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Back-to-back! Jayme Barnes wins second straight Dirt Cup
Andrew Kunas
ALGER, Wash. - It was one of the wildest Dirt Cups in recent memory, and Lady Luck was smiling on Jayme Barnes. Just turned 31 years of age recently married, Barnes made some Dirt Cup history on Saturday as he won his second straight Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by Van's Equipment and again made his race team $25,000 richer.
It is only the sixth time in 38 years that a Washington driver has won the event, and Barnes, out of Everett, is only the second Washingtonian to win back-to-back and first Skagit Speedway regular to do. Kasey Kahne won in 2002 and 2003, but was already making his way up the NASCAR ranks at the time and was racing in out of state equipment. For Barnes to be a regular in local equipment made it all the more special for the Washington sprint car racing community.
The only other Washington drivers to win the Dirt Cup are Ross Fontes in 1972 and Bobby Burrow in 1992. Outside of that, the Dirt Cup has long been dominated by teams from out of state, mostly California.
Barnes drove his own car to the victory last year, but after problems with his car this season he eventually found a ride with a different team just a few weeks ago. As he did a year ago, Barnes started outside Los Angeles, Calif.'s Tyler Walker. Unlike last year, when Walker took the lead on the start, Barnes motored ahead to take the lead this time. Barnes led the first seven laps before Walker got past him coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 8. Medford, Ore.'s Roger Crockett, looking for his first Dirt Cup win, eventually got around Barnes himself to take second place.
Then in an instant, with 35 laps down and five to go, Barnes suddenly found himself in the lead. Roger Crockett's car overheated and slowed and Tommy Tarlton also stopped to bring out the yellow flag. During the caution, Walker's car suddenly had trouble as it had a hole in a hose and lost all of its water. Walker stopped on the front stretch and was pushed to the pit area. Barnes was the leader again.
In the last five laps, Barnes motored away from all three Kaedings in the field and took the checkered flag in front of a very happy home state crowd aboard the Law Motorsports No. 33b Shark-powered XXX. San Jose, Calif. driver Tim Kaeding, who found himself in the second position after starting eighth, finished second in the Roth Motorsports No. 83 Kistler-powered KPC. His brother Bud, who started right alongside him in the fourth row, ended up third in his No. 29 Shaver-powered Maxim.
The run of the night belonged to three-time Dirt Cup champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. Kaeding started sixth in the B-Main, transferred to the A-Main and came from the 21st starting position to finish fourth in his own No. 69 Shaver-powered Maxim. Until his run, Kaeding was having a miserable Dirt Cup as he had to race in the C-Main on Thursday and didn't get out of the B-Main that night.
Former track champion Jason Solwold of Burlington, Wash. came from the 13th starting position to finish fifth in the Shark Racing No. 73 Shark-powered Maxim. Travis Rutz of Langley, British Columbia came from 16th to finish seventh in the Rudeen Racing No. 26 Shaver-powered Maxim. Australian-born Peter Murphy, visiting from California, earned a strong eighth place finish in the Anderson/Curtis No. 18 Shark-powered Rocket.
Jesse Whitney, the former track champion and current 410 sprint car points leader at Skagit Speedway, finished ninth in the Whitney Racing No. 88 Eagle. Former Dirt Cup champion Shane Stewart of Oklahoma rounded out the Top 10 in the Kirkpatrick Racing No. 7k Shark-powered A.R.T.
Walker, who had accumulated a very good 1,100 points over the two preliminary nights (he won Thursday preliminary feature), was scored 16th after his huge disappointment. Crockett was scored 17th. Former track champions Chad Hillier and Brock Lemley were 11th and 14th, respectively.
Jared Ridge won the 20-lap B-Main event and took reigning track champion Barry Martinez, Oklahoma native Wayne Johnson, Alberta�s Marc Duperron, Brent Kaeding, Skagit newcomers Chadd Noland and Kyle Larson as well as Eric Fisher with him to the Dirt Cup Race of Champions.
Nick Engberg won the 15-lap C-Main event and took California visitor Brent Bjork, local start Colton Heath and British Columbia�s Toni Lutar with him to the B-Main event.
Walker won the six-lap A-Scramble event to secure the pole for the Dirt Cup Race of Champions. Ridge won the B-Scramble and Bjork took the C-Scramble. The finish in each scramble set the first six starting positions in their respective main events.
