By Tommy Goudge (June 23, 2012) Merlin, Ontario – Justin Barger made it a clean sweep for New York drivers this weekend by claiming the second round of the Jones Brown Motorsport Insurance Northern Summer Nationals Sprint Car series at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night. Barger started from the pole position and was never seriously challenged on his way to the $2,000 win.
Barger and Alain Bergeron made up the front row for the 25 lap feature by virtue of the “outlaw-style” redraw, and Barger took off when the green flag dropped. Bergeron started to feel heat from Travis Cunningham, while Dustin Daggett was moving up from the 4th row.
Barger had a close call in traffic when Chris Durand lost a rear end and slowed in front of the leader, but survived unscathed. A restart with 5 laps to go gave the rest of the field one more shot at Barger, but he was not to be denied on this night, and took the win.
“We had a really good car in the feature,” Barger said afterwards. “(We) just made a few changes, and the starting position helped out a lot. Lapped traffic played into my hand. One close call during the race, but the rest of it was pretty good. We’re up here to try to win this deal, so we’ll see what we’ve got in the next 2 races.”
Daggett got around Cunningham on the last restart, and did everything he could to catch Barger before settling for the runner-up spot.
“I think if I could have started right behind (Barger) I would have had something, because on the first lap on the restart, the car was good right in the middle,” said Daggett after the race. “After that it was done. I had one chance at it, and that’s all it was. We’ll take it. The way our season’s been going, a second place finish is like a win to us right now.”
Cunningham took 3rd place honours to cap off a competitive weekend, which saw him in contention for the win at Ohsweken on Friday night.
“It was me and my 75 year old car owner here tonight,” Cunningham told the crowd. “We’re just a low buck team, and this really feels good for us.
Heat races for the 27 car field were claimed by Jamie Collard, Dustin Daggett, and Glenn Styres, while Dick Mahoney won the B-Main.
NEXT NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS EVENTS presented by Jones Brown Motorsport Insurance
The second half of the Northern Summer Nationals series will conclude on Friday, August 24 at Ohsweken Speedway, and Saturday, August 25 at South Buxton Raceway. The overall champion of the 4 race series will earn a guaranteed starting position in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals feature event, scheduled for Saturday, September 15 at Ohsweken Speedway.
NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS
SPRINT CAR SERIES
RACE REPORT – JUNE 23, 2012
SOUTH BUXTON RACEWAY
MERLIN, ONTARIO
TOTAL ENTRIES – 27
HEAT RACES (10 laps each – Top 18 in passing points transfer to A-Feature):
Finish. [Starting Position] Number Name (Hometown)
HEAT RACE #1
1. [1] 7x Jamie Collard (Burford), 2. [3] 71 Travis Cunningham (Grimsby), 3. [6] 21 Don Adamczyk (Williamsville, NY), 4. [5] 25 Warren Mahoney (Lefroy), 5. [8] 01 Mikey Kruchka (Hamilton), 6. [9] 3r Shane Ross (Thedford), 7. [2] 15 Mike Ferrell (London), 8. [7] 70 Jim Lingar (South Bend, IN), 9. [4] 52 Scott Kreutter (Alden, NY) DNS.
HEAT RACE #2
1. [1] 2m Dustin Daggett (Grand Ledge, MI), 2. [2] 25 Jared Zimbardi (Salamanca, NY), 3. [5] 5b Justin Barger (Montrose, NY), 4. [6] 10 Mitch Brown (Brantford), 5. [9] 51L Lee Ladouceur (Alexandria), 6. [7] 5 Keith Dempster (Alton), 7. [4] 79 Dick Mahoney (Newmarket), 8. [3] 66 Frank Baranowski (Mount Hope), 9. [8] 2 Brad Lodge (Stouffville).
HEAT RACE #3
1. [4] 0 Glenn Styres (Ohsweken), 2. [2] 07x Dain Naida (Tecumseh, MI), 3. [6] 51 Bryan Howland (Auburn, NY), 4. [8] 8b Alain Bergeron (Saint-Pie, QC), 5. [1] 5c Conor Mahoney (Waterdown), 6. [9] 7 Kyle Moffit (South Dayton, NY), 7. [3] 30 Adam West (Ridgetown), 8. [7] 9 Jim Munsie (Pickering), 9. [5] 67 Chris Durand (Port Stanley).
B-MAIN
(12 laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to A-Feature)
1. 79 Dick Mahoney, 2. 30 Adam West, 3. 9 Jim Munsie, 4. 52 Scott Kreutter, 5. 2 Brad Lodge, 6. 67 Chris Durand, 7. 66 Frank Baranowski, 8. 15 Mike Ferrell, 9. 70 Jim Lingar.
NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS
SPRINT CAR FEATURE (25 laps)
Position. # Name (Starting Position)
1. 5b Justin Barger (1)
2. 2m Dustin Daggett (7)
3. 71 Travis Cunningham (3)
4. 8b Alain Bergeron (2)
5. 07x Dain Naida (10)
6. 35 Jared Zimbardi (6)
7. 7x Jamie Collard (4)
8. 10 Mitch Brown (11)
9. 51L Lee Ladouceur (12)
10. 52 Scott Kreutter (22)
11. 0 Glenn Styres (9)
12. 7 Kyle Moffit (14)
13. 3r Shane Ross (16)
14. 01 Mikey Kruchka (15)
15. 25 Warren Mahoney (13)
16. 5 Keith Dempster (17)
17. 30 Adam West (20)
18. 79 Dick Mahoney (19)
19. 9 Jim Munsie (21)
20. 21 Don Adamczyk (8)
21. 5c Conor Mahoney (18)
22. 51 Bryan Howland (5)
23. 67 Chris Durand (24)
24. 66 Frank Baranowski (25)
DNS. 2 Brad Lodge (23)
NEXT NORTHERN SUMMER NATIONALS EVENTS:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 @ OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 @ SOUTH BUXTON RACEWAY