Back-to-back! Jayme Barnes wins second straight Dirt Cup

by 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.

Barnes Takes First ASCS NW Region Championship

After two top-3 finishes this weekend in Yakima, Jayme Barnes wrapped up the season championship in the first season for the ASCS Northwest Region.

Barnes Takes Second With Outlaws

Kraig Kinser Grabs Win at Grays Harbor Raceway

Elma, WA— September 1, 2008— Kraig Kinser has had his fair share of ups and downs this season as he returned to full-time competition with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Each time his Tony Stewart Racing team looked to have things turned around, bad luck would strike them again. That all changed on Monday night at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington, as the third generation driver picked up his first A-Feature win of the season in the 30-lap event.

Kinser took the lead from Washington native Jayme Barnes on the 24th lap in traffic and used a strong restart with two laps to go to pull away and claim the $10,000 victory, which was the eighth of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career.

“This is awesome,” said Kinser. “I am tickled to death. I have to thank Tony (Stewart) for giving me the opportunity in this deal. I’m happy to get the 20 car rolling again. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going through the end of the year.”

The 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year began the night by turning in the fourth quickest lap in time trials. He lined up fourth n the fourth heat-race and powered his way to a runner-up finish to earn a spot in the Cane Cams Dash where he ran second to earn a front row starting spot in the 30-lap A-Feature aboard the Bass Pro Shops Chevy-powered Maxim.

“My hat is off to my team,” he said with a smile. “We had a good run in qualifying and a good heat race. We were just that one spot off all of the time, and thankfully we got our chance in the feature.”

The race began with Barnes who started on the pole, dashing to the lead with Kinser chasing him down. Also at the drop of the green, Chad Kemenah battled Steve Kinser for the fourth spot, while Jason Meyers picked up a couple of spots using the high side of the track to move from sixth to fourth.

By the fourth lap, Barnes had opened a large lead, though one lap later he was in lapped traffic, which allowed Kinser to close back in on him. In heavy traffic on the seventh lap, Kinser was right on Barnes looking for a way around him. The next lap, Kinser was held up in traffic which again allowed Barnes to pull away.

Just prior to the halfway point of the 30-lap contest Barnes was again help up in traffic, giving Kinser a shot to close in on him. At the same time, Steve Kinser also closed in on the lead duo. With nine laps to go, Barnes did a wheelstand coming off the fourth turn, again giving Kraig Kinser a chance to close in.

“I knew that whoever got through traffic better would have the lead,” explained Kraig Kinser, who is a native of Bloomington, Indiana “You really couldn’t get underneath them. Jayme (Barnes) kept pushing the lapped cars pretty hard and he slipped up just a little and that gave me a chance to get under him. I was just kind of sitting there waiting. At the beginning of the race he slipped up a couple of times, but he was so far out there, that there was no way I was going to get him. I finally got close enough to him that I was able to take advantage of the little mistake he made.”

Kinser made the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the 24th lap, as Barnes drifted a little high in turns three and four as he was negotiating lapped traffic. Kinser swept under him and charged down the front straightaway.

“I knew with how the track was that it would take someone with an awesome handling car to get around me on the outside,” he shared. “I just trying to get myself as close as I could to Jayme (Barnes) and not get out of shape. I stuck on the bottom and was very patient.”

The only caution of the race came just as the white flag was flown. By way of World of Outlaws rules, two consecutive green flag laps must be run, thus extending the 30-lap event to 31 laps. A strong restart helped Kinser pull away from Barnes during the final two laps.

“I knew that unless someone had an awesome jump on me that I had plenty of open track to work with,” said Kinser. “With the way the track was, I knew that in clean air I would be tough to get by. I felt really good the last few laps after the restart.”

Barnes who wound up second in the Here to Wire Eagle won the third heat race to score his first heat race win with the series. He followed that up by taking the checkered flag in the Crane Cams Dash to earn his first career pole position with the series. He led the first 24 laps of the A-Feature en route to his best career finish with the World of Outlaws.

