Travis Berryhill Comes Up Aces In Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night
Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / CHILI BOWL NATIONALS MEDIA
Photos By: TOMMY HEIN / RACERSGUIDE.COM
TULSA, Okla. –January 12, 2017- Adding to the list of first time winners at the Tulsa Expo Raceway, California’s Travis Berryhill solidified his spot in Saturday’s championship feature event with a win in Wednesday’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tulsa Qualifying Night at the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.
The 42nd different preliminary night winner in Chili Bowl history, Berryhill was chased to the line by fellow Californians, Jake Swanson and Colby Copeland with all three punching their ticket into Saturday’s A-Main for the first time.
“Man it takes a lot of pressure off,” chuckled the driver of the Manic Racing No. 31 when asked about being locked in.
“I’ve been in a B-Main here but I’ve never been in a Saturday night A-Main, so I’m pretty proud of that. I’ve been to in the ‘B’ and been close, and down to the Q main event, or whatever they are down to these days, and everywhere in between. So when you are down there in those things it’s a struggle and it’s stressful because you never know what you are going to get; especially the further you get down. I’ve been all the way through them. Last year we had a pretty poor qualifying night. We were fast but we just couldn’t put it all together. Then Saturday night we really bared down and threw some stuff at it that worked and we went through three or four main events last year. I carried a little bit of that confidence over to this year as well.”
Taking off from fifth, Berryhill wasted no time advancing to the point in the Ray Seach wrenched No. 31. Battling with Missouri’s Andrew Felker on the third round, the Fontana powered No. 31 rolled to the top spot on Lap 4 with a move off the second turn with Oklahoma’s Kevin Bayer in tow.
Caution on Lap 6, the chase for the lead was berm to wall on the Tulsa Expo Raceway with Berryhill glued to the hub, while Bayer railed the cushion. Evenly matched at every end of the Raceway, the margin for the lead was by inches at times as Bayer built momentum for a pass on Lap 10.
Staying true of the bottom of the track, Berryhill took advantage of a bobble by the driver of the Boss Chassis No. 91k to retake the lead on Lap 13. Able to gain some breathing room over Bayer, the back of the field was quickly approaching. Finding the tail of the pack on Lap 15, the question of where to run became real a lap later. On the back bumper of lapped traffic, the caution flew to bring the field to a single file restart.
Attempting the restart, fourth running Andrew Felker lost power to force another caution, advancing Jake Swanson into fourth. Once the race resumed, Berryhill was able to slip away to a 1.824 second advantage at the line, while the race for second was on between Jake Swanson and Colby Copeland.
Advancing out of a B-Main to start 18th, Swanson would win out the battle for the runner-up spot. On having to race through the ‘B’ to get to the A-Feature, Swanson had to fight a sour engine under the bonnet of the No. 68W.
Putting him behind the eight ball, Jake commented on the situation by saying, “It was a little hectic to say the least. There’s no quit in our deal. Straight out the get go that thing was really good. They had that thing on a rail. We won the heat race, and I knew we had to win that to make it count. From there we went to the qualifier and figure we could get a good jump, but as soon as the thing fired off it wasn’t running right. I tried resetting the box and I tried leaning it down, whatever I could do. It just wasn’t happen then with one to go, the thing was running on all four again. It took off and I though we just got a Chili Bowl miracle, but as soon as the yellow came out that wasn’t the case and it dropped back to two (cylinders). After that, it just shut off.”
Barely holding onto third, Copeland edged out Washington’s Gary Taylor by only 0.068 seconds. With a sense of relief, Copeland talked about being locked into Saturday night.
“It feels pretty good to be in the Saturday feature. It’s good to hang out now and get the car ready to see what we can do on Friday with the pole shuffle, then get ready for 55 laps on Saturday. We’re actually staying at the Hard Rock Casino so it worked out good that we were qualifying tonight, so we can celebrate and get focused and be ready to go for Friday and Saturday.”
While just missing the transfer, Gary Taylor ran to the fourth spot from seventh with Tyler Thomas coming from ninth to complete the top-five.
Ryan Robinson crossed sixth with Sammy Swindell hard charging from 24th to seventh after advancing from the C-Features. In pursuit of Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year, Donnie Schatz moved from 15th to eighth. Casey Shuman from 16th earned the ninth spot with Brent Beauchamp crossing tenth.
Presented by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tulsa; Wednesday’s qualifying slate saw 88 drivers making the call to bring the event total to 178. The Fastenal Flip Count has reached 18 over the first two nights of the Chili Bowl with all drivers able to walk away. The 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues on Thursday, January 12, 2017 and is presented by John Christner Trucking.
For continued updates on the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, fans can follow along with the Chili Bowl on social media, as well as the online PPV broadcast on http://www.racinboys.com. All official results and news can be found at http://www.chilibowl.com.
