APC Late Model Series

Josh Stade Wins Big in APC LMS at Sauble Speedway

Story by Bryce Turner

It was home cooking, buffet style, for Josh Stade at Sauble Speedway on the August long weekend, as he scored a pair of wins, including his first career APC Series victory.

Stade entered Sauble having a career year in the APC Series, with four top-five finishes in five races, all of which were fifth place results. He’s been racing in the series full-time since the inaugural year in 2015 but had just three top-five finishes in 58 races entering the year.

“We’ve been in the series right from the start, we’ve had a lot of good runs, been really competitive, and this year we’ve seemed to be able to pull it together,” said Stade.

On top of the momentum that he carried in the series, he had the advantage of extra support in the stands at his home track, including a large contingent from new sponsor Ridgeline lubricants.

“We had 260 Ridgeline people, Ridgeline being the primary sponsor on that car, then also had other sponsors,” he said. “All my friends, family, my kids, my fiancé, everyone was there who needed to be there.”

Stade started fifth in the Stewart’s 100 for the APC Series but faded early as the car took a little while to come to life. He battled between sixth and ninth in the early going, before moving up to fifth, soon after a lap 32 restart.

A quick caution would set up the opportunity Stade needed to gain more spots, as he climbed to third shortly after a lap 35 restart. He briefly lost third to Rick Spencer-Walt after the next yellow flag, before yet another caution led to Kyle Steckly taking over the spot, with 48 to go.

Stade kept with Steckly and made the pass with 33 to go, putting him in the catbird seat for some late-race drama. J.R. Fitzpatrick made contact with the left-rear of leader Ryan Kimball with 13 to go, sending Kimball spinning and resulting in Fitzpatrick being sent to the rear.

Stade restarted as the leader and dealt with a near three-wide battle with Steckly and Spencer-Walt, though it ultimately remained a two-wide contest with Steckly. Two laps after the restart, some contact between the pair led to Steckly hitting the wall. Stade then pulled away and went on to the victory.

The following day, Stade returned for the Beat the Heat 100, an annual pro late model race held by the track. Fresh off the Saturday night win, Stade claimed the victory in the Sunday headliner.

“It was a pretty incredible, emotional weekend,” he said. “These races are not easy to win, I think anyone working on these cars knows that and to get the first APC Series win out of the way and get the Beat the Heat (win), it was just incredible.”

The track is located about 37 kilometres north of Stade’s hometown of Chesley, Ont. He said the location, where he started late model racing, and the sponsors on-hand made it more special, but the time and place also came as a surprise.

“I never personally thought that our first APC Series win would come at Sauble,” he said. “The civic long weekend has never been really good to us when we go there; we have high expectations and we get let down as something mechanical or such would happen.”

“I don’t know that I’ll ever have a weekend like that again in my racing career,” he concluded. “I’m trying to accept the fact that we’re just going to go out there and keep digging and try to get the wins.” IT

J.R. Fitzpatrick (right) got underneath Rick Spencer-Walt (left) with just over 30 laps to go in the August 13 APC Series race at Sunset Speedway, and never looked back. Photo by Steve Traczyk

APC UNITED LATE MODEL SERIES

Late-Season Action Sees Wins by Stade, Fitzpatrick and Spencer-Walt

Stories by Bryce Turner and Greg

MacPherson, with quotes from GForceTV

The APC Series visited the quarter-mile Sauble Speedway for the Stewart’s 100 on July 30. Ryan Kimball passed polesitter Jordan Howse on the opening lap, staying in front during a string of four cautions between laps 33 and 54. Meanwhile, J.R. Fitzpatrick and Josh Stade moved from further down in the top-ten to run second and third.

Kyle Steckly then took third for about a dozen laps, but it was Stade in a position to gain when late-race drama happened. With 13 to go, Fitzpatrick made contact with the left-rear of Kimball, sending him spinning. Fitzpatrick was sent to the rear as a result, giving Stade the lead.

Stade and Steckly battled on the restart, where Rick Spencer-Walt nearly made it three-wide. Two laps later, contact between the lead duo sent Steckly into the wall. Stade pulled ahead and got his first win in 64 series starts; Steckly finished second.

“I used up (Steckly) pretty good, and I apologize,” said Stade. “But these things don’t come easy, he’s won a few this year and I’ve been fighting in this series for seven years to get this. To do it at home, with all the sponsors…it’s just amazing.” 20 Inside Track Motorsport News SUNSET SPEEDWAY – AUGUST 13

The tour headed to Sunset Speedway on August 13. J.R. Fitzpatrick continued his hot streak, scoring the win after taking the lead just after the two-thirds point of the race.

Rick Spencer-Walt was fasted during time trials, an amazing accomplishment given he required crutches to get around the pits. Ryan Kimball started on the pole, following the inversion. Kimball led during the early going, as Spencer-Walt climbed quickly to second, eventually taking the lead on Lap 17.

By Lap 56, Fitzpatrick was up to second. He took the lead from Spencer-Walt on Lap 68 and the two would cross under the checkered flag, in that order, at the end of Lap 100. Andrew Gresel was third, ahead of Dale Shaw and Treyten Lapcevich.

“The car was really good,” said Fitzpatrick, in Victory Lane, after driving away from the field at the end. “It was a little tight at the beginning, but we worked on it this week with the mindset that we’d have lots of grip later in the race. And the car just came to life.

“But we were obviously a little better than everyone else at the end because we drove away. Proud of the team because we struggled in practice and were 13th fastest and we turned it around and into a rocketship at the end.” SAUBLE SPEEDWAY – AUGUST 27

The series made another trip to Sauble for 100 laps, where Kimball took the lead from polesitter Blair Wickett on the first lap, before Shae Gemmell took the spot on lap 25. Gemmell sat comfortably until 29 to go, when Wickett got to his inside as he tried to lap a car. The two made contact, sending Gemmell spinning into the wall.

Spencer-Walt took the lead on the restart, holding the position through a pair of cautions. The later of the yellow flags was for contact between Steckly and Stade that sent Stade spinning; another incident between the two drivers, with the first Sauble race still in mind.

Spencer-Walt held off a challenge from Jo Lawrence and pulled away to his second series win of the season. He grimaced as he climbed out of the car, having raced with an injured leg after sustaining a torn ACL earlier in the month, but it didn’t appear to be on his mind when reflecting on the event.

“It’s been an awesome weekend,” said Spencer-Walt. “The whole team worked really hard today.”

Fitzpatrick leads the points standings entering the Delaware Speedway finale, by 20 points over Steckly and 25 points over Spencer-Walt. IT