MichiganCircleTrack.com is the online home of the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene and MARCTimesTV.

 
The fourth stop of the Michigan Circle Track Sim-Racing League pre-season took the drivers to the 7/16th mile track at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.
 
It was a rough and tumble night for the fourteen drivers in attendance as they quickly discovered unexpected grip issues at both ends of the track. "In real life this is a fun track to drive." said last week's MCT-SRL winner Craig Curtis, driver of the #74 Monster Energy/Lane Automotive Pontiac. "There are definitely a couple of issues that need to be corrected in the corners for this version of the track." In a nutshell it was as if there were a few small puddles of oil low in the corners that were in desperate need of some dry-sweep.
 
Joining the race was Orlando Florida Super Late Model racer Mark Adams. Adams, a long time Sim-Racer, had an impressive showing his first time out in the MCT-SRL, leading 41 of the 175 laps and eventually going on to win the event. Curtis, who took the pole at last week's Kalamazoo race, again sat on the pole position with a lap of 15.378 seconds (102.419 MPH). I was able to put my Ultra Tuff sponsored Dodge next to Curtis on the front row with a 15.431 second (102.067 MPH) qualifying lap. My good fortune was extremely short lived however as I blew the shift coming out of turn two at the start of the race. The error left me running in third gear for the duration of the event. 
 
Curtis led the parade until lap 44 when he wobbled a bit in turn two, allowing the #64 of John Hernly from Lansing, MI to squeeze underneath him. Three laps later the exact opposite situation occurred and Curtis reclaimed the lead from Hernly. Later, on lap 58, Curtis hit one of the “oil” spots in turn four sending him for a spin and bringing out the yellow flag. Hernly’s #64 was again the leader and Curtis was relegated to the fourth place position on the restart. This set in motion a series of mishaps for #74 that would haunt Curtis the rest of the night.
 
On lap 97, Mark Adams in the #28 was able to sneak under the #64 of Hernly coming down the back stretch. Adams completed the pass as they came out of turn four. Adams led Hernly until lap 126 when the yellow flew after Curtis got into the #91 of Doug TerMeer right at the start-finish line. Adams used the opportunity to take a fresh set of tires, handing over the lead to Kalamazoo’s Phil Loedeman in the #0 who had elected to stay out. On the subsequent restart, Rudyard, MI’s Mark Howland challenged Loedeman for the lead. As Howland was making the move on Loedeman for first, Jason Snyder from Jonesville, MI driving the #56, was making the move on Howland for the second place spot. Unfortunately for Snyder, Howland’s car ran over one of the infamous “oil” spots, sending the #57 up the track and into Snyder's #56 as they exited turn two. Down the entire length of the back stretch Snyder tried valiantly to recover from the contact, but not enough to avoid the tire barrier at the entry to turn three. Snyder was forced to retire as a result, eventually registering a ninth place finish.
 
The final restart of the night occurred on lap 157 after another incident involving Craig Curtis. It was Loedeman’s #0, Howland’s #57 and Adams’ #28 starting one, two, three respectively. After several laps of the #57 and the #28 battling door-to-door, Adams  made good on his pass of Howland. The #28 made short work of Loedeman’s #0 on lap 164 and was able to maintain the lead through the checkered flag. Howland finished second, a battered Craig Curtis third, Craig Bristol in the #36, who had been acting as the League Admin for this race, finished fourth and I rounded out the top five in the #73. Phil Loedeman in the #0 fell to sixth after contact from the #161 of Bart Fuerstenberger in the final corner.

MCT-SRL Berlin Results

Lead Changes: 6 (4 drivers)
Cautions: 20
Most Positions Gained: Craig Bristol gaining 7 positions
Most Positions Lost: Pete Gilson losing -8 positions

 Driver          Car#  Finish  Start  Int  Status  Laps  Led  Points  Qtime  Q Speed
Mark Adams  28 1 6 53.223 Running 175 41 185 15.593 101.007 mph
Mark Howland  57 2 7 -4.07 Running 175 0 170 15.653 100.620 mph
Craig Curtis  74 3 1 -5.08 Running 175 54*  175 15.378 102.419 mph
CraigBristol  36 4 11 -12.45 Running 175 0 160 16.109 97.772 mph
Kenny Paul  73 5 2 -13.92 Running 175 0 155 15.431 102.067 mph
Phil Loedeman  0 6 3 -1L Running 174 37 155 15.433 102.054 mph
Bart Fuerstenberger  161 7 10 -1L Running 174 0 146 15.848 99.382 mph
Doug Termeer  91 8 9 -3L Running 172 0 142 15.704 100.293 mph
Jason Snyder  56 9 8 -44L Accident 131 0 138 15.674 100.485 mph
John Hernly  64 10 5 -53L Camshaft 122 43 139 15.551 101.280 mph
Sean Case  75 11 12 -55L Running 120 0 130 16.341 96.383 mph
Pete Gilson  39 12 4 -132L Gearbox 43 0 127 15.474 101.784 mph
Doug Wicker  55 13 13 -154L Retired 21 0 124 16.707 94.272 mph
Ron Hart  51 14 14 -160L Retired 15 0 121 Prov --

MCT-SRL Pre-Season Standings

 Rank Driver Points Behind
1 Craig Curtis  690 0
2 Mark Howland  637 -53
3 Jason Snyder  600 -90
4 Phil Loedeman  591 -99
5 Kenny Paul  563 -127
6 Chuck Darling  560 -130
7 CraigBristol  559 -131
8 Pete Gilson  539 -151
9 Randy Brown  529 -161
10 Don Colbath  520 -170
11 David Herrin  504 -186
12 Tom Termeer  463 -227
13 Mark Adams  455 -235
14 Doug TerMeer  443 -247
15 Kris Edmonds  432 -258
16 Wiley Albritton Jr  430 -260
17 Doug Wicker  425 -265
18 Richard Harlow  420 -270
19 Bart Fuerstenberger  416 -274
20 John Hernly  409 -281
21 Joel Wiggins  404 -286
22 Marty Major  397 -293
23 Kyle Callahan  395 -295
24 Ron Hart  391 -299
25 Luis Irizarry  388 -302
25 T KC Foote  388 -302
27 Tarsha Davis  382 -308
28 Randy Schneider  379 -311
29 David Perez  364 -326