Andrew Ranger wins opening round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Andrew Ranger won the opening round of the 2016 Canadian stock car NASCAR Pinty’s Series - the Clarington 200 - held Sunday on the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course.
Andrew Ranger
NASCAR Media
Oval specialist Alex Labbé took the start of the race from the pole in the No. 32 Ford. Andrew Ranger, Pier-Luc Ouellette and Gary Klutt lined up behind him for the green.
Labbé quickly jumped into the lead as Ranger followed in his tracks. Bad start for Klutt who crossed the line in 17th place. Meanwhile, Labbé continued to lead, as DJ Kennington looked to make a move on Grala for sixth.
On lap 3, the top three of Labbe, Ranger and Ouellette put some distance on Hathaway in fourth place.
On lap 6, Anthony Simone pitted. One lap later, a first yellow came out for Ryan Klutt’s car, off course in the grass. On lap 9, nearly everybody came down pit road, except DJ Kennington. After the first round of pit stops, Kennington led from Robin Buck, Cayden Lapcevich, Kevin Poitras, Patrick Dussault and Simon Dion-Viens.
A string of cautions
Green flag on lap 11. There was some frantic action as some of the faster cars tried to pick up positions. The yellow was shown a few seconds later for debris in Turn 9. On lap 15, the leaders came down pit road, including Kennington, Buck, Lapcevich and Ranger. Dion-Viens inherited the lead ahead of Gary Klutt.
Green on lap 16. Dion-Viens led the race, but Jean-François Dumoulin powered to second place. One lap later, the order was Dion-Viens, Hathaway, Dumoulin, Labbé and Ouellette. Moments later, Hathaway moved ahead of Dion-Viens for the lead. On lap 23, Ouellette got by JF Dumoulin for second place in Turn 3. But three laps later, there was another full course yellow for debris on front stretch from the Kennington-Dion Viens battle. Under the yellow, JF Dumoulin and Labbé came down pit road, along with some of the back half of the field.
Green on lap 29. Hathaway and Ouellette led the field with Ranger right behind them. Moments later, a multi-car accident involved or damaged the cars of Grala - who drove away - De Quesada, Shaw and Dussault.
Under the yellow, Hathaway led from Ouellette, Ranger and Micks. After a very short green, there was another yellow for Kevin Poitras whose car suffered major damage in Turn 8. The race was finally restarted on lap 49 out of 51.
Ranger led from Buck and Labbé. Labbé regained first place but lost out to Ranger seconds later. One lap later the chequered saluted Andrew Ranger’s victory. Robin Buck was second, 0.534 second down. DJ Kennington was third ahead of Cayden Lapcevich and Alex Labbé.
Jean-François Dumoulin, Kerry Micks, Simon Dion-Viens, Jason Hathaway and Gary Klutt completed the top 10.
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