Tag Archive for: #austinberry

ABR Finds the Handling They Have Been Missing

Port Royal, PA – August 1, 2020 – By Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management

Despite the rain that began to fall just before the night’s features were about to roll off, forcing ABR to load up and find cover, Austin Berry still had something to smile about at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night. All the hard work and long hours in the shop analyzing team notes from past races and a recent mid-week test session are beginning to pay off.

“That’s the best the car has felt this season”, Berry said while waiting to see if the weather was going to officially end their night. He added, “I could move around, change lanes and run just about anywhere I wanted…and the car still felt balanced, which is something we’ve been missing this year.”

The evidence collected earlier that evening certainly seemed to support that claim. 34 Super Late Models were signed in for the ULMS show that would pay $3,000 to the victor. In Group 1 qualifying, Berry logged the 8th quickest time of the 17 cars in his group. The division is ultra competitive and the slightest mistake on a lap can drastically change your night. As proof, consider this stat from Saturday night: only 0.762 seconds separated 1st from 10th in his group and Berry missed 7th by a mere 0.009 seconds.

A big reason ABR was able be ready to compete in the ULMS event Saturday night was the tremendous effort by and support from Joey Hershey of Hershey Racing Engines, who made sure the team’s primary motor was repaired in a short span of time from the failure that occurred in their previous outing. Both car owner Ken Berry and driver Austin Berry expressed their sincere thanks to Joey and Hershey Racing Engines (HRE) for their continued support. ABR has had a great relationship with HRE for several years, especially through Joey’s father Curtis, who recently passed away. Curtis was always available and came through for the team when they needed him. It’s clear Joey is cut from the same cloth and will continue that tradition.

The solid qualifying run for the ABR Rocket Chassis XR1, Swift Springs, MS Shock Therapy, Hershey Racing Engines, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, Nathan Berry Beef Farm #86 meant they would line up outside row 2 in the 4th position for heat two. Austin launched around the high side of turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap to charge into 2nd place. He settled in there to pursue leader Max Blair. Bryan Bernheisel wasn’t ready to concede the final redraw spot though and challenged Berry, recapturing 2nd place a couple laps later. The pair went back and forth multiple times, including exchanging the spot twice on the final lap, with Berry ultimately missing a redraw spot by a slim 0.21 seconds but his 3rd place finish was good enough to transfer to the feature event.

Berry was slated to line up outside row 5 in the 10th starting spot for the main event but unfortunately they will have to wait until September 5th to run that finale because Mother Nature intervened and ended the night before any of the feature events could turn a lap.

SPECIAL THANKS:

As always, thank you to all our sponsors and partners, including our silent partners who do everything they can to help but ask for nothing in return!

Swift Springs
Rocket Chassis
Ontime Body & Graphic
Hershey Racing Engines
MS Shock Therapy
Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter
Nathan Berry Beef Farm

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Fans can follow Austin Berry Racing during the 2020 season on:
(Facebook) www.facebook.com/AustinBerryRacing
(Twitter) @AustinBerryRacn

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Follow or contact Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management at:
(Twitter) @Addicted2DirtPR #TeamA2D
(Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/Addicted2DirtPR
(Website) Addicted2DirtPR.com
(Email) [email protected]

Hard Work + Test Session = Positive Results

Port Royal, PA – July 12, 2020 – By Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management

Recent weeks have been filled with a lot of activity in the ABR camp. That activity was born from a determination to solve their handling mysteries and get back to where they were in the past with their Rocket Chassis XR1. The team has been putting in the hours in the shop, working with partners to find answers and most recently participated in a test session to gather some data about what is working and what isn’t.

Saturday night July 11th at Port Royal Speedway, ABR was among 32 super late models that signed in to try to claim of the $3000 top prize at the end of the night. The evening got off to a great start when Austin registered a lap of 20.093 in time trials, good enough for 7th quickest in the solid field. That lap alone seemed to serve as validation that the efforts the team has been making were paying off.

