GREAT CANADIAN RACE WEEKEND

DELAWARE SPEEDWAY HOSTS THREE-DAY EXTRAVAGANZA

By Bryce Turner

The Great Canadian Race Weekend at Delaware Speedway played host to three days of championship celebrations, including finales for two of the top touring series in the country.

NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES

The 250-lap Pinty’s Fall Brawl headlined Sunday action, on September 24, with the NASCAR Pinty’s Series concluding its 14-race season. Treyten Lapcevich entered Delaware in position to clinch the championship at the start-finish line, but still had some work to do in chasing single-season records.

“It’s a really nice feeling, knowing that we only have to start the race to win the championship,” said Lapcevich. “But at the end of the day, we want to go for the win…we’ve been able to work on the car throughout these longer events and always be there at the end. Just staying patient again, that’s the game plan.”

For defending champion Marc-Antoine Camirand, he entered the finale with more points, wins, podiums, Top-5 finishes, Top-10 finishes, and a better average finish, through 13 races, than he had in the 13 races on last year’s schedule, but was about to finish runner-up in the standings.

“I’m happy for (Lapcevich), he deserves it, he works hard,” said Camirand. “We’re not going to win the championship this year, but with the season that we had, I’m really proud of what we did.”

Kyle Steckly started on pole, with 22 Racing teammate Lapce- vich joining him on the front row. Before the drop of the green flag, Andrew Ranger pulled to the pits with a flat tire, continuing a season worthy of ‘unluckiest driver of the year’ honours.

Lapcevich led 15 laps after an early caution, before Steckly took the top spot and drove away. Multiple drivers encountered issues during the green flag run, including L.P. Dumoulin making an unscheduled pit stop and Camirand becoming the race’s first retiree, with an engine issue after 41 laps.

Donald Theetge ran towards the front early, before quickly dropping back and nearly being caught by the leader; he was spared by a Lap 54 caution, for Brandon Watson slowing with a flat tire. Steckly continued to lead after a pair of restarts, in dominant fashion, before his race came to an abrupt end, with a mechanical issue on Lap 99.

Lapcevich inherited the top spot and led through the mid-race break. The incoming champion was challenged on restarts, but was able to pull away on the long run. Two of his challengers had issues with 86 to go, when Kevin Lacroix got into the back of Theetge in turn one, sending Theetge around. Lacroix was handed a stop-and-go penalty for the incident.

Both Theetge and Lacroix worked their way back through the field, while Ranger also found himself back in the mix. D.J. Kennington, who had five wins and a 2.5 average finish in 10 prior Delaware races, found himself in contention as well. But in the end, it was Lapcevich who controlled the lead en route to a record-tying seventh win of the season.

“Hated to see Kyle drop out there with the rear-end issues, I know it was going to definitely be a battle between me and him right down to the wire,” said Lapcevich. “We started off a little bit rough, we were having a little bit of problems with the brakes and they were cold, made some good adjustments at the halfway break…to win seven races is just a big hats off to the whole crew.”

It was also a sentimental win for Lapcevich and family, following the passing of his ‘Grandma Jingles,’ Vera Kohler, on the Friday evening. Treyten described his grandma as a ‘badass,’ reminiscing on social media about the “most challenging easter egg hunt in Pennsylvania.”

Theetge, Kennington, Ranger, and Lacroix rounded out the topfive. Noah Gragson and Amber Balcaen were among drivers making one-off appearances, with Gragson finishing 10th and Balcaen 17th, with a DNF.

Apc Series

The APC Series late model tour headlined Saturday action at Delaware, with the Castrol Great Canadian 200, on September 23, representing both their championship race and the longest distance event of the season.

Shae Gemmel and Josh Stade led early, before points leader Kyle Steckly took the top spot. J.R. Fitzpatrick moved to the lead on Lap 16, with Steckly settling into second, before a caution on Lap 47. The two leaders worked together on the restart, with Steckly taking the lead from the outside line before Fitzpatrick ultimately re-took the position.

“We both had really fast cars and we wanted to keep it clean and save our stuff,” said Steckly. “We were working together a bit on the restarts so we could get single file and get out front. He’s a great competitor, really fun to race with and he had a great car.”

The dance continued between Steckly and Fitzpatrick during a string of first half restarts, with the same result. Fitzpatrick held the top spot at the halfway break, when teams were taken down pit road to fuel their cars. Some teams then decided to come back in for an optional tire change, including championship contender Jo Lawrence.

The top of the leaderboard remained the same until a caution, with 60 to go, when the frontrunners made their tire stops, allowing those who had previously pitted to cycle ahead. Ray Morneau and Brandon Watson battled for P1 on the next few restarts, while Fitzpatrick and Steckly worked their way through the field.

With 49 to go, caution for a crash on the frontstretch. Danny Benedict and Connor Pritiko made contact in turn four, with Benedict wiggling and slowing. That started a chain-reaction wreck, which included D.J. Kennington sliding hard into the inside wall, with a fireball coming from his No. 28K.

“It’s the first time I can honestly say that in racing; that I got in a wreck and I don’t know how it happened,” said Kennington. “I got in the outside wall after I tried to get around (other cars) and a big fire, looked like it was just power steering oil that went all over the headers, and had no brakes…the car’s in bad shape but I’m fine.”

After a short red flag delay, the race resumed with Morneau in front. Fitzpatrick continued his run from 15th, after the tire stop, to take the lead with 45 to go. Meanwhile, Steckly had a harder time getting through traffic and fell back behind Lawrence with 25 to go. Steckly continued to ride in fifth and sixth, staying close enough to Lawrence to secure the championship, as Fitzpatrick went on to the win.

“This car was just on rails, we’ve been great the last three weeks, but today, that thing was just unbeatable,” said Fitzpatrick. “I was nervous because the guys made the pit call on when to take tires and I was like ‘man, I think we should stay out,’ but we did what they wanted and it was beneficial.”

Fitzpatrick came up short in his APC Series title defense, but was crowned the first-ever NTN Triple Crown champion, for the most points in the three extra-length races – 150-lap events at Sunset and Sauble speedways, plus the 200-lap finale. He was also fresh off of a Flamboro Speedway track championship.

“It’s been a great year; if we take one parts failure away, we would’ve had a shot at the (APC Series) championship,” said Fitzpatrick, who finished six points back. “I’m so happy for Kyle and Scott (Steckly), they’re the greatest people I know and that’s just the beginning, he’s going to win a lot more.”

Morneau, Lawrence, Jake Sheridan, and Steckly rounded out the top-five in the race.

“I was a little bit nervous, with all those cars in between us,” said Steckly. “We got back up there and, once we were in a safe spot, I just didn’t want to risk anything and we just saved our stuff and made sure nothing stupid happened…I’ve always wanted to win a championship and to win a championship in a series like the APC Series is definitely a huge deal.”

More NASCAR Pinty’s Series and APC Series championship coverage will be included in the next edition of Inside Track