Story By: A2DPR / AUSTIN BERRY RACING – SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY – Austin Berry’s challenges thus far in the 2023 season are well-documented. When compared to the expectations set by their 2022 achievements, nobody would blame him or his team for throwing their arms in the air, grumbling and kicking something.
But that’s not who Austin Berry Racing is collectively as a team. If there is any team in the pits who knows how to face adversity, grit their teeth and work harder to overcome it, this is the team. It’s not as easy to remain as calm and collected as this team seems able to be when the oddest, most unusual issues happen.
One thing is for sure though. When you take the approach they do and combine it with very modest resources, the successes are sweet when they come.
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.
At the redraw for the top qualifiers, Berry told his daughter, Natalie, to pull a good pill for him. She listened well and pulled the pole position for the 25-lap feature.
When the race went green, Berry beat his front row mate, Yoder, to turn one to claim the early lead. He proceeded to put a few car lengths between himself and the field while Yoder and Coleby Frye battled to see who would get to take a shot at Berry. On lap four, Frye won that battle and set his sights on the leader.
Berry continued to lead, keeping Frye at bay with confident moves through lapped traffic. As the race approached the halfway mark, Berry had a run through turns three and four. As he approached a lapped car, he went to the high side to clear the traffic.
At that moment the lapped car got sideways. Frye went low and Berry went high, both making light contact with the spinning lapped car as they blasted by. Frye emerged with the lead at the flag stand and the lapped car corrected course and continued on.
Had the lapped car stopped and brought out the caution before the leader reached the flag stand, the lap would not have counted and Berry would have retained the lead . That however, is not how it played out.
Instead, Berry pursued Frye, closing on him multiple times. He was unable to find an opening to take the top spot away and had to settle for a 2nd place finish just a mere 0.779 seconds behind Frye.
“After the last couple weeks we have had, we’ll take it. It’s been kind of rough for us lately. It’s good to have something positive for a change.“, a happy Berry said in victory lane. “I really want to thank all the great people that help us out. Greg and everyone at The Tire Mart Tire Pros of Harrisburg. They are great people and they can handle anything you need for your car. They have been huge for us and we love being partners with them.“
“Thanks to Michaela and everyone at Juniata Veterinary Clinic, Randy and the folks at SRI, VP Race Fuels, Davey at Locust Hill Custom Butcher Shop, and all of our product partners. We could not do this without them. My most important partner tonight though was my daughter Natalie. She nailed that redraw. I think the job is hers from now on.”, Berry concluded with a big smile.
Be sure to scroll down to watch the team’s YouTube video recap of this week’s race!
Berry and his team will roll into Port Royal Speedway to take on the World of Outlaws late models on Saturday, May 20th!