THOMPSON – The king of the Limited Sportsman division at Thompson Speedway put another jewel in his crown Sunday.
Larry Barnett, the track’s all-time winningest Limited Sportsman driver, used a ninth place finish in Sunday’s 20-lap feature to clinch his second consecutive track championship and sixth title in the division overall.
Barnett completed a dominate season in the division with three seconds, a third and a fourth to go with Sunday’s ninth place.
He said he took an ultraconservative approach to Sunday’s season finale.
“Everything went well for me,” Barnett said. “My nerves are worse now than when I was first starting. I know how hard it is. I know how easy it is for something to go wrong. So it’s unbelievably stressful even when I know all I have to do is not have a DNF. Half the field had a DNF today. Knowing what can go wrong makes it even more important to go home and look at every nut and bolt and think ‘How can I defense against anything that could wrong.’” So that was what was tough for me. I knew I had it in the bag, but you know you don’t have it in the bag.
“[The first] five races I was in the top-three. That’s not easy to do. The season suited my style of racing eventually because everybody else was a little crazy. It gave my style of racing a better chance for a championship.”
The 60-year Barnett said racing conservatively is a must for him at this point in his career.
“Anybody who is 60 years old, or older than 29, knows that everything gets a little harder to do,” Barnett said. “A little harder to stay up late. It just does. I keep plugging away. I do the best I can. I have to drive more conservative than some of my friends because I don’t have the energy to rebuild the car every race.”
Barnett said he will return to look for a seventh title in 2023.
Scott Sundeen of Douglas, Mass. won Sunday’s feature. Zach Robinson of Putnam was second and Troy Waterman of Danielson third.
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