By
John Rittenoure
ENID,
Okla. (Oct. 26, 2008) -
After 18 weeks of competition
Kelly Boen and Kyle Berck found
themselves back where they
started when the O’Reilly NCRA
presented by ICM/Ethanol Late
Model series finale got underway
Sunday afternoon at Enid
Speedway Park.
Never mind
the fact the two just spent six
months traveling across four
states. After 18
events Boen came to the season
finale with just a five point
lead over Berck. It was now down
to one show, winner take all.
And that is what
Boen did. He took home the title
with a third place finish in the
30-lap
finale.
“There was
not much passing and that worked
out well for us,” smiled a very
happy Kelly Boen after capturing
a fourth straight O’Reilly NCRA
Late Model championship on a
windy and sunny afternoon. “It
worked out for us today. I feel
kind of bad for Kyle (Berck)
because he probably had a
pretty good car, but did not get
a chance to show it because he
drew a bad number.
That is the risk you take
when you come to a day race and
we both knew it.
“Today was
kind of like overtime at a
football game. Who ever had the
best outcome at the end of the
game was going to win it and we
just happen to do that.”
After
starting the season with a DNF
Boen found himself playing
catchup. The defending champion
only topped the point chart for
three weeks midway through the
season and just
moved into the lead a second
time a week before coming to
Enid.
“While I
feel bad for Kyle I feel really
good for this team,” said Boen.
“This team has worked really
hard all season long. We had two
DNF’s and managed to struggle
back from all of that and win a
few races. It took
us most of the year to recover
from those DNF’s. We were
running second at I-80 and
chasing down the leader and
broke a $64 set of change gears.
It was a bad mistake for us to
run that kind of stuff.
“Today we
were just more or less riding
around and trying to keep from
making a mistake that would cost
us a fourth championship. Today
the fourth championship meant
more to us then winning the
race. But we did not have
anything for the leader. “
The nearly
even point battle reminded Boen
of the 2005 season when he
finished just 18 points ahead of
Al Purkey for his first title.
“Five
points apart made it
interesting, but I remember
racing Al (Purkey) for it a
couple of years ago”,
recalled Boen.
“He was actually leading
going into the last night and it
was like this one, who ever
finished ahead was going to win
it. We had to pass each other
and I passed him and won that
race and the championship.”
This fourth
title was not only special for
Boen but for NCRA as well and
the four-time champion would
like to Improve on a few things
for next season.
“This is a
really special deal for a lot of
people,” said Boen.
“This is the twenty-fifth
year for the NCRA and it means a
lot to us.
“I
would like to be a little more
competitive for feature wins so
we are going to do our homework
over the winter and see if we
can get better.“
It was a
heartbreaking loss for Berck who
led the points chase for 14
weeks.
“It’s not
how a guy likes to lose it, but
he (Kelly Boen) ran a good race
and deserved it,” said Berck who
won his only NCRA title in 2002.
Berck
started farther back in field
then Boen and passing was
difficult on the rubbered over
racing surface. Running fifth
through most of the race Berck
managed to take over fourth
behind Boen on the final lap.
But it was not enough leaving
Berck 30 points short at the
finish.
“We knew
coming in tonight the luck of
the draw would play into it and
our car never really got going
good until right at the end,”
said Berck. “It was way too late
when we really got competitive.
We fought it all night. “
The biggest
factor may have happened the
week before at Thunderhill
Speedway. Berck finished fifth
in the opening main event but
had to forfeit the 95 points for
the position after changing to a
backup car before the race. That
left Berck with only a ten point
lead going into the second
night. After the second night
Boen went home with a five point
lead.
“We changed
cars and NCRA does not give
points,” said Berck. “We
probably should have changed
motors but we were down on time.
It was a judgment call.
We were
looking forward to bumping him
off but we will have to wait
until next year.”
