NASCAR PINTY’s SERIES

EARLY SEASON SERIES WINS GO TO CAMIRAND, LAPCEVICH AND TAGLIANI

Story by Bryce Turner

TheNASCAR Pinty’s Series visited Autodrome Chaudière, on June 10, for the third race of the season. Treyten Lapcevich started on pole for the 300-lap race and stayed up front until lap 59, when short track specialist Donald Theetge took the spot.

The driver from nearby Boischatel, QC paced the field for 22 laps before Lapcevich returned to the lead. As the first half continued, attrition become a factor for one team. Glenn Styres retired after 122 laps, just ten circuits before Andrew Ranger saw his day cut short, both Wight Motorsports drivers experiencing a rear gear issue.

On Lap 191, Theetge parked his car with the same problem. Another unlucky driver in the race was rookie Thomas Nepveu, who brought out three cautions for spins; the first two spins followed contact with competitors, before brake failure ended his day.

Lapcevich continued to lead until a restart with six to go, where he was lined up beside a familiar foe in defending champion Marc-Antoine Camirand, who had started back in 11th. The drivers are no stranger to tight battles at the finish, which included Lapcevich moving Camirand to win the previous race. This time, it was Camirand who came out on top.

“I knew the car was fast for a long run; at Chaudière, it’s pretty hard to keep the nose clean for the first half and I was able to do that,” said Camirand. “I was surprised that (Lapcevich) took the outside (on the restart) …our car was really fast on the bottom and, with five laps to go, I was able to protect the inside and get that win.”

Lapcevich finished second but became the first driver in series history to lead more than 333 laps in the first three races of a season, with his No. 20 Chevy out front for 521 circuits. The finish looked a little different from his perspective.

“If I took the bottom, I would’ve had to rough him up in order to get by him, because the top was definitely the dominant lane,” said Lapcevich. “I took the top, kind of out of respect. I thought that, since we did dominate the whole race, there might have been a little more respect given there, but he kind of just shoved me in the wall down the backstretch.”

Dexter Stacey was credited with a third-place finish; he started the race with a fractured elbow before being subbed out, with Raphael Lessard taking over at the halfway break. Following the race, Camirand’s team was issued a penalty related to the front trailing arm mounts, which included the loss of 18 championship points.

Eastbound Speedway

On June 24, the series returned to Newfoundland’s Eastbound Speedway, following its successful debut last year. Theetge started on pole, with Camirand joining him on the front row. On the initial start, Camirand was penalized for beating Theetge to the line, sending him to the back.

Theetge and Ranger battled early, before Kevin Lacroix took the lead on lap 16 of 250. Lacroix dominated the first half of the race, while some notable storylines unfolded behind him.

Theetge had the same mechanical issue end his day for the second straight event, parking his No. 80 Chevy after 57 laps, while an engine failure took out D.J. Kennington after 72 laps. For Kennington, his first DNF in 21 races ended a streak of 14 straight lead lap finishes.

Another driver with issues was Ranger, who spent considerable time on pit road with damage, before returning many laps down; he ultimately finished 17th. Lapcevich looked the most vulnerable he’d been all year, losing spots early, with his team working on multiple adjustments for the loose car.

Lacroix continued to lead in the second half, before being passed by Brandon Watson on Lap 149. Lacroix would later pit to change a tire, ultimately recovering to finish fifth. Meanwhile, the adjustments made to Lapcevich’s car appeared to be successful, as the driver quickly worked his way through the field.

Lapcevich took the lead on Lap 182 and held on through three late restarts to win at Eastbound. He became only the second driver in series history to win three of the first four races, with Scott Steckly accomplishing the feat in 2008.

“I think we finally got (the car) right, just at halfway, made some big swings at it,” said Lapcevich. “I could feel that the car was substantially better than it was, and we were able to take advantage of it. We got lucky with some of the restarts, we were in the right lanes…then it was just getting to the lead as fast as I could and controlling the race.”

Alex Labbe and Camirand battled for second on the final restart, with Labbe edging Camirand by a mere 0.003 seconds. Labbe’s first start of the season came as a substitute for Nepveu, who missed the event due to a prior racing commitment.

Five Newfoundland drivers entered the race, with Sara Thorne recording the top finish (11th), followed by Josh Collins (12th), Brandon McFarlane (13th), Wayne Hanlon Jr. (15th) and Owen Groves (18th).

Streets Of Toronto

Next up, on July 14, was the Exhibition Place street course, where the series was the Friday headliner on the Honda Indy weekend. Alex Tagliani started on pole, with Ranger staying on his bumper through the first few laps.

On Lap 7, caution for Stacey stalled on track. The field restarted on Lap 12 and was met by a yellow flag for debris in turn three, when Nepveu also stalled on track, with significant body damage to the leftrear of his car. Although Tagliani was out front, Ranger had beat him to the scoring line on the restart and was credited with the lead.

Tagliani took the top spot back following the next restart. Meanwhile, Camirand worked his way up to fifth, after starting back in 18th. He didn’t post a time in qualifying, while his team addressed a mechanical issue.

The remainder of the race went caution-free, despite multiple drivers having issues. The leaders also had lap traffic to manoeuver, where Lacroix touched the wall on Lap 23 before moving to second on Lap 27, as Ranger steadily dropped to fifth, both while battling with traffic.

A slow-moving and wiggling car bunched up the battle with two to go, as the leaders approached, with Tagliani holding off a late charge from Lacroix to win by 0.403 seconds for his third victory in Toronto.

“I was very worried about arriving full speed to try to pass (Watson), (if) that car loses that tire, which was basically flopping, so I lifted, but Kevin was flat out,” said Tagliani. “Over that last lap, I just pushed like a qualifier, and I said, ‘I can’t leave Kevin close to me and get the chance to have the bumper’ but it was extremely clean today.”

Camirand finished third, followed by L.P. Dumoulin and Ranger. Lapcevich finished sixth.

“I knew the car was good, so I took my time and (passed cars) oneby-one; I was pretty fast at the end,” said Camirand. “We’ve always qualified around top-three but struggled in the race (in Toronto); today was the reverse, struggled in qualifying but good in the race.”

In the standings, Lapcevich leads by 19 points over Lacroix and 30 over Camirand. IT