Grabbing the advantage partway through the feature, Jo Lawrence led the rest of the way en route to winning the Qwick Wick Championship Race, en route to securing the APC Series Championship Crown.
“It’s honestly great,” Lawrence said. “Just thinking about it, six different years of APC, six different champions, just to be one of them is very special.”
Lawrence certainly capped off the day in style, winning both events at Jukasa Motor Speedway, giving him four victories on a five race season.
“That definitely felt really good,” Lawrence commented. “The guys just did an awesome job all day. They couldn’t have done anything wrong it seemed like, and they gave me a perfect car both races. We were just able to pull it off.
“The invert was definitely very interesting, but I thought it was a lot of fun. I thought it was a cool change-up of what we normally do.”
With an invert in play from the first feature, the first couple of laps would result in a lot of side-by-side racing through the field as Shawn Chenoweth grabbed the advantage ahead of Patrick Freel. It also brought some contact, with Piper Adams going around, collecting Mat Box and Andrew Gresel in the process.
With 67 laps to go, Chenoweth led Freel, DJ Kennington, Dale Shaw, Gary Adriaensen, Shae Gemmell, Pete Shepherd, Lawrence, Matt Pritiko, Jake Sheridan, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Brandon Watson, Treyten Lapcevich, Darrell Lake, Ryan Kimball, and Carson Nagy.
Chenoweth would get a good jump on the restart, holding serve as Kennington and Adriaensen battled for second ahead of Shaw and Shepherd. Adriaensen got the spot on Lap 13, with Lawrence up to fifth ahead of Gemmell and Pritiko, as Fitzpatrick battled Freel.
Shepherd would get alongside Shaw for fifth on Lap 16, when the caution came out two laps later for Lake and Erik Dalla Riva slowing in turn three, both with flat tires following contact. With 57 laps to go, Chenoweth led Adriaensen, Shaw, Shepherd, Lawrence, Gemmell, Pritiko, Fitzpatrick, Watson, Lapcevich, Sheridan, and Freel.
The restart would see a battle for the lead between Chenoweth and Adriaensen, with Adriaensen grabbing the top spot as Shepherd moved into second, bringing Shaw and Lawrence through with him to bump Chenoweth back to fifth ahead of Fitzpatrick and Gemmell. Lawrence would then get alongside Shaw for third, taking the spot on Lap 23.
Shepherd would track down Adriaensen for the lead, getting alongside for the top spot on Lap 27, though was unable to clear him as he fell back in line. Lawrence ran third, followed by Shaw, Chenoweth, Fitzpatrick, Gemmell, and Lapcevich, with Sheridan and Watson side-by-side for ninth three laps later. Watson took over the spot on Lap 33, getting alongside Lapcevich for eighth.
At the front, Shepherd would challenge Adriaensen once again for the lead at Lap 34, with Lawrence taking them three-wide for the top spot. Lawrence would come out on top, with Adriaensen clearing Shepherd for second on Lap 35.
With 36 laps on the board, Lawrence led ahead of Adriaensen, Shepherd, Shaw, Chenoweth, Fitzpatrick, Gemmell, Watson, and Lapcevich. Fitzpatrick would get alongside Chenoweth for fifth on Lap 39, with Benedict heading down pit road a lap later with a tire issue.
Shepherd would then challenge Adriaensen once again on Lap 41 for second, but fell back in line shortly thereafter. Shaw continued to run fourth now ahead of Chenoweth, Fitzpatrick, and Gemmell. Fitzpatrick would challenge Chenoweth for fifth on Lap 44, taking over the spot two laps later ahead of Gemmell, Watson, Lapcevich, and Pritiko.
The battle for second got interesting on Lap 47, with Shepherd giving Adriaensen a little nudge. It wasn’t enough, though, as the pair remained in line until the third caution at Lap 50 for Freel slowing in turns one and two. Under the yellow flag, Watson headed down pit road for adjustments.
Lawrence would get a good restart as Shepherd and Adriaensen resumed their battle for second, with Shaw and Fitzpatrick side-by-side for fourth. Shepherd would take over second, as the battle for fourth continued ahead of Pritiko, Gemmell, and Kennington, as Chenoweth and Watson ran side-by-side for eighth.
Fitzpatrick would take over fourth on Lap 56, followed by a pass on Adriaensen for third a lap later. Shaw looked to follow him through, but was unable to before the caution flew on Lap 58 for Watson slowing in turn two. With 17 laps to go, Lawrence led Shepherd, Fitzpatrick, Adriaensen, Shaw, Gemmell, Pritiko, Kennington, Lapcevich, Kimball, and Di Venanzo.
Lawrence got another good restart as Shepherd moved into second, with Adriaensen and Fitzpatrick side-by-side for third. Fitzpatrick would run into issues on Lap 59, slowing down, allowing Adriaensen to move back into third ahead of Shaw, Gemmell, and Pritiko. Kennington, would then work his way by Pritiko on Lap 63 to move into sixth on Lap 63. Unfortunately, Pritiko’s night got worse, as he made significant contact with the wall off of turn two on Lap 65.
The restart would see a battle for the lead between Lawrence and Shepherd, as Shaw and Adriaensen battled for third. Shaw would take over the spot with eight laps to go, with Gemmell looking to follow him through.
Jo Lawrence would take the top spot with six laps to go, pacing the field the rest of the way en route to the victory ahead of Pete Shepherd, Dale Shaw, Gary Adriaensen, and Shae Gemmell. DJ Kennington finished sixth, followed by Brandon Watson, Treyten Lapcevich, Jake Sheridan, and Shawn Chenoweth.
Ryan Kimball placed 11th, followed by J.R. Fitzpatrick, Tyler Di Venanzo, Patrick Freel, Lane Zardo, Erik Della Riva, Steve Arrand, Darrell Lake, Tom Gibbons, and Shawn McGlynn. Matt Pritiko finished 21st, followed by Carson Nagy, Danny Benedict, Hudson Nagy, Piper Adams, Jason Lidster, Mat Box, and Andrew Gresel.
Categories: Interviews, Jukasa Speedway, Race Reports, United Late Models of Ontario Tour