Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With a five races in the books, the drivers of the APC APC Auto Parts United Late Models of Ontario Tour presented by Grisdales Race Products tour will see a reoccurring track on the schedule for the second time this year. This Sunday, they will return to the sight of the debut event on the tour, hitting Sunset Speedway on Sunday, August 23. The debut race of the season saw a show that produced excitement for the fans throughout, with home-track favourite Dwayne Baker picking up the victory.
Joshua Stade has started off the year with finishes inside of the top-13 in each of the first five races, posting his highest finish of the year with a ninth at Delaware. He’ll hope to break into the top-10 this time around at Sunset after finishing 13th in May. Notably, Stade picked up a win in regular season competition this year at Sunset early in the year.
Matt Lockwood has failed to qualify for two events this year – but scored a 16th place finish at Flamboro with his previous track experience. Since wrecking at Flamboro in his second appearance this season, he has yet to see the track. Hopefully he can return to action this weekend and qualify for the show.
Jamie Cox started off the year really strong with a second at Sunset Speedway and a second at Flamboro, though a pair of wrecks in the following races have seen him drop to fourth in points, 34 points behind Shawn Chenoweth. Certainly a win this weekend could help put him right back in championship discussionss.
Matt Pritiko is set to debut a brand new car this weekend after suffering a hard crash at Flamboro on Canada Day. With a solid performance under his belt in weekly competition at Delaware, he’ll hope to top the eighth place finish from the first race of the season. Jay Doerr is also hoping for a strong run this weekend after struggling in the first event of the year.
Coming off of a fourth place finish at Peterborough Speedway, Linc Brown is hoping to keep the momentum going and string off a set of good finishes after posting 22nd place finish in the first Sunset Speedway event this season.
Matt Box has started off the tour nicely, posting a top-10 finish in each event to sit second in points, 17 points behind Chenoweth. With a third at Sunset Speedway in the first event of the year and weekly competition experience under his belt, he could be one to watch in the late stages.
Shawn McGlynn is hoping for his first top-10 finish of the season after mechanical issues took him out at Sunset, while wrecks plagued him at Flamboro and Delaware. He knows the team can get it done as J.R. Fitzpatrick piloted the No. 23 entry to a fifth place finish at Peterborough Speedway.
Cayden Lapcevich will be making his second pro late model start this weekend, driving Terry Baker’s car. Sunset’s current St. Onge Recreation Super Stock points leader was strong in his debut in May, running as high as third, before contact took him out of contention.
Jason Parker started off the year with a string of top-11 finishes, including a pair of top-fives, but found himself last at the end of the 100-laps at Peterborough Speedway. Returning to a track that he has had success at before behind the wheel of a limited late model, winning last year’s Velocity 250, he’ll be looking to bounce back in style.
Whenever Dan McHattie steps behind the wheel of a pro late model, you need to keep an eye on him. He’s a multi-time Kawartha Speedway track champion and has won multiple features at Peterborough Speedway, including the Autumn Colors Classic. He will look to keep the momentum going following a third place finish at Peterborough.
Dwayne Baker had a weekend to remember in the season opening Canusa 100, scoring the victory. Since then, the wheels have fallen off as the finishes haven’t come. Returning to the place that he won the track championship at last season, can he turn the ship around?
Mike Bentley and Andrew Gresel are both hoping to bounce back in a big way this weekend after both wrecking at Peterborough Speedway, to go with wrecks that they’ve had thus far this season in other races. Despite the poor finishes, the pair have shown speed as evident by Gresel’s sixth place finish at Flamboro. Can they turn the corner?
Dale Shaw will be a driver that many will be keeping their eye on as he is looking to continue his positive momentum, having posted finishes of third and second in the last two events. In the first event of the year at Sunset Speedway, he had a solid performance, finishing seventh.
Trevor Collver made the jump this year from Super Stock to Late Model competition. So far, things have been up and down as he’s found himself involved in some wrecks, but also posted a 10th place finish at Delaware Speedway. He’ll hope to qualify this weekend after failing to qualify for the season opener.
Rookie Billy Schwartzenburg has impressed many fans with a sixth and eighth in the first two events this season. However, Delaware didn’t go kindly with a wreck taking him out of contention. Since then, he has bounced back with a pair of top-10 finishes. Can he keep the positive momentum going this weekend? Spira Racing teammate Steve Laking is hoping to keep the positive momentum going after posting his first top-10 finish at Peterborough with a seventh.
Steve Cashmore and Willie Reyns are both making the jump from Super Stock competition to Late Model competition this season. Cashmore is hoping that this weekend goes much better and cleaner after having some failed qualifying attempts and wrecks plague his rookie tour. Reyns, meanwhile, hopes to improve on the 14th place finish he posted at Peterborough. Can he can crack the top-10 this week?
With all that said, though, the hottest driver entering this weekend is Shawn Chenoweth as he currently leads the points by 17 after winning the previous two races. He also knows his way around Sunset Speedway, having posted a fourth place finish in May.
