SRL National Battle of Berlin 250 Race

[ron.brown11]

Great race tonight!! There was only 1 scary wreck, and that was 31 laps in. That was for the defending ARCA West champion, Jesse Love. He had the left rear hub snap going down the front straight. When that tire departed from the car, he hammered the turn 1 wall. Glad he didn't get hurt. There was  several cars that spun down the front stretch about 30 laps later. Seven cars spun, with 2 getting race ending damage. One of those that spun was Josh Berry, more on him in a minute. 

Here's the top 10

1) All World Super Late Model driver Bubba Pollard (Ford) in a Senneker Chassis

2) Chase Elliot NASCAR Champ (Chevy)

3) 20 year old Evan Shotko Berlin Track champ (Toyota)

4) Josh Berry driving The Van Doran Race Cars house car (Chevy)

5) Kyle Crump a Berlin regular (Chevy)

6) Dylan Stoval a Berlin regular (Chevy)

7) William Byron NASCAR Cup Driver (Chevy)

😎 Cole Butcher driving a Donnie Wilson Toyota

9) Joe Bush a regular at Berlin (Chevy) (only driver in the field running a crate motor)

10) Austin Hull a Berlin regular (Chevy)

Eric Jones came home I believe in 12th (Chevy) and he runs a crate engine!

Carson Hocevar finished 24th (Chevy)

With the exception of the Snowball Derby, I think Bubba has won virtually all of the premier Super Late Model races in this country. He's done it at all 4 corners of the country, with many in between. It kinda makes you wonder why a NASCAR team has never looked at him to drive for them. Bubba also won the 75 lapper 2 weeks ago at Berlin.

Josh Berry, got spun by the mad Russian Boris Jurkovic, and that's what caused the several cars to spin on the front stretch, and 2 getting race ending damage. Berry made 1 hell of a ride up through the field, to finish 4th.

Five of the top 10 were locals. Both Eric Jones & Carson Hocevar locals too, but they just don't run weekly because of their Sunday jobs. The car that nearly beat them all though was Evan Shotko, and he was doing it on old tires. They finally caught a scheduled caution, and changes 4 tires. With those new tires, as fuel burned off, he picked up a push. Bubba caught him with about 15 laps to go, and Chase Elliot got by 1 lap later. 

The grandstands were full and very loud! Every single one of the NASCAR top 3 level drivers that ran tonight stated that they want to race here again. Their reason? They loved how that track management treated them, and the fans were even better. Oh, and the money is great too. That was what each one of them said after the race. I hope that there are track promotors reading this. To get the big names racing at your track: treat them great & have a strong fan base. Just a week ago, Berlin sold out too when the SRX show came to town.

 

[RodneyRodriguez]

That was a hell of a race, great way to spend a Weds evening!

[24nomo]

No Kidding, that was cool to watch.  

[ron.brown11]

Fortunately/Unfortunately I didn't get to see it live. We spent the evening with our 3 year old identical twin granddaughters, which was a blast. They're learning how to swim. Aw the unbridled joy of kids having fun.. I watched it about 10pm last night, but it was worth the wait.

This guy Evan Shotko is a name that you need to keep track of. His driving skills are unquestioned in a super late model. But he works for his dad, and is the head honcho for chassis setups at that shop. Not just his either, as he does a lot of the top teams that race in the MI area. Teams that run supers, limited lates and street stocks. Last summer he went to Jennerstown Speedway in PA, and absolutely spanked them. A week or 2 later, he spanked the field at last year's Battle of Berlin. That field looked a lot like last night's, minus Chase Elliot. In his post race interview, he was pissed at himself. He said the he failed to account for fuel burn off when he took the new tires, and he ended up with a pretty good push in the car. I've always been bummed that nobody ever gave Bubba Pollard a shot at the national level. I don't think Shotko will suffer that same fate. He's good. I would love to see Hocevar and him compete on a weekly basis, as I think Shotko is better. Maybe down the road that will happen.

Eric Jones finished 11th last night. My bad..

I think that Cole Butcher, driving Donnie Wilson's car, hurt himself. He really abused his first set of tires, and that got him a lap down. He had a really good car, as he did at the last CARS Tour Pro Late model race in another Wilson car. 

I think the in-car quote of the race came from Bubba. I think it came about 20 laps into the race. Said he couldn't believe just how hard guys were racing, with over 200 laps still to go. He only led twice early in the going, probably just to see how his car acted in clean air. And then at the end. He never looked like he was pushing his car that hard in either case. He just kept finding a place to keep his car out of trouble. There were several of the cars from last night there a couple of weeks ago, for a 75 lapper. Bubba never led until about halfway, he then passed those in front of him and drove off. He learned a lot he said from that race. This season he switched to a Terry Senneker chassis. Boy has that paid off. I try to follow the west coast SRL tour as much as I can. You'd be surprised just how many are getting their cars from Senneker in MI. Terry is a really good driver in his own right too. They were interviewing him at Berlin a couple of months ago. They asked him why he isn't racing much any more. He said that keeping his west coast teams, plus the locals, has put a big crimp in him racing. But says that's ok to him, as he loves building them as much as racing them.

I saw Bob Senneker win a lot of races in the midwest, and the ASA series. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. At my home track in my high school years, there were 2 cars that would show up a big $$ races, that weren't regulars. when those 2 cars would pull in line at the pit gate, many late model drivers & teams shoulders would just drop. They were now wondering if third was as good as it would get that night. Most nights they were right. Those cars belong to Bob Senneker & Ed Howe. Both were great on dirt and asphalt, and Tri-County Speedway started out dirt and then they paved it. We had a really good late model field there for years. But they got beat mentally, while standing in the pit pass line most nights. The first time Jody Ridley showed up at TCS, they laughed at him. They all ran big block fords, Chevys & Mopars. He had a 1965 Ford Falcon with a small block. They weren't laughing at the end of the night, as he took the big purse home to GA. The next time he came, they wrecked in the first few laps to put him out. And it was intentional.. Jody never came back before I left for the AF, but he did ok, as he got hired to race a Cup car. Bill Elliot's first race car was one of Jody's old Falcons. It worked out for both. Good things do happen to good people.

[NickHolt]

On 8/10/2023 at 3:21 PM, ron.brown11 said:

Fortunately/Unfortunately I didn't get to see it live. We spent the evening with our 3 year old identical twin granddaughters, which was a blast. They're learning how to swim. Aw the unbridled joy of kids having fun..

Got your priorities right Mr. Brown!

[ron.brown11]

I'm trying Nick, as that's not something I've always been good at. But you know how it is with addicts lol..