“I’m happy, but disappointed at the same time,” said Barnes. “How often is a local guy that close to winning one of these, especially on the West Coast. I’m happy though. Usually I am the lapped car in the way and usually I move for them. This time I didn’t get a break and I made a mistake and it cost us. It’s my own mistake and we’ll take second, we are happy with that a lot.”

A number of times over the course of the 30-lap event, Barnes was held up in lapped traffic. He was able to clear the slower machines all but one time and that time was the opening that Kinser needed to take the lead.

“I was half throttle behind a few of those cars and got underneath one a couple of times and they really didn’t give me any room,” he explained. “A couple guys did give me some room when they saw me, but that last one didn’t. I missed the bottom following him and that’s all it took.”

Barnes entered the event on Monday night with three wins at Grays Harbor Raceway in 2008 and five overall victories including the famed Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

“We’ve had a really good season, and have won some really big races at home here,” he said with a smile. “We’ve been running well and we have no budget. We have a tiny budget out of my back pocket and a 10-year old motor. We’re just trying to get by. We are down 100 horsepower to these guys.”

Steve Kinser wound up third in the Q Oil Maxim, as he tried to track down his son and Barnes on Monday night. It was the 24th Top-Five finish of the season for the Indiana native.

“Kraig ran a good race tonight and had a fast car,” said the 20-time series champion. “I am very happy for him. They have been gaining quite a bit lately. This win will definitely help them as we continue down the road.”

Dirt Cup Champ Barnes Letting History Sink In

Andrew Kunas

ALGER, Wash. - Jayme Barnes stood outside his race trailer in the very early hours Sunday morning. He was told and asked: “Local drivers to win Dirt Cup; Fontes, Burrow, Kahne and Barnes. How does that sound?”

Barnes was taken aback for a moment, then finally responded in an unusually soft voice.

“That sounds good,” the new Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup champion, usually a little cocky, said humbly about what he had just accomplished.

He was letting it all sink in. He drove the race of his life and made Skagit Speedway history Saturday, becoming just the fourth Washington driver in 37 years to win Skagit’s crown jewel event. He put himself in exclusive company, the few Evergreen State drivers who won an event long dominated by out-of-state drivers, especially from California, which has won 24 Dirt Cups.

What was even more special for the Everett driver and the local fans of more than 6,000 who were on hand at Skagit Speedway on Saturday was Jayme’s victory coming in local equipment, his own in this case. While fans were thrilled with future NASCAR superstar Kasey Kahne’s victories in 2002 and 2003, his first win came in a car from the eastern part of the country and the next came in a car based in California. The last time a local driver won in local equipment was Bobby Burrow’s still popular victory in 1992. The only other Washington driver to win the Dirt Cup was Ross Fontes, who won the inaugural event in 1972 when it was a three-track, three-night points deal.

“I wanted to be the first one since Burrow so bad,” said Barnes, still showing off the big check for $25,000 handed to him by track owner Steve Beitler. “We’ve got some of the best drivers and cars in the country here. It makes it so tough, so it feels so good.”

Barnes started the 40-lap Dirt Cup Race of Champions on the outside front row, with former NASCAR prospect Tyler Walker, out of Los Angeles, inside of him. Walker had landed the high-profile SC Motorsports ride with a lot of big sponsorship behind it during the last off-season.

Small-time and quite possibly inferior equipment up against Big Money.

Walker took the lead immediately on the start but Barnes kept pace, sometimes flying around the high side in the high-banked turns of the bullring that is Skagit Speedway. On a track that is as small as Skagit, one might feel Barnes is crazy once they hear him admit that he almost never lifted the gas pedal during that race.

On lap 12, as they approached traffic, Barnes passed Walker in turns one and two, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Walker didn’t go quietly, passing him right back in the same fashion on the other end of the track. Coming out of turn two on lap 13, Barnes got Walker again as most of the fans were on the edge of their seats. Walker stormed back as they ran down the back stretch and into turns three and four.

