Thu, 17 Sep 2009, 07:42 PM Points Battle Heats Up as Berner Gains Ground

Courtesy of Lisa Bingham

EPPING, N.H. -- No one could see what was coming at this past weekend's Amalie Motor Oil North American Nationals. With shortened qualifying due to rain, Pro Stock teams only had one attempt at the track before going into eliminations. This made for some interesting play on race day. The top two in points went out in rounds one and two, leaving the door wide open for Pete Berner to step through and make up some ground, and that's exactly what he did.

Berner qualified third in his one and only chance at the track, posting a 6.354 at 221.89. Between that Friday night qualifying session and Sunday, weather conditions changed drastically, making it a real tuner's challenge on race day. Berner made the right moves in round one with a conservative 6.422 when opponent Trevor Eman turned on the red eye. In round two Berner took out JR Carr, laying down a 6.394 to Carr's 6.448. In the semi final round Berner succumbed to eventual winner Bob Bertsch. Still, Berner was able to draw within three competition rounds of taking over the points lead.

"It would have been nice to make it to the finals and gain some more ground on the points leaders," explained Berner, "but Bob did what he needed to do to win and he did a great job. Congratulations to him and [runner up] Mike Bruno. That was Bob's first win and Mike's first final round. It seems I'm a stepping stone for a lot of first timers this year. Cary Goforth and I raced in the final round at Rockingham earlier this year when he won his first Iron Man. Then later on in the season his dad, Dean, beat me on the way to winning his first IHRA National. And now it seems to be a pattern with Bertsch doing it again this weekend. You know, it's really exciting to watch these guys get their first win, but they're going to have to quit doing it at my expense," continued Berner jokingly. "It would be exciting to see me win a couple of races too!

"We really just missed the combination in the semis. We're gaining experience with this new motor, but it needs a completely different combination than we're used to. It's all part of the growing pains."

With Berner closing in on points leaders Frank Gugliotta and John Montecalvo, things are heating up going into the final two events.

"It seems Frankie, Monte and myself are doing everything we can to make this year as exciting as possible. Maryland is just around the corner and we're going to give it our best there and see if we can't shake things up a little more."

Press Releases: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Alexis DeJoria Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Ron Capps Motorsports Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - John Force Racing Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Tony Stewart Racing Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Spencer Hyde Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Elite Motorsports Preview
Oct 28- LAS VEGAS - Kalitta Motorsports Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Mopar Dodge Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Terry Haddock Preview
Oct 27- LAS VEGAS - Jeff Arend Preview