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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - From Thunder
Hill Raceway
March 14, 2009
Barker holds off Stewart at the
checkered flag to win '09 TSRS season opener
(Kyle, TX) Robert Barker, the runnerup to 2008 TSRS Late Models champion Heath
Stewart
last season, got a bit of revenge Saturday night as he got the jump on Stewart
at the
beginning of the race then held Stewart by about half-a-car length at the finish
of
Saturday's Allstate Texas Thunder 50 at Thunderhill Raceway (Kyle, TX).
The TSRS season opener was part of the
Allstate Texas Racefest festivities at Thunderhill
Raceway (THR).
The win is Barker's fourth career TSRS win, moving him up into a tie for fifth
place on the
all-time TSRS list. Ironically, Barker (Boerne, TX) is now tied with Stewart
(Del Valle, TX) as
well as former series champ Ronny New.
Barker started on the outside of Row 1, next to Stewart who won his ninth-career
Fast
Qualifier Award (second only to Chris Schild, 13, in TSRS history) with a
qualifying time of
15.423 seconds earlier in the afternoon. At the start of the race, Stewart
seemed to slip
while Barker got some "good bite" on the cold 3/8th-mile asphalt, D-shaped
track. As they
raced side-by-side into Turn 1 and out of Turn 2, Barker got the better of
Stewart and
dropped to the inside groove of the track in front of Stewart.
He would hold that position for the rest of the race. However, on the 50th and
final lap,
Barker (who had been running well when he went on the high side of Turns 3 and
4)
seemed to get a bit loose as he came out of Turn 4; Stewart was hugging the
inside lane,
creating a bit of a "sprint" to the checkered flag. Barker won by a little more
than a half-car
length over Stewart.
While the "Move of the Race" came on the first lap, the "controversy" of the
race came late.
On Lap 44, Stewart - who was being challenged hard by '08 Rookie of the Year
Jake Kruger
- spun coming out of Turn 2. While the near-capacity crowd and race teams waited
with
baited breath, TSRS officials ruled Kruger (Bastrop, TX) had spun Stewart,
sending Kruger
to the back while Stewart got his second-place spot back on the restart.
The official finish of the Allstate
Texas Thunder 50:
1) Robert Barker, Boerne (TX)
2) Heath Stewart, Del Valle (TX)
3) Bobby Teer, Jr., Comfort (TX)
4) Chris Schild, Leander (TX)
5) Cary Stapp, San Marcos (TX)
6) Jeff O'Neill (R), Round Rock (TX)
7) Dillon Spreen, Boerne (TX)
8) Jake Kruger, Bastrop (TX)
9) Bradley Burke, Johnson City (TX)
10) Kendall Bumbera (R), Sealy (TX)
11) Todd Farris, College Station (TX)
12) Mark Mathias (R), San Antonio (TX)
13) Jason Hollander, Round Rock (TX)
14) Cody Smith, La Vernia (TX)
15) Levi Krauss (R), Schertz (TX)
(R) - Denotes 209 TSRS Rookie
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