From Peterson Media
Seth Bergman’s speedweek didn’t quite go how he had hoped, though the driver from the Pacific Northwest fell just a few laps short of picking up his second national tour win of 2012.
“Speedweek is a tough week to begin with, but when you don’t run very well, it sure does make it a lot more grueling,” said Bergman.
After taking last Sunday, the PPM team returned to action Monday night in Chatham, LA for round three of Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek.
Starting fifth in a very talented heat race, Bergman scored a fourth place finish on the very fast racing surface, and would put his Superior Marine/Corridor Electric machine in the eleventh starting spot for the 30-lap feature.
With the track staying extremely fast all night long putting passing at a premium, Bergman would maintain the 11th spot at the stripe.
“With everyone so fast in Louisiana it made it tough to do much,” he said. “We maintained and ended up with an okay finish, but I think we can be a little better.”
Tuesday night the scene shifted to the Diamond Park Speedway, and Bergman turned in an identical 11th place finish on another heavy, fast racetrack.
“The heavy tracks are almost as bad as rubber down tracks,” he continued. “It’s basically hero dirt where everyone runs all out, and you can’t get around anyone.”
Wednesday night’s stop was in the state of Oklahoma as they hit the dirt of Lawton Speedway.
This would mark Seth’s best night of speedweek as the 23 car was very fast all night long.
Charging from sixth to third in his heat, Bergman was in the redraw, and put his Speedmart/Eagle No.23 on the front row of the 30-lap feature.
Jumping out to an early lead, Bergman kept his right rear glued to the cushion as he simply motored away from the rest of the field until encountering thick lapped traffic.
Maneuvering through traffic, Bergman was forced to try and get under lappers witch second running Wayne Johnson right behind him.
As Bergman lost all of his momentum on the 23rd lap, Johnson was able to slide up in front of the Snohomish, WA driver and motor away with Seth settling for second.
“We had a great car at Lawton,” he said. “I was pretty bummed we lost it in lapped traffic, but running second in this series is a pretty tough feat and feels okay.”
After taking a night off the team returned to action Thursday night in Salina, OK, and Bergman had bad luck in the feature and ended up with a DNF.
Speedweek came to a close on Saturday night in Wheatland, MO as they went to work at the Lucas Oil Speedway.
A third place finish in his heat put Seth in the first B main, and a fourth place finish saw him miss the transfer, and he was forced to take a provisional to get into the feature.
Lining up in the 24th spot, Bergman was forced to use patience on the rubber down race track as he was able to take advantage of a couple wrecks and sneak his way up to a 15th place finish.
“That was not the way we wanted to end speedweek,” he said. “We were just pretty bad all night, and unfortunately we had to take another provisional.”
Bergman and his Pete Petersen Motorsports team would like to thank Superior Marine, Corridor Electric, Speedmart Inc, Eagle Chassis, ButlerBuilt, and 7 Industries for their support in 2012.
ON TAP: Bergman will now take a well-deserved break before returning to action on July 3rd at the US 36 Raceway.