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| Boen Wins NCRA Championship |
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| Sunday, 26 October 2008 00:00 |
Boen Edges Berck to Capture Fourth Straight NCRA Championship
“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.” If history repeats itself no doubt these two competitors are likely to take right up where they left off when the 2009 season gets underway.
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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.