|
|
 |
|
 |
| Courtesy Brian Simonseth, H2H Photo (click to enlarge)
|
| Rick Fauver of Everett at speed at Skagit Speedway. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
Dirt Cup: Barnes, Fauver looking for luck on final night
Posted
at
12:13 pm
by Scott Whitmore
As one veteran sprint-car racer said, luck plays a big part in how things go at Skagit Speedway’s Dirt Cup. Some luck is good, some luck is bad. And sometimes what turns out to be a good thing starts out looking like something else.
Defending champion Jayme Barnes of Marysville leads the Snohomish County contingent at the 38th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup, which concludes Saturday night at the three-tenths mile banked clay oval in Alger.
Entering the third and final night, Barnes is No. 4 in the standings with 1,059 points, 41 back of leader Tyler Walker of Los Angeles. By completing the first two nights in the top 16, Barnes has locked himself into Saturday’s A Main; and by being in the top-six he also earned a spot in the A Scramble that will set the first three rows of the A Main.
“The worst we can start in the A is sixth, and that’s if we break or something in the scramble,” Barnes said Saturday morning as he prepared to head out to the track. “We’ll start fourth in the scramble, so If we can pass a couple cars, we can start (the A Main) on the front row.”
Rick Fauver of Everett is No. 9 in the standings, just 77 points back of Walker. A veteran of more than 20 years racing sprint-cars, Fauver had predicted on the first night that luck would play a factor in the Dirt Cup.
“We start ninth in the A Main; we had some issues the first night but we had a good night (Friday) night,” Fauver said. “There are a lot of fast cars here. … We wanted to make the top six and run in the scramble, but that’s what happens. … This is a lot of luck, we’ll get through it.”
Walker and two-time Dirt Cup winner Jonathan Allard of Chico, Calif., are 1-2 in the points and the duo also set the fastest times in qualifying during Night 1 (Allard, 11.541 seconds) and Night 2 (Walker, 11.312).
“Walker is really fast right now, and whenever a track is really aggressive, like it was (Friday) night and the first night, he is up on the wheel,” Barnes said. “Walker and Allard, they’re just fast everywhere they go right now.”
As the fastest qualifiers, Walker and Allard earned spots in the $1,000 Qualifying Challenge that will be part of Saturday night’s program.
Both challengers will made a two-lap qualifying run, take time out to make adjustments, then run another two-lap qualifying run. The fastest overall time wins the bonus donated by Industrial Resources and the Follman Agency.
Current Skagit Speedway 410 Sprint division leader Jesse Whitney of Stanwood is 15th in the Dirt Cup standings and will also start the A Main for the finale. Two-time and defending 410 division champion Barry Martinez of Lynnwood is 17th and Jared Ridge of Snohomish is 18th, just missing the cut for the A Main.
Martinez and Ridge will be the starting front row in the B Scramble, which will set the first three rows for the B Main. Eight cars will transfer out of the B Main into the A.
For Barnes, just being in the Dirt Cup this year is a bit of a surprise. Although he started racing his own car this season, a burned piston parked him several weeks ago. But then Barnes’ fortunes changed for the good when LAW Motorsports team owners Alan Larson and Kelly Welch offered him a ride in their No. 33B.
With just a couple weeks in his new ride, Barnes had his work cut out for him to get ready to defend his 2008 Dirt Cup title.
“To be honest with you, two weeks ago we would been happy to just make the show,” Barnes said. “The owners have been doing what we want, and crew chief Alan “Round Man” Terrell and I have been doing better and better each week.”
Barnes was also the recipient of some good fortune during Friday’s A Main, although it didn’t look that way at first.
During a lap-10 caution period, Barnes headed into the infield work area after a nozzle came loose on this engine. That sent him to the back of the field for the restart, but that move kept him free from a four-car pileup — right where he had been racing — two laps later.
If breaks like that keep coming his way, Barnes has a shot at winning back-to-back Dirt Cup titles, and the $25,000 that goes with it.
“Hopefully if everything goes our way, we have a shot at it,” said Barnes. “Forty laps, anything can happen.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to Trackside |
|
|
|Contact Us
|Advertiser Services
|Home Delivery
|Newsstand Locations
|Classifieds
|Feedback
|About the Company
|Work@the Herald
|Site Map
COMMENTS | Be the first to comment
Log in or register to post a new comment.
To read other terms and conditions, click here