Brandon Barker Bides His Time for Coastal Clash 150 Win at Star

Brandon Barker returned to victory lane with the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour on Sunday, winning the Coastal Clash 150 at Star Speedway.

The race name proved perhaps a tad too fitting, as a clash between Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. and Erick Sands while battling for the lead inside of 30 laps to go dashed both drivers' hopes of a victory.

Barker inherited the lead following that incident, and held off Jesse Switser for the lead on the ensuing restart. From there, Barker led the rest of the way for his first ACT victory since the 2023 New Hampshire Governor's Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway, his very first start with the series.

Barker was content to avoid the late-race contact between Renfrew and Sands and capitalize once he was out front.

"They worked together all race just to screw themselves at the end," said Barker in victory lane. "I don't know. I don't like how it's happened to us. We've always been on the bad side of the deals when those guys play and mess around. Fortunately, we were on the good side today.

"Total team effort today. When we unloaded, we weren't really good. We went to work, made it way better for the heat race. We kind of bided our time getting to the front, and it paid off."

Switser finished third in the 2024 Coastal Clash at Star, won by Renfrew, Jr. over D.J. Shaw. He finished second in Sunday's race, and hopes the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour's next visit to the Epping, New Hampshire facility will continue that positive trend.

"Hopefully, that trend will keep going," said Switser. "We'll keep getting better. What a good race. A lot of cautions, but that kind of helped us. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good. I think we were probably a fourth-to-sixth place car.

"The games they were playing cost them. I had been waiting for that since about lap six. Hats off to the other two heroes, good race between us three."

Gabe Brown rounded out the podium. The early laps were a struggle for Brown as he wrestled for track position on the tight New Hampshire bullring, but patience and a strong race car paid off and led him to a third-place finish.

"We had a pretty good car, really," said Brown. "We started 15th, and all those restarts, we couldn't get back to the bottom or whatever. Getting in line, get going, we'd lose two or three spots. I just burnt it up there early. It's on me. My guys gave me a pretty good car.

"Pretty happy to be sitting up here. I feel like what you guys saw at the end of the race was karma. That's why we're out here on the frontstretch and they're not."

Connor McDougal finished third, with Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. rounding out the top five.

The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour will get a few weeks off to recollect before heading to Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Sunday, June 1.

-Photo credit: American-Canadian Tour on Facebook

Coastal Clash 150 Unofficial Results