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The APC United Late Model championship for Pro Late Models debuted in 2015.
As evidenced by its growth, the Ontario series has proven to be very popular with competitors and fans.
The 2019 season kicks off on the Victoria Day Weekend at Sunset International Speedway. In June the teams will make their way to Flamboro Speedway, Jukasa Motor Speedway and Delaware Speedway. The following month the series will make a second visit to Flamboro. The championship will also return to Jukasa but the race is being held on a Thursday evening. In early August, the drivers and their crews will visit Sauble Speedway for races on Friday and Sunday. The month will end with another visit to Sunset for the penultimate round. The finale will take place at Delaware Speedway. The series cars are constructed to specifications and rules common to most stock car series. The chassis is a tube frame covered with fiberglass bodies. Depending on the engine choice, a car can weigh as much as 2800-lbs. Crate motors from General Motors (GM 604 & GM 602) and Ford (347) are used in the series. To regulate expenses, competitors use a spec tire from American Racer and Bilstein A2 shock absorbers. There are also rules which restrict the options available for transmissions, ignition components, body material, brakes, etc. Cars that qualify in positions one to ten are inverted according to points and season attendance. Before each race, the cars are fitted with a new set of American Racer tires, receive a technical inspection and are impounded until the start of the event. Round three of the 2019 APC United Late Model championship was held at Jukasa Motor Speedway. Thirty-five drivers would start the one-hundred-lap race on the 5/8-mile semi-banked oval. The event, titled, ‘Prelude to the Nationals’ was an opportunity for the race winner to earn a guaranteed spot in the Canadian Short Track Nationals on the Labour Day Weekend. |
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The front row for round three of the 2019 APC United Late Model championship at Jukasa Motor Speedway. Starting on the pole was Jake Sheridan in the No. 52 Chevrolet with backing from Pride Seeds and Vibrent Farms. Sharing the front row with Sheridan was another Chevrolet which was raced by Junior Farrelly. Gridded in the third and fourth positions were former series champions, Dale Shaw (2015) and JR Fitzpatrick (2018). |
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Brandon Watson made his first start of the season at Jukasa Motor Speedway driving Nick Goetz’s No. 24 Ford Fusion. The 2017 series champion and driver who tops the all-time win list with twelve victories started tenth. Watson wasted no time moving to the front and traded the second position with Shae Gemmell before passing the race leader, JR Fitzpatrick on lap-78. It was clear sailing from there and Watson won by a comfortable margin. |
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Shae Gemmell, driving the No. 3 APC Auto Parts Centers sponsored Chevrolet started the ‘Prelude to the Nationals’ in fifth place. He was on the move at the drop of the green flag. By lap-8, Gemmell was in second. He battled for the places with Brandon Watson and with the retirement of JR Fitzpatrick, Gemmell inherited the runner spot. His efforts moved him from fifth to first in the championship standings. |
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To date, Jake Sheridan’s season included a sixteenth and eighteenth place finish. The starting positions as determined by the APC series rules gave the round three pole position to Sheridan. This would be his best opportunity to crack to the top-ten. Early in the contest, he lost positions to Shae Gemmell, JR Fitzpatrick and Brandon Watson. Despite an incident with Gemmell on a restart, Sheridan was able to finish third. |
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Former Canadian NASCAR competitor and reigning APC champion, JR Fitzpatrick drove the No. 84 JR Motorsports Ford Mustang. After the qualifying, the inverted start placed him fourth on the grid. In just seven-laps, Fitzpatrick was in the lead but under pressure from Shae Gemmell and Brandon Watson. He led until lap-78 when Watson made a clean pass in turn-one. On lap-89, a flat tire sent Fitzpatrick into the wall and out of the race. |
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Entering round three at Jukasa Motor Speedway, Guelph, Ontario’s Billy Schwartzenburg led the title chase. Schwartzenburg’s strong finishes (a pair of runner-up results at Sunset and Flamboro Speedways) and consistency gave him the points lead. Driving the No. 86 Ford Fusion, Schwartzenburg started fourteenth and was never in contention. He finished twelfth and dropped to third in the standings. |
