Archive for category: Late Models

Berry headed west to Bedford Speedway Friday night with 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 and joined 32 other teams at the Turk Burkett Tribute race.

Berry circled the fairgrounds half-mile in 19.873 seconds, which was 9th best in Group A and placed him 5th in the starting lineup for heat race number one.  The Mifflin, PA native was unable to gain any ground in the heat race and ultimately slid to a 6th place finish, missing the transfer by one spot.

After making some adjustments for the B-main, Berry was able to capitalize on his front row starting spot to win by nearly 2 seconds.

Berry and his team continued to tweak the setup for the 40-lap A-main and it paid off.  Berry was able to work his way forward from his 21st starting spot to record a 13th place finish, wrapping up the night with something positive for the ABR notebook.

“Bedford has always been a challenge for me.  Seems like I can’t put together a full night here.“, Berry said.  “I think it’s a little bit about making adjustments to my driving style.  I repeat some old (bad) habits here.  More laps here will help fix that.“

“We got better by the end of the night and overall, we have a better notebook here now than we ever have.  Every time I come back here it’s because I want to overcome the challenge.  I want to get this place figured out and post a podium finish someday soon.“

Berry and his team made the 45-minute tow north on Route 35 to Selinsgrove Speedway for Sunday evening’s show.  They were among a field of 23 that may not have been big in numbers but had plenty of quality.  They were all there to take their shot at the $4,000 winner’s share.

From his starting spot outside the front row of the second heat race, Berry charged into the lead on the high side of turns one and two 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.

Berry held a commanding lead until the caution appeared at the halfway point of the 8-lap contest.  On the restart his tires didn’t quite ‘fire’ as quickly as he needed.  It was just enough for Dylan Yoder to slip around the high side off turn two to take the lead.  Berry would ride home 2nd, still in a redraw spot.

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.“