Texas Speedzone - Barker Bags Big Bucks in Texas State Sportsman Championship Battle

Barker Bags Big Bucks

bt J M Hallas

San Antonio, TX (October 22, 2006) - Robert Barker showed the Sportsman class why he was the 2005 NASCAR Late Model track champion and contender in 2006. Barker, in a newly built car for one of his crew members, grabbed the top spot on lap 1, held off early challenges and cruised on to take the win in the Texas State Sportsman Championship.

Barker started along side polesitter, David Hassinger and got a good jump as the green flag waved on the 16-car field for 50 lap feature event. Barker. Fast qualifier, Jamie Fuller had trouble getting up to speed, but was able to get along side Hassinger on the back stretch. The two were still battling on lap 1, while Jarod Benker and Tater Mason were door to door for fourth.

In the pack, seven cars were battling hard for positions with Daniel Webster trying the high side on Keith Garrett on lap 3. Garrett rebounded from that challenge and got by Mark Mathias on lap 4 for the sixth spot. Meanwhile, up front, Barker was increasing his lead over Fuller and Hassinger. Mathias’ problems continued as he fell back through the field, eventually tagging the wall on lap 7 to bring out the first caution.

On green, Barker was able to get away, while Garrett tried to get by Mason for fifth. Craig Crawley was slow off turn 2 and got rear-ended by Chad Menard on lap 8 stacking up the field behind them. Mason brought out the red flag on lap 12 when he blew up going into turn 1, taking himself and Garrett into the wall. Several cars spun through the fluid and Robert Mayberry clipped the tail of Mason as he slid down the banking.

Under red, Menard’s crew came out on track to work on the car causing Menard to be disqualified. Once clean up was complete, Fuller was unable to get his car restarted and was forced to drop out from second. Once back to green, Barker got two car lengths on Hassinger as the field settled into to some green flag racing.

On lap 18, Hassinger starting to show some smoke from under the car, but no signs of slowing down. The top five separated out, by equal margins, while Greg Carluchi, Webster, and Mayberry battled for sixth. As the mid-point it was Barker Hassinger, Benker, Garrett and Greg Rohmer running in the top five.

Webster began to put pressure on Carluchi taking looks inside him coming out of the corners. As Barker built a half straightaway lead over Hassinger, with big gaps between the top five, the best fight for position was still for sixth between Carluchi, Mayberry, Webster and Mathias, who was laps down after his earlier trouble.

Webster got a run on Carluchi down the front stretch on lap 38 and got along side in turn 1-2, but Carluchi was off the corner better to hold the spot. The duo continued to slug it out until lap 42 when Carluchi slid high giving Webster the chance to dive under for sixth. Carluchi then began to get looser and looser and was slowing on lap 45. Benker tapped the turn 2 wall on that lap and yellow was thrown to check the track for fluid, erasing Barkers big lead with just five to go. Under the yellow, Hassinger was checked for leaks and sent to the pits.

When the green flag waved again, Barker had a lapped car as a buffer the others and took advantage getting out to a nice lead. Garrett and Rohmer both got by a wounded Benker for second and third. Benker would continue to fade and Webster would pull to the pits giving up his top five spot. As the white was shown, Barker, in the Mission Auto Parts, Screen Pro Graphics, Chevy Camaro, had a comfortable margin and snagged the checkers and the $1,500 payday.

“I want to thank Wesley Weyles, this is his car,” said Barker. “The first time out, it’s pretty impressive. I had a good time thanks to Mission Auto Parts, Tom Hamilton and those guys did a good job on the motor. Thanks to Screen Pro for doing the lettering. All in all what a day we had a lot of fun out there, it’s a little different from driving a late model. It was the first time the car was out and I didn't know how it was going to do on a long run. Lucky it held on enough, and I was able to stay in front of everyone. I am proud of everyone. We worked real hard to get this car here and everything turned out great, so we are happy.”

San Antonio Speedway Sportsman, 50 Laps

1. 44 Robert Barker
2. 31 Keith Garrett
3. 51 Greg Rohmer
4. 21 Robert Mayberry
5. 55 Jarod Benker
6. 6 Craig Crawley
7. 48 Pat Lyon
8. 1 Daniel Webster
9. 20 Mark Mathias
10. 83 David Hassinger
11. 34 Greg Carluchi, Jr
12. 40 Stan Eastey
13. 93 Jamie Fuller
14. 12 Tator Mason
15. 28 David Schooman
DQ'ed 5 Chad Menard - worked on car under red on track

Sportsman qualifying results
1. 93 Jamie Fuller 20.43 New Track Record
2. 44 Robert Barker 20.84
3. 83 David Hassinger 21.13
4. 12 Tator Mason 21.27
5. 55 Jarod Benker 21.28
6. 20 Mark Mathias 21.35
7. 31 Keith Garrett 21.37
8. 6 Craig Crawley 21.50
9. 5 Chad Menard 21.58
10 1 Daniel Webster 21.62
11. 34 Greg Carluchi, Jr 21.86
12. 51 Greg Rohmer 21.98
13. 21 Robert Mayberry 22.18
14. 40 Stan Eastey 22.40
15. 48 Pat Lyon 22.48
16. 28 David Schooman No time