By Steve Kaminski | The Grand Rapids Press
March 28, 2010, 12:05AM
WALKER -- Competitors often praised driver Dave Sensiba during the Arena Racing Series season for the guidance he gave young drivers.
Apparently, Sensiba didn’t tell them all of his secrets.
Sensiba, of Middleville, locked up the circuit’s season championship at the season finale at DeltaPlex Arena on Saturday night. All Sensiba needed to secure the title was to start the 50-lap Top Dog feature. He finished third in the race, behind winner Brandon Hermiller of Grand Rapids and runner-up Mitch Meppelink of Zeeland.
It has been 25 years since Sensiba last celebrated a championship, having won Sportsman titles at Berlin Raceway and Kalamazoo Speedway in 1985. He has kept busy the past two decades racing in the defunct AC Delco Challenge Series, as well as driving Late Models across West Michigan, never staying at one track to run for points.
But Sensiba dedicated his efforts to winning an indoor title, and he led the point standings from the season’s start to finish. Sensiba, who received a $10,000 bonus for the championship, opened the season by winning the first three Top Dog features, and no one was able to run him down.
“We started out good, but you have to finish,” said Sensiba, who won six of the 15 features. “We have had some bad luck -- breaking a motor, breaking a clutch a couple of weeks ago. We had two drops, but that’s all we needed because we broke twice. We come out to race to win, and we let the points fall where they fall.
“It’s special. The guys who work on the crew haven’t experienced anything like this. I have won championships at Berlin and Kalamazoo, but this is neat because it’s the first time in the series for me.”
West Catholic’s Hermiller, 17, won his second consecutive Top Dog race. Hermiller was running second to Meppelink when caution waved on lap 34, bunching up the field. Meppelink took the inside groove and Hermiller was able to drive around him one lap after the race went green.
“If (Meppelink) would have taken the outside, he would have won,” said Hermiller, who won four Young Guns feature races at Berlin last summer. “I don’t know why, but whenever we take the outside in practice, we have trouble passing. But whenever we get in the race, I don’t know what happens, but I just hold it down to the floor and it goes.”
Also winning features were Aaron Langlois in the 50-lap C Main. Sensiba won the A feature.
Quarter Midgets raced as well, and Cole Listerman of Ionia, Chase Ridenair of Perry, Nate Frazier of Mattawan, Rachel Carpenter of Laingsburg and Uriah Hale of Jackson won features.
