Barrett Extends Championship Lead with Win and Second at Miller

(July 20, 2007, Los Osos, California.) - Patrick Barrett claimed his fourth consecutive win of the 2007 Pacific F2000 Championship Series season on July 6 and took second on the 7th at the new Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah. Rounds Seven and Eight of the twelve race series were held in conjunction with the NASCAR West Grand National event weekend. The 17 year old from Los Osos, California claimed maximum points in Round Seven with pole, fast lap and the win in his #3 Jim Russell Racing School/Alpinestars PR1 Motorsports Van Diemen and led every lap to finish 3.722 seconds ahead of Team GFRO driver Chuck Hulse and PR1 teammate Thomas Merrill. Barrett pulled out a 6 second lead by the beginning of the second lap but saw it evaporate after a full course yellow and restart. He again built a substantial lead only to see it go away for another double yellow flag incident and a second restart.

"This race wasn't as easy at it may have looked," said Barrett. "The restarts really kept my on my toes, and Hulse really put up a fight on the first restart. Also, the team and I were having radio communication problems. They couldn't hear me and I could barely hear what they were telling me. I'm very happy with how everything turned out today, but I think Tom (Merrill) will be my biggest competition tomorrow."

Round Eight on Saturday saw a seesaw battle for the pole between Barrett and PR1 teammate Merrill. The two went at it hard early in the session trading the top spot three times. Barrett was ahead by .3 seconds but Merrill edged him out by .12 seconds on their final lap.

"It was quite intense. He would lay down a hot lap, and then I would try to best it. Finally on my fifth lap, I knew it was fast and I radioed in that I'm done and didn't want to put any more time on the tires, but Tom just bested me." stated Barrett.

In the race Merrill and Barrett maintained the top two positions and eventually finished that way with Merrill claiming his first Pacific F2000 win. Barrett finished second 4.5 seconds behind and Team GFRO driver Phillip Metzger rounded out the podium in third

"Tom just had the better car today. I pushed 100% for the first half of the race, but when he kept pulling a way from me I started focusing on maintaining my gap over Phil," Barrett explained. "The team really worked very hard today though. There was a problem with the engine after morning qualifying and they took it out and put in a spare."

Barrett saw his points lead almost double to 75 over second place which is now occupied by his PR1 teammate Merrill, who leap frogged from fourth to second in the championship standings.

Friday's win was Barrett's 25th formula car victory and came almost 2 years to the week of his first win at Circuit Mont Tremblant, Quebec Canada.

Patrick Barrett Wins at Miller Motorsports Park
(Photo by John Barrett)

The next stop for Pacific F2000 Championship Series presented by Hankook Tires will be at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California on September 22-23.

Be sure to visit Patrick Barrett's web site at www.PatrickBarrettRacing.com for all of his latest news and information, http://www.PatrickBarrettracing.com/