Bryan Silas Very Solid In Berlin

Topics:  Bryan Silas, Berlin ARCA RE/MAX 200

Chris Knight
Fast Track Racing
July 29, 2008

MARNE, Michigan (July 29, 2008) - - Even though Bryan Silas did not score a top-10 finish in last Saturday night’s Berlin ARCA RE/MAX 200, the Stuart Florida native walked away from the flat short track with an encouraging finish and some much needed confidence.

Heading into his third start at Berlin Raceway, Silas looked to the incredibly short practice session to dial in his No. 11 Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. During the lone practice of the day, Silas maneuvered his machine to a lap of 18.241 seconds at 86.443 MPH, good enough for 18th on the boards.

“We’re working on the handling of our racecar right now,” Silas offered. “This race has always been about getting your car to handle at night rather than the early evening. We haven’t been able to get the perfect setup underneath our car just yet, but we’ll keep trying and hope that qualifying will put us as close to the front as possible.”

In SIM Factory pole qualifying, Silas took his stab around the Marne, Michigan facility and delivered a time of 18.076 seconds at 87.232 MPH putting his Andy Hillenburg-owned machine 22nd on the starting grid.

“It was a nice pick-up, but not quite enough,” said Silas, after qualifying. “We’re making steady improvements and I think with a couple more adjustments during the race, we should be looking pretty good.”

At the start of the Berlin ARCA RE/MAX 200, Silas found himself hovering inside the top-20 but not making much progress towards the front. Finding himself dealing with an ill-handling Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, Silas continued to climb up on the wheel and dig.

Despite his commendable efforts, the field found themselves in an early span of long green flag racing with Silas losing a lap to the leaders approaching the first caution flag of the night approaching lap 40.

Looking for an adjustment to improve the handling of his machine, Silas brought his black and yellow machine down to the attention of his Fast Track Racing crew where the team changed four tires, added Sunoco Racing fuel and a made a chassis adjustment.

Back on the prowl, Silas continued to battle the lap-down machines hoping to find himself in position for the lucky dog award, giving the first competitor who is one lap down during the next caution a free pass back onto the lead circuit.

That opportunity came on approaching lap 86 when the yellow flag waived allowing Silas to make his return to the lead lap circuit. Now finding himself locking the 14th position, Silas was on a mission to get to the front.

During the second-half of the race, Silas’s machine hooked up to the now nightly-covered Berlin Raceway which found the 21-year old driver turning very competitive lap times and comfortably inside the top-12.

Silas’s machine would enter the top-10 with twenty circuits remaining but extremely tight competition found Silas finding himself guarding the position with his life. Even with a little banging, Silas maintained his position inside the top-10 just 10 laps from the finish.

A late race caution would find the field bunched up and gunning for one last restart. On that final green flag run, Silas was unable to fend off competitors on newer tires thus forcing the avid racecar driver to settle with a 13th place.

“I really thought we were going to have a top-10 finish but it slid away there at the end,” stated Silas, who recorded his career best Berlin Raceway finish. “I have to really thank my team though, they never gave up and the adjustment we made on the pit stop really turned the handling around on our car. This positive finish is the momentum we needed heading into Pocono Raceway next weekend.”

Leaving Berlin, Silas has 42 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with a career best finish of eighth at Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Salem Speedway (April 2007 and April 2008) and Kentucky Speedway (July 2007) while holding an additional top-10 performance at USA International Speedway (March 2007). He holds a career best short track time trials effort of seventh at Berlin Raceway (July 2007). A fourth place qualifying effort at Pocono Raceway (June 2007) is Silas's best speedway run to date. He has controlled the ARCA field for 26 laps in three races.

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is a return trip to Pocono Raceway, the site of Silas’s best qualifying effort to date. The Pennsylvania 200 is scheduled for Saturday, August 2nd with the green flag to waive shortly after 1:00 p.m. local time.

For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com.
Visit Fast Track Racing on the web at, FastTrackRacing.com.
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