Berry Endures More Issues, Rebounds Late at The Speed Palace

Sure, it was Easter weekend at Port Royal Speedway, but the candy scattered on the infield grass wasn’t the only thing that caused a scramble.

After discovering their powerplant wasn’t running at full steam during hot laps, Austin Berry Racing was thrust into an early scramble to diagnose the issue.  With a quick repair in place, Berry lined up inside row two and attempted to take the green for his heat race.  It wasn’t to be and Berry took his still ailing machine pit-side just before the green flag dropped.

A short time later is when the second scramble began for ABR.  The team determined what part they would need to resolve the issue permanently but they were unable to locate the proper part anywhere in the pits.

Teams often help each other generously, but in this particular case, nobody had what Berry needed.  That sent team members to the race shop fifteen minutes away, and then to local businesses in search of the $20 part.  Their adventure took them over 20 miles from the track to locate what they needed.

The part was found in the nick of time, delivered to the pit area and installed in The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg, Juniata Veterinary Clinic, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, SRI Performance, VP Racing Fuels, JDS Racing, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, Nathan Berry Beef Farm, Addicted2DirtPR.com, A&C Racing Engines, GO Lithium, Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Super Clean, Rocket Chassis No.86 just in time to make the grid for the B-main.

Berry knew it would be highly unlikely he could race his way to a top four transfer spot from his 24th starting spot.  At this point, the primary goal was simply to prove the issue was resolved, make some laps and learn how his car was responding to the team’s setup choices.  Track time is never wasted.

While they didn’t make the show, Berry and his team were able to at least breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the night.  He raced all 12 laps without issue and advanced 13 positions to an 11th place finish in the B-main.  It was a positive (of sorts) to end the night on.

“I don’t know when we are gonna catch a break.”, a clearly upset Berry said.  “These guys we compete against here (at Port Royal) are a step ahead of us now, so we just have to go to work even harder to catch up.“