Coopersville's Johnny VanDoorn pounces early, late to win Battle at Berlin
Battle at Berlin 251 winner Johnny VanDoorn of Coopersville fields questions from track announcer Chris Danielson prior to Saturday night's action. (Eli Kaminski | MLive.com)
By on July 19, 2014 at 11:15 PM, updated July 19, 2014 at 11:21 PM
MARNE – Coopersville driver Johnny VanDoorn finished what he started Saturday night at the Berlin Raceway.
VanDoorn dominated the first half of Saturday’s Battle at Berlin 251, and while he lost a bit of his edge during the race’s second half, he was ready to pounce when the money was on the line.
VanDoorn overtook leader Andrew Pollard of Georgia on a lap 241 restart, then drove away in his LisaThomassalon.com Chevrolet for the win. VanDoorn earned $10,000 for the victory after beating Pollard to the stripe by 1.824 seconds.
"I can't thank my crew guys enough for giving me such a great car," VanDoorn said. "They made good adjustments the whole race. I knew I had to be a little patient there after getting shuffled back after the first stop. In the past, I would get a little too aggressive, so I waited until it was right, and when I got inside of him on the restart, we had really good traction off the corner. Once we got underneath Bubba, it was game over from there.
"Once I got into clean air, the handling of the car came back."
Saturday’s race has 37 qualifiers, with 26 making the starting field. VanDoorn, a three-time series champion and Saturday’s defending race winner, served notice early that he was the driver to beat when he set fast time in the afternoon’s qualifying session with a lap of 97.195 mph. That put him on the pole alongside Cutlerville’s Jay Niewiek (96.956), and when the green flag dropped more than three hours later, VanDoorn’s domination began. VanDoorn had lapped all but seven cars when caution waved at lap 139.
The race’s second half proved to be much more competitive, with Pollard, Terry Senneker Jr. and Brian Campbell all taking turns lead the way, while Ross Meeuwsen and Brandon Hermiller remained in the hunt. But the race came down to the final restart with 10 laps to go.
The race was only the third start of the season for VanDoorn. He and his brother, Butch VanDoorn, opened their own race shop this past November, so he has been busy on the fabrication side of the sport.
Senneker had the lead on the lead when cars started spinning on the backstretch on lap 226. Senneker slowed up before caution waved and was overtaken by Daniel Hemric. He never did regain the lead and eventually finished fourth behind runner-up Pollard and third-place Meeuwsen.
“Up in the spotter’s stand they called the caution,” Senneker said. “My spotter immediately said, ‘Caution, caution.’ Before they hit the trigger on the flag stand to trigger the yellow, I let off and got passed. I feel it was partially their fault because they called the caution up there. The drivers can’t see the lights all the times because there is such a gap, so you go by the spotter’s call. I guess it was an unlucky break.”
Berlin’s Sportsman division served on Saturday’s undercard, and Garrison Jewett, making his start of the season, won the 40-lap main after taking the lead from Allen Davis on lap 12. Jewett pulled away to a comfortable lead, only to see it wiped out when caution fell with two laps to go. But Jewett nailed the restart and went on to beat out Brian Thome and Tyler Nawrocki.
Jewett shares the driving duties with his brother, Weston Jewett, who has already won twice this year.
“We are just doing this for fun, so it typically stays in the trailer,” Jewett said. “Whoever wants to race that weekend races it, so we share it. We don’t do it for points. We want the checkered flags, but more than anything, we do it for weekend fun.”
Berlin will celebrate its 64th anniversary program next Saturday with a program of Outlaw Late Models, Sportsman, 4 Cylinders and the traveling Vintage Racing Organization of America.
VanDoorn dominated the first half of Saturday’s Battle at Berlin 251, and while he lost a bit of his edge during the race’s second half, he was ready to pounce when the money was on the line.
VanDoorn overtook leader Andrew Pollard of Georgia on a lap 241 restart, then drove away in his LisaThomassalon.com Chevrolet for the win. VanDoorn earned $10,000 for the victory after beating Pollard to the stripe by 1.824 seconds.
"I can't thank my crew guys enough for giving me such a great car," VanDoorn said. "They made good adjustments the whole race. I knew I had to be a little patient there after getting shuffled back after the first stop. In the past, I would get a little too aggressive, so I waited until it was right, and when I got inside of him on the restart, we had really good traction off the corner. Once we got underneath Bubba, it was game over from there.
"Once I got into clean air, the handling of the car came back."
Saturday’s race has 37 qualifiers, with 26 making the starting field. VanDoorn, a three-time series champion and Saturday’s defending race winner, served notice early that he was the driver to beat when he set fast time in the afternoon’s qualifying session with a lap of 97.195 mph. That put him on the pole alongside Cutlerville’s Jay Niewiek (96.956), and when the green flag dropped more than three hours later, VanDoorn’s domination began. VanDoorn had lapped all but seven cars when caution waved at lap 139.
The race’s second half proved to be much more competitive, with Pollard, Terry Senneker Jr. and Brian Campbell all taking turns lead the way, while Ross Meeuwsen and Brandon Hermiller remained in the hunt. But the race came down to the final restart with 10 laps to go.
The race was only the third start of the season for VanDoorn. He and his brother, Butch VanDoorn, opened their own race shop this past November, so he has been busy on the fabrication side of the sport.
Senneker had the lead on the lead when cars started spinning on the backstretch on lap 226. Senneker slowed up before caution waved and was overtaken by Daniel Hemric. He never did regain the lead and eventually finished fourth behind runner-up Pollard and third-place Meeuwsen.
“Up in the spotter’s stand they called the caution,” Senneker said. “My spotter immediately said, ‘Caution, caution.’ Before they hit the trigger on the flag stand to trigger the yellow, I let off and got passed. I feel it was partially their fault because they called the caution up there. The drivers can’t see the lights all the times because there is such a gap, so you go by the spotter’s call. I guess it was an unlucky break.”
Berlin’s Sportsman division served on Saturday’s undercard, and Garrison Jewett, making his start of the season, won the 40-lap main after taking the lead from Allen Davis on lap 12. Jewett pulled away to a comfortable lead, only to see it wiped out when caution fell with two laps to go. But Jewett nailed the restart and went on to beat out Brian Thome and Tyler Nawrocki.
Jewett shares the driving duties with his brother, Weston Jewett, who has already won twice this year.
“We are just doing this for fun, so it typically stays in the trailer,” Jewett said. “Whoever wants to race that weekend races it, so we share it. We don’t do it for points. We want the checkered flags, but more than anything, we do it for weekend fun.”
Berlin will celebrate its 64th anniversary program next Saturday with a program of Outlaw Late Models, Sportsman, 4 Cylinders and the traveling Vintage Racing Organization of America.
