VICTORY FOR BARKSHIRE AT EVERGREEN SPEEDWAY

They did it! Jeff Barkshire, his team, and his 46 Centennial Battery / Rock Church Dodge captured their first Camping World Series West win Saturday night at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe. The thrill of first victory was made even sweeter being shared with the many friends and family who were able to attend the only race of the season to run in Jeff's home state of Washington. Special too was being able to honor from the podium a good friend of their weekend partner, pastor of Monroe's Rock Church and fellow racer Jeff Knight. Along with the RC logo on their hood was the image of Knight's friend and loyal race fan Mike Wallace, who was recently killed while riding his motorcycle. "He road the victory lap with me," Jeff said. Cheers, hugs, smiles and a few tears were flowing along with the champagne, as Jeff accepted the trophy for taking the win in the 150 lap race which was led by only two drivers, Jeff the rookie, and Eric Holmes, the current series leader.

Though closer to home, the track is not his "home track" in the sense that he's run a lot of races there. "It was only my fourth start at the track in any kind of car," Jeff explained. "We ran well during the only other West race we'd run there, led a lot of laps and had been running a back and forth exchange for the lead with Brian Ickler when we ran out of gas. The amount of similar bad luck we experienced last season was haunting me a little during those last twenty laps or so - I just kept expecting some bad thing to happen - you know, the flat tire or something breaking. But when we were still well out front with five to go I thought, all right, we're winning this one!"

And they did. The excitement began when, after making the right adjustments during practice, they went out second to qualify and broke the track record. "Though it was then broken twice more," Jeff said, "giving us a starting position of third, we remained confident our car could win."

It was Eric Holmes on the pole starting the race, but Jeff shot by him on the outside on lap 16 and held the lead until a restart just before the midway break. They returned to the track with an even better car after making a track bar and stagger adjustment to the slightly tight car, and they took the lead back from Holmes on lap 77. They remained out front to the finish. "We were getting pretty loose toward the end and I was worried Holmes was saving and might catch us," Jeff said, "but he was losing it too and we were able to hold the lead till the finish line. Holmes has been the dominant driver of the series, the one to beat, so it was an honor to finish in front of him."

"What a great night," Jeff's dad and team owner Bob Barkshire said. "It was over the top anxiety as the final laps approached. We've been so close before and somehow had the win taken away from us. Playing on that past record of bad luck, Jeff decided to give us all a scare and reported a 'right rear flat' on the final lap. Before we could digest what he said and panic, though, he was first over the finish line. It was just a fantastic moment."

The win makes Jeff the fourth driver this year to secure a spot in the prestigious post - season Nascar Toyota All Star Showdown, added to his solid lead in the chase for this year's Sunoko Rookie of the Year Award, and moves him up from fourth to third in the championship standings.

It's now on to a very busy few days ahead to prepare for the next race, this Saturday August 2nd, at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. It will be Jeff's first race on the unfamiliar road course and only second road course start.

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