The Ontario Legend Car Series and Ontario Outlaw Super Late Models will be among five Ontario touring series in action, the Sentra Cup and SLMS will race in Eastern Canada, the NASCAR Canada Series gets set for a big race at Ohsweken Speedway, Alex Labbé returns to the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Chicago, and more, in this week’s preview.
Ontario Racing This Weekend
The Ontario Legend Car Series returns to action on Saturday at Peterborough Speedway. The newly-branded series had its Sunset Speedway opener postponed, before three consecutive races at Peterborough, where Mitch Wright scored a victory and Dawson Drimmie swept a double-header, which included a rain make-up. Wright won the most recent event, at Sunset, and leads the standings by 15 points over Drimmie.
The Ontario Modifieds Racing Series will also visit Peterborough Speedway on Saturday. The tour was able to start its season last weekend, after the late-May opener at Peterborough was rained out. Tyler Bouillon took a pair of checkered flags during the Canada Day weekend at Flamboro Speedway, leading flag-to-flag in the first feature, before taking the lead halfway through the second main. Defending champion John Baker Jr. recorded two podium finishes.
The Ontario Pro Challenge will be racing somewhere new this weekend, with Sauble Speedway added to the calendar for 2024. The Saturday event now marks the third race day of the season, following two rain outs in the first four scheduled days. The Norris family continues its reign atop the podium, with defending champion Tim Norris scoring three feature wins and son Mike Norris recording one feature victory. Bryan Stevanus has finished on the podium in each feature; he sits second in the standings, four points back of Tim Norris.
The Ontario Outlaw Super Late Models will compete at Sauble Speedway on Saturday. Rain played spoiler on last weekend’s race at Sunset Speedway, cancelling the third event. Shawn Chenoweth and J.R. Fitzpatrick took victories in the first two races, with Fitzpatrick winning the last time out, in the Don Biederman Memorial at Flamboro Speedway. Dario Capirchio leads an early freight train near the top of the standings, with defending champion Glenn Watson, Todd Campbell, Brandon Passer and Fitzpatrick rounding out a top-five separated by just five points.
The Can-Am TQ Midgets roll into Sunset Speedway on Saturday. The race will end a busy stretch of six consecutive weekends (seven races) on the schedule, though one of those events was rained out. Darren McLennan and James Stanley became the first repeat winners of the year, recording victories last weekend at Sauble Speedway. Defending champion Daniel Hawn leads the standings by 11 points over Stanley, with McLennan sitting 23 points back.
Eastern Canada
The Nissan Sentra Cup season resumes with a pair of races this weekend at Circuit ICAR. The series opened its season on the Victoria Day weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where defending champion Alexandre Fortin and Nicolas Barrette claimed victories.
The fourth event of the Super Late Model Series season means the start of return visits on the three-track, six-race schedule. The SLMS contest at Petty International Raceway was originally scheduled for Saturday, but will now take place on Sunday afternoon, after an early rain postponement. Ashton Tucker started the season with two wins, before Cory Hall visited victory lane in the most recent event.
Ohsweken Speedway
CREDIT: Steve Traczyk
A busy three days of racing at Ohsweken Speedway will be headlined by a mid-week NASCAR Canada Series show next Thursday night. The series returns to Ontario following an Atlantic Canada swing that saw Andrew Ranger win at Newfoundland’s Eastbound International Speedway, before Kevin Lacroix swept a double-header at Nova Scotia’s Riverside International Speedway.
Lacroix’s victories moved him ahead of Scott Steckly for third on the series’ all-time wins list, with 20 checkered flags. Meanwhile, the same drivers finished in the same 1-2-3 order in consecutive races for just the second time in series history. Ironically, the first time happened immediately before Riverside, with the same podium finishers in the same order between Chaudière and Eastbound.
Three Quebec drivers have combined to win the first five races of the season, but it will be an Ontarian and an American in the spotlight at Ohsweken. Last year’s champion Treyten Lapcevich returns for his only scheduled start of 2024, at a track where he won two of three series races. The mid-week date also allows NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe to make his first series appearance; Briscoe enters the Cup Series’ Chicago street race just below the playoff cut-line and was recently announced as Martin Truex Jr.’s replacement at Joe Gibbs Racing next season.
The Southern Ontario Sprints will also highlight the weekend schedule at Ohsweken, with races next Thursday and Friday. Defending champion Dylan Westbrook opened the year with a pair of victories, nearly two months apart, before Cory Turner won the most recent event, at Merrittville Speedway. Westbrook enters with a 50-point lead in the standings over Ryan Turner.
International Series News & Notes
There will also be some international series to watch for this weekend:
- The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series will race on the streets of Chicago, with Xfinity on Saturday and Cup on Sunday. Canadian Alex Labbé will return to the Xfinity Series, piloting the No. 07 for SS-GreenLight Racing in his third start of the season. New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen picked up the surprise win in his first Cup start last year at Chicago.
- Formula One will race at the Silverstone Circuit in England on Sunday. Canadian Lance Stroll is currently 11th in the standings; his best Silverstone finish was sixth in 2020.
- The IndyCar Series will begin a stretch of four races in three weekends, culminating with the Indy Toronto. The series will visit the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday afternoon. Alex Palou leads the standings by 23 points over Will Power.
- USF Juniors will compete at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend, with a pair of races. Canadian Anthony Martella is currently 15th in the standings; he scored two top-10 finishes in three races at the last event, at Virginia International Raceway.
- USF Pro 2000 will also visit Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend, with two races. Canadian Mac Clark is currently 14th in the standings; he scored one top-10 finish in three races at the last event, at Road America.
