MOBERLY, Mo. — Jett Barnes owns half as many American Sprint Car Series wins as he does career starts.
The 15-year-old pilot made his first appearance at Moberly Motorsports Park Saturday night and stood out with a 25-lap masterclass in the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14.
Barnes and Cameron Martin led the field of 25 360 sprint cars to the opening green flag. Martin built momentum around the cushion faster than Barnes on the bottom to help propel him to the lead.
Martin held firm in the top spot until the yellow flag flew on Lap 7. While Martin got a good jump on the restart, Barnes had a better launch. The Visalia, Calif., driver reached Martin’s back bumper, then tossed a successful slide job in Turns 3-4 to become the new leader.
Barnes formed a pace around the middle line to separate himself from Martin by one second until lapped traffic invaded his sightlines.
The Californian used his speed to slice through the traffic from both the high and low lanes while Martin was unable to keep up.
When the final caution flew with seven laps remaining, the field behind Barnes prepared for a final attempt to take away the lead. He did not allow a chance as he executed the restart to perfection and inflated the gap to a two-second lead through the final circuits around the Missouri race track.
Barnes took the checkered flag for his second Series win in his fourth career appearance. He also became the youngest two-time winner on the ASCS National Tour at 15 years, three months, and 16 days old.
“I feel like the last couple races, I’ve had a lot of fun,” Barnes said. “I’m just thankful that Jason lets me go out and race. I like to go to different racetracks, so it’s definitely fun. You definitely have a lot more time to think down the straightaways, but they’re a lot bigger than home, so I gotta get used to them.”
Martin drove his sprint car to a runner-up finish, and Sam Hafertepe Jr. took the last spot on the podium in a pivotal points night. Martin’s brother, Chris, finished fourth, and Jace Park took fifth.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 14-Jett Barnes[1]; 2. 4-Cameron Martin[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[5]; 5. 28-Jace Park[14]; 6. 16G-Austyn Gossel[17]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 8. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[9]; 9. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 10. 4W-Jamie Ball[8]; 11. 49-Josh Schneiderman[7]; 12. 9B-Jake Bubak[13]; 13. 27B-Garrett Benson[3]; 14. 3-Cole Schroeder[18]; 15. 23-Seth Bergman[16]; 16. 88C-Brogan Carder[19]; 17. 53-Joe Beaver[21]; 18. 63-Jack Thomas[25]; 19. 11J-Wyatt Miller[11]; 20. 86-Scott Bogucki[15]; 21. 55-Chase Brown[12]; 22. 88-Terry Easum[24]; 23. 21H-Levi Hinck[20]; 24. 1S-Justin Henderson[22]; 25. 88R-Ryder Laplante[23]
