HOLLY, Mich. – After a career showing at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway last weekend, Must See Racing Sprint Car Series young gun Christian Koehler hopes to carry his positive momentum into this weekend’s Engine Pro Fast Car Dash at Berlin Raceway.
The series’ return to Berlin marks the 10th race of the season and Koehler comes to the seven-sixteenths-mile oval fresh off the strongest outing of his career.
The third-generation driver and grandson of former Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series champion Ron Koehler started ninth but ran his way up through the field during the first half of the 50-lap feature at Anderson. He was running fourth when overheating problems forced him to retire his No. 10k sprinter.
Despite the disappointment of not finishing after such an increase in speed with his team, Koehler has been looking at the positives and took away plenty of notes from what he called “a career day.”
“Man, to have the kind of run going that we had going and not be able to close it out was a real bummer, but I’m so proud of the effort our team put in and the speed we showed at Anderson,” said Christian Koehler. “The engine just got hot on us. We had to richen it up a little bit for the feature anyways, because we saw it running a little warm during the heat (race) and we thought we could get away with it. It just couldn’t quite make it all 50 laps.
“It felt great to show everyone what I’m really capable of tonight,” he added. “I’ve had some good luck, but I’ve had a lot of bad luck over the past few years and just haven’t felt like we’ve gotten the breaks we’ve needed. That’s racing though, and sometimes things don’t go your way. They certainly were going our way for a while tonight, and that felt really good while it lasted out there.”
Koehler said Saturday’s race at Anderson was motivation for him to keep pushing forward.
“I’m glad we still had a car in one piece last weekend to be able to bring to Berlin on Saturday, because I feel like we can be really strong there and contend for another good day,” Koehler noted. “We’re motivated and we’re hungry, so we’ll go out and see what we can do this weekend and hopefully surprise a few more people.”
Three-time defending series champion Jimmy McCune leads the Must See Racing field into Berlin, having won the series’ most recent appearance there in June for his first-career victory at the track. He carries a lead of more than 50 points on nephew Anthony coming into the Fast Car Dash.
Other contenders expected to challenge for the win include Charlie Schultz, Adam Biltz and Tom Jewell, who ran second to Jimmy McCune in June after leading the first 23 laps of the feature and is seeking his first Must See Racing victory.
The event will again feature the Fast Car Dash format, which pits the top eight qualifiers against one another in a fully-inverted, eight-lap heat race that pays points towards a prize fund at the end of the season.
In addition, series officials have confirmed that the planned two-day season finale at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Nov. 16-17, has been cancelled.
The 2018 season will now conclude with the $4,000-to-win, $700-to-start David D. Mateer Tribute presented by American Racer at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway on Sept. 15.
