A persistant on and off light mist from mid-afternoon till the night time forced the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series to postpone tonight’s Hudco Electric Supply 200 at Barrie Speedway to Sunday afternoon.
Due to only being able to get practice in, the Canadian Tire Series will have their time trials at 11:30am on Sunday morning at Barrie Speedway. The green flag is then schedule for 1:30pm in the afternoon. With a sunnier forecast, Sunday looks like a much better day for racing.
Even with the showers, the Canadian Tire Series cars did get on track for their practice session and it was two-time series champion Scott Steckly pacing the field with a lap of 14.121 seconds. Steckly currently sits second in points, three points behind D.J. Kennington Steckly finished ninth last year at Barrie Speedway after being involved in the late race incident. He has also won a pair of races at Barrie Speedway in the past, winning both events in 2008. He has five top fives in eight starts as he looks for his third series championship.
Last week’s race winner L.P. Dumoulin was second fastest, 0.031 seconds off of Steckly’s quick time. Dumoulin has made two career starts at Barrie Speedway, finishing 13th in 2011 and 11th last year. Dumoulin currently sits third in points and could bring himself right into championship picture if Kennington and Steckly have problems this weekend.
Rookie Alex Guenette was third fastest, 0.045 seconds off of the quick time. The Quebec native makes his first career start at Barrie Speedway. He has run 10 races this year, scoring one top five and four top 10s.
Last year’s race winner Pete Shepherd III was fourth quickest as he looks to repeats last year’s success. Shepherd has made a pair of NCAT starts this year – Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Oval and Delaware Speedway – winning both of them.
Jason Hathaway rounded out the top five as he looks to gain points, currently sitting 17 points back of Kennington. Hathaway finished eight last year and has five top 10s in eight starts on the 0.333 mile tri-oval, including a second in 2011.
J.R. Fitzpatrick was sixth quickest, followed by points leader Kennington, Mark Dilley, Ron Beauchamp Jr. and Hugo Vannini. Vannini had a small spin in turn three during practice, but kept his machine off the wall.
NCATS Barrie 9/7/13 Practice
| Pos | No. | Name | Sponsor | Best Tm | Best Speed | In Lap | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Scott Steckly | Canadian Tire | 14.121 | 84.895 | 59 | 78 | |
| 2 | 47 | L.P. Dumoulin | WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare | 14.152 | 84.709 | 70 | 73 | 0.031 |
| 3 | 39 | Alex Guenette * | Kawasaki/Motos Illimitees, DLGL | 14.166 | 84.625 | 84 | 98 | 0.045 |
| 4 | 7 | Pete Shepherd III | National Exhaust/Rama Smoke Shop | 14.174 | 84.577 | 39 | 51 | 0.053 |
| 5 | 3 | Jason Hathaway | Snap on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink | 14.176 | 84.565 | 44 | 60 | 0.055 |
| 6 | 84 | J.R. Fitzpatrick | Equipment Express | 14.211 | 84.357 | 34 | 53 | 0.090 |
| 7 | 17 | D.J. Kennington | Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors | 14.258 | 84.079 | 55 | 57 | 0.137 |
| 8 | 2 | Mark Dilley | Gaunt Collision/Leland/BDI | 14.297 | 83.850 | 67 | 67 | 0.176 |
| 9 | 60 | Ron Beauchamp, Jr. | Mopar/Exide/Pennzoil | 14.344 | 83.575 | 55 | 61 | 0.223 |
| 10 | 97 | Hugo Vannini | VTI Motorsports | 14.406 | 83.215 | 24 | 60 | 0.285 |
| 11 | 90 | Martin Roy | Batteries Expert/Veloce | 14.413 | 83.175 | 57 | 58 | 0.292 |
| 12 | 21 | Jason White | Bowers & Wilkins/Castrol | 14.448 | 82.973 | 37 | 42 | 0.327 |
| 13 | 5 | Noel Dowler | EMCO/Praxair/Safety Kleen | 14.527 | 82.522 | 36 | 49 | 0.406 |
| 14 | 9 | Ryley Seibert * | Lake Excavating/Emco | 14.527 | 82.522 | 73 | 89 | 0.406 |
| 15 | 28 | Dave Connelly | Schneider’s/Metro | 14.613 | 82.037 | 40 | 43 | 0.492 |
| 16 | 56 | Larry Jackson | OMVIV/Touchwood Cabinets | 14.629 | 81.947 | 47 | 52 | 0.508 |
| 17 | 50 | Joey McColm | Canada’s Best Store Fixtures/Espar | 14.762 | 81.209 | 5 | 6 | 0.641 |
| 18 | 29 | Ray Courtemanche Jr. | La Cite De Mirabel Inc. | 14.781 | 81.104 | 67 | 69 | 0.660 |
| 19 | 98 | Howie Scannell Jr. | OMVIC/Trailers by Jim Bray | 14.821 | 80.885 | 26 | 30 | 0.700 |
* Denotes rookie of the year contender
