By Mike Bennett
South Buxton Raceway
Eight drivers fought the law, but the law won – and going away!
Joe Barnes, an Ottawa County sheriff in western Michigan, raced like he had the siren blaring and lights flashing on his No. 19 machine as he led all 20 laps of the Ontario Topless Sprints feature race at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night.
And for Bares, his victory was like returning to the scene of the crime.
“This is where I won by first ever sprint car heat race,” said Bares, recalling his first visit to South Buxton with the Sprints On Dirt 360-wing series in 2001.
“It’s nice to come back here, close the deal and win a feature,” added the Traverse City native.
Bares started in the second row with Tilbury’s Kyle Patrick and they ran one-two for the final 18 circuits around the 3/8th-mile ‘D’ shaped oval.
“It was the track,” Bares gave of the reason for his dominating performance.
“This is the type of track I like, when you have to be on the gas, get your elbows up and drive the car.”
Bares said the track was a little dry-slick in 2012 when he finished third with the OTS in his last trip to South Buxton.
“That really doesn’t suit me, but tonight was my kind of track,” he said of the more tacky conditions.
Bares said he didn’t realize it was his good friend Patrick trying to chase him down the entire race.
“I had no idea, I was listening for someone but I never really heard anyone,” Bares said.
“I just concentrated on running my race, hitting my marks.”
Patrick said he was a couple of bobbles entering turn three hurt any chances he had of running down Bares.
“We were pretty evenly matched, but every time I tried to step it up, push it a little bit harder, I’d lose a little bit of ground,” Patrick said about his chase of the leader.
“It was neat trying to track him around, watching his line and trying to pick up some info from him,” Patrick said.
Bares said he has always enjoyed racing with Patrick from their days in the SOD.
“The Patricks are A-1 people, I like racing with them … and like beating them,” he said with a laugh.
Jesse Costa of St. Thomas finished third, with Port Stanley’s Chris Durand and Newmarket’s Dick Mahoney rounded out the top five.
Mark Strpko, of Sand Lake, Mich., Jim Payne of Bryan, Ohio finished sixth and seventh, with John Watson of St. Thomas – last year’s OTS winner at South Buxton – and Cambridge’s Kyle Durnin eighth and ninth.
Bares and Watson won the heats.
Only nine competitors made the trek to South Buxton as a conflicting date with the Southern Ontario Sprints racing in Brighton on Saturday resulted in a smaller field.
The OTS returns for a second visit on Aug. 23, as series president Ken Bayliss expects a bigger field with no other conflicting series that night.
In South Buxton’s five regular classes, Cottam’s Tiffany Ellis was declared the winner in the Tirecraft Sport Stocks feature on Sunday, after race officials reviewed the controversial finish.
Ellis was running second behind Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere after a restart with three laps to go.
The leaders, and third-place Tyler Lozon of Grande Pointe, crashed in turn two, bringing out the seventh caution and invoking the time limit.
Vanderiviere was ruled to have gotten loose before getting hit from behind by Ellis.
After reviewing videotape and talking with race officials, Ellis was ruled the winner, with Lozon second and Essex’s Doris Lajeunesse third, while Vanderiviere finished eighth, the last car on the lead lap.
It was Ellis’s first career feature win, as she won her heat earlier in the night.
Saturday’s other feature race winners were no strangers to Victory Lane.
Leamington’s Joel Dick won his sixth Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds feature in seven weeks, taking the lead from Eugene Hoekstra with three laps to go.
Blenheim’s Jeff Schives held off Chatham’s Chris Ellerbeck for his fourth Autotech Bombers feature, as two drivers have combined to win all seven features in the entry-level class.
Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford picked up his second straight and third Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models feature win of the season.
Cottam’s Rob Quick led all 20 laps for his second Tirecraft Mini-Mod feature victory.
All five classes will be in action this Saturday on Autism Awareness night. Racing begins at 7 p.m.