It was far too early to read too much into the good lap though. Time trials call for a slightly more aggressive setup in the car than race conditions do, so the team made the necessary adjustments to prepare for their heat race. Austin’s qualifying run put the Swift Springs, MS Shock Therapy, Hershey Racing Engines, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter, Nathan Berry Beef Farm #86 on the pole of heat 3 along side Ross Robinson. Five would qualify from each of the four 8-lap heats, with the top 2 from each event going to the redraw, thus guaranteeing the competitor a top 8 starting spot in the feature event. So far it appeared to be a sweet evening in the making.

At the drop of the green in heat 3 with Berry on the inside of the front row, he would enter turn one with a slight edge on Robinson, drive a little deeper into the corner and attempt to slide up to the higher groove in front of the 7r. He didn’t quite have enough momentum though and settled into second to begin his pursuit. On lap 2 after building some rhythm, he began to close slightly on the leader, indicating a battle for the lead may develop. The caution waved before the field could complete the lap and that’s when things suddenly and unexpectedly went sour for ABR. The two dreaded words: engine failure.

The motor produced sounds it shouldn’t and the power went away. Berry quickly shut it down to try to save it from any further harm and he coasted to a stop in turn 1, ending a promising night. Gregg Satterlee went on to defeat Ross Robinson and Kyle Lee in the feature event later that evening.

The good news for ABR: the team has clearly made significant progress during the past month. As a direct result of their hard work, research and testing, the car and its pilot were smoother, faster and more consistent Saturday night than that combination has been all season.

The bad news for ABR: until the motor is out of the car, torn down and examined, they won’t know the extent of the damage or how long it will keep them out of action. The best case scenario is probably a return when the super late models next compete at Port Royal Speedway on August 1st. Let’s not think about the worst case scenario for now.

SPECIAL THANKS:

As always, thank you to all our sponsors and partners, including our silent partners who do everything they can to help but ask for nothing in return!

Swift Springs
Rocket Chassis
Ontime Body & Graphic
Hershey Racing Engines
MS Shock Therapy
Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter
Nathan Berry Beef Farm

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Fans can follow Austin Berry Racing during the 2020 season on:
(Facebook) www.facebook.com/AustinBerryRacing
(Twitter) @AustinBerryRacn

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Follow or contact Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management at:
(Twitter) @Addicted2DirtPR #TeamA2D
(Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/Addicted2DirtPR
(Website) Addicted2DirtPR.com
(Email) [email protected]

Team Determined to Get to the Bottom of Issues Plaguing Recent Outings

Mifflin, PA – June 24, 2020 – By Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management

On a somber night in the dirt racing community after the sudden loss of well-known engine builder, Curt Hershey, to a heart attack less than 12 hours earlier, Wednesday night’s midweek show at Port Royal Speedway drew a stout field of 32 super late models.

Just as many teams do on a weekly basis, ABR unloaded with confidence and optimism, believing they had solved their issue from the previous outing. Instead, their minds were on the sudden loss of their friend and engine builder. Those other problems were behind them.

Or so they thought. The lap times recorded in their group hot lap and time trial session quickly brought back concerned expressions in the pit area. They took advantage of the time they had before their heat race to switch a couple things on the car back to what they knew had worked in the past. No luck again. Austin missed a transfer spot in the heat race and landed in the B-main.

In the B-main things went from bad to worse for the Swift Springs, MS Shock Therapy, Hershey Racing Engines, Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter and Nathan Berry Beef Farm sponsored Rocket Chassis. With only a few laps remaining and about to make a move into the final transfer spot to the A-main, the car got very loose on entry, putting him sideways and collecting another competitor. The angle of impact caused a slow rollover of Berry’s #86. Now it was official. Their 2020 season was truly upside down. Thankfully, Austin was able to climb out and walk away unharmed.

