Dumoulin Completes CTMP Sweep

BOWMANVILLE, Ont., Canada — L.P. Dumoulin picked up right where he left off with Sunday’s Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200.

The 34-year-old driver from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, returned to the site of his first career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 win Sunday and completed the season-sweep on the road course at Canadian Tire Series Motorsport Park.

The 2011 series rookie of the year claimed the victory over runner-up Martin Roy and third-place Andrew Ranger after 42 laps under a yellow-checkered finish. A multi-car accident in Turn 8 of the 2.459-mile course brought out the record-tying sixth caution, and a prolonged cleanup combined with time constraints to end the race short of the scheduled 51-lap distance.

Andrew Ranger finished third, followed by D.J. Kennington, who took over the points lead. J.R. Fitzpatrick rounded out the top five.

Rookies Marc-Antoine Camirand and Gary Klutt finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Jeff Lapcevich, Howie Scannell Jr. and Robin Buck rounded out the top 10.

Championship contenders Scott Steckly finished 11th and Jason Hathaway 27th. With two races remaining, Kennington leads Steckly by three points (387-384) and Dumoulin (366) by 21. Hathaway dropped a spot, six points back of Dumoulin.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regulars Jeb Burton (12th), James Buescher (31st) and Ty Dillon (32nd) competed in the event that was held prior to the first Truck race in Canada.

Dumoulin went around Camirand on Lap 31 for the lead, and held on the rest of the way for his second career series triumph.

“We had a good strategy by pitting early for tires and fuel, and after that we just gained positions after everyone else was pitting,” Dumoulin said. “I was trying really hard to keep a good pace and not overdriving my car so that for the last 10 laps I could be really hard on it.

“I didn’t know the race was going to go red [flag] and that they were going to give the checkered flag. I was just ready to go and finish the race.”

The runner-up finish for Roy was his best in 26 career starts, and well ahead of his previous best result in three appearances at the track, which was 14th.

POS DRIVER
1 L.P. Dumoulin
2 Martin Roy
3 Andrew Ranger
4 D.J. Kennington
5 J.R. Fitzpatrick

The third-place finish for Ranger – who was running as a teammate to Kennington for the first time – marked the fifth top-five finish in six career races at the CTMP road course.

“My car was really, really good and I was very happy because it was my first weekend with D.J. Kennington,” Ranger said. “At the end I was trying to push really hard, at the same time trying to save my tires, but the last caution came out and we were not able to finish the race.”

Sunday marked the first time in 85 all-time Canadian Tire Series events that the podium consisted entirely of Quebec natives with Dumoulin, Roy (Napierville) and Ranger (Roxton Pond).

The race featured three lead changes among four drivers, with the polesitter Lapcevich credited for a race-high 17 circuits led. Making just his second series start, Camirand’s nine laps led were his first in Canadian Tire Series action.

With the road-course portion of the schedule complete, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series wraps up the 2013 campaign with a pair of oval track races. Next up is the Hudco Electric Supply 300 at Barrie (Ont.) Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 8.