FULTON, N.Y. – Still disappointed with his effort during the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints opener at Genesee Speedway, Jason Barney made sure it was a distant memory with his second-straight series victory Saturday night at Fulton Speedway.
After winning on May 22 at Thunder Mountain Speedway, Barney led every lap of Saturday’s feature to earn a $2,110 payday.
“It was a lot like last week. Starting position meant so much but when you get all those green flag laps you have to do such a balance,” Barney said. “You try to go as hard as you could cause you have no idea where anyone is behind you. But you also don’t want to go too hard and get into the slower cars. It can be tricky.”
On the original start, several cars got together coming off turn four, ending the night for Matt Tanner, Parker Evans and Keith Granholm. On the next start, one lap got in the books when Chuck Hebing slowed to a stop. After that, the next green flag was the last.
“it was a little tough getting going there at the beginning, but I had such a good car, it was nice to get in your rhythm soon after that,” Barney said. “We have such a good team and such a good program; the driver just has to do his job. Tonight, it felt good to win again, felt good to do it here and in front of all these fans.”
In the closing stages, Paulie Colagiovanni gained some speed to swing by Shawn Donath and pick up the chase of Barney. While it was looking like an easy victory, Colagiovanni’s No. 10 was making up ground at a rapid rate. With two to go he was a full strait behind Barney. Coming for the checkered he was just a few car lengths.
“We had a real good car. After starting in ninth we had to pass some real good cars and once we got into second I tried to catch him,” Colagiovanni said. “We ran out of laps but it was a good run for us. We got a good finish and we hope maybe to get some wins here soon.”
Donath finished third, a strong finish after several frustrating runs to open the season.
“We needed this,” Donath said. “It has been such a bad start to our year, but the car was handling. The team really rallied together and I felt good out there. It was totally different that last week where I just couldn’t drive it at all. Tonight it was fast when we unloaded it.”
Larry Wight finished fourth, with Jonathan Preston coming from 18th to finish fifth.
The finish:
Jason Barney ($2,110), Paulie Colagiovanni ($1,010), Shawn Donath ($860), Larry Wight ($680), Jonathan Preston ($605), Danny Varin ($470), Sammy Reakes IV ($430), Dylan Swiernik ($495), Kelly Hebing ($620), Joe Trenca ($400), Jeff Cook ($360), Tommy Wickham ($345), Davie Franek ($350), Jake Karklin ($350), Denny Peebles ($300), Chad Miller ($350), Joe Kata ($300), Nick Fratto ($325), Lacey Hanson ($100), Tyler Cartier ($300), Scott Holcomb ($300), Chuck Hebing ($350), Matt Tanner ($300), Parker Evans ($300), Keith Granholm ($300)