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Barney Dominates for First Ever UR Sprint Car Victory
By MIKE MALLETT
VERNON, N.Y. - Jason Barney has won races at Utica-Rome Speedway in both a Sportsman and a Modified. On Sunday night he finally scored the win he’s been waiting for the longest.
Barney, of Constantia, N.Y., captured his first ever Sprint Car win at the ½ mile Vernon oval in the 25th Anniversary Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint SUNY Canton 25-lap A-Main.
“This is awesome,” stated the driver of the Walton’s Farm and Auto Sponsored No.87. “To win at Utica-Rome makes me so happy; I wouldn’t want to win anywhere else.
The win was worth $2,000 and allows Barney the chance to relax a little at the shop which is located less than 15 minutes from the speedway.
“I’ve taken three years of abuse in the shop for not winning here,” laughed Barney. “But hopefully this should put an end to most of that. They’ll probably find something else to get on me about now.”
Barney driving an HG Associates powered Maxim started on the outside of the second row. He methodically worked his way forward and began challenging for the lead on lap five. On lap seven he dove to the inside of turn three and came up ahead of Justin Barger to take the race lead.
Barney led the rest of the way to win his second career Empire Super Sprint feature event.
Lance Yonge, of Penn Yan, N.Y., faded early from his sixth starting spot but regrouped and came on to finish in second. Jeff Cook briefly held second before losing it to Yonge forcing him to settle for third.
Dan Kaszubinski of Syracuse, N.Y. finished fourth in his Bud Burlew owned no. 28 while Barger, of Montrose, N.Y., finished in fifth.
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GOING GREEN: Barger jumped out to the lead from the pole as the race went green for the very first time. Barger, looking to stay unbeaten in ESS competition, led the first six laps while Barney was navigating his way to the front.
THERE HE GOES: Barney made his way into the runner-up spot by lap six and then on lap seven he drove in on the bottom of turn three and came high off of turn four to take the lead away from Barger.
“I have to thank Justin (Barger) for beating us in the dash,” stated Barney. “We thought we had a good car until he went by us in the dash on the bottom.
“We went back and made a bunch of changes to the car and it paid off in the feature because we were able to be strong on the bottom of the speedway.”
YELLOW IS OUT: Two laps later on lap nine, the caution came out when Tommy Wickham slowed in his No. 75 on the outside of turn two. The second and final caution came out on lap 12 when Doug Emery got together with Blake Breen sending him spinning in turn two. Each time Barney was able to pull away on the restarts.
“I really didn’t mind those cautions,” said Barney. “They helped us out a lot because my car was really good the first four or five laps after restarts and I liked having the clean air.”
HERE COMES SLOW TRAFFIC: As the laps continued to click off Barney caught the tail end of the field. Barney carefully worked through traffic in order to protect the lead.
“I didn’t know how big of a lead I had so I was trying to get through as quick as I could,” commented Barney. “I made sure that I took a different line from the slower cars. If they went low then I went high. I wasn’t going to follow a lapped car and give someone the chance to pass me.”
BIG LEAD AT THE END: When the checkered flag finally fell Barney had secured nearly a half-straightaway advantage over his nearest competition allowing him to finally get the Utica-Rome monkey off his back.
GOOD START TO THE YEAR: Yonge was unable to catch Barney but his second place finish gives him two consecutive top three finishes in ESS competition in 2008.
“We are off to a good start,” stated Yonge. “Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. We need to keep it going as long as we can.”
TOO TIGHT EARLY: Yonge got better as the race went on and he may have had something for the Barney. He never had the opportunity to race with him as it was too late in the event when the car did come on for him to challenge for the lead.
“It took too long for the car to come back to us,” commented Yonge about his Johnsons Farms sponsored Maxim. “I was really tight early and I went backwards for a little bit. If the car had come on five laps sooner we may have had something for him (Barney).”
WHY YOU TAKE NOTES: Cook, of Antwerp, N.Y., brought his North Country Welding sponsored Maxim chassis from the 14th starting position to finish in third.
“After they watered and worked the track I wanted to change the car,” said Cook. “But I went back to my notebook and looked at what I wrote down last year. It told me to not to pay any attention to the water truck and leave the car set up for the slick. The car ended up being awesome.”
ESS PIT NOTES: A very good field of 36 sprints filled the pits on a picture perfect night in front of a typical huge crowd at the Gene Cole promoted half-mile…Making first ever ESS starts were Brandon Warner (who qualified for the A-Main) Kory Gurney, Tim Devendorf, former ISMA Super Modified star Bobby Magner and Utica-Rome top modified driver Willy Decker as a teammate to Chuck Hebing…Hebing however suffered motor troubles in his main mount and had to use his back-up for the rest of the night…Motor troubles also claimed Jessica Zemken and Bobby Breen during the night…Blaise Regina scratched his Rich Zagata owned mount after warm-ups…Near perfect track conditions helped in seeing 24 of the 25 A-Main starters finish the event…The Lucas Oil Series for ESS will see two more stops at Utica-Rome on July 6th and August 31st….Next week will be the Annual Earl Halaquist Memorial at the Fonda Speedway, the $2,000 to win event will be the second leg of the GSSI I-90 Challenge.
RACE RESULTS (5/25/08)
Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints SUNY Canton A-Main (25 laps): Jason Barney, Lance Yonge, Jeff Cook, Dan Kaszubinski, Justin Barger, Rick Wilson, Jeff VanDusen, Blake Breen, Michael Parent, Doug Emery, Cory Sparks, Tim Kelly, Steve Poirier, Chuck Hebing, Bubby Kerrick, Mike Stelter, Tommy Wickham, Lee Ladouceur, Alain Bergeron, Normand Beaudreault, Doug Norrie, Brandon Warner, Anthony Cain, Gordy Button.
KSE Racing Products B-Main (10 laps): Mike Stelter, Chuck Hebing, Alain Bergeron, Gordy Button
Provisional – Anthony Cain.
Did Not Qualify – Jami Russell, Jessica Zemken, Bobby Breen, Kory Gurney, Blaise Regina, James Hanson, April Wilson, Willy Decker, Tim Devendorf, Howard Singer, Bobby Magner.
Walton’s Farm and Auto Repair/Walt’s Hobby Dash (4 laps): Justin Barger
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 1 (10 laps): Jason Barney, Doug Emery, Tim Kelly, Normand Beaudreault, Tommy Wickham
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 2 (10 laps): Steve Poirier, Lance Yonge, Brian McDonald, Jeff Cook, Michael Parent
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 3 (10 laps): Blake Breen, Jeff VanDusen, Dan Kaszubinski, Cory Sparks, Doug Norrie, Alain Bergeron
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 4 (10 laps): Justin Barger, Rick Wilson, Bubby Kerrick, Lee Ladouceur, Brandon Warner.
Lap Leaders – Barger 1-6, Barney 7-25.
Bonuses:
SUNY Canton A-Main – Barney $400
Ohsweken Speedway A-Main Winner’s Bonus – Barney $100
National Parts Peddler Halfway Bonus – Barney $100
Les Constructions Ultra Blue Collar Award – Kaszubinski $100
Lane’s Yamaha Hard Charger – Cook (11 Pos.) $50
HG Associates Pole Award – Barger $50
AMB Moteurs Fast Time Award – Barger (17.075) $50
Cook’s Contracting Bridesmaid Bonus – Yonge $50
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heats – Barney, Poirier, Blake Breen, Barger $25.
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