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Berry Hard Charger at Port Royal After Tough Night at Bedford

Berry Hard Charger at Port Royal After Tough Night at Bedford
May 10, 2023/in Austin Berry, Late Models/by mraddicted2dirt
First Selinsgrove Speedway Visit of 2023 Up Next

Port Royal, PA – May 10, 2023

by Addicted2Dirt PR & Media Mgmt

Photo Credit: Derick Kriner Photography

During the 2022 season, Austin Berry finished in the top ten of 44% of the races he competed in. After a winter of hard work fine-tuning their program, he and the rest of the ABR team were aiming to pick up where they left off and continue to build toward the next level of consistency.

Although Berry did open the 2023 season with a top-ten finish at Port Royal Speedway, the next two outings resulted in finishes of 20th or worse. Then Mother Nature intervened for three weeks, preventing the team from rebounding.

As the month of May opened and the sun shined above, Berry and his team readied for a two-race weekend that would hopefully be the start of getting their groove back.

Date: May 5, 2023
Event: 87th Anniversary Billy Winn Classic
Track: Bedford Speedway
City, State: Bedford, PA
Quick Stats: 30 cars, Qualifying 9th in Group 2, Heat 7th (9), B-main 3rd (3), A-main 23rd (23)

Date: May 6, 2023
Track: Port Royal Speedway
City, State: Port Royal, PA
Quick Stats: 30 cars, Qualifying 29th, Heat 8th (10), B-main 3rd (5), A-main 14th (21)

Bedford Hospitality
Austin Berry made a rare Friday trip to Bedford Speedway to compete in the $8,700 to win Billy Winn Classic. It was the first of a handful of trips planned to the fairgrounds speedway this year. Group time trials and heats would whittle the 30-car field down to 24 and set the lineup for the lucrative super late model event.

Prior to the evening’s action, Berry was invited to the the judges stand for a quick interview with track announcer, and former late model racer himself, Eric Zembower.

Zembower talked with Berry about his race team, the improvement in recent years and his first victory at Port Royal Speedway. He also provided a platform for Berry to share his Pancreatic Cancer awareness message and talk about his personal reasons for being a champion for the cause.

Enough Gremlins Already!
During Berry’s last outing on April 8th, he had encountered a spark plug issue. The week before that it was a mechanical issue. After that, making the race and running 25 laps tonight, regardless of his finish, was all it would take to count it as a success.

From the outset, his goal seemed like a longshot. Yet another ‘gremlin’ arose as he hit the track for his qualifying laps under the clock. Berry’s engine would not quite get up to ‘full song’. As a result, he wound up at the bottom of his group.

Berry’s team went to work to remedy the issue for his heat race but they were unable to get back to full power. After starting 9th, Berry only managed to get to 7th by the checkered flag.

The team managed to get Berry’s Rocket XR1 running well enough for him to run 3rd in the B-main and secure a starting spot in the 50-lap feature, but it was not quite 100% so rather than risk causing further issues Berry retired from the finale after just six laps. He was credited with a 23rd place finish.

Never. Give. Up.
After a late night trip home from Bedford and a short night of rest, the team returned to the shop early in the morning to tackle their issue and get ready for Port Royal that night. A carburetor change was deemed necessary for 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.

Saturday’s program at Port Royal Speedway drew a field of 30 cars and the format called for group time trials, with no hot lap session. With no opportunity to find out if their repairs had resolved their issues, Berry took to the track for his qualifying run. He quickly found out the issue persisted. His lap landed him next to last on the charts.

The symptoms seemed to indicate an issue somewhere in the fueling system, so Berry’s team went back to the drawing board and made some changes, including a fuel pressure adjustment, before his heat race. With the entire focus on the continuing gremlins, there was no time to worry about tires or setup. Mission critical was to get back to full power.

Berry was able to advance from 10th to 8th in the heat race. He emerged from the car indicating it had power again, now they needed to get to work on their setup.

In the 10-lap B-main, Berry advanced from 5th to 3rd, looking strong and smooth. The run was good enough to be in the show. Now it was time for more adjustments and find out what he could do in the feature.

In the 25-lap A-main it was apparent Berry and his team had finally chased the gremlins away. The Mifflin, PA native turned in a smooth and steady climb from his 21st starting spot, climbing seven spots and claiming a 14th place finish on the final lap.

“It wasn’t a top five or a top ten but after what we have been battling the past few races, I’ll definitely take it. It feels good to pass cars and be competitive.”, Berry said.

“Now let’s see if we can put a string of good runs together ang get back to finishing where we should be.”

Austin Berry Racing gave their primary partner, The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg, a prime viewing location Saturday night! (photo credit A2D PR)

Up Next
Berry and his team will head to Selinsgrove Speedway to compete for the first time this season. The super late models will be in action Sunday night, May 14th as part of the Ray Tilly Classic for the sprint cars.

Season Stats
5 races, 0 wins, 0 top 5’s, 1 top 10’s, 2 top 15’s

Trivia Question
Last week’s trivia answer is Austin Berry began racing karts in the WKA, VDKA and other series in the Southeastern U.S. in 2007!

Now, on to this week’s question. After several successful seasons in karting, what division did Austin Berry move into?

The answer in the next press release!

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