Main Event /Jarrett Emmerich Posted on 10/13/2015 at 08:22:33 PM by D
Bergakker Claims Second Main Event while Ganus takes Series Title
Brian Bergakker led fifty-seven laps of the Main Event XXVIII outlaw super late model race to claim a second victory in the iconic one-hundred lap affair. Bergakker also claimed the 2013 edition of the event as well as the 2015 Berlin Raceway track championship. This victory did not come without challenges however, seeing that he pitted on lap forty-three after a scuffle with Harold Fair Jr for the lead and had to restart tenth. Bergakker managed to come back through the field quickly and soon it became apparent that Bergakker would win if he could keep the mechanical aspect of his race sound.
Then, with just twenty laps to go, smoke began pouring from the #12 RJ’s Expiditing/Earnest Performance rocketship. It did not seem to affect his performance as he went on to stretch out his advantage over Fair and capture the victory.Harold Fair Jr. set fast time for the event at a lap time of 16.13 seconds around the historic half-mile Sandusky Speedway while Bud Perry and Bubba Brooks claimed the qualifying heat races.
“The Constantine Comet” Jeff Ganus, a six-time winner on the 2015 MERS tour and winner of the 2012 Main Event XXV, would start on the pole of the 100 lap marathon with two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton on his right flank. Trouble would arise in the warmup laps as Plymouth, Indiana’s Tyler Roahrig would break a driveshaft and lose his hopes of a Main Event victory after qualifying in the fifth position. Crafton would go to the early lead down the back straightaway in the Bud Perry backup car and lead the first three circuits until Nick Grodi spun in turn one on lap four in his own water after a radiator hose came off the #40 Offshore Performance machine.
Crafton would lead Ganus, Alex Rosenberry, Bergakker and Terry Senneker back to the restart where Ganus, Bergakker and Harold Fair Jr would assume the top three positions from the ever-potent outside line. Bergakker would said to the lead around Ganus in turn two on lap seven while Crafton passed defending series champion Harold Fair Jr for third on lap ten.
Rosenberry spinning from the fifth position with assistance from Terry Senneker would bring out the second caution of the day as Senneker went to the back. During this caution, Jeff Ganus would retire from the runner-up position and take his brand-new #5 Coors Light machine to the pits where it would remain for the duration of the race. Bergakker would lead Crafton, Fair, Rosenberry and Bud Perry back to the start-finish line. The running order would remain static until lap twenty when the ringer, Tulare California’s Matt Crafton, would stop in turn four. Crafton would now have to restart at the tail of the field as Bergakker, Fair, Rosenberry, Perry and Todd Rosebrugh would make up the top five for the restart.
The next caution would come on lap twenty-seven when 2015 Flat Rock Speedway late model champion Justin Schroeder would spin in turn one. Both Perry cars, Crafton and Perry, would pit under this caution along with Mike Mazzagatti. Crafton would be out with a punctured radiator but Perry and Mazzagatti would return with adjustments. When the race restarted, RJ White would develop a hole in an oil line, oiling down the entire mammoth speedway as well as instilling a red flag for refueling on lap twenty-eight.
Bergakker would lead Fair, Rosenberry, Rosebrugh and Senneker back to the green flag as Fair went to the lead in turn two. Rosebrugh would pass Rosenberry for third in turn two on the following lap. Rosebrugh would then retire with a left front tire rub on lap thirty-eight boosting Alex Rosenberry, Terry Senneker, and Gary Whipkey Jr into positions three through five.
Brian Short would lose a right front fender on the Hutter Racing Engines/Direct Detail #5 on lap forty-three, forcing a debris caution for the fragments laying in turns three and four. Fair, Bergakker, Rosenberry, Senneker and Whipkey would make up the top five for the restart. Fair would pinch Bergakker into the outside wall on the back straightaway, causing Senneker to ram Bergakker from behind and Bud Perry to spin to avoid and hit the guardrail in turn three a ton with the Keyhole Pizza #10 entry. Perry would be checked out and cleared by emergency personnel but the car was demolished. Bergakker and Ron Kirkpatrick would pit for repairs while Terry Senneker was out of the event.
The new lineup would be Harold Fair Jr, Alex Rosenberry, Gary Whipkey, Josh Way and Mike Mazzagatti with forty-two laps complete. Mazzagatti would take fourth on the restart while Bergakker passed five cars in five laps in order to make his way back into the top five on lap forty-eight. Bergakker would pass Mazzagatti on lap fifty-five and Whipkey on lap fifty-nine in order to put himself into a podium running spot just sixteen laps after restarting in the tenth position.
Alex Rosenberry would spin on the back straightaway on lap sixty-five while negotiating lap traffic in order to bring out yet another caution in the endurance event. Fair would drag race Bergakker down the front straightaway but Bergakker would outpull Fair heading into turn one. Alex Rosenberry would make it to fourth with twenty-five laps to go but a late-race caution with six laps to go resulting from Ron Kirkpatrick spinning in turn four would once again tighten the field back up. Rosenberry would take third on the restart from Whipkey and Mazzagatti would run out of gas on the final lap to give Justin Schroeder the fifth position.
However, at the front of the field, Bergakker would last long enough to claim the victory over Fair, Rosenberry, Whipkey, Schroeder, Mazzagatti, Brian Short, Kirkpatrick and Emerson Huffman. Josh Way, John Sandquist Jr, Nick Grodi, Terry Senneker, Bud Perry, Todd Rosebrugh, Bubba Brooks, RJ White, Matt Crafton, Doug Sommers and Jeff Ganus would finish out the order. Tyler Roahrig, Bob Gainer, Scott Baker, Tim Ice and Scott Pemberton did not take the green flag for the 100 lap affair.
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