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Featured
Photo
The Rick Utting family enjoyed an outing to Berlin Raceway to watch
Johnny race.
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Keep up with what is happening with Johnny and the #23 team ... Bill Davis
Racing Team.
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Second-generation ARCA RE/MAX Series
racer Brian Keselowski, in the no.
29 Holloway Motorsports-Dusty's
Collision Dodge, held off late-races
charges from veteran Frank Kimmel
and rookie Blake Bjorklund to earn
his career-first victory in the Sara
Lee-GFS Marketplace 200 Saturday
night at Berlin Raceway.
Ironically, Keselowski's father and
1989 ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Bob
Keselowski, who crew-chiefed his son
during the race, won his first ARCA
race at Berlin in 1986, 20 years
earlier.
“This is my first ever win ever in
anything,” said Keselowski. “I won a
heat race a couple of times at
Toledo in a Late Model when I won my
track championship there but a
feature win is always a special
thing."
Results
"We’ve come so close, yet it’s
always been so far away. I really
have to thank Holloway Motorsports
for helping me out this year and
my dad and my mom. They were
always there with me and it’s
always been a family thing for us,
it continues to be a family thing.
We’re struggling with some
sponsorship trying to make it a
full time deal, just doing
everything we can and to pull out
a win here at Berlin is just
amazing.”
Kimmel’s role in the closing laps
was the result of some luck, both
good and bad, in the opening
laps.
“We had a little mishap on pit
road early on, but we were able to
correct the problem and get back
in contention,” said Kimmel, who
finished second, two lengths
away. “The car was a little tight
in the corners, but we expected
that with this race track. But I’m
so happy for Brian (Keselowski)
and the entire Keselowski family
for the win tonight. They’re a
wonderful family and really worked
hard for that win. We got lucky on
some of those cautions.”
During Kimmel’s first pit stop,
the crew mistakenly crossed the
front tires putting the intended
right-side tire on the left, and
vice versa, which ultimately gave
the car a bad push. Fortunately
for Kimmel, the caution flag,
which flew frequently throughout
the night, came out shortly after
the pit road miscue allowing the
seven-time series champion to fix
the problem without going a lap
down.
In the later stages, Keselowski,
on fresher tires, ran down Kimmel
with 50 laps remaining and made
the winning pass on the 156th lap
of the 200-lap race. Soon
thereafter, Justin Allgaier also
drove around Kimmel for second as
Kimmel, on older tires, continued
to lose ground.
Then another caution came out on
lap 162 when Kimmel’s teammate
Ryan Foster spun Tim Mitchell, who
was already five laps down. That
allowed Kimmel to come down pit
road under caution and bolt on
four new tires to make his final
charge back to the front.
With less than five laps
remaining, Kimmel had maneuvered
his way into third behind
Keselowski and Bjorklund. The
three machines raced inches apart
before one final caution appeared
setting the stage for the
thrilling three-lap green flag run
to the finish.
On the final restart, Kimmel
charged around Bjorklund for
second before Bjorklund battled
right back to challenge. Kimmel
and Bjorklund then rubbed fenders
on the final lap allowing
Keselowski to strengthen his
lead.
Although Kimmel settled for
second, he gained enough points to
pass Bobby Gerhart in the national
championship points battle.
Gerhart finished 15th, four laps
down after changing a battery on
pit road.
Rookie-of-the-Year contender
Bjorklund, who earned his career
first Pork Pole award earlier in
the day, tied his career-best
finish in third.
“We probably could have won,” said
Bjorklund. “We just needed a long
run. Still, we’re excited for this
finish and with the Pork Pole
award we earned earlier. The crew
did a great job giving me a good
car. The No. 32 Dodge was great on
long runs and I had no problems
driving through traffic.”
The 20-year-old Isanti, Minnesota
driver dominated the first half of
the race, leading a total of 84
laps, and then battled back from a
late-race spin to challenge for
the win.
Lansing, Michigan’s Gary Sherman
finished a career best fourth in
the No. 62 Bullett
Motorsports-Cleary Motorsports
Chevrolet.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Sherman.
“The car was alright. It was a
little bit better earlier but we
were fighting a tight condition
all night and it just got worse
after that last pit stop.”
Ken Weaver, in his own Phoneco/1-800-4-A-Phone
Dodge, finished fifth after
leading 38 laps.
“I had a great evening,” said
Weaver. “We did exactly what we
wanted to do. We got a top-five
finish and we brought the car home
in one piece.”
The race took one hour and 51
seconds to complete and was slowed
by the caution flag 10 times for
72 total laps. A lap five incident
on the front stretch early on
collected Jim Hollenbeck, Bryan
Silas, Billy Leslie, Billy
Venturini, Ryan Howard, Chuck
Weber and Norm Benning. There were
no injuries.
