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Travis Berryhill ready to kick off inaugural Gold Crown Nationals tonight at Tri-City Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Pontoon Beach, Illinois – October 9, 2008…As the racing season winds down and colder weather is on its way, Indianapolis, Indiana’s Travis Berryhill is set to compete in the first ever DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals at the Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois starting tonight.
The O’Reilly POWRi and USAC National Midget Series sanctioned event will find Berryhill competing aboard a midget owned by Bill Eckert, who is a retired school teacher out of the Wisconsin area. Berryhill was able to get some laps in on Wednesday evening during an open practice at the track and looks forward to kicking off the event tonight. “I just have to thank Bill and the team for giving me a shot to drive the car this weekend,” Berryhill said. “It’s fun to be able to run with POWRi because Ken Brown and the organization operate a first class series.”
The inaugural running of the DuPont Gold Crown Nationals will feature three nights of racing with Saturday’s finale paying a solid $15,000 to win. With both the POWRi & USAC National Midget Series coming together for the event, it will attract a number of the top midget drivers in the country to do battle for the top prize. “This race is shaping up to be a pretty huge deal so it’s pretty cool to be a part of it,” said Berryhill as he pulled into the speedway early this afternoon. “Our motor is a little bit down on power however, as oppose some of the other teams, but it’s a good Spike Chassis and we’re hoping the track will slick off to take some of the motor out of the equation.”
Berryhill was also able to compete in the “Prelude to the Gold Crown” at the Tri-City Speedway on September 19 driving for car owner Ted Kirkpatrick. That night saw the team have issues early on that forced Berryhill to miss hot laps and scratch from his heat race. He was then able to come out for the B-main and charge from 13th to third, which transferred him into the main event where he carved his way from the
rear to 12th. “We had a good run after getting the problem fixed and actually made it up to 10th in the main event, but dropped a couple spots in the last couple laps,” Berryhill commented.
The inaugural DuPont Gold Crown Nationals kick off this evening at the Tri-City Speedway with the opening preliminary night worth $1,500 to win. Another prelim will follow tomorrow before Saturday’s 40 lap main event, which will award $15,000 to the winner. Berryhill is anticipating the show and expects a very competitive weekend of racing. “I’m just real excited to kick off the event tonight, but it’s going to be really tough with guys like Tracy Hines, Brad Sweet, Cole Whitt, Bobby East and all the other top guys from USAC and POWRi,” he said. “This team I’m driving for is really a bunch of super nice people though so it should be a fun time this weekend.”
For more information on Travis Berryhill please visit http://www.travisberryhill.com and for more info on the DuPont Gold Crown Nationals log onto http://www.tricityspeedway.net/
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
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www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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