Majeski Wins Berlin Raceway Money in the Bank 150 Wednesday

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MARNE, MI - One of the biggest Super Late Model races in the Midwest unfolded Wednesday night at Berlin Raceway. The Money in the Bank 150 brought in 30 cars set to do battle for 150 laps and a chance at $15,000.

NASCAR stars like Erik Jones, Carson Hocevar, Ty Majeski, and up-and-coming ARCA talent, Max Reeves were in the field alongside Berlin regulars including Brian Campbell, Dylan Stovall, Tyler Lupton, and many others. Jones set fast time earlier in the day with a 16.461 second lap time, and then redrew the 10 for an invert. That put Andrew Morrissey and Carson Hocevar on the front row.

With storms bearing down on Berlin Raceway, teams and fans alike knew there was a plan in place: race until just before the rain begins, red flag the race, take shelter, and resume the race after the rain passed. That's exactly how it played out, with Hocevar leading the first 53 laps before the race was halted. Hocevar showed speed with Brian Campbell hot on his heels in that first stint.

Under the red, many teams voiced concerns about the tire quality, with many saying their right front tires were starting to fail. However, there were other teams who were managing their tires well and were not concerned about their wear. One of those was Dylan Stovall who came from 20th on the grid to as high as 9th before the red.

When the race resumed, Hocevar quickly surrendered the lead to Campbell on lap 57. A caution flew on lap 81 giving the leaders a chance to come down pit road for fresh right side tires. The top eight cars, and many others made the choice to hit the pits, except Stovall, who inherited the lead from 9th.

With a cushion of cars between he and the cars with fresh tires, Stovall nailed the restart and opened up a comfortable lead. Hocevar and Majeski were among the teams with new tires working through the field. Even after Majeski got to second, Stovall still held an over two-second lead on the No.91.

On lap 106, contact between Hocevar and Andrew Scheid drew the yellow flag. Officials pinned both Scheid and Hocevar as the caution cars, sending them both to the tail of the field. Hocevar made the decision to park his No.71, while Scheid continued. The caution was the opportunity Stovall needed to hit pit road for his fresh tires. Stovall restarted around 14th.

On the restart, Majeski took over the lead with Brian Campbell hot on his heels. Behind them, a hornets' nest of cars developed for about fourth on back. Meanwhile, eyes were fixed on Stovall's No.24. The Hutcherson Racing machine was clawing through the field, and at one point, was running nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Majeski.

Perhaps one of the biggest moments of the race was Stovall's three-wide move around Tristn McKee and Tyler Lupton coming off turn four. The pass was enough to take Stovall from sixth to fourth on the grid with 30 laps to go. Stovall's charge to the front stalled out in third after making his way around Max Reeves with 21 laps to go. At this point, Stovall was still about a tenth of a second faster than Majeksi, but the NASCAR Craftsmen Truck Series Champion had a sizeable lead over Campbell and Stovall.

Majeski held on for the win, his first in the Money in the Bank 150 win and first win at Berlin Raceway.

"I've been fortunate enough to win some late model races in my career," Majeski said in Victory Lane. "This one, coming across the line, I haven't felt this way in a while. This is a tough race track; it forces you to step outside of your comfort zone from a racecar standpoint and as a driver. I love the challenge and the discipline that it takes to get around here."

"It was fun," Brian Campbell said of his runner-up finish. "Second place to Ty, he does this for a living, so we're ok. Car was good, car is in one piece, so we can go back and make it faster."

"We decided to stay out there and it was kind of a gutsy call; we were not sure, honestly, what we were doing after it, but I was like, 'Dude, I promise we'll be alright'," Stovall said of his third place finish. "We just had really good long run speed on old junk tires and then, last person to take tires, and hustled to the front."

The afternoon's first race of the day was the Sportsman division. Tim DeVos rolled from the ninth spot and found victory lane in that 40 lap main event.

A Feature 1 (150 Laps): 1. 91-Ty Majeski[9]; 2. 47-Brian Campbell[5]; 3. 24S-Dylan Stovall[20]; 4. 18R-Max Reaves[3]; 5. 14P-Chase Pinsonneault[8]; 6. 5-Tristan McKee[16]; 7. 22S-Evan Szotko[15]; 8. 20-Austin Hull[13]; 9. 18-Chase Burda[24]; 10. 24T-Terry Senneker[14]; 11. 4T-Tyler Lupton[22]; 12. 39-Andrew Morrissey[1]; 13. 20H-Harrison Halder[27]; 14. 32-Chris Shannon[19]; 15. 30L-Treyten Lapcevich[25]; 16. 88S-Andrew Scheid[6]; 17. 28T-Scott Thomas[21]; 18. 9H-Hudson Halder[11]; 19. 46-Buddy Head[23]; 20. 6-CHET MONAWECK[17]; 21. 4J-Erik Jones[10]; 22. 14A-Michael Atwell[7]; 23. 71H-Carson Hocevar[2]; 24. 18H-Keith Herp[18]; 25. 27-Ken Wobma[29]; 26. 57T-Justin Thomas[28]; 27. 71-Blake Rowe[12]; 28. 53-Boris Jurkovic[26]; 29. 26-Bubba Pollard[4]; 30. (DNS) 4H-Holt Halder

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 12-Tim DeVos[9]; 2. 33-Allen Davis[4]; 3. 76-Brian Tillema[6]; 4. 77-Phillip O'Connell[2]; 5. 47D-Don McNabb[13]; 6. 26-Brian Thome[7]; 7. 222-Scott Baker[5]; 8. 98-Bob Bliss[15]; 9. 38C-Brayden Cook[12]; 10. 82-Tom Thomas[1]; 11. 4-Kevin Ford[8]; 12. 22-Scott Root[10]; 13. 11-Ray Clay[3]; 14. 21-Maurice Davis[16]; 15. 47-Nathan McNabb[17]; 16. 9N-Greg Neinhouse[11]; 17. 83-Derek Vath[14]; 18. 8-Joe Jones[18]