SOUTH BOSTON, VA
South Boston Speedway officials threw down a $1,000
bounty for any driver that could snap Adam Barker’s streak of six
straight wins here at the famed .4-mile oval. A handful of the region’s
top NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division drivers came to take the
challenge. None could knock Barker off of his game.
Adam in the Winner's Circle after the June 9th ALLSTATE 150 presented by Little Caesar's
Last year’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion, Philip Morris of Ruckersville, Va, Deac McCaskill of Raleigh, N.C., Jerame Donley of Winston-Salem, N.C., and South Boston, Va. driver Stacy Puryear, a former competitor on the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series circuit, took their shot and failed to bump Barker out of the winner’s circle.
South Boston Speedway’s regulars including Wayne Ramsey of Amherst, Va., C.E. Falk of Virginia Beach, Va., Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, Va. couldn’t do it either. Barker, from Hurt, Va. won the 150-lap race for the Barkhouser Late Model Stock Car Division that highlighted Saturday night’s Allstate 150 presented by Little Caesar’s racing program.
Owen Miller of Emporia, Va. finished 1.246 seconds behind Barker in second place, with David Triplett Jr. of Timberlake, N.C. Greg Edwards of Poquoson, Va. and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national points leader Rodney Cook of Reidsville, N.C. rounding out the top five finishers.
Jerame Donley of Winston-Salem, N.C., Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, Va., C.E. Falk III of Virginia Beach, Va., Stacy Puryear of South Boston, Va. and Jason Dickerson of Ruckersville, Va. completed the top ten finishers.
Miller, in what was his best outing of the season, got past Morris on the fourth lap to take second place but wasn’t able to mount a serious bid against Barker at the end. He found himself having to fend off a bid from Triplett in the late stages of the race, opening the door for Barker to cruise to victory.
Morris’ bid literally went up in smoke as the engine in his Chevrolet blew on lap 79 and sent him spinning into the wall in the second turn to bring out the second and final caution of the race. After seven laps of running under the caution flag, NASCAR officials red-flagged the race for about 15 minutes in order to clean up the oil and debris from Morris’s mishap.
The race resumed on lap 86 and went back to green flag racing on lap 96. McCaskill, who was in sixth place on the restart, fell off of the pace three laps later and went to the sidelines with mechanical problems.
Ramsey, who had been one of Barker’s biggest challengers all season, encountered mechanical problems and went to the pits on lap 122. He finished 18th. With no cautions to interrupt his momentum over the final 54 laps, Barker sped away to victory as Miller fended off a late bid from Triplett.
Barker, who led all but the first lap of the race, averaged 68.282 mph.
Article Courtesy of South Boston Speedway.com
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