Marne, MI - It was a beautiful October day in Marne, a perfect end to the 2011 season. The CRA Super Series made their final appearance of the season, it was the Vintage Racing Organization of America's championship night and the fans were treated to creativity and innovation at its best with the Run What Ya Brung cars. Taking home the trophies at the end of the night were: Terry VanHaitsma (CRA Super Series), Don Deyman (Vintage Racing Organization of America), Greg Parr (Run What Ya Brung A), Cal Castle (Run What Ya Brung B) and Jason DeVos (Run What Ya Brung 4-Cylinder).
The first race on the schedule was the 20 lap Run What Ya Brung 4-Cylinder class with #11 Bob Kary and #2 Jeremy Gryka on the front row. The start of this race was a wild one with cars scattered all over the track, trying to gain all they could in the first few feet. Just as the field was coming to complete a lap, the caution was out for the #2 of Darrell Holtzlander spun in turn 4. After emerging from his car and showing his displeasure with another competitor, the incident was cleaned up and there was a complete restart. This start was just as wild as the first, cars going four wide at the start/finish lines. This time, it was the #77 of Ryan Hamm who was the leader with #14 of Jason DeVos hot on his heels and both of them started in the rear. Lap three, the second caution of the night came out, Hamm went off of the backstretch. He was able to rejoin the field and the race was restarted. DeVos was still leading after the restart and it was the #19 of Dave Avink and #41 Brandon Taipalus battling for second. The car on the move was Hamm; he started in the rear after bringing out the caution and made it back up to 6th on lap 6. The next time by, DeVos was lapping cars and the battle for third was heating up between Taipalus, #62 Charlie DeJong, #63 Paul Ritchie and Hamm. At halfway, DeVos had a 9 and a half second lead and with five to go, he had lapped up to the fifth position. DeVos was o a tear from start to finish with the big Sprint Car wing on his roof. He dominated the race and won by 18.470 seconds and left only 2 cars on the race track. The rest of the top ten were Avink, DeJong, Hamm, Ritchie, Taipalus, #14L Gary Larabee, #44 Nicole DeVos, Gryka and #94 Harley Farkle.
Up next was the 40 lap Run What Ya Brung A feature; #91 Tim Horvath and #11 Randy Day lead the field to the green flag. Day took off with the lead and Horvath was unable to keep up. It appeared that he was holding up the field. The #88 AJ Foote ran second, #M1 Marv Burroughs to third and #18 Denny Anderson was up to fourth. On lap 5, Foote was trying to hold off the hard-charging Burroughs. Burroughs was also the fast qualifier of the night clocking in at 14.542 seconds - 108.431 miles per hour! Day quickly found himself in traffic and the pack racing for second caught up to him and their close racing caused the first caution of the night involving the leaders. Once the track was clear, it was back to racing and things were about to get interesting. Burroughs took the lead from Day on the restart and Anderson was also able to get by. Burroughs was trying to pull away from the field, but Anderson was right there, pulled to his outside and took the lead on lap 14. There were problems on the Burroughs machine on lap 15, he pulled his car to the pits. This brought the #8 of Greg Parr up to second and it didn't take him long to reel in Anderson. While it took a few laps to get it done, Parr took the lead with authority on lap 26 and the next time by, he had put 1 second on Anderson. Anderson was able to catch up and close in and by lap 28, there were only two cars on the lead lap. The second caution of the race come on lap 30, Horvath had a flat tire. There were ten laps to go on the restart and Parr had put up the fastest lap of the race, clocking a 14.852. There was no catching Parr, he dominated the race and got the win by 6.851 seconds. The rest of the top ten were Anderson, #78 Will Olmsted, #76 Doug Rodenhisler, #P51 Scott Pemberton, #7D Tim Bullis, Horvath, Day and Burroughs.
The #29 of John Norder and #12 of Ben King were on the front row of the 15 lap Run What Ya Brung B feature and they were three wide from the get-go and that didn't end well for #7 Bob Shirk, he went off the backstretch, bringing out the caution and a complete restart. After the cars were reset, there was another caution out as the cars were coming to take the green flag; #48 Seth Moody and King got together and wrecked on the frontstretch. With only 3 cars left to race, the laps were cut to 4 laps and they started three-wide. The start was clean and it was the #21 of Cal Castle who took off with the lead; he kept the other two cars behind him and just four laps later, the race was over and it was Castle who took the checkered flag. Norder got second, Shirk third, King fourth and Moody finishing fifth.
