Barrett Takes Wins 3 and 4 at Buttonwillow

Patrick Barrett claimed his third and fourth wins of the 2007 Pacific F2000 Championship Series season on May 5 and 6 at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Central California. Rounds Five and Six of the series were held in conjunction with the Vintage Auto Racing Association’s annual British Extravaganza. The 17 year old from Los Osos, Calif. claimed his first pole of the season on Saturday in his #3 Jim Russell Racing School/Alpinestars/Go Pro /PR1 Motorsports Van Diemen and led all laps to finish 2.5 seconds ahead of fellow PR1 Motorsports teammate Thomas Merrill. Merrill outpaced Barrett by 5 thousands of a second for fast lap of the race. Shaun Modisette, also from the PR1 stable finished third to give the team their first 1, 2, 3 finish in two years.

“I’m really happy that Thomas, Shaun and I were able to bring home a 1-2-3 finish for PR1 Motorsports today," said Barrett. “It’s a big accomplishment by all of us and really gives us great confidence heading into the last half of the season."

“I was surprised that the race was cut short to 7 laps (for a red flag accident), but it didn’t effect the way I performed. I drove the car just as hard as if it was any other race, and the outcome was exactly what I hoped it would be."

Sunday proved to be a clean sweep for Barrett as he claimed pole, led all laps for the race win and recorded fast lap, thereby collecting maximum points for the day. In addition he won the Spring Cup, annually given to the championship points leader going into the summer break. Again, teammate Merrill followed him across the finish line in second, this time only .8 seconds behind after 15 laps. Chris Spreitzer, now second in the points with 138 as compared to Barrett’s 176, finished third.

“The race was very tough," Barrett explained. “ At the beginning I managed to pull a healthy lead over Thomas, but with a few laps to go he started to reel me in. Overall I’m extremely satisfied with this weekend’s results."

“Today’s result couldn’t have been better!" exclaimed Barrett. “Collecting maximum points and dominating the race was a great feeling. I can’t thank PR1 Motorsports enough for their hard work this weekend. I’m just really happy with everything right now."