Lapcevich sweeps opening races of 2023 season with career first road course win
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Bowmanville, Ontario – After 16 years, a Lapcevich has finally claimed the top step of the podium at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
Treyten Lapcevich in the No. 20 FBM/Delta Bingo/DeSousa Railing Chevrolet was able to pull off a last-corner bump and run on Marc-Antione Camirand to sweep the two opening races of the 2023 season.
With practice and qualifying rained out on Saturday, the starting line-up was set by 2022 owner points. That put the No. 96 GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada Chevrolet of Camirand on the pole, alongside Kevin Lacroix.
Camirand was able to lead the first eight laps before the No. 74 Adaptive One/NAPA Auto Parts Dodge of Lacroix took the lead. A trip to pit road by both relinquished the lead to L.P. Dumoulin on lap 14.
But it wasn’t long until Gary Klutt, who was fastest in the morning’s shakedown session, took the lead from the No. 47 WeatherTech/Bellemare Dodge as he also went in for green flag pit stops.
Klutt took a gamble and decided not to pit for tires during the race. A decision that allowed him to lead 26 of the 51 laps, until the newer tires of Camirand and Lapcevich showed the advantage, with both drivers passing Klutt in the final 10 laps.
“I thought we could hang out but then it proved otherwise with 10 to go or 5 to go,” said Klutt. “My tires really fell off and it was a handful.”
Camirand, the defending champion, maintained the lead by a decent margin over Lapcevich, until the white flag.
The No. 20 was hot on Camirand’s tail as they made their way through the turns. But it wasn’t until the iconic turn ten that Lapcevich made the winning move.
He gave a bump to the No. 96, causing Camirand to go wide into the grass and the No. 20 to pull away and secure the win.
“Last lap I knew he was catching me a little bit,” said Camirand. “I got caught on the backmarker [lap down car], and it cost me one or two car lengths and I think that cost me the win.”
“I was expecting the move,” continued Camirand. “It’s a long season and I’m glad we were able to finish in second place.”
With his win in the season opener at Sunset Speedway, Lapcevich has now captured the fourth win of his NASCAR Pinty’s Series career.
“I didn’t want to jack him up, spin him around, get him in the wall or anything,” said Lapcevich. “If anything, I was just trying to show my nose and see if I could get him to make a mistake at all. I just moved him up and out of the way just enough to swoop by and grab the win.”
Despite struggling with his car towards the end, Klutt still claimed the bottom step of the podium. Lacroix and Dumoulin brought their cars home in a tight battle for fourth and fifth, respectively.
Alex Tagliani, Alex Guenette, D.J. Kennington, Dexter Stacey, and J.P. Bergeron all rounded out the top ten.
Simon Charbonneau and Herby Drescher both made their series debut at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend.
Charbonneau’s day ended early after his No. 88 TransGestion Vehicle Transport / NAPA Auto Dodge hit the tire wall in turn five, causing severe damage and bringing out the red flag for almost 14 minutes.
Drescher, in the No. 53 Herby’s Lifts/ Anna Romatowska RE/MAX Dodge finished 19th in his debut.
The NASCAR Pinty’s series will return on Saturday, June 10 at Autodrome Chaudière in Vallée-Jonction, Quebec.
The eBay Motors 200 will broadcast on TSN on Saturday, May 27, at 4:00 p.m. ET and on RSD2 on Saturday, June 17, at 2 p.m. ET.