Keith Barbara and Forbes Field Motorsports stayed local this past weekend with a trip to Lernerville Speedway on Friday, May 18th and Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS) on Saturday, May 19th for their regular, non-sanctioned weekly shows.
Keith turned some heads this past Friday night at Lernerville Speedway with a strong run in his heat race, which put him in the night’s re-draw for the feature event. Keith was lucky enough to pull the #1 pill to put him on the pole for the main event. When the green flag dropped Keith pulled out to a lengthy lead in the early going. After a few cautions Keith was still able to hold onto the lead until lap-18 when Matt Lux was able to get under him coming out of turn four. “That 21-car (Lux) was hooked up on the bottom, ” mentioned Keith after the race. “Matt drove right under me, there was nothing I could do, I couldn’t get down there to block him, the car just would stick down there. ” Unfortunately for Keith, Lux was not the only one to get by him. On the white flag lap, one of the hottest drivers in Western PA, Alex Ferree also got by Keith as well as Lux on the last lap to win his fifth Lernerville feature in six tries in 2007. “Alex is on a roll right now, ” Keith said about good friend Alex Ferree’s early season success. “I’m a little disappointed about finishing third after leading a good bit of the race but to come out of here in one piece is something we can build on. “
The next night at PPMS, Keith was extremely fast in practice and very happy with his car heading into his heat race. Barbara would jump from his third staring position in his heat race into second on the start and challenge out-of-towner, Chad Ruhlman for the lead. Keith hounded Ruhlman for the first half of the race and had a good run on him coming out of turn two when smoke billowed from underneath Keith’s Triangle Benefits Services/Potoka Trucking/Forbes Field Garage/RanGroup Racing Tours/Rocket Chassis GTO. Keith slowed down the backstretch and coasted into the pit area ending his night. “I don’t know what to say, ” Keith said about his motor problems. “We are going to take a look at our motor program to see what is going on. That is the second motor we lost this season and the season isn’t even two months old. Right now I am just at a loss for words. ”
Forbes Field Motorsports will be out of commission until the team receives the motor that failed at Charlotte back from Bill Kell Racing Engines. The team hopes to be back in action within the next two to three weeks.
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