Edition 5, May9th - 2007

*Note: Jim takes a week off and asked Berge crew member Ryan Farrell to show his prospective of working on a race team. Following are Ryan’s observations:

This Week at Berge Racing, By Ryan Farrell

Hello and welcome to all the millions of Berge Racing Fans,

Recently at the Golden Sands Speedway, I was approached by Jim Francisco, Purchasing Manager of Hankscraft Inc. and avid race fan, to write an article for the Hankscraft Racing Team website. As much as I enjoy writing, I was thrilled to get the opportunity.

This season marks the fourth year I will have the privilege to work with Adam Berge. I met Adam because he lives across the street from one of my favorite childhood fishing spots. Conveniently the race shop doubles as Adam’s garage (shop first, garage second), so I got to go fishing and work on race cars all in one place! How can a guy top a situation like that?

As some may not know, Adam used to drive the very same car that James Swan drives now. Adam actually raced for a few years running street stocks for awhile and eventually moving up to the sportsman class at what was then Lake Geneva Raceway. At the end of the 2005 season Adam inquired James Swan about driving his car in the Mid-American Sportsman Series. As it would turn out, it was one of the best moves that he could have made.

When Adam acquired James’s help, he also acquired the help of some other individuals. Suddenly the Berge Racing Team went from Adam and me, to a total of six including Don Stardy, Lenny Lisitza, and Wayne “slacker” Dahlke. The three of them brought hundreds of races of experience, and a history of winning. The addition of the three seasoned veterans gave me a good example to learn from and a fun group to work with.

In only one year, Berge Racing tallied 11 wins at 7 different tracks in only 30 races. It truly was a spectacular year. On top of this, we had three large goals to start the year off. The goals included a Mid-American Championship, a win at the Milwaukee Mile, and a victory at the Slinger Nationals. After the season wrapped up victoriously in the Bahamas Brackets in October, we accomplished all three of our goals. The win at Milwaukee was clearly the highlight of the year. A large crowd of family, friends, and Hanskcraft employees were on hand for the event.

Speaking of Hankscraft, much of our success last year has to be attributed to our primary sponsor. Looking back to the start of the year, it’s hard to believe how we kept going without their help. Since signing on, some of the employees that frequent the races have become like extra crewmen around the pits. Jim Francisco and Mark Blume have been at almost every race this year and oversee the website that this article is posted on. It’s great to have such a friendly relationship while taking part in a hobby that requires so much help from willing volunteers.

That basically brings us up to the present. This year we are going for two Mid-Am championships in a row. We are off to a blazing start with an average finish of 3.5 and an average starting spot of 1.5. We have had a great handling car at both Rockford and Golden Sands speedways, and we have a 21 point lead on Daryl Gerke in the series. The usual front runners Lyle Nowak and Bobby Gutknecht are close behind him. Though we have a zero in the win column this year, the fast time points and solid top five runs have more than made up for the points given to the winner.

This week will already be the fifth race of the year for the #97 Hankscraft Monte Carlo, and it will be our third race in Slinger, Wisconsin. This is a non-Mid-Am point’s race for us. What can anyone in attendance expect to see on Sunday night? Well, if the first races there were any indication, look for some wild action on the high banks.

If we are going to get to victory lane this week, we will clearly have to find a way around Kenny Joosten. The #47 sportsman car has won the feature in two of the three races held there this year. Coincidentally James used to drive for Kenny as a teammate, so the #97 and #47 have always had a friendly rivalry. In fact, in last week’s fourth place finish there, James spent a majority of the race with Kenny in hot pursuit as they both worked through traffic. Other drivers to watch out for include the black #19 of Dave Thomas and defending track champion and last week’s feature winner Mike Graczkowski, in the #2 Pontiac . Hopefully we’ll see you Sunday night at the Slinger! Go James, GO!