Delaware, ON – The APC Series concluded its season with the Castrol 300 at Delaware Speedway on Saturday night. The 300-lap marathon at the half-mile oval, near London, ON, saw Jake Sheridan record a pair of firsts, winning his first series championship after finishing runner-up in points last year, and joining his dad Ron as a winner of the Great Canadian Race.
Sheridan worked his way towards the front early and became the car to beat in the late stages of the race, which saw numerous cautions and a few red flags break up the action. Kyle Steckly was an early challenger, staying out, alongside J.R. Fitzpatrick, when most of the field pitted under a caution with 183 laps to go. That gave him the lead until 112 to go, when he stalled on track after running out of fuel; Fitzpatrick also slowed during the resulting caution.
The most significant incident happened with 75 to go, when Brady Smith made hard contact with the inside wall on the backstretch. Emergency services were called to the track to extricate the driver. His team later posted an update that Smith suffered a broken leg and upper back.
Three cautions in the final 30 laps led to late restarts, including with four laps to go, where Sheridan held off Connor Pritiko for the victory. Pritiko was chasing a $10,000 bonus, offered to a driver who could win both races on Saturday, after winning the 75-lap Dayco Super Stocks feature earlier in the night. Steckly recovered to finish third, ahead of Dale Shaw and Carson Nagy.
Nic Ramsay led the most laps in the Super Stocks feature, but it was Pritiko who took the victory. The second-place finish saw Ramsay come up just short in the championship battle, losing the title by a single point to Lane Zardo, who finished seventh. Zardo’s third series championship is his second in a row.
Zardo won Friday night’s OSCAAR Hot Rods feature, while Jamie Cox took the victory in the OSCAAR Modifieds. A race report from OSCAAR can be found here.
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