Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
On Saturday night at Kawartha Speedway, Jason Hathaway did everything that he needed to do, leading the most laps en route to scoring the victory in the Pinty’s 250 at Kawartha Speedway. In the end, though, it wouldn’t be enough as Scott Steckly would claim his fourth career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Championship with a runner-up finish.
“It’s amazing,” he commented. “People don’t realize how much work goes into it by the crews and how much time it takes away from family and friends, and how much the whole team sacrifices. To be able to do it four times is amazing.”
Starting on the pole, Steckly would lead the early laps in the event, leading all the way till lap 47. It was at that time that Hathaway would take the lead, never looking back as he led the rest of the way, able to hold off Steckly and the field in each of the following restarts.
For the driver of the No. 3 HGC/Williamson/Choko Chevrolet, it marks his third victory of the season and second in a row after winning at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
“We wanted to come in here and lead the most laps and we did that so that’s all I can control with my car and nothing else,” Hathaway said. “I knew we had a good car in practice. We were eighth but I told the guy to not worry about it. We had a good car with a good balance, felt real consistent. It’s all good. We’ll take it. I have a party planned in the campground.”
Steckly did what he needed to do throughout the night, running no lower than third during the event as he kept himself at the front of the field. Crossing the line in the runner-up spot gave the veteran his seventh top-five and 10th top-10 in 11 races this season, to along with three victories.
“It was really uneventful, which was really good,” Steckly commented of his race. “We started to get a little bit tight on the long run and Jason then got by me. I just ran in second behind him and didn’t force the issue. I knew that we didn’t have to pass him or do anything, and that’s what we did for the whole day. There was no challengers from anyone else and it was a good, solid day.”
D.J. Kennington battled to the front in the final 35 laps, moving from fifth to third for a podium finish. It marks a great effort for the past series champion as he had to battle back to the front after getting front-end damage in the early stages of the event.
“It started off rough getting the front end smashed in a little bit, but by the end of the night we had the car pretty good,” he commented. “It was a good night for our sponsors – Castrol and Mahindra. We’ll take it and run with it.”
Last year’s series champion L.P Dumoulin finished fourth, followed by Marc-Antoine Camirand. Cayden Lapcevich finished sixth in his sixth career start, followed by Alex Tagliani, Joey McColm, J.P. Dumoulin and Andrew Ranger.
Gary Klutt would finish 11th, clinching the Josten’s Rookie of the Year Award. Josh Collins finished 12th, followed by Mark Dilley, James Van Domselaar and Noel Dowler.
