56 4537
Tyler Roahrig (Robert Gill photo)

Roahrig Rules 500 Sprint Tour

MARNE, Mich. — Tyler Roahrig claims his third feature win in front of a packed grandstands at Berlin Raceway. 

Roahrig after qualifying on pole, drew an eight-car inversion for the feature. This regulated points leader Dakoda Armstrong to start on the pole. Armstrong paced the field in the early stages with Kyle O’Gara closely following in second.

On lap 16, Taylor Ferns made contact with Billy Wease and Jim Sheets and the night ended with damage for all three drivers. 

Roahrig had just made a pass for the lead, but the lap was not completed. This sending him back behind Armstrong and O’Gara. Armstrong retained the lead and with clean air was able to lead until Roahrig passed him for the lead on lap 23. 

O’Gara was able to stay with on Amrstong’s tail and closely challenged by Bobby Santos and Kody Swanson. Swanson was able to make a late race move around Santos and challenging Armstrong for third place.

Simultaneously, O’Gara moved around Dakoda Armstrong for second place. Tyler Roahrig went on to win his second Berlin Raceway feature of the season.

“It was good winning at Berlin,” said Tyler Roahrig. “It is always satisfying to win at Berlin; the track is really hard. The cars are hard to drive and there is a lot of good competition. We had to admit with change in the track because we practice and qualified during the day and raced at night. I am excited to carry momentum into two tracks (Anderson & IRP) that I have already won at in 2022.”

O’Gara qualified seventh but his car came to life in the feature and was able to make compete for the win.

“We were chasing handling through practice in qualifying today,” explained Kyle O’Gara. “We have struggled in our past two races at Berlin Raceway. Brad (Larsen) made some pretty big changes before the race, because we really didn’t have anything to lose. It was a good move. We were very happy to finish second after our struggles. We are never satisfied with second but we will take it. 

The finish:

Feature (40 laps): 1. 56-Tyler Roahrig; 2. 67-Kyle O’Gara; 3. 1-Dakota Armstrong; 4. 44-Kody Swanson; 5. 22a-Bobby Santos III; 6. 31-Derek Bischak; 7. 64-Jake McElfresh; 8. 28-Jeff Bloom; 9. 53-Justin Harper; 10. 74-Tony Main; 11. 42-Jason Blonde; 12. 82-Nick Landon; 13. 11g-Tom Geren; 14. 27-Chris Jagger; 15. 55f-Taylor Ferns; 16. 80-Billy Wease; 17. 18s-Jim Sheets; 18. 44a-Teddy Alberts; 19. 11-Tom Patterson