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David Smith Jr
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (November 24) - Kyle Berck of Marquette, Nebraska picked up his second career O'Reilly/NCRA late model division championship this year in what was yet another banner season for the series premiere division. Competing in all eighteen events that were held, this season was just a little different then tours past.
Despite only two feature victories on the season, consistency, as it usually does, played a huge part in Kyle's first division championship since his last back in 2002. On the strength of fourteen top five finishes and seventeen times in the top ten out of the eighteen races held, he was able to hold off a series career year by rival Kelly Boen of Henderson, Colorado.
Kyle's first Hard Rock Hotel-Casino feature victory came in the divisions first ever appearance at Brill Motor Speedway in Meeker, Oklahoma in the first night of the "Showdown in the Heartland" tour with the O'Reilly/MARS DIRT Car series on June 26th. It took almost two and a half months before he reached victory lane again but did so in convincing fashion as he did it on the High banks of Belleville in Kansas on Labor Day weekend, September 6th.
"I am learning quickly on how to do a juggling act," said Kyle in a phone interview. "I started a family late and my wife and I had our first child over the winter and it has really cut into our shop time. I have learned how to juggle between shop time, working out on the farms and my family time but after 20 yrs. of doing nothing but racing and farming it is a nice change. I really wanted this championship and came into the season just looking to be consistent and finishing races. About mid season me and my crew had to kind of adjust what we were doing because Kelly (Boen) had such an awesome year so we kind of stepped it up a bit."
There are a couple of things that Kyle says he would like to address. "I want to thank my shop guy Jacob McCall as he does a lot of things around the shop that really goes unnoticed. Also want to thank my crew Brad Poland and Tharin Peters along with my father (Gary) and sister (Belinda) for sacrificing what they do to help me get up and down the road like we do." And of course there are the all important sponsors to help make it all possible. "Of course I want to thank Dorthy Lynch, Strobel Construction along with Jim Bernheisel with Lazer Chassis for providing me with awesome race cars. We also changed motor builders this season as we switched to Chevy power built by Markeson, Wisconsin based Wegner Automotive. In all of our races we had not one "DNF.'
This has been the case for the past couple of seasons, the tour kicked off the 2009 race season with a stop at Mid-Nebraska Speedway in Doniphan, Nebraska with four time and defending series champion Boen kicking off the season with the thirty lap feature victory. It was a scene that would play out for the series career late model feature leader all season long as he reached victory lane an astounding eleven times, tying "The Texan" Gary Wright of the old outlaw sprint car division for the most feature victories in one race season. Among the other tracks Boen took home victories were: Belleville High Banks (Belleville), a sweep of the NCRA Late Model Nationals at Mid-Nebraska Speedway (Doniphan), Park Jefferson Speedway (Jefferson, South Dakota), I-80 Speedway (Greenwood, Nebraska), a sweep of the annual "King of the Hill" late model nationals at Junction Motor Speedway (McCool, Nebraska), Dodge City Raceway Park (Dodge City, Kansas), 81 Speedway (Wichita, Kansas) and ended the season with the Cornhusker Classic at I-80 Speedway (Greenwood, Nebraska).
Other drivers picking up O'Reilly/NCRA late model victories were John Anderson of Omaha, Nebraska at the annual Alphabet Soup (I-80 Speedway), Eric Turner (81 Speedway), Ken Essary (Monett Speedway), Denny Eckrich (I-80 Speedway) and Joe Kosiski at Adams County Speedway (Corning, Iowa).
151 drivers from ten states competed in at least one event this year with an average car count of 37 cars per event. Berck, Jason O'Brien, Mike Collins and the ever persistent Wylan Petrie competed in all eighteen events. Among the new venues for the division were the above mentioned Brill Motor Speedway, Adams County Speedway (Iowa) and Park Jefferson Speedway (South Dakota).
In the division's rookie of the year chase, O'Brien of Atlantic, Iowa took home the honors making all events to help propel him to a 46 point advantage over Omaha's Scott Koskovich. His best feature finish came on Dodge City Raceway Park in Dodge City, Kansas back on August 15th with a third place finish.
This concludes the 26th season for the O'Reilly/NCRA late model division with sights already set on 2010, which will be the 40th year for the series. The series currently sanctions five divisions, consisting of not only late models but 360 sprint cars, modifieds, Oklahoma modifieds and sport modifieds. In years past the series has sanctioned the old 100 inch super modifieds and modifieds and outlaw sprint cars and point standings, series records, driver profiles and more can be found on the official NCRA website www.ncraracing.org. The series would also like to thank the following sponsors and contingency sponsors that climbed aboard as partners with the O'Reilly/NCRA late model division in 2009. If you are interested in climbing aboard for the 2010 race season, contact David Smith, Jr. (405) 740-4769 or ncrapress@aol.com. If you're interested in hosting a late model event for 2010 or would like more information on the series, contact NCRA steward Chris Smith (918) 625-6200.
Final 2009 NCRA Late Model Point Standings
Rank Car Driver Points
1 14 Kyle Berck 5030
2 07 Kelly Boen 4800
3 15 Jason Obrien 4445
4 3C Mike Collins 4245
5 1F Jason Frieson 3810
6 24 Bryant Goldsmith 3610
7 33 Al Purkey 3500
8 26JR Cory Zeitner 3455
9 2B Jason Bodenhamer 3400
10 1W Mike Wiarda 3240
2009 O'Reilly/NCRA Late Model Schedule
May 22 Mid-Nebraska Speedway/Doniphan, Nebraska Kelly Boen
May 24 I-80 Speedway/Greenwood, Nebraska John Anderson
June 20 Junction Motor Speedway/McCool, Nebraska Rained Out
June 26 Brill Motor Speedway/Meeker, Oklahoma Kyle Berck
June 27 81 Speedway/Park City, Kansas Eric Turner
June 28 Monett Speedway/Monett, Missouri Ken Essary
July 2 I-80 Speedway/Greenwood, Nebraska Denny Eckrich
July 5 Belleville Highbanks/Bellville, Kansas Kelly Boen
July 17-18 Mid-Nebraska Speedway/Doniphan, Nebraska Kelly Boen
July 24 Park Jefferson Speedway/Jefferson, South Dakota Kelly Boen
July 25 Adams County Speedway/Corning, Iowa Joe Kosiski
July 26 I 80 Speedway/Greenwood, Nebraska Kelly Boen
Aug 7-8 Junction Motor Speedway/McCool, Nebraska Kelly Boen
Aug 15 Dodge City Raceway Park/Dodge City, Kansas Kelly Boen
Aug 16 81 Speedway/Park City, Kansas Kelly Boen
Sept 6 Belleville Highbanks/Bellville, Kansas Kyle Berck
Sept 26 I-80 Speedway/Greenwood, Nebraska Kelly Boen
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