BERNER GEARS UP FOR HOMETOWN RACE

July 6, 2012   ·   0 Comments

BERNER GEARS UP FOR HOMETOWN RACE WITH US 131 TESTING

CRETE, Ill. July 5, 2012: As a two time World Champion Pete Berner and the Summit Racing Equipment Team know a bit about going fast and the hard work that goes into being a competitive race team. Berner and his team consisting of wife, Cheryl Berner, Eric Flemming and Rick Varnold (RV), are arguably one of the hardest working teams in ADRL Extreme Pro Stock, as evidenced by their stringent test sessions. Already the 2012 Summit Racing Equipment ZL1 Camaro has nearly 100 runs. Many of these runs have been completed at US 131 Motorsports Park – Berner’s hometown stop on the ADRL tour and his favorite place to test.

“We’ve been working hard to tackle this learning curve with the new Camaro,” Berner elaborated. “Our team always tests as much as possible or as much as needed, but this year has required a little more as we are mastering all the new tricks of this Camaro. Eric and RV, as well as Jerry [Janota] and Mike [Slaviero] at the engine shop, are working incredibly hard on this program. I really appreciate the effort everyone’s put into this program, including the manufacturers who help us out.

“This weekend we’re heading back to US 131 to get another test session in before the ADRL Summer Nationals there next weekend. Even though US 131 is a few hours from the shop, we love to test there, and it’s become a place that really feels like home. Jason and Stephanie [Peterson, track managers] are great people and work hard to accommodate us there. They always have the track prepped to top notch condition and I never have to worry about test results being skewed from bad track conditions. All of the staff at US 131 pull for us as we’re testing and work hard to make us feel at home. It’s like being around old friends. We’ve also gotten to know a good many of the fans and racers. When our test sessions coincide with a bracket race, the racers are great about allowing us to be a part of their program and run in between their rounds. Everyone is very accommodating and great at making us feel at home. I want to thank everyone for making us feel welcomed at US 131 and for truly making it our hometown track.

“With the Summer Nationals coming up next week, we’re looking forward to having our friends from US 131 there to support us and cheer us on. We’ve runner upped there several times, but I would love to win in front of a hometown crowd. It would truly be an honor to win for our fans and friends there.

“We’re slowly coming around this learning curve and I think we’re pretty close to knowing how to finesse this car down the track. We’re getting a good handle on our different setups. One thing we can certainly tell from our test sessions is that horsepower is not a problem. We have plenty of that to work with and now we’re coming up on a good race day setup, so we’re hoping that pulling off a win for our hometown crowd isn’t out of the question!”