Barnes, coming out of turn four, made the move of the race, and his career.

Coming up very fast on two slower cars as he rounded turns three and four on that fateful lap, Barnes saw the space between those two slow cars that were racing for position. At the same time he realized he was catching those two cars so fast he was going to crash into them if he didn’t do something crazy, and real quick.

Diving down from the top of the banking exiting turn four, Barnes kept the pedal to the metal and split the two lapped cars, with so little room to spare you couldn’t slip a piece of paper in on either side.

The Skagit Speedway crowd just simply loses it. So do announcers, officials, and members of the media.

Barnes motored away as the space between the lapped cars closes, momentarily trapping Walker behind them. The checkered flag was still 27 laps away, but everyone knew, deep down, that no one was going to catch Jayme Barnes now.

“I had no choice but to go for it,” Barnes said about his move between the lapped cars. “If I had let up off the gas pedal a little, I would’ve crashed into them because they were closing up. I just drove through.”

Barnes was so fast in the Dirt Cup Race of Champions, no one was even close to him in lap times. He turned the fastest lap of the race, 11.698 seconds on the 28th circuit around the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval. The fastest lap anyone else turned was a 12.098 seconds.

The red flag flew with 24 laps down and when track announcer Kelly Hart asked the crowd what they thought, they roared their approval, and this with Barnes still needing to run around the track 16 more times to complete his historic run. Barnes, despite an overheating motor under the hood of his own No. 9 Don Ott-powered Eagle, endured a yellow flag and three more reds in a race that saw many cars torn up, only to motor away from the field again on every restart.

There was great racing going on throughout the field, but not for the lead as Barnes was never seriously threatened. No one could challenge his right foot.

As everyone knew they would, the happy fans roared when Barnes crosses the finish line under Kirby Hoyle’s checkered flag.

Many caution laps have been run, however. There’s concern he may be too light. Pushed to the scales, the crowd of 6,000 holds its collective breath.

He’s legal. It’s official. The fans cheer again.

Pushed to the front stretch, Barnes climbed out of his car to be greeted by quite possibly the happiest Dirt Cup crowd since 1992. He’s $25,000 richer and sprint car racing is suddenly a little more affordable for him, but that didn’t matter as much as standing in front of his home state crowd as the Dirt Cup champion and being on the podium with the big trophy.

Mission accomplished. Racing history made.

BARNES WINS NIGHT ONE OF DIRT CUP AT SKAGIT SPEEDWAY

(Alger, WA) 6/29/08 by Kelly Hart

Jayme Barnes is rapidly gaining a reputation as a big race racer. On the opening night of the 2008 Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by Camping World RV at Skagit Speedway Barnes won the 30-lap Feature event passing 6 cars from his inside 4th row starting position for the win. Mitch Olson started outside front row surrounded by the Kaeding clan, Bud Kaeding on the pole and Tim and Brent Kaeding behind in row two. Olson led the first 6 laps when Tim Kaeding took over the lead. Kaeding led the 7th through 10th laps before Barnes slid up in front of him coming out of turn 4 and into the lead on lap 11. From there on it was all Barnes, fending off some serious challenges from Kaeding who would not back off. On the final corner of the last lap Barnes got caught up in slower traffic and bounced off the turn 4 wall, as Kaeding closed Barnes jumped on the gas and took the checkered flag.

Parshall Jr. and Barnes Make It Two In A Row.

By Jack Fordyce Elma, WA.

Jack Parshall Jr. of Hoquiam and Jayme Barnes of Everett made it two wins in a row at Grays Harbor Raceway while the driving team of J. D. Boling of Elma and Ted Warner of Olympia won by default and Gannin Thomas of St Helens, OR. Picked up his first feature win at the Elma track. Parshall Jr. dominated for the second week in a row as he led the Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” 25-lap feature event from the green flag to the checkered flag. It took Barnes 20-laps to come from the fifth-row on the starting grid before he passed then race leader Kyle Miller of Eugene, OR. And went on for the victory in the Whitney’s Auto Group “360 Sprints” 30-lap feature event.

