Marne, MI – Over the Fourth of July week/weekend, Berlin Raceway had some exciting races, starting their engines in the blinding sun and smoldering humidity. There was a huge turnout of fans celebrating in the stands as they awaited an enticing night of competition and crashes.
The Vintage Racing Organization of America (VROA) began the day with a few heat races, which last eight laps each. Gary “Buzz” Storm in the #2 won the first. In the second, there was a close run back and forth between the #39 (Loren Peterson III), #82 (Cody Lein), and the #83 (Brian Beukema) with Loren managing to hold onto the lead at the end. Having the best for last, Dave Sensiba in the #49 was able to quickly break away from the pack in the fastest car.
Next up, there was the intense Superstock Feature. Brian VanZalen (#44) ran by Allen Davis (#33) side by side from the inside until the #88 Tony Davis was spun out with little damage by Joe Moody in the black #48. As Joe moved to the back, Will Olmsted (#78) raced into 2nd after the restart in an intense battle for first, but another caution was called again in Turn 4 due to multiple cars colliding.
As the dust and smoke settled, aggressive racing in the next several laps from the other #48 on the track, Seth Moody, led to the #33 spinning in Turn 1 on Lap 23 along with the #15 Scott Root and #5 Brian Tillema. The crowd cheered on as the watched a fight almost break out on the big screen between Seth and Allen, who was understandably frustrated by the turn of events. This accident took a long time to take care of and dark clouds rolled in.
Starting back up, the #78 was in front, followed by Tony Davis (#88) and Bob Bliss (#98). However, not long after restarting, the #88 was unable to finish the race when he got hammered into the wall. A few drops of rain came and went while the wrecked car was towed away.
Bob Bliss had a good chance to be the oldest winner of a feature at Berlin Raceway, recently turning 70 years old, fighting against the #48 Joe Moody before losing it in Turn 2, which possibly caused by a flat tire that slowed him down. Joe Moody ended up winning the race with Tyler Sterken (#9) in second and Ronnie Smith (#31) in third.
To continue the action, the Compact 4-Cylinder series had a couple of heat races. The #57 Corey Woods was mostly leading in the first but was ultimately passed by the #10 Jacob Albright on the last lap. In the second heat race, the #66 Jacob Gustafson was able to catch up and beat the #27 Alex Ruiter at the end.
The VROA had their Feature immediately afterward with a hit happening right on Turn 1 between two cars on Lap 5. The wind picked up all the sudden, taking away most of the heat from earlier, which even made a random napkin fly high up in the air and over the tall trees behind us; many people noticed it and laughed as the drank to craft beer. #49 Dave Sensiba continued his amazing run by dominating this race as well, having almost half the track to himself away from everyone else.
After the celebration in victory lane, a heavy downpour forced everyone to retreat underneath the bleachers and into buildings, soaking everything in a matter of minutes. Kids were playing in the water puddles as many started to leave around 9 pm. It was bad enough to cancel the rest of the races for the night and the fireworks show that was supposed to take place to finish off the event.
It is currently unknown as of this writing if this will be rescheduled for another time, but there will be a Ladies’ Night at Berlin Raceway where women can enter for free on July 13th with gates opening at 3 pm and the green flag waving at 6:30 pm.
Written by Amanda Greene
Photos by Amanda Greene
