BARKSHIRE OVERCOMES FLAT FOR GOOD POINTS DAY AT ALTAMONT

Source: Jeff Barkshire Racing Media Relations
Date: 09/23/2008

AUBURN, Washingtonholding —Holding third place in the Camping World West Series points race, Jeff Barkshire and team headed to Altamont Motorsports Park in California mindful that, of the series’ front runners, only they would be meeting the track for the first time. As team owner Bob Barkshire put it, “We were concerned because with only two races left and a tight points race, we knew we couldn’t afford a bad race. “But after parking the haulers and assessing the track the night before,” Jeff said, “we felt more excited than concerned, because we saw it as our kind of track, big enough for passing, real raceable.” Their confidence lasted only until they hit the track the next day for practice though when, as Jeff explained, “We discovered how bumpy it was. A weak spot for us all season has been getting the car good on bumpy short tracks.” They were also faced with less time to tune on the car due to having only one rather than the usual two separate practice sessions. “But after throwing some multitude of different suspension packages in,” Jeff said, “we found one that wasn’t perfect but was pretty raceable.”

They qualified third and ran in the top five, feeling a little tight, for about the first 40 laps. “And then,” as Jeff’s dad Bob put it, “we were just watching him lose positions. He was reporting that the right front was flat, but we were telling him all the tires looked up. He kept getting worse and worse, finally slipping out of the top ten.” A quick inspection by the team under a well timed caution revealed Jeff to be right. The right front tire had only 11 pounds of pressure. With a new tire, the Centennial Battery Dodge returned to the track under caution as the last car on the lead lap. They immediately started picking off cars, moving up through the field, but were still fighting a tight car. A wedge adjustment at the half way break helped, and although not great, the car was better, and good enough to drive toward the front. They ended the race with a third place finish.

To overcome some handling issues and a flat tire to finish third felt pretty good. As Bob put it, “As Jeff was losing positions and we were trying to figure out what was wrong, I thought OK, now we’ll see what we’re made of. Are we really a championship contender; can we recover? So it felt pretty great as we worked our way back to the front.”

It was a good points day. The gap between Jeff and 4th place driver Mike David widened, and the gap between Jeff’s 3rd and Jason Bowles’ 2nd place position narrowed to 28 points. His hold on the Sunoko Rookie of the Year position was strengthened. They’ll be headed to Roseville, California for the final race of the 13 race season on October 25th.

See Also .:

News Index | E-mail to a Friend