[media-credit name=”Matthew Manor/NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”350″][/media-credit]While normally on the short tracks its all about track position, D.J. Kennington proved on Saturday night that wasn’t the case at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as he charged from the back of the field to win the Clarington 200. It marked his first victory of 2012 and his 12th series victory overall. He also became the fifth different driver to win on the half mile oval in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Kennington had qualified fifth during the qualifying sessions, however he had to drop to the back after making unapproved adjustments to the car.

“We didn’t let the penalty bother us,” the St. Thomas, Ontario driver says. “The race was 200 laps and pit strategy was going to come into play. There was plenty of time to get to the front. Everybody raced great tonight. There were some inexperienced drivers in the field and they did a super job.”

Kennington put his No. 17 Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors Dodge in the top five on lap 27, before taking the lead a quarter way through the race. The only time he lost it was during a round of green flag pit stops.

“My car was great all day long. I was able to rotate it in the corners and get right back on the throttle,” he says. “And it stayed like that. My crew gave me a fast car. It was a pleasure to drive.”

Mark Dilley would come home second in his season debut behind the wheel of the No. 02 PartSource/BDI/Leland Ford. He is splitting the season with fellow series veteran Kerry Micks with Micks running the road courses while Dilley runs the ovals.

“It’s a little bit of strange deal Kerry and I have going this season,” Dilley comments. “It was very difficult sitting out those first two races and I’m sure Kerry was going through the same thing tonight. But it was great to jump right into it and get a great finish.”

J.R. Fitzpatrick finished third to score his third straight top-three finish to start the season.

“I think we could’ve done better, but it was another solid finish for the Equipment Express Chevrolet,” Fitzpatrick says. “Consistency is the key in these points battles and we’ve done that so far.”

Both Jeff Lapcevich and Jason Hathaway scored their first top fives of 2012, as they finished fourth and fifth. Steve Mathews finished sixth, followed by Andrew Ranger, Ron Beauchamp Jr., Steve Cote and Noel Dowler.

Last year’s race winner Scott Steckly ran into mechanical problems before the race started, and they just continued throughout the day, leading him to a 14th place finish.

Pete Shepherd III, who sat on the pole with a record time, also experienced mechanical problems and finished 16th.

In the point standings, Fitzpatrick has just a single-point lead over Kennington with Ranger six points off the pace in third.

The Clarington 200 will be telecast by TSN on Sunday, June 24 at 1 p.m. ET and the RDS2 premiere is set for Wednesday, July 11 at 10 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is right back on the track on Saturday, June 23 at Delaware (Ont.) Speedway for the EMCO 200 presented by Niagara Plumbing Supply and McKeough Supply.

While it marked the first time in four years that the OSCAAR Super Late Models had raced at Barrie Speedway, it also marked the first time ever that Jesse Kennedy found feature victory lane.

“We struggled all day with a tight car,” Kennedy says. “We threw everything, but the kitchen sink at it to get it to turn. It was obviously better. I honestly didn’t think I had much for Brandon at the end. I got a good start on the outside and… we just kind of pulled it off.”

In the first heat, it’d start off with Mike Hillier running into mechanical problems, making contact with the wall and collecting Rudy Oppersma. The second caution would then come out when rookie Rob Poole would spin Mike Beyore in turn two, and that’d be followed up with a third caution when Poole spun Kyle Passer in turn four. Shawn Chenoworth would go on to take the win in his first start of the year, followed by Tony Tiemersma, Beyore, Poole, Oppersma and Kyle Passer.

In the second heat, Jim Bowman would go for a single-car spin. Four-time series champion Glenn Watson would take the win, followed by his nephew Brandon Watson, Ian Bourque, Todd Campball, George Wilson and Bowman.

In the third heat while battling for the lead, Rob Clarke and Charlie Gallant would go for the spin. Jeff Dunford would assume the lead and go on to take the win. Jesse Kennedy finished second, followed by Gary Passer and Quinn Misener.

Tony Tiemersma would take the win in the fourth heat, followed by Chenoworth, Beyore, Poole, Oppersma and Kyle Passer.

Brandon Watson would win the fifth heat, followed by Glenn Watson, Bourque, Wilson, Campball and Bowman.

On the first lap of the last heat, Clarke would go for a spin, collecting Gallant while Dunford had mechanical problems. Kennedy went on to win, followed by Gallant, Gary Passer and Msener.

Virtue of his qualifying effort, Brandon Watson would start on pole, followed by Jesse Kennedy, Shawn Chenoworth, Tony Tiemersma and Glenn Watson.

There’d be a caution right away on the start of the race as Tiemersma would go for a spin after getting hit from behind by Mike Beyore as Watson did not get a good start. Chenoworth would have to make a pit stop, virtue of getting damage on the start from G. Watson. This would set the running order with B. Watson first, followed by Kennedy, G. Watson, Beyore and Ian Bourque.

The second caution would come out on lap two as when Chenoworth was pulling off pit road, Jim Bowman would make contact with him and go for a spin. By this point, G. Watson had passed Kennedy for second while Bourque passed Beyore for fourth.

On the restart, the Watsons would battle side-by-side for the lead with G. Watson clearing B. Watson on lap five. On the same lap, a caution came out for Kyle Passer spinning in turn one, setting the Watsons back up side-by-side. On the restart, B. Watson would manage to around G. Watson.

The fourth caution came out when Tiemersma would go for another spin while trying to get around the lapped car of Kyle Passer. By this point, Charlie Gallant had gotten by Beyore for fifth.

The fifth caution came out when Bowman went for another spin. Then on the restart, there’d be another caution when Rudy Oppersma pushed Beyore into the inside wall on the backstretch.

With 35 laps to go, the seventh caution would come out when Rob Clarke sent Gallant for a spin. This would allow George Wilson to crack the top five while Kennedy made the pass for second G. Watson behind B. Watson while Bourque ran fourth.

At the halfway mark on lap 25, Wilson passed Bourque for fourth while rookie Rob Poole was up to sixth. Wilson would continue his climb by passing G. Wilson for third on lap 28.

On lap 32, Jeff Dunford would bring out the eighth caution with a flat tire. There’d be more mechanical problems as Rob Poole would break a rear end on lap 39, ending his night and bringing out the ninth caution to clean up the oil. By this point, it was still B. Watson over Kennedy while G. Watson had made his way back by Wilson for third with Bourque in fifth. Tiemersma had also made his way back up to sixth after his early problems.

With 10 laps to go, Kennedy would make the pass on B. Watson after getting a good run on the outside on the restart.

“Earlier with (Glenn) Watson, I kind of let him go. I said ‘maybe he can do something with Brandon’,” Kennedy says. “He kept backing up to us so I said ‘guess we have to go’. So I was saving some tires for that last ten-lap heat there.”

He would go on to lead the final 10 laps to win his first ever OSCAAR feature. B. Watson finished second to go with his win at Sunset with Wilson third after being disqualified at Sunset.

“After that last restart, our car kind of faded away. We must have had some marbles or some speedy-dry on our tires. It just got really loose,” B. Watson says. “I couldn’t get that car to turn off the corner one bit.”

G. Watson and Tiemersma rounded out the top five.

“The car was really tight so it was a tough night for us,” G. Watson says.

Bourque finished sixth, followed by Gallant, Todd Campball and Dunford.