Marne, MI - Snow fell from the skies Saturday morning before fans entered the gates at the west Michigan Berlin Raceway. That didn't stop a decent crowd from turning out to enjoy the Icebreaker on Saturday featuring a full line-up of racing including from the Sportsman, Limited Late Models, Compacts, and the Icebreaker 75 which closed out the evening of racing. A 4:00 PM start time helped as fans were in their seats ready to watch when practice began at 2:00 PM.
Charlotte, MI native, Tanner Tallarico rolled from the inside of row 3 on the first Sportsman race of the season, and used his preferred inside line to work his way into the lead. Just after the halfway mark, Tallarico worked his way by the No.17 of Dennis Holtzlander to take the top spot. With five laps to go, Josh Fry closed in on Tallarico but couldn't find a way around him and Tallarico collected his first career win at Berlin. Holtzlander held on for third ahead of Kevin Ford and Scott Baker who rounded out the top five.
Cautions plagued Sportsman race number two and defending track champion, Brian Thome took advantage of his row two starting spot to gather the win ahead of Josh Fry, Baker, Tallarico, and Holtzlander.
In Limited Late Models, the first race was for the most part clean and green. Nick Delongpre survived two restarts and put on a clinic in his No.5 leading from the drop of the green flag to take the win. Josh Fry, Billy Eppink, Tim Green, and Tim DeVos rounded out the top five.
Race number two for the Limited Late Models was a caution fest, with the final lap of the race being held up on three different occasions and the first caution of the race coming before turn one. in the end, Tim DeVos, who started fourth, collected another win at Berlin Raceway, a place where he hold over 100 wins. Tim Greene, Matt Postma, Josh Fry, and Adam Casari rounded out the top five.
Compact features were won by David Simpson who started eighth in the first feature, and Luke Boama who came from 10th to get the season-opening win in feature number two.
As the sun began to descend toward the trees on the backstretch of Berlin Raceway, 24 cars rolled to the grid for the Icebreaker 75. Brian Bergakker set fast time earlier in the afternoon and thanks to the invert rolled from the 9th starting spot. Chase Pinsonneault and Brian Campbell led the field to the green flag with Campbell taking the early advantage.
As Campbell led, company was headed to the front in the likes of Austin Hull and Evan Shotko. Around lap 30, Hull was there and searching for a way to get around Campbell with Shotko carving his way from 8th, learking in the distance. On lap 33 as Campbell exited turn two, Hull drove to the inside and got loose, spinning up into Campbell sending the pair for a long slide down the backstretch. That handed things directly to Shotko and his No.22.
On the restart, Shotko fired from the field and opened up a sizeable gap over Kyle Crump in his new Tim Currey No.90. A handful of cautions flew down the stretch, including an incident in turn 4 that resulted in Campbell and Hull backed into the wall. Campbell said after the race they were both victims of someone else's decision and it had nothing to do with what happened in turn two; he says he and hull are "good".
A restart with nine laps to go offered Crump an opportunity to overtake Shotko, but Shotko was simply too good and pulled away and to the win. Crump settled for second ahead of Joe Bush, who was unable to qualify due to a mechanical issue and gained 21 spots during the race to round out the podium. Chase Burda and Blake Rowe rounded out the top five.
The next event for Berlin Raceway is the West Michigan 100 featuring the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance as the rebuilding Pro Late Model Tour opens their 2024 season. Racing begins on Saturday, April 27th at 4:00 PM.
Full Results:
Super Late Models:
Limited Late Models:
Sportsman:
Compacts:
Story - Zach Hiser
Photo - Zach Hiser