360 Sprints

Eighteen-year old Miller, last year’s limited sprints champion at the track in Cottage Grove,OR. Was making his first appearance at the track in Elma and let it be known that he will be a force to be reckoned with. Miller had the pole with veteran driver Henry VanDam of Enumclaw on the outside at the start of the race. VanDam held the lead for four-laps when he got by Miller on lap-11 but Miller took it back after a caution flag restart on lap-15. While everybody was racing in front of Barns, he methodically was picking of cars in front of him on his way to the front. Picking off Jay Cole of Shelton on lap-9 to put Cole into the fifth spot, Rice and VanDam both after the restart on lap-15. Barnes took over the lead when he went low in turn-4 on lap-20 putting Miller into the second spot. Barnes took the checkered flag, followed by Cole, Steve Vague had moved up to the third spot, Glenn Borden Jr. of Raymond nabbed fourth and TJ Hartman of Puyallup rounded out the top five.

BARNES AND BLOODGOOD TWO-IN-A-ROW AT SKAGIT SPEEDWAY (Alger, WA) 5/5/07 by Kelly Hart

Skagit Speedway was in superb racing condition for Round Three of the Skagit Racing Series. Repeating main event winners Jayme Barnes in the 410 Sprint division and Jason Bloodgood in the Budweiser 360 Sprints were joined on the winners podium by Kevin Smith in the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints and Mike Ploeg in the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets.

For Jayme Barnes winning seems quite easy these days at Skagit Speedway. From the midseason point of last year to the third race of the current season, Barnes has at times appeared untouchable in the 410 class. For the second week in a row, Barnes took off and was never seriously challenged for the lead. Brock Lemley led the first three laps before a lap 4 spin by Adriana Klein brought out the yellow flag. Just four laps in the race had just seen it’s third caution. On the restart Barnes passed Lemley and sailed off for the 25-lap main event win his second in two weeks. The remainder of the top five finishers were Lemley, Josh Edson, Danny Bullock and Eddie Evans. Point leader Barry Martinez pulled off the track with apparent motor problems and only a few laps remaining to finish seventh. The heat races were won by Barnes and Lemley. Barnes again topped the qualifying list with an 11.788 time trial lap.

BARNES, BLOODGOOD, FISHER AND ERICKSON WIN AT SKAGIT SPEEDWAY 4/28/07 by Kelly Hart

(Alger, WA) After a week of steady rains in the Pacific Northwest, the weather finally cooperated and Skagit Speedway was able to run race number two in the Skagit Racing Series. First time winner Jason Bloodgood in his Budweiser 360 Series Sprint, joined former winners Jayme Barnes in the 410 Sprints, Eric Fisher in the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints and Chris Erickson in the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets in winners circle.

Jayme Barnes kicked things off in the 410 Sprint Cars with a blistering 11.285 qualifying lap. The all-time track record is 11.118 held by Kasey Kahne and there have been less than ten laps in the low 11.2 second range all-time. Barnes electrified the crowd with the run, then backed it up with a superlative performance in the main event. John Tharp beat Barnes to turn one on the green flag lap of the 25-lap main. On the third lap Adriana Klein flipped in turn 3. The next lap saw Josh Edson helicoptering in turn 4, while Roy Blumenhagen right behind him was flipping in turn 3. After the lap 4 restart Barnes passed Tharp and took off, negotiating an increasingly tough race track with ease. While others were struggling with the track Barnes was consistently running laps mid eleven second laps almost 4 tenths of a second faster than anyone in the field. The final caution flew when Tharp hit the front stretch wall coming out of turn 4. Barnes won, with Barry Martinez settling for his second straight second place finish 3.6 seconds behind at the finish line, and the season opener winner Brock Lemley finishing third. Danny Bullock and Steve Kilcup won the heat races.