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Three FL drivers took part with Bryan Silas having the best finish over Jeremy Gerstner and Jason Garver...
Barnes Takes Polar Bear 150 Victory at Rockingham Speedway
Victory was third in four years for Louisville, Ky. driver....
Chuck Barnes, Sr. overcame an early-race spin to edge Frank Kimmel II by a nose to take the victory in the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Nationals (FKSSN) Polar Bear 150 at Rockingham Speedway.
The win is Barnes' third Polar Bear victory in four years.
"I was prepared to take second," said Barnes from Rockingham Speedway's victory lane. "He was a little better than me on those longer runs. He just got loose, and I just got underneath him in (turn) four on that last lap."
The .016 seconds margin-of-victory was the closest at Rockingham Speedway since Matt Kenseth edged Kasey Kahne by .010 seconds in the last NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the track in 2004.
"We really got lucky today," said Barnes about the lap 33 incident that sent his car around in turn one. "It's tough racing with all these lap cars with some running 50 miles per hour slower than others. But it's fun passing all those cars on a track like this."
"It seemed like I was terrible off of (turn) three," said a dejected Kimmel. "But since it was so loose, the car continued to turn through four, which made it really fast down the front stretch. I could pass him down the front, because we had a little more motor. My game plan was to be second at the white flag, and pass him on the last lap and keep him on my outside. It just didn't work out that way."
Kimmel had to overcome troubles of his own to be in position to win.
His No. 72 Chevrolet cut a right rear tire during a caution period on lap 104. When the race resumed Kimmel found himself in 12th place, the last car on the lead lap. But Kimmel only needed 27 laps to work his way back to the front.
That the race came down to a last lap battle between Barnes and Kimmel was fitting as they were the only two to lead laps on the day. They officially swapped the lead 17 times in the 150-lap event.
Cliff Gaumond, running only his third FKSSN race, finished third.
"I didn't know how much to push it right away because I didn't want to ball it up in the beginning," said Gaumond. "Because I don't have a lot of experience in these cars, I was riding at 90% for most of the race, and when I turned it on I just didn't have enough to get them."
Clint Watkins and Tony Conway rounded out the top five in the final running order.
The race was slowed 11 times for 57 laps. Of the 54 cars that started the race, 10 were on the lead lap at the end.
Polar Bear 150
Rockingham Raceway Park
11.26.2011
Fn St No Driver Hometown Laps
1 1 5 Chuck Barnes, Sr. Louisville, KY 150
2 2 72 Frank Kimmel, II Borden, IN 150
3 7 361 Cliff Gaumand Midland, NC 150
4 4 91 Clint Watkins Maggie Valley, NC 150
5 18 7 Tony Conway Louisville, KY 150
6 12 86 Shawn Smith Louisville, KY 150
7 5 29 Jason Leatherwood Waynesville, NC 150
8 6 11 Bryan Silas Stuart, FL 150
9 10 42 Cody Buford Franklin, TN 150
10 29 126 Bryan Thomas Monroe, NC 150
11 34 138 Donald Vaughn Ladson, SC 148
12 32 15 Lee Newsome Lake Park, GA 147
13 43 40 Rodney Glass Belhaven, NC 146
14 38 007 Cooper Fassen Monroe, NC 146
15 9 1 Chad Hall Orleans, IN 145
16 24 26 Jeff Berg Louisville, KY 145
17 37 64 Gary Davis Kinston, NC 144
18 31 33 Sean Calway Va Beach, VA 143
19 20 0 Charles Hutto Monroe, NC 142
20 51 3 David Coonfield Lumber Bridge, NC 141
21 44 78 Joe Holp Uniontown, PA 139
22 28 170 Jeremy Gerstner Wesley Chapel, FL 137
23 15 16 Chris Harmon Brooks, KY 136
24 47 21 Chris Flowers Darlington, SC 133
25 42 14 Scott LeBlanc Louisville, KY 132
26 52 191 Josh Sigler St. Marys, WV 132
27 17 36 Wallace Leatherwood Waynesville, NC 124
28 19 87 Willie Reyns Port Hope, Ontario Canada, OH 124
29 46 93 Rusty Alton Mechanicsville, MD 117
30 45 90 Nathan Peckham Seneca Falls, NY 112
31 30 06 Jeff Melton Concord, NC 110
32 16 71 Michael Brown Pageland, SC 98
33 3 00 Brett Hudson Owensboro, KY 95
34 22 83 Billy Ammons Prattville, AL 91
35 27 63 John McElrath Nebo, NC 90
36 21 56 John Guker Woodruff, SC 84
37 41 25 Donald Lamonds Biscoe, NC 83
38 50 35 2nd Lt. William Ashton Fayetteville, NC 80
39 23 17 Curtis Peeples Round-o, SC 76
40 49 8 John Wesley Valdosta, GA 72
41 11 34 Tad Boyd China Grove, NC 65
42 26 004 Brandon Brown Ridgeville, SC 55
43 54 188 Don Avarez Ramseur, NC 54
44 40 05 Scott Aiello White Oak, PA 51
45 33 311 Keith Bissinger Bloomsburg, PA 50
46 39 77 Jason Drummond Gibsonburg, OH 30
47 13 74 Jason Garver Starke, FL 26
48 48 115 Jay Baker Fench Lick, IN 17
49 36 193 Andy Ford Scarborough, Ontario Canada, OH 11
50 8 38 Greg Grindstaff Bakersville, NC 7
51 35 51 Stephen Jones Loris, SC 5
52 53 97 Phillip Odom Laurinburg, NC 5
53 14 43 Bobby East Mooresville, NC 2
Barnes Takes Polar Bear 150 Victory at Rockingham Speedway
Victory was third in four years for Louisville, Ky. driver....
