Making his first APC United Late Model Series start in the London Recreational Racing 100 was Kyle Steckly, of Milverton, and the Flamboro regular was quick out of the box, pacing the field by over 1/10th of a second in practice, before heading into the qualifying session.
Tom Gibbons, of Southampton, turned the fastest lap of the first group of qualifiers to set the early mark at 15.497 seconds, but in the second group it was Shawn Chenoweth, of Drumbo, who was able to raise the bar with a lap of 15.316 seconds.
The next group hit the track, and it was Ryan Kimball, of Norwood, who put up the new quick time, circling the 1/3-rd mile in 15.042 seconds, a mark that stood up through the fourth qualifying group. The cars that turned the five fastest times in practice were in the final group, took assault at Kimball’s time, as well as the track record of 14.855 seconds, set by current point leader Brandon Watson, of Stayner, in 2018.
Steckly was able to set the fast time with a lap of 14.931 seconds, just missing the record, and would leave Kimball in second, Jo Lawrence, of London, in third, Watson in fourth, and Jake Sheridan, of Mt. Brydges, in fifth.
J.R. Fitzpatrick, of Ayr, was sixth, with Pete Shepherd III, of London, in seventh. Shane Maginnis, of Hagersville, timed in eighth, while Lane Zardo, of Brampton, was ninth, qualifying for Treyton Lapcevich, of Grimsby, with Matt Pritiko, of London, rounding out the top-ten in qualifying.
After the invert was factored in, Kimball and Sheridan lined up on the front row, in front of Fitzpatrick and Lawrence. Shepherd and Watson made up row three, with Pritiko and Steckly in row four. McInnes and Jordan Sims, of Sault Ste. Marie, made up the final two spots in the top-ten. Despite his car qualifying ninth with Zardo at the wheel, Lapcevich would have to start at the rear after the driver change.
The race went yellow almost immediately as James Horner, of Fraserville, Shawn McGlynn, of Kitchener, and Tyler Di Venanzo, of Guelph, tangled off turn four before even reaching the start/finish line.
On the second attempt at green, it was Kimball who seized control of the race, while Fitzpatrick was able to slice his way through to second, with Shepherd third. Sheridan was shuffled back to fourth, with Watson climbing to fifth.
On lap 20 the top-five shuffled, as Watson got a run on Sheridan, and passed him for fourth, bringing Pritiko into the top-five, while Sheridan finally got into line in eighth.
The races’ second yellow flew on lap 22 when Shepherd got into the back of the Fitzpatrick, turning him around, as Chenoweth, Shae Gemmel, of Dorchester, and Maginnis, were all collected, but luckily no one suffered any significant damage.
This set the running order on the restart as Kimball, Watson, Pritiko, Steckly, and Sims holding down the top-five positions, and Sheridan, Gemmell, Chenoweth, Erik DellaRiva, of Ancaster, and Josh Stade, of Chesley, rounding out the top-five.
Watson would battle for the lead on the outside, with him and Kimball trading the lead at the line a few times before Watson was able to clear Kimball and take control of the event, with Pritiko also bypassing Kimball.
Out front, the lead duo started to gap the field, and on lap 38, Steckly was able to muscle to the inside of Kimball, taking third in the process, and bringing Sims with him as well, shuffling Kimball back to fifth.
Kimball held on to the top-five the best he could, but as the second half of the race started, he came under assault by a number of cars, losing fifth to Lapcevich, with Sheridan and Conner James, of Hamilton, also getting past him.
Stade continued his drive forward just before lap 60, claiming sixth, while Shepherd and Fitzpatrick, who had restarted at the back of the pack, climbed into positions seven and eight, with Danny Benedict, of Orono, and Kimball completing the top-ten.
The 50-lap green flag run would come to an end on lap 72 as Fitzpatrick came to a stop on the front stretch, and closing up the field for a restart with 28 to go in the London Recreational Racing 100, with a running order of Watson, Pritiko, Steckly, Sims, and Lapcevich filling the top-five, and Sheridan, James, Stade, Shepherd and Benedict rounding out the top-ten for the next restart.
While Pritiko and Watson started banging doors for the lead from turn four on the restart all the way into turns one and two, Steckley carved his racer to the bottom and passed both of them on the exit of turn two to take the lead, with Lapcevich flying through the gap as well to claim second. Watson tucked into line in third, with Pritiko finally getting settled all the way back in seventh.