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Gridded third for the one-hundred-lap contest was the series 2015 champion, Dale Shaw. Shaw raced the Shaw Motorsports prepared Chevrolet. With a quarter of the contest complete, he had dropped to ninth place. Shortly after that, Shaw began moving up the lap chart and with less than ten-laps left in the event, he was on the bumper of Jake Sheridan. In a drag race to the finish line, Shaw fell short and was fourth at the checker. |
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Contact between Matt Pritiko and JR Fitzpatrick in the final turn on the last lap at Flamboro Speedway gave Pritiko a controversial victory. Series officials used the Driver’s meeting at Jukasa Motor Speedway to clear the air and put a stop to all the noise on social media. Pritiko started round-three eighth in the Global Warranty Toyota Camry. He gained one position during ‘Prelude to the National’ and finished in the seventh spot. |
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NASCAR Pinty’s veteran, DJ Kennington was entered in the No. 28 Dodge. Jukasa Motor Speedway has been good to him. After going winless in the Pinty’s series since Trois-Rivieres in 2013, Kennington won the 2018 season finale on the 5/8-mile, oval. At the ‘Prelude to the Nationals, he started seventeenth. At the mid-point of the race his charge to the front ended when he made contact with the wall. Kennington would finish seventeenth. |
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The top-three finishers for round-three of the APC United Late Model championship at Jukasa Motor Speedway. In the center and making his first appearance of the 2019 season is the race winner and 2017 series champion, Brandon Watson. To Watson’s right is the runner-up, Shae Gemmell. Gemmell’s result gave him the lead in the point’s chase. Completing the top-three is the pole-sitter, Jake Sheridan. |
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| FINISH | START | DRIVER | SPONSOR / CAR | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Brandon Watson | Great Lakes Concrete / Ford Fusion | - |
| 2 | 5 | Shae Gremmell | Searles Motor Products Chevrolet / Chevrolet | - |
| 3 | 1 | Jake Sheridan | Pride Seed/Vibrant Farms / Chevrolet | - |
| 4 | 3 | Dale Shaw | Shaw Motorsports / Chevrolet | - |
| 5 | 9 | Ray Morneau | Hallmark Memorial / Chevrolet | - |
| 6 | 13 | Ryan Kimball | AP Racing Engines / Chevrolet | - |
| 7 | 8 | Matt Pritiko | Global Warranty / Toyota Camry | - |
| 8 | 6 | Treyten Lapcevich | ACE Services / Toyota Camry | - |
| 9 | 18 | Shane Maginnis | High Reach Inc. / Chevrolet | - |
| 10 | 7 | Jo Lawrence | McColl Racing Enterprises / Dodge | - |
| 11 | 11 | Danny Benedict | Shaw Motorsports / Chevrolet SS | - |
| 12 | 14 | Billy Schwartzenburg | Spira Fire Protection / Ford Fusion | - |
| 13 | 15 | Gary Adriaensen | London Drive Systems / Chevrolet SS | - |
| 14 | 20 | Patrick Freel | Air Liquide London / Chevrolet SS | - |
| 15 | 12 | Jamie Cox | London City Chrysler / Dodge | - |
| 16 | 21 | Gord Shepherd | Locking Business Machines / Ford | - |
| 17 | 17 | DJ Kennington | Wright Motorsports Inc. / Dodge | - |
| 18 | 24 | Andrew Gresel | Gallinger Ford Lincoln / Ford Fusion | - |
| 19 | 2 | Junior Farrelly | Tired Iron Equipment Services / Chevrolet | - |
| 20 | 26 | Shawn Chenoweth | London Recreation Racing / Chevrolet | - |
| 21 | 27 | Tim Norris | Bryan's Auction Services / Chevrolet | - |
| 22 | 29 | Jade Franklin | Calldecott Millwright Services / Chevrolet SS | - |
| 23 | 22 | Jordan Sims | Sims Countertops / Ford | - |
| 24 | 35 | Hudson Nagy | JUKASA Motor Speedway / Chevrolet | - |
| 25 | 32 | Shawn McGlynn | Blast Floor Coating / Chevrolet | - |
| 26 | 33 | Tom Gibbons | Tom Gibbons Concrete Finishing / Chevrolet | - |
| 27 | 30 | Paighton Jacobs | Country 104 FM / Chevrolet SS | - |
| 28 | 4 | JR Fitzpatrick | Cambridge Rigging / Ford Mustang | Did Not Finish |
| 29 | 19 | Josh Stade | Tiremaster/MEI Paving / Toyota Camry | Did Not Finish |
| 30 | 34 | Mat Box | Maple City Tire / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
| 31 | 28 | Marc Jacobs | Corus Entertainment / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
| 32 | 23 | Blair Wickett | Cambridge Auto Repair / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
| 33 | 16 | Jordan Howse | Paul Howse and Associates / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
| 34 | 31 | Tyler Di Venanzo | Retail Design Group / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
| 35 | 25 | Bill Pearsall | Ponderosa Nature Resort / Chevrolet | Did Not Finish |
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