.495 mph, Mike Speet (4 Cylinders) 77.944 mph
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