Story By: A2DPR / AUSTIN BERRY RACING – HAGERSTOWN, MD – Austin Berry has been on a late season roll since being forced to end his super late model season due to the loss of two engines and shift gears to the limited late model ranks.
The postponement of Hagerstown Speedway’s Small Car Nationals for limited late models to September 16th gave Berry the opportunity to add it to his schedule.
The rescheduled limited late model event brought 30 of the top teams from the region to compete. In this third career start in the division, Austin Berry turned in the 16th quickest lap during time trials in 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.
Berry’s time was disappointing to the Mifflin, PA driver given the speed the team had shown in their first two outings in the division. It put Berry in a hole he would need to dig out of to reach the front of the field in the main event. From outside row two in his heat race, he gained some ground back with a 3rd place finish.
Starting 13th on the grid in the 30-lap main event, Berry went forward at the drop of the green. He broke into the top ten on lap four but then slipped back to 11th at the midpoint of the race.
Berry regained his rhythm and began to go forward again late in the race. He reached 8th with six laps remaining and took the checkered flag in that position.
“We weren’t very good tonight, so I’ll take a top ten.”, Berry said. “This is a good group of cars and it’s a very competitive division, so I don’t expect it to be easy, but we should’ve timed better and put ourselves in a more competitive position for the night. We just messed up early and couldn’t fully recover.“