Keselowski’s father earned the SK
Hand Tool Crew Chief of the Race
award.
Rookie-of-the-Year contender
Foster, who finished eighth after
starting 22nd, earned Hoosier Tire
Hard Charger honors. Bjorklund
earned the Hurst Fastest Lap of
the Race award and was the
Highest-Finishing Rookie.
The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX
Series is the Pennsylvania 200 at
Pocono Raceway LIVE on SPEED
Saturday, July 22 at 1 pm
eastern.
TOP-10 ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS
AFTER BERLIN (7-15-06)
1) Frank Kimmel 2560; 2) Bobby
Gerhart 2545; 3) Ken Weaver
2240; 4) Damon Lusk 2220; 5)
Ryan Foster 2175; 6) Chuck Weber
2070; 6) Brett Rowe 2070; 8)
Ryan Howard 2055; 9) Billy
Venturini 2020; 10) Todd Bowsher
1990.
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Victory Lane
ORP
July 25, 2008
Kentucky
July 19, 2008
Milwaukee
June 20, 2008
Berger
Chevrolet
Check Out
Berlin Raceway
Results
Berlin Raceway
Racing Broadcast on 92.5 - The Outlaw
Click Here
to listen on
the web
Berlin Raceway
Hall of Fame
John Benson Sr.
Harry Obie
Bob Knight
Gail Cobb
Ralph Baker
Jimmy Meyer
The Mysliwiec's
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2008
Craftsman Truck Schedule
|
02/15 |
Daytona |
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02/23 |
California |
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03/07 |
Atlanta |
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03/29 |
Martinsville |
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04/26 |
Kansas |
|
05/16 |
Lowes |
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05/24 |
Mansfield |
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05/30 |
Dover |
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06/06 |
Texas |
|
06/14 |
MIS |
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06/20 |
Milwaukee |
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06/28 |
Memphis |
|
07/19 |
Kentucky |
|
07/25 |
Indy |
|
08/09 |
Nashville |
|
08/20 |
Bristol |
|
09/06 |
Gateway |
|
09/13 |
Loudon |
|
09/20 |
Las Vegas |
|
10/04 |
Talladega |
|
10/18 |
Martinsville |
|
10/25 |
Atlanta |
|
10/31 |
Texas |
|
11/07 |
Phoenix |
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11/14 |
Homestead |
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2008
Nationwide
Schedule |
|
02/16 |
Daytona |
|
02/23 |
California |
|
03/01 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/08 |
Atlanta |
|
03/15 |
Bristol |
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03/22 |
Nashville |
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04/05 |
Texas |
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04/11 |
Phoenix |
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04/20 |
Mexico |
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04/26 |
Talladega |
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05/02 |
Richmond |
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05/09 |
Darlington |
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05/24 |
Lowes |
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05/31 |
Dover |
|
06/07 |
Nashville |
|
06/14 |
Kentucky |
|
06/21 |
Milwaukee |
|
06/28 |
New Hampshire |
|
07/04 |
Daytona |
|
07/11 |
Chicago |
|
07/19 |
Gateway |
|
07/26 |
Indy |
|
08/02 |
Montreal |
|
08/09 |
Watkins Glen |
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08/16 |
Michigan |
|
08/22 |
Bristol |
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08/30 |
California |
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09/05 |
Richmond |
|
09/20 |
Dover |
|
09/27 |
Kansas |
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10/10 |
Lowes |
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10/25 |
Memphis |
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11/01 |
Texas |
|
11/08 |
Phoenix |
|
11/15 |
Miami |
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2008
Sprint Cup
Schedule |
|
02/17 |
Daytona |
|
02/24 |
California |
|
03/02 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/09 |
Atlanta |
|
03/16 |
Bristol |
|
03/30 |
Martinsville |
|
04/06 |
Texas |
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04/12 |
Phoenix |
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04/27 |
Talladega |
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05/03 |
Richmond |
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05/10 |
Darlington |
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05/25 |
Lowes |
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06/01 |
Dover |
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06/08 |
Pocono |
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06/15 |
MIS |
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06/22 |
Sonoma |
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06/29 |
New Hampshire |
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07/05 |
Daytona |
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07/12 |
Chicago |
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07/27 |
Indy |
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08/03 |
Pocono |
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08/10 |
Watkins Glen |
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08/17 |
MIS |
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08/23 |
Bristol |
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08/31 |
California |
|
09/06 |
Richmond |
|
09/14 |
Loudon |
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09/21 |
Lowes |
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09/28 |
Kansas |
|
10/05 |
Talladega |
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10/11 |
Lowes |
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10/19 |
Martinsville |
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10/26 |
Atlanta |
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11/02 |
Texas |
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11/09 |
Phoenix |
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11/16 |
Miami |
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2008
JB's Berlin
Schedule |
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August 2nd |
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September 27th |
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