Dirt super late models are incredibly complex machines that require some level of geometry and engineering skills to get right. There are hundreds of adjustments you can make. The combinations of those adjustments are exponential. A team can have 99% of things right but that 1% they don’t have right might consist of a combination of several adjustments and is more than enough to put you at the back of the field. Consider his group’s qualifying times on the big half mile last night. The quickest car was 19.109 seconds and the slowest was 19.869. That’s not much room for error.

After the team loaded up and held their post-race discussion to try to put together some lessons learned, Berry said “We’re going to tear the car down this week and figure it out. Every part is coming off and getting checked. We’re going to work with our partners until we get to the bottom of this.” He continued, “We have steadily improved the last few years, so struggling like this after putting in so much work over the winter is just downright frustrating.”.

Up next for ABR is a $2500 to win super late model show on Saturday, July 4th as part of the PA Sprint Speedweek finale at Port Royal Speedway, the Greg Hodnett Classic.

_{Photo credits to Ashley Book and A2D.}

SPECIAL THANKS:

As always, thank you to all our sponsors and partners, including our silent partners who do everything they can to help but ask for nothing in return!

Swift Springs
Rocket Chassis
Ontime Body & Graphic
HersheyRacingEngines
MS Shock Therapy
Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter
Nathan Berry Beef Farm

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Fans can follow Austin Berry Racing during the 2020 season on:
(Facebook) www.facebook.com/AustinBerryRacing
(Twitter) @AustinBerryRacn

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Follow or contact Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management at:
(Twitter) @Addicted2DirtPR #TeamA2D
(Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/Addicted2DirtPR
(Email) [email protected]

Port Royal, PA – by Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Management

Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway was one of those nights that is more common to a race team than any other kind of night. It was the kind of night that starts with optimism, evolves into confidence midway through the show and then ends with some perplexed but determined expressions on the faces of the crew and driver.

A stout field of 32 super late models was signed in last night, so the team’s 3rd place run in the 4th heat that locked them into the main event definitely brought early confidence.

The qualifying run was good enough for a 12th place start in the 25 lap feature. The initial laps looked very promising as Austin launched off turn two on the opening lap with a lot of speed, prepared to overtake a couple cars and move into the top 10 but as cars fanned out on the backstretch, he had to fall into line for the moment. Austin commented, “The car felt really good on the start and I thought to myself ‘we are gonna move forward tonight'”.

The track was black slick from bottom to top where there was a narrow cushion. “I knew getting grip down in the slick would be challenging but we were going to be good on the top”, Austin explained. That confidence held for a few more laps as he worked to break into the top 10, until “suddenly it just went away” he said. From that point on, the ABR 86 started slipping backwards in the running order, losing a spot every couple laps.

Sensing something was not right and with nothing to gain by continuing, the team made the decision to pull in on lap 18, giving them a 21st place finish for the night. Upon his arrival, the team discovered a nearly flat right rear tire due to a slow leak. There’s no way to be sure how early in the race the tire issue started but the team will have to factor that into their assessment of the setup of the car and resulting performance. They are confident in the setup progress they have made thus far this season and are working hard to get some grip on the tricky slick surface at The Speed Palace.

Current plans are to return to action Wednesday, June 24th at Port Royal Speedway.

Thanks to all our sponsors and partners, including our silent partners who do everything they can to help but ask for nothing in return.

Swift Springs
Rocket Chassis
Ontime Body & Graphic
HersheyRacingEngines
MS Shock Therapy
Berry’s Siding & Seamless Gutter
Nathan Berry Beef Farm

SOCIAL MEDIA: Fans can follow Austin Berry Racing during the 2020 season on:
(Facebook) www.facebook.com/AustinBerryRacing
(Twitter) @AustinBerryRacn

PUBLIC RELATIONS: Addicted 2 Dirt PR & Media Management can be contacted at:
(Email) [email protected]
(Twitter) @Addicted2DirtPR
(Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/AD2pr