If there is anything good that comes out of a rainout, its the rock solid, packed slate of action the following week as events are made up. Berlin has had a couple of rain outs early in the season, so on top of the scheduled USA Modified Madness, Pro Stocks, and 4 cylinders, track management artfully packed the All Faiths Night ‘Faster Pastor’ races and a half hour electric car race into the evening.
Electric cars, made and driven by high school kids, were arguably the quietest racing ever seen at the track, but with drive belts coming off one car, the infield roll over of the leading No. 222 silver bullet, and speeds of the tiny rides reaching forty-five, they were no less exciting.
The Faster Pastors were not pulling any punches either with jumped starts, rubbing and bumping, blown motors with fires (no injuries) and stands full of biased parishioners. All in good fun, Mike Beffis climbed from his winning 4 cylinder in the winners circle and declared that “the collection plate now needs to be passed to get me into a Pro Stock ride”. He was hooked.
In the Burnips Equipment 4 cylinders; Tim Devos (previous Late Model Champ and ‘09 feature winner) took the A feature. Late Models were rained out last week and he must have needed a fix, because he schooled all including second place Larry Magoon and his own son Jason who finished third and is the defending Division Champ. The heats and features in that class are always full of spins and crashes and Saturday was no exception. No injuries were reported, though many crews will have their hands full fixing and or scrapping this week. The ‘B’ feature winner Tim Rhodes’ No. T11 was pretty banged up in the end though it had enough left for a great restart and to not be caught.
Ken Smith Jr. continued his domination of the Kerkstra Services Pro Stock points standings with his second feature win in only three weeks of racing. His No. 36, sponsored by Enterprise Iron and Metal, previously took second to two time defending Champ Brian Tillema in the only feature Ken Smith Jr. has not won so far this season. Brian ran an excellent catch-up race finishing third, but he and second place No. 51 Weston Jewett couldn’t capitalize on the couple of restarts in the last five laps. Smith had built up gaps, only to have accidents and spins erode them. Green, white, checkered finishes can be dicey, and when the eight guys chasing the leader are all in the top ten in points the excitement is huge.
Ken, while returning his own tires at the end of the night (no big head here), laughed and nodded on the run when I joked, “the life of a feature winner ... you having that much fun?”.
Watching cars turn seventeen second laps, as the O’Reilly USA Modifieds do, is definitely fun racing. Keith Beeching, who runs the traveling Series, says the rules have been changed this year to include more drivers with cars that wouldn’t qualify in years past, upping their car counts to twenty or thirty on some tracks. “Berlin is a challenging track for our drivers due to the unique shape, banking, and lack of a back stretch wall. Most run a completely different car and motor here, then at other tracks, to customize their ride for these circumstances.
The fifty lap feature, taken by No. 81 Jake Meyrink, saw packs of the loudest vehicles on the planet bunched on the front stretch all trying to dive into turn one ahead of the others. Each time Travis Eddy’s No. 78 made his play from second place the crowd stood and went crazy. In the winners circle Jake’s surprise was evident, as he talked about the possibility of taking home the special four race series bonus prize of $1500 and a brand new Demon Carburetor. He and the other drivers made many adults and kids happy with an autograph session after racing.
Next week marks the Spring Championship at Berlin, and many hungry drivers will look to continue dominating while others will attempt to spoil their fun. Hope to see all of you, and more, at this historic track as it pulls in the biggest names in auto racing to entertain us all, as no other can.
If there is anything good that comes out of a rainout, its the rock solid, packed slate of action the following week as events are made up. Berlin has had a couple of rain outs early in the season, so on top of the scheduled USA Modified Madness, Pro Stocks, and 4 cylinders, track management artfully packed the All Faiths Night ‘Faster Pastor’ races and a half hour electric car race into the evening.
