With only a dozen cars on the provisional entry list, Berlin Raceway has been forced to cancel Monday night’s Battle at Berlin 251.
Back in June, the track hosted another premiere event, the Money in the Bank 150, which had over 40 pre-registered entries and a great late race battle between Brian Campbell, Bubba Pollard, Kyle Busch and Johnny VanDoorn.
The most common reason cited by teams who did not file an entry was oversaturation of events and preparation for championship battles or other major races. The CRA Super Series will race on Wednesday night alongside the Outlaw Late Models in the Kalamazoo Klash, while Tuesday night features the Midwest Tour Dixieland 250 at Wisconsin International.
It seems there were just too many races in the region within a certain period of time.
The event was one of the highest paying Super Late Model events in the country, with a $15,000 first place payoff, $7,500 for second, down to $900 to start. The race was supposed to be be 251 laps counting yellows, with controlled cautions. It was an eight tire race, with a max of changing two tires per yellow.
Berlin Raceway General Manager Nick Mesman says they couldn’t justify holding an event with so few entries.
“This is unfortunate and something that we have never experienced before, but we just can’t hold an event like this with 10 or 11 cars.” Mesman said. “Not only us here at Berlin but our sponsors, spectators and fellow competitors have very high expectations for this event and we felt it wasn’t fair to our fans nor our sponsors and racers to experience anything less.
“As a result we unfortunately have to cancel this year’s event. It does allow the racers to focus on their remaining track and series championship runs, as well as prepare for other major competing events. We here at Berlin are extremely sorry for the inconvenience to the teams who have prepared for this event as well as the sponsors and the spectators planning on attending. We will evaluate all of the details from this year and build a plan that will ensure the Battle at Berlin 251 experiences the success that it has had in the past.”
In addition to refunding each pre-entered team’s money, Berlin Raceway will also credit those drivers an entry fee and a set of tires to both the 2019 Money in the Bank and the 2019 Battle at Berlin 251.
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