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04/26/2014 |
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NWMT NAPA AUTO PARTS
SPRING SIZZLER 200
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21 Means 21 Pole
Award
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by
Polly Reid
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The gray, wet day for the season opener at Stafford Motor Speedway will be a
memorable one for Tommy Barrett, Jr. of Millis, MA who set fast time in
qualifying to earn his first career NWMT 21 Means 21 pole award with a time
of 18.221 second lap around the half mile oval.
 The
18 year old bested a field of 27 modifieds including Woody Pitkat with a
time of 18.262 who will line up on the outside bringing the field to green
for the prestigious NWMT NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler 200.
“The car was good in practice,” said Barrett. “Brad (Lafontaine) knew what
he had to do to the car for qualifying, then I just drove it in as hard as I
could, Brad had the thing hooked up.”
Barrett was a little surprised when he heard the time but had the confidence
in his car to make a strong effort. “I didn’t drive it as hard as I could on
the first lap- I wanted to have something to fall back on in case I messed
up on the second lap. I knew what I had to do on the second lap to adjust
from the first lap and that’s when I really hammered down on the second
lap.”
“The big thing is, it is all a team effort,” said crew chief Brad
Lafontaine. “Everybody worked hard- nobody had their chin down because of
the last race. This is the car that hit the wall at Thompson- we ended up
having to put a front clip on it- to come back, with limited practice and
sit it on the pole, that’s pretty cool. We changed a few things on it make
Tommy happy- it seems to have worked out well for him. I’m really happy for
Chris Our- Chris has devoted a lot of time into this team, new to the Tour
as a car owner, I’m proud to be a part of it.”
“It’s pretty awesome,” said car owner Chris Our about their first NWMT pole
award with Tommy. “He actually looked slow going into the corner, but slow
is fast- Tommy does not overdrive it. Stafford, we’ve struggled here- we’ve
had some top ten finishes, we haven’t had the success here that we probably
should. I think Tommy and Brad are going to be a good duo – they work well
together and enjoying each other. This is our first pole, we hope for many
more.”
Stafford Motor Speedway is quickly becoming a special place for Barrett who
has his share of laps around the historic CT half mile oval. “I’m very
excited. I’ve had a lot of success here. I started racing modifieds here in
the SK Lights when I was 15 in 2010, I have a lot of wins in that. Then I
got my first Modified Racing Series win here also and now I got my first
Whelen Modified Tour pole here- I hope I get my first win at Stafford too.” |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: April
26, 2014 |
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