Results:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Hard Rock Casino, Tulsa Night
Car Count: 88
Event Count: 178
Budweiser Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91K-Kevin Bayer[2]; 2. 5C-Colten Cottle[8]; 3. 14R-Jody Rosenboom[6]; 4. 5F-Danny Frye III[1]; 5. 14-Sean Watts[3]; 6. 57D-Daniel Robinson[7]; 7. 44D-Philip Dietz[4]; 8. (DNF) 21M-Michelle Melton[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-Brent Beauchamp[4]; 2. 32T-Trey Marcham[1]; 3. 29S-Timmy Buckwalter[5]; 4. 7J-Shawn Jackson[3]; 5. 37B-Terry Babb[7]; 6. 14E-David McIntosh[2]; 7. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[6]; 8. 13SR-Marcus Thomas[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Berryhill[3]; 2. 12-Chris Sheil[1]; 3. 22-Chase Jones[5]; 4. 99K-Korey Weyant[8]; 5. 59-Austin Shores[2]; 6. 91-Jeff Stasa[4]; 7. (DNF) 4M-J.J. Ercse[6]; 8. (DNF) 23A-Hannah Adair[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3E-Geoff Ensign[1]; 2. 11D-Danny Faria Jr[3]; 3. 45W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[6]; 5. 97-Rico Abreu[2]; 6. 99-Colton Heath[5]; 7. 4-Austin Nemire[8]; 8. 7F-Roy Larkin[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 2. 51S-Danny Sheridan[3]; 3. 69-A.J. Fike[6]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[8]; 5. 17D-Alex DeCamp[1]; 6. 9C-Cory Turner[7]; 7. 7G-Justin Gonzales[5]; 8. (DNF) 6S-Michael (Mike) Snider[2]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 68W-Jake Swanson[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 3. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[4]; 4. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[5]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 6. 50T-Tony DiMattia[8]; 7. 88T-Tyler Nelson[7]; 8. (DNF) 43H-Reece Shelton[2]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 4P-Paul McMahan[5]; 2. 85-Matt Johnson[1]; 3. 4D-Robert Dalby[4]; 4. 7X-John Ivy[2]; 5. 50-Daniel Adler[8]; 6. 2K-Kyle Jones[6]; 7. 47JR-Ron Bach[3]; 8. (DNF) 28-Kory Schudy[7]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 51X-Colby Copeland[3]; 2. 2X-Logan Seavey[2]; 3. 11A-Andrew Felker[7]; 4. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[1]; 5. 55D-Nick Drake[4]; 6. 11-Katlynn Leer[5]; 7. 10K-Billy Lawless[6]; (DNS) 98J-Bill Jackson
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 25-Chase Stockon[7]; 4. 27B-A.J. Burns[1]; 5. 12K-Zac Taylor[5]; 6. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[4]; 7. 5W-Chris Windom[6]; (DNS) 14H-Harley Hollan
Heat 10 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Ryan Robinson[7]; 2. 75-Johnny Herrera[1]; 3. 5E-David Gravel[3]; 4. 33C-Carson McCarl[2]; 5. 77J-John Klabunde[4]; 6. A23-Barrie Valentino[5]; 7. 35T-Tyler Robbins[6]; (DNS) 17C-Devin Camfield
Heat 11 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Brenden Bright[3]; 2. 1T-Tony Roney[1]; 3. 73-Jason McDougal[8]; 4. 8M-Kade Morton[5]; 5. 16C-David Camfield III[2]; 6. 7M-Kevin Ramey[7]; 7. 17Z-Zac Moody[4]; 8. 3B-Austin Blair[6]
D-Features: Top 2 advance to corresponding C-Feature.
