Archive for category: Late Models

Berry entered his first career night of limited late model competition with uncertainties about how his car’s setup would need to differ from what he was used to with more power under the hood and how his driving style might need to change to make The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg, Juniata Veterinary Clinic, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, SRI Performance / Stock Car Steel & Aluminum, VP Racing Fuels, JDS Racing, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, Nathan Berry Beef Farm, Addicted2DirtPR.com, GO Lithium, Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Super Clean, Rocket Chassis, Austin Berry Racing No.86 competitive.

The format for the Butch Renninger Memorial at Port Royal Speedway tossed Berry into the deep end of the pool from the start.  Group time trials during hot laps meant no practice, no time to adjust.  

Berry turned the 5th quickest lap in his group, then used the time before his heat race to make adjustments.  He made the right moves and drove from 5th to 3rd in his heat race.

Rolling to the green from the 10th position for the 25 lap main event, Berry went right to work moving toward the front.  He cracked the top five just past the halfway mark of the race.  He secured a 4th place finish in the closing laps to take home a top five finish in his first attempt in the division.

A large, quality field of 52 super late model teams signed in to compete on the preliminary night of the two day Rumble by the River Lucas Oil Late Model event at Port Royal Speedway on Friday, August 25th.

Berry’s night started off with a good pill draw which put him 3rd in the qualifying order.  Traditionally an early qualifying opportunity provides the best track conditions.  Unfortunately, the combination of a horsepower shortage and a missed setup landed Berry 22nd of the 26 cars in his group.

The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg, Juniata Veterinary Clinic, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, SRI Performance / Stock Car Steel & Aluminum, VP Racing Fuels, JDS Racing, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, Nathan Berry Beef Farm, Addicted2DirtPR.com, GO Lithium, Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Super Clean, Rocket Chassis, Austin Berry Racing No.86 lined up 8th for the heat race but couldn’t gain any track position and finished in the same spot.

Berry and the team continued to adjust and try to get better for the 25-lap main event.  Every position gained would improve their position for Saturday’s heat races and give them a shot at racing their way into the $50,000 to win finale.

Berry started 22nd in the A-main.  From the drop of the green he went right to work chipping his way forward and by lap seventeen he had moved into 14th.  The progress stalled there but it was a solid effort to recover from a poor qualifying run.

The sense of at least some relief was short-lived.  As Berry flashed under the checkered flag, his engine expired with a show of flames.

Instead of starting 5th in his heat race Saturday night, Berry was greeting fans and selling merchandise while his wounded race car sat 10 minutes away in his team’s race shop.

Berry kicked off his night with a 16th place qualifying effort aboard The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg, Juniata Veterinary Clinic, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, SRI Performance / Stock Car Steel & Aluminum, VP Racing Fuels, JDS Racing, Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, Nathan Berry Beef Farm, Addicted2DirtPR.com, GO Lithium, Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Super Clean, Rocket Chassis, Austin Berry Racing No.86.

With four heat races slated for the 32-car field, every finishing position in the heat races would be worth four starting spots in the feature event.  From his 3rd place starting spot in the fourth heat race, Berry was unable to gain ground and ultimately slipped one spot to a 4th place finish, handing him the 16th starting spot in the main event.  It was a disappointing scenario for the Mifflin, PA driver, who has been working from behind in similar situations most of the season at Port Royal Speedway.

Berry started 17th in the 30-lap Frank Sagi Tribute A-main.  Over the opening ten laps it looked like he was in for a long night.

Suddenly, 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, GO Lithium, Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Super Clean, Rocket Chassis No.86 came alive.

On lap twelve Berry moved into 15th and by lap fifteen he had cracked the top ten.   Late in the race he slipped back to 11th for a handful of laps but he continued to battle and he was able to slip back into the 10th spot on the final circuit.  It was Berry’s career best finish at Hagerstown.

“I found the middle right at the end there and it really worked for me.  Wish I had found that a few laps earlier, I think we could’ve picked off a couple more spots.”, Berry said.  “We learned some things over the past couple races, so this week we talked with Jim (Stevens – JDS Racing) and made some changes.  The car was really good there in the feature, we just didn’t qualify good again and got ourselves in a hole.

“I’m learning behind the wheel every week and the team is learning every time we race too.  We will get the qualifying figured out early in the night and then we will be able to race for more podiums.  At least I can leave here tonight saying I beat Gary Stuhler at Hagerstown.  I’ve never done that before.“, Berry concluded with a smile.

Stuhler finished 12th  Sunday night.  He and Berry have become friends in recent years and beating the hall of fame driver, who he respects tremendously, at track where he has had so much success in his career gave Berry a moment to reflect on his journey as a driver to get to this point in his own career.