Brian Campbell wins the ARCA CRA Super Series 125

Brian Campbell wins the ARCA CRA Super Series 125
-Tony Davis, Ryan Hamm and Samantha Jansen also victorious-

Marne, MI - The ARCA CRA Super Series returned to Berlin Raceway this Saturday and brought with them a whopping 43 car field. It was Brian Campbell who went home with the victory and also winners on the night were Ryan Hamm (Model Coverall Modified), Tony Davis (Kerkstra Services Sportsman) and Samantha Jansen (Vintage Racing Organization of America).

The ARCA CRA Super Series last chance races started the night off. Due to the high car count, two 15-lap last chance races were run and the drivers who advanced to the 125-lap feature were: Billy Leslie, Steve Dorer, Lee VanDyk and Mark Lambert. The rest of the cars would be lined up for a B-feature.

The ARCA CRA Consi was the first race up after the heat races with #26 Rick Turner and #7 Jason Dietsch on the front row for the 30-lap race. Turner had no problem keeping the lead, but it was Dietsch under fire from #2 of Kenny Tweedy. They raced side by side for a lap before Tweedy took the position on lap 2. The field then settled in to single-file racing until the first caution of the race came out on lap 6 for #94 Ryan Inman, he spun and hit the wall in between turns three and four. Tweedy took the lead on the restart and with ten laps in to the race, the top three ran nose to tail. Behind the leaders, #101 Lauren Bush was challenging #26 Chris Muyskens for fourth; she took it on lap 13 and then began reeling in the leaders. With ten laps to go, Bush muscled past Dietsch for third and then tried to fiend a line to get around Turner. Bush and Turner raced side by side for two laps before she got past him and then eyed the leader. With two laps to go, Bush pulled to the inside of Tweedy in turn 1, but she spun on the frontstretch bringing out the caution. This set up a green-white-checker; Turner grabbed the lead with one to go and held on for the win. The rest of the top five were Dietsch, Tweedy, Muyskens, #65 Johnny Jenkins, #99 Fred Hopkins.

The Model Coverall Modified were next, #68 Randy DeBoer and #7 Ryan Hamm led the field to the green flag of the 30-lap feature. Hamm took the lead, but the caution flew just after the first lap was completed for the #29 of Rob Shoemaker. After the restart, Hamm took off with #22 Billy Shotko on his tail. It wasn't long before Hamm started pulling away, but by lap ten, Shotko was catching back up. The lead was erased when the caution came out, #97 Kevin DeGood spun on the backstretch. On the restart, Shotko was trying to get around Hamm, he tried high and low, but Hamm kept besting him. Ten laps to go, they were still playing cat-and-mouse and with five to go, the #66 of Adam Chase joined the game. No one would get around Hamm, though, he got his second win of the season and the rest of the top ten were Shotko, Chase, #76 Ryan Gruppen, DeBoer, #67 Ben Welch, DeGood, #80 Samantha Jansen, Shoemaker, #20 Jeff Vrsek, #8 Billy Eppink and #21 Cal Castle.

The 25-lap Kerkstra Services Sportsman feature was next with #76 Brian Tillema on the pole and #77 Gerry Shepard on his outside. Tillema took off with the lead, but the caution was out before a lap was complete; Shepard spun on the backstretch. One the field was restarted, Tillema pulled away again. His closed challenger was #89 Kirk Meissner and he was almost one second behind. The pace of the race was slowed on lap 5 when the second caution of the race came out for the #18 of Mitch Meppelink spinning in turn 3. As the field was coming to take the flag on the restart, #15 Scott Root, #33 Allen Davis went three-wide with Meissner and it didn't end well for Meissner. After contact with Root, Meissner ended up in the turn 1 wall. On the restart, Tillema tired to get a jump on the field again, but #88 Tony Davis was able to get to second and he wasn't letting Tillema get away. It took him six laps to catch up to Tillema's rear quarter panel. They raced side by side for laps 13 and 14, but the two made contact and Davis backed off a bit. On lap 16, Davis was back, side by side with Tillema and the stayed that way for five laps. Davis grabbed the lead on lap 21 and Tillema was fighting back on the outside, but he was being challenged by #F1 Randy Veldman. Veldman overtook Tillema for second and Davis went on to get the win. The rest of the top ten were Veldman, Tillema, Root, #40 Dace Cutler, #26 Brian Thome, Shepard, #9 Tyler Sterken, #33 Allen Davis and #84 Tyler Nawrocki.