D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10K-Billy Lawless[2]; 2. 28-Kory Schudy[6]; 3. 35T-Tyler Robbins[3]; 4. 21M-Michelle Melton[7]; 5. 23A-Hannah Adair[5]; 6. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[1]; 7. 44D-Philip Dietz[4]; 8. 43H-Reece Shelton[8]; (DNS) 47JR-Ron Bach; (DNS) 98J-Bill Jackson
D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5W-Chris Windom[2]; 2. 4M-J.J. Ercse[1]; 3. 17Z-Zac Moody[4]; 4. 7F-Roy Larkin[6]; 5. 3B-Austin Blair[7]; 6. 13SR-Marcus Thomas[5]; 7. (DNF) 7G-Justin Gonzales[3]; (DNS) 6S-Michael (Mike) Snider; (DNS) 17C-Devin Camfield; (DNS) 14H-Harley Hollan
C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[9]; 2. 17D-Alex DeCamp[10]; 3. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[4]; 4. 9C-Cory Turner[7]; 5. 12K-Zac Taylor[5]; 6. 14E-David McIntosh[14]; 7. 91-Jeff Stasa[13]; 8. 77J-John Klabunde[6]; 9. 7X-John Ivy[2]; 10. 10K-Billy Lawless[15]; 11. (DNF) 7J-Shawn Jackson[1]; 12. (DNF) A23-Barrie Valentino[12]; 13. (DNF) 50T-Tony DiMattia[3]; 14. (DNF) 14-Sean Watts[8]; 15. (DNF) 28-Kory Schudy[16]; 16. (DNF) 99-Colton Heath[11]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 2. 55D-Nick Drake[5]; 3. 7M-Kevin Ramey[7]; 4. 5F-Danny Frye III[3]; 5. 57D-Daniel Robinson[6]; 6. 16C-David Camfield III[9]; 7. 11-Katlynn Leer[11]; 8. 4M-J.J. Ercse[16]; 9. 59-Austin Shores[8]; 10. 4-Austin Nemire[12]; 11. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[13]; 12. 33C-Carson McCarl[2]; 13. 5W-Chris Windom[15]; 14. 88T-Tyler Nelson[14]; 15. (DNF) 27B-A.J. Burns[4]; 16. (DNF) 2K-Kyle Jones[10]
Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Qualifying Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 51S-Danny Sheridan[1]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 4. 92-Brenden Bright[4]; 5. 71-Ryan Robinson[6]; 6. 5E-David Gravel[10]; 7. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[9]; 8. (DNF) 68W-Jake Swanson[2]; 9. (DNF) 22-Chase Jones[7]; 10. (DNF) 85-Matt Johnson[8]
Qualifying Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 11A-Andrew Felker[4]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[9]; 4. 99K-Korey Weyant[2]; 5. 5C-Colten Cottle[6]; 6. 2X-Logan Seavey[5]; 7. 75-Johnny Herrera[8]; 8. 4D-Robert Dalby[7]; 9. 14R-Jody Rosenboom[3]; 10. 73-Jason McDougal[10]
Qualifying Race 3 (10 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[1]; 3. 31-Travis Berryhill[5]; 4. 32T-Trey Marcham[7]; 5. 4P-Paul McMahan[6]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[9]; 7. 69-A.J. Fike[3]; 8. 1T-Tony Roney[8]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton[10]; 10. (DNF) 25-Chase Stockon[4]
Qualifying Race 4 (10 Laps): 1. 11D-Danny Faria Jr[2]; 2. 91K-Kevin Bayer[4]; 3. 51X-Colby Copeland[5]; 4. 2A-Brent Beauchamp[6]; 5. 50-Daniel Adler[9]; 6. 45W-Brandon Waelti[8]; 7. 29S-Timmy Buckwalter[1]; 8. (DNF) 12-Chris Sheil[7]; 9. (DNF) 3E-Geoff Ensign[3]; 10. (DNF) 37B-Terry Babb[10]
B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 5E-David Gravel[3]; 2. 92-Brenden Bright[1]; 3. 69-A.J. Fike[6]; 4. 50-Daniel Adler[2]; 5. 45W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 6. 12-Chris Sheil[8]; 7. 2X-Logan Seavey[5]; 8. 17D-Alex DeCamp[14]; 9. 25-Chase Stockon[11]; 10. 97-Rico Abreu[13]; 11. 14R-Jody Rosenboom[10]; 12. 85-Matt Johnson[12]; 13. (DNF) 9C-Cory Turner[16]; 14. (DNF) 11XS-Donovan Peterson[15]; 15. (DNF) 1T-Tony Roney[7]; (DNS) 73-Jason McDougal
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 68W-Jake Swanson[7]; 2. 32T-Trey Marcham[1]; 3. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[4]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 5. 29S-Timmy Buckwalter[6]; 6. 75-Johnny Herrera[5]; 7. 3E-Geoff Ensign[10]; 8. 37B-Terry Babb[12]; 9. 7M-Kevin Ramey[15]; 10. 55D-Nick Drake[14]; 11. 4D-Robert Dalby[8]; 12. 8M-Kade Morton[11]; 13. 99K-Korey Weyant[2]; 14. 22-Chase Jones[9]; 15. (DNF) 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 16. (DNF) 5F-Danny Frye III[16]
A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Berryhill[5]; 2. 68W-Jake Swanson[18]; 3. 51X-Colby Copeland[6]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[7]; 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas[9]; 6. 71-Ryan Robinson[4]; 7. 1-Sammy Swindell[24]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 9. 32-Casey Shuman[16]; 10. 2A-Brent Beauchamp[8]; 11. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[11]; 12. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[22]; 13. 4P-Paul McMahan[14]; 14. 5E-David Gravel[17]; 15. 92-Brenden Bright[19]; 16. 51S-Danny Sheridan[13]; 17. 32T-Trey Marcham[20]; 18. 5C-Colten Cottle[12]; 19. 11D-Danny Faria Jr[10]; 20. 69-A.J. Fike[21]; 21. 50-Daniel Adler[23]; 22. 91K-Kevin Bayer[3]; 23. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 24. (DNF) 11A-Andrew Felker[1]
Lap Leader(s): Andrew Felker 1-3; Kevin Bayer 10-12; Travis Berryhill 4-9, 13-25
Hard Charger: Sammy Swindell +17
