GRANBY, PQ – Justin Barger, of Montrose, N.Y., has spent most the season starting the feature event in the middle of the pack thanks to poor draws and inverts not helping his cause. Even so he has been near the top of the points most of the season.
On Friday night at Autodrome Granby, Barger captured his second Fondations 4 Saisons 25-lap $2,100 to win A-Main event thanks to his front row starting position for the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint LaSalle Motorsports/Northwood 2 Construction Canadian Series event.
“I usually don’t get the chance to start up front,” stated Barger. “The car was awesome I couldn’t have made it any better. I think even if we started in the back we still would have had a great car.”
Barger started alongside Jim Porter on the front row for the feature. At the green he immediately jumped out to the race lead with Porter falling into the second position.
With five laps complete, Barger was the leader when Tyler Rand spun in turn three and collected the No. 10 driven by Jeff Cook. This cleared the track for Barger as he was nearly to the tail of the field.
“I was glad that yellow came out when it did,” stated Barger. “I was just starting to catch the back of the field and it opened up the track for me again.”
Once racing action resumed, Barger was again able to open a sizeable advantage over the competition due to open track and how well his car was handling.
By the halfway point Barger had amassed nearly a full straightaway advantage over his the field in his Deming Ford powered Maxim.
With ten laps remaining Barger encountered several slower cars racing together forcing him to move around in his VMAC Racing/Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oils ride. He was able to use both the high and low lanes on the speedway.
“I didn’t mind lapped traffic tonight,” said Barger. “I was able to clear three or four in the corners a couple of times so I knew I was really putting pressure on whoever was running in second. My car was good enough that I could move around like that when I had to.”
He was able to navigate through the slower cars, but it impeded his quick pace allowing Steve Poirier to cut his lead in half. Poirier worked from the twelfth starting position into second but he ran out of time to catch the leader.
At the checkered it was Barger over Poirier by nearly a half straightaway.
Although Poirier didn’t reach Victory Lane, he was pleased with the run considering how far he had to come in the feature event.
He was also happy that he will not have to start the feature racing in our next event on the outside of the sixth row due the series that winner’s from the previous event can start no better than twelfth.
“I’m super happy with the way it went tonight,” said Poirier. “We did the best we could without winning the race. Now tomorrow we should have a shot of starting up front at (Autodrome) Drummond. Had I won tonight we would have started twelfth again.”
Poirier felt the only way he was going to be able to challenge Barger with his AMB Moteurs ride was to have a caution in the closing laps which did not occur.
“I had a very good car,” stated Poirier about his Eagle Chassis #28FM. “I didn’t know if the car was going to be good because of all the moisture in the track. Even with the good car I still needed a yellow if I was going to catch Justin (Barger).”
Alain Bergeron, of St. Pie, PQ., moved his way into third with ten laps remaining. His Don Ott powered J&J took a little too long to get hooked up to the track. His car didn’t start to drive forward until the midway point of the feature.
“After ten to 15 laps my car was very good,” said Bergeron. “At the beginning of the race the car was way too tight. I really started to get going once the tires got warmed up.”
Jim Porter, of Grand Island, N.Y., has his best run of his ESS career as he crossed the line in fourth while Brian McDonald, of Cornwall, Ont. finished the event in fifth. Rounding out the top ten were local driver Michael Parent, Tommy Wickham, Doug Emery, Anthony Cain and Lee Ladouceur.
ESS/Granby Notes: 20 cars entered into competition for the night of racing…Chuck Hebing took a race off from the ESS tour (Edelweiss) to regroup, unfortunately he had terminal engine problems after winning his heat. He was forced out of competition for the rest of the weekend….Lance Yonge dropped out early from the A-Main with fuel issues. Even though he has been either leading or second in ESS points all year, the fuel problem has plagued him all year…Good to see Normand Beaudreault walking the pits after his frightening accident at Edelweiss back in June…The stars and cars will make one more stop to Granby on Sept. 4th.
Fondations 4 Saisons A-Main – Justin Barger ($2,100), Steve Poirier, Alain Bergeron, Jim Porter, Brian McDonald, Michael Parent, Tommy Wickham, Doug Emery, Anthony Cain, Lee Ladouceur, Justin Harris, Mike Stelter, Daniel Lampron, Sylvain Erickson, James Hanson, Jeff Cook, Tyler Rand, David Renaud, Lance Yonge. DNS – Chuck Hebing
Lap Leader – Barger 1-25
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 1 – Steve Poirier, Tommy Wickhan, Doug Emery, Daniel Lampron, Mike Stelter, justin Harris, David Renaun
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 2 – Chuck Hebing, Michael Parent, Brian McDonald, Jim Porter, Anthony Cain, Tyler Rand, Sylvain Erickson
Car Mate Custom Built Trailers Heat 3 – Lance Yonge, Alain Bergeron, Jeff Cook, Justin Barger, Lee Ladouceur, James Hanso