Chuck Barnes, Sr. overcame an early-race spin to edge Frank Kimmel II by a nose to take the victory in the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Nationals (FKSSN) Polar Bear 150 at Rockingham Speedway.
The win is Barnes' third Polar Bear victory in four years.
"I was prepared to take second," said Barnes from Rockingham Speedway's victory lane. "He was a little better than me on those longer runs. He just got loose, and I just got underneath him in (turn) four on that last lap."
The .016 seconds margin-of-victory was the closest at Rockingham Speedway since Matt Kenseth edged Kasey Kahne by .010 seconds in the last NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the track in 2004.
"We really got lucky today," said Barnes about the lap 33 incident that sent his car around in turn one. "It's tough racing with all these lap cars with some running 50 miles per hour slower than others. But it's fun passing all those cars on a track like this."
"It seemed like I was terrible off of (turn) three," said a dejected Kimmel. "But since it was so loose, the car continued to turn through four, which made it really fast down the front stretch. I could pass him down the front, because we had a little more motor. My game plan was to be second at the white flag, and pass him on the last lap and keep him on my outside. It just didn't work out that way."
Kimmel had to overcome troubles of his own to be in position to win.
His No. 72 Chevrolet cut a right rear tire during a caution period on lap 104. When the race resumed Kimmel found himself in 12th place, the last car on the lead lap. But Kimmel only needed 27 laps to work his way back to the front.
That the race came down to a last lap battle between Barnes and Kimmel was fitting as they were the only two to lead laps on the day. They officially swapped the lead 17 times in the 150-lap event.
Cliff Gaumond, running only his third FKSSN race, finished third.
"I didn't know how much to push it right away because I didn't want to ball it up in the beginning," said Gaumond. "Because I don't have a lot of experience in these cars, I was riding at 90% for most of the race, and when I turned it on I just didn't have enough to get them."
Clint Watkins and Tony Conway rounded out the top five in the final running order.
The race was slowed 11 times for 57 laps. Of the 54 cars that started the race, 10 were on the lead lap at the end.
Polar Bear 150
Rockingham Raceway Park
11.26.2011
Fn St No Driver Hometown Laps
1 1 5 Chuck Barnes, Sr. Louisville, KY 150
2 2 72 Frank Kimmel, II Borden, IN 150
3 7 361 Cliff Gaumand Midland, NC 150
4 4 91 Clint Watkins Maggie Valley, NC 150
5 18 7 Tony Conway Louisville, KY 150
6 12 86 Shawn Smith Louisville, KY 150
7 5 29 Jason Leatherwood Waynesville, NC 150
8 6 11 Bryan Silas Stuart, FL 150
9 10 42 Cody Buford Franklin, TN 150
10 29 126 Bryan Thomas Monroe, NC 150
11 34 138 Donald Vaughn Ladson, SC 148
12 32 15 Lee Newsome Lake Park, GA 147
13 43 40 Rodney Glass Belhaven, NC 146
14 38 007 Cooper Fassen Monroe, NC 146
15 9 1 Chad Hall Orleans, IN 145
16 24 26 Jeff Berg Louisville, KY 145
17 37 64 Gary Davis Kinston, NC 144
18 31 33 Sean Calway Va Beach, VA 143
19 20 0 Charles Hutto Monroe, NC 142
20 51 3 David Coonfield Lumber Bridge, NC 141
21 44 78 Joe Holp Uniontown, PA 139
22 28 170 Jeremy Gerstner Wesley Chapel, FL 137
23 15 16 Chris Harmon Brooks, KY 136
24 47 21 Chris Flowers Darlington, SC 133
25 42 14 Scott LeBlanc Louisville, KY 132
26 52 191 Josh Sigler St. Marys, WV 132
27 17 36 Wallace Leatherwood Waynesville, NC 124
28 19 87 Willie Reyns Port Hope, Ontario Canada, OH 124
29 46 93 Rusty Alton Mechanicsville, MD 117
30 45 90 Nathan Peckham Seneca Falls, NY 112
31 30 06 Jeff Melton Concord, NC 110
32 16 71 Michael Brown Pageland, SC 98
33 3 00 Brett Hudson Owensboro, KY 95
34 22 83 Billy Ammons Prattville, AL 91
35 27 63 John McElrath Nebo, NC 90
36 21 56 John Guker Woodruff, SC 84
37 41 25 Donald Lamonds Biscoe, NC 83
38 50 35 2nd Lt. William Ashton Fayetteville, NC 80
39 23 17 Curtis Peeples Round-o, SC 76
40 49 8 John Wesley Valdosta, GA 72
41 11 34 Tad Boyd China Grove, NC 65
42 26 004 Brandon Brown Ridgeville, SC 55
43 54 188 Don Avarez Ramseur, NC 54
44 40 05 Scott Aiello White Oak, PA 51
45 33 311 Keith Bissinger Bloomsburg, PA 50
46 39 77 Jason Drummond Gibsonburg, OH 30
47 13 74 Jason Garver Starke, FL 26
48 48 115 Jay Baker Fench Lick, IN 17
49 36 193 Andy Ford Scarborough, Ontario Canada, OH 11
50 8 38 Greg Grindstaff Bakersville, NC 7
51 35 51 Stephen Jones Loris, SC 5
52 53 97 Phillip Odom Laurinburg, NC 5
53 14 43 Bobby East Mooresville, NC 2