Up next was the 125-lap ARCA CRA Super Series event; #6 Brandon Hermiller and #222 Caleb Bisacky on the front row. Bisacky grabbed the lead after the green flag fell and with the top four single file, the next battle was between #99 Ross Meeuwsen and #01 Travis Braden; Meeuwsen got the advantage. The car on the move was the #48 of Seth Moody who was using the high lane to get around his competitors. Lap 14 saw the first caution of the race for a three-car pile-up between turns three and four involving #76 Nate Caruth, #18 Mark Lambert and #90 Steve Dorer. Moody was still moving up after the restart, he made it up to fourth by lap 16 and was all over the back of #20 Brian Campbell's bumper. Twenty-five laps in, Campbell was challenging Hermiller for second, but Moody was looking to get third from Campbell and no one was able to make a move. The second caution came on lap 33, #19 Nick Szotko spun coming out of turn 4. Bisacky and Hermiller got single file after the restart, and they were stacked two by two behind them. Campbell was trying his best to shake off Moody, but Moody was strong on the outside. Campbell was finally able to clear him then on lap 41, he took second from Hermiller. Four laps later, Moody was up to third and Hermiller was shuffled back to sixth at the hands of #4 Erik Jones and #61 John VanDoorn. By half way, the leaders were at the tail of the field and started lapping cars. The #4 of Erik Jones had been working over Moody for third and once he took the position, there was a long green flag run. The third caution came out on lap 87; Szotko was trying to rejoin the field and couldn't get fired, he came to a stop on the frontstretch. With the double-file restarts, Bisacky and Campbell started side by side, Campbell had the advantage and cleared Bisacky for the lead on lap 88. The fourth caution came out the next time by, the #11 of Peter Cozzolino spun in turn three. After the restart, Campbell was skating away because Jones was challenging Bisacky for second with #99 Ross Meeuwsen lurking in fourth. With 30 laps to go, Campbell's lead was just under one second and seven laps later, the caution was out again. Just as the field got going, the caution was out; #51 Becca Kasten came to a stop at the bottom of turn 3. The restart came with 25 laps to go, Campbell drove away again and Bisacky, Jones, Meeuwsen and #21 Terry VanHaitsma were entrenched in a battle for second. Jones was the first to clear and he was on a mission to cut in to Campbell's lead. Meeuwsen and VanHaitsma had a fierce battle going on for fourth and after contact on lap 104, VanHaitsma ended up spinning across the frontstretch. It was Jones who took the lead on the restart , but Campbell was battling back on the inside and took the lead back. Jones dropped to the inside and tried to copy the maneuver, but Campbell was able to pull away with ten to go. Lap 114 saw #55 Dave Lake slap the turn 3 wall, he was able to limp to the pit area without incident. With two laps to go, Jones made contact with Campbell and they were side by side coming to the white flag. Jones was trying everything he could to get by, but Campbell was the first one to the stripe. Jones had to settle for second and the rest of the top ten were Braden, Bisacky, #5 Alec Carll, VanDoorn, #82 Tom Thomas, VanHaitsma, #39 Kenzie Ruston and Meeuwsen.

The Vintage Racing Association of America made their first appearance on the season and their 25-lap feature; #16 Rob Parker and #30 Max Wirebaugh were on the front row for the final race of the night. Before a lap was complete, the caution was out, #55 Jeff Barsen spun and collected #20 Don Deyman, #42 Mike Becker, #7 Jimmy Lawson and #11 Lou Caposey. #80 Glenn Parker got the lead on the restart with Caposey on his outside, but on lap three #16 Samantha Jansen took the lead, but caution was out on lap 5 for the spinning car of #83 Loren Peterson. Jansen took off with the lead again after the restart. The battle for third was heating up on lap 12 between #42 Terry Byrne and Deyman. Deyman got by Byrne and the pair were all over Wirebaugh for second. The #59 of John Evans spun coming out of turn 4 on lap 16 bringing out another caution. Once the field was restarted, Deyman challenged Jansen, but once she took the lead, there was no stopping her. Jansen picked up with win and the rest of the top ten were Deyman, Parker, Byrne, Wirebaugh, #61 Jason Burrus, #4 Don Smith, Evans, Peterson and Barsen.

Join us next Saturday, May 19 when the Coors Light Super Late Models do battle and are joined with the Engine Pro Super Stocks, Model Coverall Modifieds, Burnips Equipment 4-Cylinders and the Vintage Racing Organization of America. There will also be $1 beer and $1 hot dogs all night long! Tickets are $12 for adults, kids 11 and under are free; races start at 7:00 p.m.

For more information visit www.berlinraceway.com or call the office at 616.677.5000. Hours are Tuesday - Friday 9am - 5pm.