L.P. Dumoulin looks to put stamp on championship this weekend
At the beginning of the season, L.P. Dumoulin announced that he would no longer partnered with 22 Racing, but moving forward to a new partnership with Martin Roy. There were a lot of people who questioned the decision and whether Dumoulin would be able to replicate last year’s success this season, and how else it would effect the series moving forward.
Four months later, those thoughts are the last thing on the minds of fans as the focus has since shifted to the incredible season that Dumoulin has turned up. With Mario Gosselin calling the shots, Dumoulin currently leads the standings by 26 points over J.R. Fitzpatrick with three races to go in the season. His season is one of the pure consistency, with his worst finish on the season being sixth place at Riverside International Speedway.
Heading into Canadian Tire Motorsports Park this weekend, there are full intentions of Dumoulin extending that lead further before the final two ovals of the season. He knows how to win at CTMP, putting the pieces together last year’s event, playing the perfect strategy and running a solid race en route to claiming the victory. The victory was no fluke either, as he has two wins and four top-fives in five starts on the 11-turn fast road course. With a win earlier this month at Trois-Rivieres, Dumoulin hasn’t slowed down when making left and right turns at all this year.
The only thing that could perhaps slow his possible championship run this weekend at CTMP is a mechanical issue, or a problem with another competitor. There are 33 drivers entered into this weekend’s Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200, meaning that there will be lots of traffic and fellow competitors to ruin a day. It has been seen throughout this year as both Jason Hathaway and Alex Tagliani have been taken out at separate points this season while running strong due to an incident with lap traffic. A key part to Dumoulin’s weekend will be avoiding that en route to the checkered flag. He can certainly make it easier on himself by qualifying well, something that he has done all year with an average starting spot of 6.6 thus far this year.
Beyond CTMP, there lies two more races that will give Dumoulin a challenge – Barrie Speedway and Kawartha Speedway. In six starts – three starts a piece – Dumoulin has only scored one top-10 between those two tracks over the years. It hasn’t been due to lack of effort, either, as Dumoulin has ran well at both tracks before finding his day go south due to either bad luck or mechanical issues. Though perhaps that is a story of the past as this year on ovals, Dumoulin has been solid, including a win at Saskatoon.
So, could this be the year that Dumoulin scores his first career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Championship? It looks to be, and he could put his stamp on it this weekend with a victory.
Cameron Hayley set for Camping World Truck Series debut at CTMP
This weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, there are going to be four Canadians in the Camping World Truck Series field – with each of them making their series debut. One of the drivers that highlights the list is Cameron Hayley, who will be driving the No. 32 Cabinets by Haley Chevrolet Silverado for Turner-Scott Motorsports.
“It’s a huge step for me to go from K&N to truck, but I think I am ready for it,” Hayley commented on Tuesday. “Cabinets by Haley was very good to me allowing me to do this truck race. Its just going to be a huge learning curve.”
Hayley hasn’t been to CTMP yet, but has been doing a lot of Iracing to get himself prepared for this weekend.
“I think the road course is going to be a really good start to my truck series debut,” he added. “Out of all three truck races we’re going to do this year, I think this first one is one of our best shots to win one.”
The 18-year-old will have experience around him with veteran crew chief Mike Hilman Jr. on the pit box, and Ben Kennedy as a teammate. Kennedy, currently in his first full truck series season for TSM, sits ninth in points.
“I’ve raced with Ben before in the K&N Series,” Hayley noted. “We know each other really well. I think they’ll be a lot of information there.”
Beyond adjusting from one vehicle to the other, the Calgary, Alberta native notes that there’s the challenge of live pit stops, as the K&N Pro Series does half-time breaks vs pit stops.
“That’s definately a huge thing for me to adjust to,” he noted. “Aside from that, I think we have a really good team – Mike Hilman Jr. is going to be my crew chief, and he’s a great crew chief. I think we have everything put to put in place to learn a lot, but I think we have a shot to go win it.”
The opportunity for Hayley to run this weekend came about via sponsorship, but also the success that he has had in the K&N Pro Series East this season with TSM. Hayley currently sits second in points, with six top-fives and eight top-10s in 14 races.
“It’s been a roller coaster. We’ve had our ups and our downs,” he commented. “We haven’t had the year that we wanted, but it’s definitely been good, none the less. We’re sitting second in points right now. We haven’t got our first win of the year yet, but we’ve had more second place finishes than I care to admit. I think we’re really close for these last two races to try and win the championship.”
Hayley got his start in racing at the age of seven, racing go-karts in his hometown, before moving to baby grand stock cars at the age of 11. Scoring championships, Hayley began racing a super late model at the age of 14, winning the Bryce Man Memorial Race in Saskatoon. The opportunities kept coming forth for Hayley, as he moved to the K&N Pro Series West two weeks after his 15th birthday, to become the youngest driver at that time to run in the series. After running a pair of seasons with a win, 17 top fives and 24 top 10s in 30 races, he caught the eye of Steve Turner and was signed to Turner-Scott Motorsports’ K&N program.
In those pair of seasons in the K&N Pro Series West Series, there was a special win that many fans have talked about since – the 2013 UNOH Battle of the Beach at Daytona International Speedway. Hayley held off Gray Gaulding late in the event to claim the victory for his first career NASCAR win.
“The Battle of the Beach win was definitely a huge turning point on my career and it’s something that I look back on as one of the highlights of my career so far,” Hayley said. “A lot of people started to recognize my name after that and hopefully we’ll be able to do something like that after my first truck series start and get more people to know who I am.”
Like many other young drivers, Hayley hopes that moving up through the ranks leads to racing in the Sprint Cup Series, but says that he’s set to take the right steps versus rushing to get there.
“Next year, we’re currently looking for some funding to run the full Truck Series schedule next year and it’s just about taking baby steps,” he commented. “I don’t want to rush into something I’m not ready for. Who knows in five years you may see in the Sprint Cup Series, or maybe in the Nationwide Series. It all depends on how everything works out in funding and experience that I pick up moving up.”
