Coons wins dramatic Barry Butterworth Classic
American driver Jerry Coons Jr. has become the first driver to win two Barry Butterworth Classics after victory at
Western Springs Speedway in a race that was equally dramatic as the man the race honoured.
Earlier in the night, test match racing pitted New Zealander’s Michael Pickens, Brad Mosen and Dave Gick up against
American drivers Coons, Dave Darland and Ricky Logan. After three three lap races, the Kiwis came out on top with 33
points to 30.
The unique format for the Barry Butterworth Classic saw the fastest drivers coming from the back of the field, as
Butterworth did throughout the majority of his career, with last year’s winner Brock Maskovich starting from the back
and each driver choosing who would start in front of them. Maskovich was joined on the final row of the 20-car field by
Coons.
One of the early movers in the field was Pickens, who has started from grid 18, until a lap six incident saw Pickens
left with nowhere to go and he slammed into team-mate Scott Buckley, before Darland also joined in, puncturing Pickens’
tyre and forcing him out of the race. Off the restart, fellow Kiwi drivers Hayden Williams, Brock Maskovich and Michael
Kendall all came together and ended their races, again bringing out the yellow flags.
Coons hit the lead from pole-sitter Harley Taylor on lap 16 but was forced to concede the position as yellow flags flew,
this time after Darland rolled over and was hit by Buckley, forcing both drivers out. Just a lap after the restart,
Coons again hit the front, this time for good, and two laps later, Mosen got up into second place, while Shayne Alach
and Graham Standring battled out the final podium spot, until lap 25 when Standring suffered a spectacular roll-over, by
which stage the field was down to just nine cars from the original 20 starters.
Coons made a small jump off the restart while Alach set to work on Mosen for a couple of laps, before Mosen then set off
in pursuit of Coons, who suffered power steering failure with five laps remaining. That let Mosen close right up onto
the back of Coons with a lap remaining, but was unable to get past leaving Coons to win ahead of Mosen with Alach
finishing in a popular third place.
Sprintcar racing saw Jonathan Allard take victory over Rob Corscadden and Ricky Logan while the Shane Turner Memorial
race for TQ midgets was won by Ryan Barry ahead of Scott Baker and Jared Taylor.
The next meeting, which is the final showdown for the season, runs on March 2. For more information, check out
www.springsspeedway.com.
ends