GRIMSBY, ON- Hot on the heels of a 6th place finish in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series finale at Kawartha Speedway on September 19th, third-generation star Cayden Lapcevich will be back behind the wheel of his family-owned Super Stock at this weekend’s Sunset Speedway ‘Velocity 250’.
‘The Prodigy’ turned heads in his Kawartha Speedway debut last Saturday, qualifying in the second position and spending the entirety of the 300-lap race neat the front of the field en route to a 6th place finish.
“Any time you can unload at a new place and catch a feel for the car right away, it’s a good feeling,” explains Lapcevich. “Kawartha was one of the last speedways in Ontario that I hadn’t competed at yet, and I was really looking forward to racing there. We found our rhythm early in the day and just worked at it all evening. I felt more confident and more comfortable with every lap”
“Our Tim Hortons No. 76 just feels more like home every time I’m in it,” adds the freshman. “It’s becoming a lot easier to relay feedback to the team, because I have a better understanding of how it’s supposed to feel”
The result marked Lapcevich’s third top-10 in six NCATS starts this season, handing the Grimsby, ON native an average finish of 11th across his first appearances with the national series.
“Finishing the year with back-to-back top-10s is exactly what we needed to do,” says the teenager. “We’re hoping to put together a full NCATS program next season, and it’s tough to get something like that off the ground if you aren’t finishing races and producing results. I think we’ve shown just what we’re capable of this year, and I would love more than anything to find some extra support and put together a full schedule to go across Canada next summer”
This weekend, Lapcevich will turn his focus back to his weekly short track program, after securing his second consecutive Sunset Speedway Super Stock championship just two weeks ago.
“Every time we go to Sunset I’m excited,” smiles Lapcevich. “No matter what track we’re racing at, Sunset will always be home. We won this race last year, and hopefully we can defend our title. I know that it’ll be a ton of work, because it seems like every top level team in the province is going to be there, but my guys have never had a problem with rolling their sleeves up. I’m looking forward to the challenge”
With his Sunset Speedway future uncertain entering the 2016 campaign, Lapcevich admits he feels a certain level of added motivation for the Velocity 250.
“This weekend is going to mean a little bit more because we don’t know what our schedule will be like next season,” admits the divisional standout. “We’re definitely stepping back from our Super Stock program, but it’s too early to tell how many – or how few – races that means for us. With that said, this could be my last big event at Sunset for a while, and if that’s the case, I wanna go out on a big performance. This team has given me some pretty amazing cars at Sunset over the last two seasons, and hopefully we can make it happen one more time.”
For more information on this weekend’s Velocity 250, visit www.SunsetSpeedway.ca.
Cayden Lapcevich and team will have T Shirts and Hoodies on sale all weekend long at Sunset Speedway, with proceeds being added to Lapcevich Racing’s yearlong efforts to raise funds and awareness for the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation.
Support for Cayden Lapcevich’s 2015 endeavors is provided by Tim Hortons, Castrol, Cathcart Trucking, Springers Meats, EPIC Racewear and Troy Cove Marine.
Fans can keep up with ‘The Prodigy’ by following him on Twitter @CaydenLapcevich and visiting the official Cayden Lapcevich Racing page on Facebook.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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