Thunder Mountain Speedway
Eighth WDRA victory wraps up title for Berry
By Tom Freimann
Western Dirt Racing AssociationOLATHE, Colo. (Sept. 29) — Jeep Berry narrowly lost last year's Western Dirt Racing Association championship to fellow Grand Junction, Colo., driver Dean Moore last season as the title chase came down to the final race. Berry made sure it wasn't even close in 2007.
The Colorado veteran won the WDRA finale at Thunder Mountain Speedway to close out his first-ever title-winning season. Berry, who won eight of 10 WDRA features, earned $1,500 in the finale and outdistanced Moore by 75 points in the standings.
Rain at the beginning of the race threatened the feature, but the 14 starters ran a few laps to work moisture out of the racing surface. Nevertheless, two multicar accidents slowed the action in the first three laps.
Once the race got rolling, though, the outside front-row starting Berry was in control and went on to his 16th career WDRA victory, one shy of all-time leader Kelly Boen.
Gary Dechant, who started third, finished second while Curt Daniels rallied from his 14th starting spot to finish third. Jason Davis and Moore rounded out the top five and polesitter Jeff Davis ended up ninth.
Notebook
The Emory Hooker Memorial honored a long-time racing supporter who died last year. Plans for a pre-race ceremony were curtailed by impending weather. ... Seventh-place finisher Scott Aibner made his first career Dirt Late Model start. ... The day was windy and cool as gusts of as high as 40 mph hampered the action. ... Corey Smith wasn't able to start the feature after getting tangled up in a heat race. ... Curt Daniels missed his heat race but made a 14th-to-third run in the feature.
Emery Hooker Memorial: (1) Jeep Berry, (2) Gary Dechant, (3) Curt Daniels, (4) Jason Davis, (5) Dean Moore, (6) Kyle Hill, (7) Scott Aibner, (8) Mike McGinn, (9) Jeff Davis, (10) Andy Hill, (11) Terry Boushee, (12) Dan Shepherd, (13) Ron Lengel, (14) Bob Cook, (15) Corey Smith, (16) Michael Wright.
