(Photo by Justin Brester)
Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 27, 2016) – Seth Bergman captured his best-ever finish at the Dirt Cup last weekend during the 45th edition of the famed event at Skagit Speedway.
Bergman overcame an opening-night crash to rally for a podium finish during the finale of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event, which got off to a rocky start thanks to Mother Nature forcing the cancelation of Thursday’s opening round.
The event shifted to a two-day show starting on Friday, when Bergman advanced from third to win a heat race before he maneuvered from sixth to fifth place during a qualifier. That ranked him 10th in overall points and gave him the 10th starting position for the main event.
“We had a decent night going, but I didn’t feel good all night with how the race car was feeling,” he said. “I felt like we could have been a lot better. In the main event I picked a few spots up early when guys were crashing. I felt like I may have been good enough to manage a top four.”
Unfortunately, Bergman was involved in one of the early cautions that ended with him flipping and being credited with a 19th-place finish.
“A car got upside down in front of me and I got collected while he was flipping and it got me upside down as well,” he said. “We’d been debating on whether to go back to the car we ran last year. That crash made that decision for us.”
Bergman switched to an old car for Saturday’s show and it had an immediate impact.
“The car came alive and I felt like we were pretty close to where we needed to be,” he said.
Bergman won his heat race from the pole and he drove from fourth to second place in a qualifier. That ranked him second in points behind the four locked-in drivers from Friday’s main event.
“I felt like this car brought new life back to us,” he said. “Right off the bat I got going pretty good. I got into a groove and started picking away. I got to Mark Duperron and slid him to get to third. On a restart I got to Jason Solwold and slid him. Sam (Hafertepe Jr.) was way out on me at that point. I had some clean track between me and the lapped cars. I moved the wing a little back and I was able to make up a lot of ground. I got within a car length or two at one time. But I hurt myself by moving the wing back. I got to racing with a couple of lapped cars and it shoved the nose. It let him get away from me and Aaron (Reutzel) and I raced for second.”
Bergman, who also had a fuel line back off in the closing laps that resulted in him being covered in fuel, ended with a third-place result, which was his third top five with the series this season.
“We found speed again the second night and we’re getting where we need to be,” he said. “In the big picture I feel we made some improvements. We didn’t come away with the Dirt Cup crown, but we got back on track and ended the weekend with a podium finish.”
Bergman will return to action this Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., for the Fred Brownfield Classic with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 24 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (3); Qualifier: 5 (6); Feature: 19 (10).
June 25 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (1); Qualifier: 2 (4); Feature: 3 (6).
SEASON STATS –
40 races, 4 wins, 12 top fives, 27 top 10s, 28 top 15s, 35 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., for the Fred Brownfield Classic with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SethBergmanRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BergmanRacing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SethBergmanRacing
APPAREL –
Bergman has men’s and women’s t-shirts available for sale at his race trailer during events he competes in this season.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Young Tools
Young Tools is a company within the oil industry that is located in Drumright, Okla.
“I’m glad to be associated with Tim and have him and everyone from Young Tools on board,” Bergman said. “He’s a great guy and is passionate about racing. He’s a good friend of mine and it’s nice to have him as part of the race team.”
Bergman would also like to thank Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing, Corridor Electric, Eagle Motorsports, Speedy Auto Service, SpeedMart, Scott Baylor Racing Engines and CSI Shocks for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jun 27, 2016
- Article Date: 6/27/2016 by Inside Line Promotions