Scott Barnes has successfully retained his Skusa Winter Series title at the Homestead-Miami Motorplex in Florida.

The 38-year-old headed into the final race of the series holding an all-important lead at the top of the Shifter Masters standings after a dominant display in the opening two rounds of the competition at the same venue last month.

There, Barnes was in stellar form, winning three of the four races – a heat race and two finals races, while he also picked up 20 bonus points with the fastest laps on both days to cap an impressive weekend.

Barnes got off to a disappointing start to the weekend, failing to finish the pre-final race before mustering a second-place finish in the final but he responded in superb style on Sunday, winning both the pre-race final and final to retain his crown.

“Thankfully, the performance in the first two rounds really set me up this time around because I had such a big points lead,” said Barnes.

“The first day of racing was not great and we were really slow. However, I found a bit of speed at the end of the day and carried that into Sunday.

“I managed to bounce back with a win in the pre-final race and then did the same in the final with the fastest lap, which wrapped up the championship title and that was ultimately the main aim.

“We managed to finish the series with wins in three out of the four finals and so overall I’m pretty pleased and excited to be the champion again.”

The latest triumph carries on from an impressive international campaign last season with Barnes claiming race victories at five of the six overseas events he competed in, including clinching two wins in the Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix and finishing third overall at the prestigious Skusa SuperNationals in Las Vegas.

He also enjoyed success at the Daytona KartWeek in Florida earlier this year in which Barnes managed to wrap up the event with podium places in each of the four races, claiming second and third-place finishes in the 125 KZ Shifter class, as well as a victory and a second place in the 125 Stock Honda Shifter class.

While Barnes has plans to continue testing himself on the international stage this year, he concedes any opportunity to do so depends on attracting more sponsors to help fund his endeavours.

“I would definitely love to do some more international racing but do so I’d also like to get some more sponsors on board to help with that,” he added.

“I have to thank my team, Magik Kart USA, my tuner, and my main sponsor Butterfield and Vallis for supporting me the way they have.

“We would love to do another series but that really depends on what we can raise to see how many races we can compete in.”