Earlier in the evening, Walker won $1,000 when he bested Jonathan Allard in the first ever Qualifying Challenge presented by Industrial Resources and Follman Agency. Walker, the quick qualifier on Friday, posted a lap of 11.373 seconds to beat Allard, Thursday's quick qualifier. Allard ended up blowing his motor and was forced to sit out the A-Scramble as he changed engines, but did get to start sixth in the Dirt Cup Race of Champions.
Making their Dirt Cup debut were the Ford Focus midgets, who ran a 20-lap main event prior to the Dirt Cup Race of Champions. With less than two laps to go, Brandon Daniel passed race long leader Seth Hespe, who had starting experiencing fuel problems with his midget, to win the event.
The 38th running of Skagit Speedway's crown jewel event featured 42 race teams with drivers from all around the United States and western Canada, and featured a $150,000 purse, which included the check for $25,000 won by Barnes and the LAW Motorsports team. More information on Skagit Speedway can be found online at http://www.skagitspeedway.com.
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Final Night - 2009 Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by Van�s Equipment
Skagit Speedway - Alger, WA
June 20, 2009
Industrial Resources and Follman Agency Qualifying Challenge: 24 Tyler Walker defeats 0 Jonathan Allard with a lap of 11.373 seconds.
C-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 7b Brent Bjork, 2. 4e Nick Engberg, 3. 75 Kevin Smith, 4. FK1 Glenn Borden Jr, 5. 81 Kelleigh Johnson, DNS - 4x Toni Lutar. Finish determined first six starting positions of C-Main.
B-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 12 Jared Ridge, 2. 66 Barry Martinez, 3. 73h Danielle Huson, 4. 11d Marc Duperron, 5. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 6. 69 Brent Kaeding. Finish determined first six starting positions of B-Main.
A-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 24 Tyler Walker, 2. 33b Jayme Barnes, 3. 11 Roger Crockett, 4. 21 Tommy Tarlton, 5. 18m Peter Murphy, DNS - 0 Jonathan Allard. Finish determined first six starting positions of Dirt Cup Race of Champions.
C-Main (15 laps): 1. 4e Nick Engberg, 2. 7b Brent Bjork, 3. 5x Colton Heath, 4. 4x Toni Lutar, 5. FK1 Glenn Borden Jr, 6. 75 Kevin Smith, 7. 81 Kelleigh Johnson, 8. 20 Ryan Benoit, 9. 25c Chad Groves. First four finishers transfer to B-Main.
B-Main (20 laps): 1. 12 Jared Ridge, 2. 66 Barry Martinez, 3. 35a Wayne Johnson, 4. 11d Marc Duperron, 5. 69 Brent Kaeding, 6. 7N Chadd Noland, 7. 83v Kyle Larson, 8. 59 Eric Fisher, 9. 98m Mitch Olson, 10. 57c Chris Schmelzle, 11. 94 Zach Zimmerly, 12. 4x Toni Lutar, 13. 4e Nick Engberg, 14. 7b Brent Bjork, 15. 7s Cory Chamberlain, 16. 18 Steve Kilcup, 17. 5x Colton Heath, 18. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 19. 73h Danielle Huson. First eight finishers transfer to Dirt Cup Race of Champions.
Dirt Cup Race of Champions (40 laps): 1. 33b Jayme Barnes, 2. 83 Tim Kaeding, 3. 29 Bud Kaeding, 4. 69 Brent Kaeding, 5. 73 Jason Solwold, 6. 0 Jonathan Allard, 7. 26 Travis Rutz, 8. 18m Peter Murphy, 9. 88 Jesse Whitney, 10. 7k Shane Stewart, 11. 38 Chad Hillier, 12. 6 Kyle Hirst, 13. 59 Eric Fisher, 14. 40 Brock Lemley, 15. F1 Rick Fauver, 16. 24 Tyler Walker, 17. 11 Roger Crockett, 18. 21 Tommy Tarlton, 19. 12 Jared Ridge, 20. 11d Marc Duperron, 21. 83v Kyle Larson, 22. 7N Chadd Noland, 23. 66 Barry Martinez, 24. 35a Wayne Johnson.
Lap leaders: Jayme Barnes 1-7, Tyler Walker 8-35, Jayme Barnes 36-40
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Skagit Speedway - Alger, WA
http://www.skagitspeedway.com
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