January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Barnes has the need for speed
Now he's taking it to another level, rubbing shoulders with Formula One star Scott Speed and making an impression in the States - on the same Karting circuit where the American Grand Prix icon made his name.
In his latest races - The Super Nationals in Las Vegas last month - Barnes had a respectable result (13th in the TAG class) against some of the top karters in America.
He also finished in the top 20 in all three of the races he entered on the U.S. Stars of Karting circuit, racing at the same track as some of his NASCAR heroes at the Lowes Motor Speedway event in July, where he finished 12th.
Perhaps his best result of the year, though, was at the Rock Island Grand Prix - held in the 'downtown' district of the Illinois town, where he finished 8th in the semi-pro class and just missed out on challenging for the 'King of the Streets' pro class title after a tyre blow-out.
The 22-year-old is looking to take the next step in his motor racing career by completing his licence to ride in the Formula Dodge series next summer.
He passed a three-day course at the Skip Barber Racing School, that helped mould the careers of pros like Jeff Gordon and Michael Andretti, and has been invited to finish his qualification next year.
He's currently leading the local standings after winning eight out of ten races this year and says he needs to go overseas to get more competition.
"I'd like to get into Formula racing and I know I can do it. It's just difficult in Bermuda without a lot of track time. I'm racing once a month, these guys in the States are on the track every week.
"Going out there and competing with them is something to be proud of.
"I'm winning the Bermuda championship but going out there is a totally different ball game.
"Some of these guys turn up with trailers with 20 karts on them. There can be 50 or 60 karts in a field and it's really competitive. Brendan Franks and his brother are my only real competition in Bermuda."
One of the other differences with Bermuda, says Barnes, is that the race goes on whatever the weather.
"One of the first races I was in overseas, I could barely see five feet in front of me it was pouring down so hard."
Barnes, who works with his Dad at Vitamin C Fisheries, plans to decamp to America next summer and have a real shot at climbing up the rankings and winning a career as a pro driver.
"I've got a mechanic I work with in St Louis and I'm hoping to go out there for a few months work out in the gym and get some real track time - see what I can do in the next couple of years."
Barnes said fitness was a big aspect of the sport that many people took for granted.
"People think your just sitting in a kart pushing on the gas but a after a 25 minute race doing 80-100mph you'll feel the effect.
"You need to do your work in the gym."
Barnes is top dog in Bermuda right now. But it wasn't always that way.
When he first started racing, at 12-years-old, he was at the back of the pack.
"My dad had bought me this dirt kart just to mess around the yard in. But I went down to the track and started to race.
"I got a cut ass because everyone else had proper karts."
Eventually Barnes got a Kart, started to show his talent and the rest is history.
Now, after a few years of Karting being on the down low, the new track is helping to resurrect the sport in Bermuda.
And Barnes is hopeful that it can get back to the days when thousands lined the streets of Hamilton to watch.
"That's an event I'd love to see brought back. We're just trying to build the sport back up to what it was in Bermuda. We've got a great track and hopefully we can start to get more numbers out there on a Sunday and make it more competitive."[[In-content Ad]]
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