WICKENS STILL LEADS IN RENAULT F-3.5; SPENGLER SLIPS IN DTM
Here is a quick look at other races this weekend:
– Toronto driver Paul Dalla Lana was honoured Sunday night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for winning the Grand Sport title in the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Dalla Lana finished sixth in this weekend’s EMCO Gear Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to score enough points to wrap up the championship. Congratulations!
Scott Maxwell of Toronto finished 10th in a Multimatic Motorsports Mustang; Taylor Hacquard of Vancouver was 23rd overall and third in the ST class; Ashley McCalmont of Dundas was 48th overall and 28th in class.
Meantime, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas wrapped up the 2011 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car championship be finishing second in the Daytona Prototype class at Mid-Ohio to Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio.
– Scott Steckly of Milverton, Ont., stretched his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship lead by winning the Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, N.S., on Saturday.
Pete Shepherd III of Brampton battled former series champion Steckly, who started from pole, for much of the race but fell back in the closing laps to finish second. Third place went to hometown favourite Donald Chisholm of Antigonish while defending series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas wound up fourth.
Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert was fifth with J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge, Jason Hathaway of Appin, Ont., Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor, Chris Raabe of Napanee and Mark Dilley of Barrie rounding out the top ten.
The victory was Steckly’s third of the 2011 season and the 11th of his NASCAR career.
"It was the best day possible," said Steckly, driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire/MotoMaster Dodge. "We were the fastest car in practice, won the pole and won the race. I can’t ask for much more than that."
The caution flag only waved twice during the event while the lead changed eight times among four drivers with Steckly leading a race-high 194 of them.
Steckley leads the standings with 1,785 points, followed by Kennington with 1,691 and Fitzpatrick with 1,604.
The season will conclude, and a champion will be crowned, next Saturday at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, near Peterborough.
- Ex-National Speed Sport News reporter Mike Kerchner reports that Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway on Saturday. Hafertepe won $11,000 and added the Nationals to his 2011 curriculum vitae that includes his first World of Outlaws Series victory.
Shane Stewart and Dustin Daggett won preliminary features leading up to the Nationals.
Warning to racers: yet another hauler and trailer complete with sprint car and touring equipment has been stolen, this one from the Days Inn in Brantford. Load up your rigs with alarms, people. Or have somebody sleep in the cab.
– Canadian F1 hope Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto still leads the World Series of Renault championship by two points over his Carlin Motorsports teammate Jean-Eric Vergne but it was a near-disastrous double-header weekend for the young Canadian at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France.
Wickens finished second to his teammate in the opening race on Saturday (he was third on track but a penalty moved him up to second) and then was 19th in the race Sunday (Vergne finished third) after he suffered a puncture while duking it out with another rival, Sergio Canamasas of Spain.
The championship will now be settled in the final double-header of the season on Oct. 8-9 in Barcelona.
– At Mazda Raceway in California Saturday, Dyson Racing, with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith driving, won the 2011 American Le Mans Series LMP1 Drivers and Team championships.
In addition, Mazda won the Engine Manufacturer’s title and Dunlop took won the Tire Championship with one race to go in the ALMS season, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Dyson and Smith won the championship but actually finished second in the race to the Lola P1 trio of Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Stephan Mucke. Canadians: Kyle Marcelli of Barrie finished seventh overall and third in the Prototype Challenge class; Tony Burgess of Toronto was 26th in a Lola P1; Kenny Wilden of Oakville was 33rd, driving in the GT class.
– Audi driver Mattias Ekström won the German Touring Car Championship race Sunday at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. Canadian Bruno Spengler, driving for Mercedes, slipped to second place in the standings when he was forced to retire with suspension problems.
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