Austin Berry and Team Working Hard to Keep Their Rhythm

As Austin Berry and the rest of the ABR team rolled their No.86 out of the trailer Saturday night, they had the same goal as every other time they had unloaded this season:  keep working, keep learning, and keep moving forward.  Something is different lately though.  The expectations are justifiably higher.  

Saturday, June 5th brought ABR to Port Royal Speedway.  It was Camera and Autograph night for the fans, which is enjoyable for the teams as well and gets the night off to a fun start.  Austin enjoyed meeting and chatting with numerous fans.

Three heats were set by pill draw for the 29 super late model teams signed in to compete.  Berry started 4th in heat number three in the Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, Addicted2DirtPR.com, Nathan Berry Beef Farm, A&C Racing Engines, JDS Racing, Ontime Body & Graphic, Swift Springs, Penske Racing Shocks, Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic, VP Racing Fuels, Rocket Chassis XR1.  He quickly jumped into 2nd and appeared capable of challenging for the top spot early on.  Following a heated battle, about halfway through the 10-lap qualifying race, Berry lost 2nd to Dan Stone.  The battle seemed to take Berry a little out of his rhythm and before the checkered flag dropped, he lost one more spot and finished in 4th.

“I had a 2nd place car and made a couple poor decisions that landed me in 4th.  Nothing to do but learn from it and keep digging“, Berry commented after the heat race.

The qualifying result equated to Austin starting a little deeper in the feature lineup than desired.  In the opening laps, Berry started to push forward from his 12th starting spot.  There wasn’t a moment to let down his guard as the 25-lap main event wore on.  There was always someone challenging for position to Berry’s inside or outside.  When the dust had settled, he had slipped back a few positions, officially logging a 16th place finish.

After crawling from his car, Berry shared his thoughts on the night.  “We just missed it.  We were good early but not late.  That’s the opposite of our usual night, so maybe that’s progress.  We just need to put it all together now.”  He continued, “We’re starting to build a good notebook now and making finer adjustments for each place we go.”  Berry went on to express his thanks to JDS Racing and Jim Stevens, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop and Berry’s Siding and Seamless Gutter for everything they do to make it possible to compete.

ABR achieved two of it’s three goals this week.  They worked hard and they learned a lot.  They just didn’t move forward, at least not on the track.  It’s likely though that in the big picture, they did.

Let’s remember Albert Einstein’s words:  “Failure is success in progress.“

UP NEXT:  Austin Berry Racing will return to to their home track, Port Royal Speedway, June 5th for Dollar Dog Night!  Senior citizens will also be admitted at a discounted price that night.