Marne, MI - With weather approaching, the decision was made to cut the heat races and shuffle the features around so the fans would get to see the CRA JEGS All Stars Tour. The rain held off long enough for everyone to see Mike Bursley take the checkered flag in the CRA JEGS All Stars Tour race; they also got to see Randy Veldman notch another in the win column in the Kerkstra Services Sportsman race.
The CRA JEGS All Stars Tour was up first for the 100-lap feature; #23 Chris Koslek and #101 Lauren Bush would lead the field to the stripe. Before a lap was complete, Bush spun on the backstretch in front of the field and cars were spinning off of the backstretch and across the track. Once the field was reset, Koslek got a good jump as Bush fell back to sixth. Koslek was able to break away from the field and the battle was on for second between #21 Terry VanHaitsma and #20 Mike Bursley. Bursley used the high lane to get around VanHaitsma and he had almost a two second lead to knock down. Ten laps in, the field was spread out and Koslek was just laps away from catching the field. The #54 of Daniel Hemric was looking to take second away from Bursley and he did just that as Koslek was in traffic. Lap 29 saw the first official caution of the race, the #25 of Anderson Bowen came to a stop at the top of the exit of turn 4. Koslek was able to maintain his lead on the restart, but Hemric was able to stay with him. There was a three-car breakaway on lap 35; the leaders we able to pull away from the field. After working on Koslek for a number of laps, Hemric was able to make the pass for the lead on lap 39. Bursley was looking to follow though, but Koslek wouldn't make it easy on him. They battled almost ten laps side by side before Bursley made the pass; he then began to run down Hemric who was coming up on heavy traffic. Lap 63 saw caution number two when Bush, #72 Tom Woodin and #04 Jerrod Foley got together at the exit of turn 4. This caution would allow Bursley to restart side by side with Hemric. Hemric was quick to keep the competition behind him, but with ten laps to go, Bursley was catching Hemric and they were running nose to tail. Bursley took the lead on lap 94 and he drove away from field to take the win. Hemric finished second and the rest of the top ten were #39 Kenzie Ruston, #99 Jordan Dahlke, Koslek, #4 Erik Jones, #25 Brent Downey, Bowen, VanHaitsma and #6 Brandon Hermiller.
The Kerkstra Services Sportsman 25-lap feature was up next with #18 Mitch Meppelink and #40 Dave Cutler on the front row. Cutler jumped on the lead and pulled out to almost two-seconds in front of second place while the field was racing hard behind him. The first caution of the race happened on lap 6 when Meppelink spun in turn 3. After the restart, it was #76 Brian Tillema who grabbed the lead, but just behind him were the cars of #1 Randy Veldman and #88 Tony Davis. Using the low lane, Veldman was making a run on Tillema, but it would have to wait as the caution flew on lap 16; #52 Nick Sherrington's car was smoking. Veldman took the lead on the restart and just one lap later, the caution was out again, this time for the #09 of Tyler Sterken who spun across the frontstretch. Veldman was able to pull away from the field after the restart, but on lap 21, the rain finally showed up in Marne, forcing the end of the race and of the night.
Next Saturday, August 11, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will invade Berlin Raceway and they will be joined by the Kerkstra Service Sportsman and the Vintage Racing Organization of America. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the event for adults while kids 11 and under get in for free; racing starts at 7:00 p.m.
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Lisa Walker
Berlin Raceway
lwalker@berlinraceway.com
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