Labbe & Lapcevich Triumph At Saskatoon
Alex Labbe celebrates scoring his second NASCAR Pinty’s Series win of the season after taking the first race of the Velocity Prairie Thunder Twin 100s. (Matthew Murnaghan Photo)
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — The first doubleheader in NASCAR Pinty’s Series history resulted in victories for young stars Alex Labbe and Cayden Lapcevich Wednesday night and it served to tighten the championship chase.
Labbe, the 24-year-old from Quebec, scored the win in the first race of the Velocity Prairie Thunder 100s, holding off two-time champion D.J. Kennington in an overtime finish. Lapcevich, the 17-year-old from Ontario, finished third. He then stormed to the front in the second twin 100 to capture the victory.
The win for Lapcevich came at the track the NASCAR Next driver scored his first victory last year en route to the series title.
When everything was said and done, championship points leader Kevin Lacroix left Saskatoon with a two-point lead over Labbe in Canada’s national stock car championship. Lapcevich moved up to third in the standings, 26 points out of the lead, and holding a four-point advantage on Kennington and five on L.P. Dumoulin.
It took everything Labbe had to hold off Kennington to score his second win of the season in race number one. He was able to make the pass around Kennington on lap 75 and then held on in overtime. Labbe enjoyed a one-car length lead when the fifth and final caution of the race was given to the field on lap 97 after a single-car spin, which set up the sprint to the finish and pushed the race to 104 laps.
Kennington moved to the outside of Labbe on the final restart, but the latter was able to make a good run off of turn two. Labbe’s No. 32 Ford crossed the line .314 seconds ahead of Kennington on the third-mile oval.
It marked Labbe’s third win, his second this year. He picked up a victory at Delaware Speedway when the Pinty’s Series returned there in June.
Kennington was looking for his 20th career win and first since 2013.
Cayden Lapcevich, who was involved in a caution on Lap 40, rebounded from his incident to finish on the podium.
Donald Theetge and Gary Klutt were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Kevin Lacroix, who entered the race as the point leader and winner of the last two series races, won his second career pole on an oval track earlier in the day. He led the first 30 laps of the race but fell back to eighth.
In the second Twin 100, Lapcvich passed Kennington on lap 77 and went on to win his second race of the season. Lapcevich started the nightcap fifth as the starting lineup was set for the second race by the drivers’ fastest lap recorded during the first race.
Lapcevich quickly moved his No. 76 Dodge into the top three midway through the race. He was able to get past Kennington late in the race and pull away for the victory by .241 seconds.
Kennington started from the pole following his runner-up finish in the opening race of the night.
Labbe followed up his win in race number one with a third-place finish, while Lacroix was fourth. L.P. Dumoulin, a former winner at Saskatoon, was fifth.
The NASCAR Pinty’s Series concludes its annual western swing visiting Edmonton Int’l Raceway with the Luxxur 300 this Saturday, July 29.
Race Results
Race One: Alex Labbe, D.J. Kennington, Cayden Lapcevich, Donald Theetge, Gary Klutt, L.P. Dumoulin, Noel Dowler, Kevin Lacroix, J.F. Dumoulin, Andrew Ranger, Mark Dilley, Luc Haukaas, Adam Martin, Armani Williams, Ian Admiraal, Stefan Klym, Jason Hankewich, Destiny Klym, Anthony Simone, Alex Tagliani
Race Two: Cayden Lapcevich, D.J. Kennington, Alex Labbe, Kevin Lacroix, L.P. Dumoulin, Donald Theetge, Andrew Ranger, Mark Dilley, Alex Tagliani, Gary Klutt, Anthony Simone, Adam Martin, Armani Williams, Jason Hankewich, Ian Admiraal, Destiny Klym, Stefan Klym, Luc Haukaas, J.F. Dumoulin, Noel Dowler
Source :speedsport.com
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