The Vintage Racing Organization of America rolled next for a 25-lap feature with #82 Dave Cutler and #55 Jeff Barsen on the front row. It was #81 Andrew Bartoszek who was the leader and he was being chased down by #80 Billy Eppink when the first caution of the race came out for problems with the #7 of Jimmy Lawson. After a quick yellow, the race was restarted and this time it was #43 Terry Byrne who was mixing it up for the lead, he took it on lap two and proceeded to drive away from the field. The rest of the field was racing close and hard for every position and the pace slowed on lap 13 when the caution was out for Eppink, his car came to a stop on the frontstretch after a mechanical failure. The race tried to get restarted, but the caution was out, the #42 of Mike Becker spun in turn 3. The caution was out once again on the restart, leader, Byrne spun in turn 2. They were given one more chance at a double file start and they made it though without incident. The leader was the #20 of Don Deyman and he was being chased by Lawson. The pair ran nose to tail and Lawson was pushing hard to get by with 2 to go, but he broke loose and Deyman went on to get the win. The rest of the top ten were Lawson, #4 Larry Mollohan, Bartoszek, Becker, Barsen, #4X Arnie Snyder, Cutler, #9 Kristie Ouendag and #61 Jason Burrus.
The finale of the night was provided by the CRA Super Series 125 lap race and it was the #121 of Dave Lake and #61 John VanDoorn led the field to the green flag. VanDoorn wasted no time in his efforts to lead the first lap, he quickly jumped out to the lead once the field took the green flag. The top ten went single file as the rest of the field raced side by side. The #11 of Peter Cozzolino was trying all he could to wrestle second from Lake, he made the pass on lap 9 and #4 Derrick Griffin also got by. Lap 10 saw the #12 of Tim DeVos and #23 Chris Koslek make a little contact while racing hard for position and they were also both looking to get around Lake, which they both did by lap 12. A change for the lead happened on lap 13 when Cozzolino passed VanDoorn and the field then settled down as they had 107 laps left in the race. By lap 26, Cozzolino was putting cars a lap down and while in traffic, VanDoorn was able to get under him and take the lead just before the #00 of Joe Bush spun while racing with the leaders bringing out the first caution of the race on lap 38. On the restart, VanDoorn took off with the lead again and DeVos was trying hard to get around Cozzolino, however, Cozzolino had his sights set on taking the lead and he did just that on lap 45. Just after he reclaimed the lead, the caution was out again, this time due to the #84 of Jay Niewiek and #3 Andy Ponstein spinning in turn 3. VanDoorn was back to the lead on the restart, but it didn't take long for Cozzolino to reel him back in and take the lead using the outside lane. DeVos saw the line work and decided to use it to take the lead from Cozzolino on lap 51. DeVos then drove away from the field and left VanDoorn and Cozzolino slug it out for second and behind them battling for fourth were Griffin and #99 Ross Meeuwsen. The third caution of the night came on lap 62 involving #10 Josh Hobson and #101 Lauren Bush. VanDoorn took the lead on the restart, but it only took a handful of laps for DeVos to catch and pass hi for the lead on lap 65. DeVos pulled away again and this time it was Meeuwsen battling VanDoorn for second. Caution number four came out on lap 74, the #32 of Gabe Ensing went off the backstretch and this resulted in a red flag. As the field tried to get restarted, the #811 of Mason Mingus spun and L. Bush was also collected in that incident. DeVos took off with the lead after the restart and the left Meeuwsen and VanDoorn to battle for second. VanDoorn lost some ground and was passed by Griffin. On lap 81, VanDoorn was off the pace and ducked onto pit road and just as Meeuwsen was pushing DeVos hard for the lead, the caution was out for the #2 of Kenny Tweedy who spun in turn 2. DeVos and Meeuwsen continued to race hard on from the restart and while racing hard side by side, they made contact on lap 96. While they kept going without incident, this was also when the lap the sixth caution came out for the spinning car of #23 Chris Koslek in turn 3. DeVos maintained the lead and it was #21 of Terry VanHaitsma who ran second and while he was trying to chase down DeVos, caution was out again for Tweedy who had spun in turn 2. VanHaitsma was able to hang with DeVos on the restart; he took the lead from DeVos on lap 98 and the he pulled away from the field. Meeuwsen also got past DeVos for second and DeVos fell prey to the #55 of Chris Anthony. With ten laps to go, VanHaitsma caught the tail of the field and after getting around the slower cars with ease; he continued to pad his lead and went on to get his first CRA Super Series win. Completing the top ten were Meeuwsen, Anthony, DeVos, #5 Alec Carll, Griffin, #72 Scott Hantz, Cozzolino, #37 Jordan Dahlke and #82 Tom Thomas.
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