Steckly, the second-generation young gun, put his sails in the wind, and opened up a straightaway gap on Lapcevich to claim the win in the London Recreational Racing 100, in just his first APC United Late Model career start, while Lapcevich was able to hold off Watson, a two-time Flamboro winner. James had his best career finish with a fourth-place result, while Shepherd battled back from his earlier black flag to finish fifth.
Pritiko scratched back to finish sixth, with Sims in seventh, and Stade in eighth. Benedict and Sheridan rounded out the top-ten.
With the third-place finish, Watson unofficially will continue to hold the point lead with two races to go. Lapcevich and Shepherd should still be second and third in the championship, but have some ground to make up on Watson to challenge for the title.
The APC United Late Model Series presented by Grisdale Racing Enterprises will be back in action next Saturday night for the second to last event of the season, the Stewart’s Equipment & Kubota 100 at Sunset Speedway, just south of Barrie.
Tiemersma Wins Qwick Wick Super Stock Feature
For the Qwick Wick Super Stocks, it was their first trip to Flamboro Speedway, with a tight championship battle seeing the top seven drivers within nine points of the point leader, Dwayne Baker, of Stayner. Lane Zardo was the fastest in practice by almost 1/10th of a second over Carson Nagy, of Mt. Hope.
The first competitive laps came during pole qualifying, and Nic Ramsay, of St. Thomas, was able to top the board in the first group on track with a time of 16.811 seconds. The time wouldn’t hold up during the second group out on the track, as Gerrit Tiemersma, of Newmarket, ripped the circuit in a time of 16.641 seconds.
The third group of cars hit the track, and when they wrapped up Baker was the new fast qualifier with a lap of 16.623 seconds, putting him on the provisional pole heading into the final group. Zardo was able to turn a lap quicker than even in practice, with a time of 16.495 seconds, becoming the fast qualifier.
Nagy, the Peterborough winner was second, with Delaware winner Trevor Collver, of Lucan, in third. Baker wound up fourth, with Tiemersma in fifth.
Jason Parker, of Port Elgin, entered the night fourth in points, and qualified sixth, while Ethan Constable, of Barrie, timed in seventh. Justin Collision, of Cambridge, was eighth, with Ramsay, and Ray Morneau, of Windsor, rounding out the top-ten.
The inversion would put Ramsay on the pole for the 50-lap main event, with Collision alongside him on the front row. The second row was made up of Tiemersma and Zardo, with Nagy and Constable holding down row three. Row four contained Colliver and Parker, with Morneau and Baker rounding out the top-ten.
Ramsay led the opening seven laps before Tiemersma made the pass for the lead in turn two, bringing Zardo with him to second. That duo took off, leaving Ramsay in their wake, to hold off Nagy, and Constable.
By the halfway mark, Tiemersma and Zardo had opened a half track lead on third, as Ramsay continued to fend off charges for third, this time from Constable, who had moved past Nagy on lap 23. Collver, Morneau, Cory McAllister, of Durham, Collision, and Parker filled out the top-ten.
On lap 31 Constable buried his car to the inside of Ramsay in turn three and the backslide started for Ramsay, as in addition to Constable, Nagy, Collver, Morneau, and McAllister were all able get by, kicking Ramsay back to eighth.
Morneau and McAllister were able to get past Collver with three laps for fifth and sixth, and the race would end without a single yellow flag, as the field went green to checkers in about 13 minutes.
Tiemersma was able to claim his first career Quick Wick Super Stock victory, narrowly edging Zardo, with Constable joining them on the podium. Nagy and Morneau rounded out the top-five.
McAllister was able to finish sixth after starting 13th in a tremendous drive, with Ramsay winding up seventh. Collver, after crashing the previous night at Delaware, and again earlier on today in practice at Flamboro, persevered to finish eighth, with Parker ninth, and pre-race point leader Baker rounding out the top-ten.
With Baker’s 10th-place result, combined with Morneau’s fifth-place finish, Morneau is the unofficial point leader by two makers over Baker.
The results also unofficially put Constable, Tiermersma, Parker, Collver, Zardo, Nagy, and Paul Pepper, of North Bay, who finished 11th, all within 10 points of Morneau with two events to go in the championship season, without the home track points addition.
The Qwick Wick Super Stock Series will be back in action next Saturday night, September 11th, at Sunset Speedway for a 50-lap main event, sponsored by Saugeen Shores Transmission.
