LP Dumoulin and Andrew Ranger came to Saskatoon to kick off the NASCAR Pinty’s Series western swing with one goal in mind: win.
Doing so in completely different fashions, both drivers tasted victory in the Velocity Prairie Thunder Twins 125s on Wednesday night at Wyant Group Raceway.
One breaking an eight-race winless streak, while the other took command of the Pinty’s Series points standings.
The first 125 lap feature saw the drivers not just racing each other, but the wrath of Mother Nature. With the looming threat of rain on the horizon, every position mattered. Kevin Lacroix came out of the gate surging, leading the first 83 laps the No.74 car was on rails, that is until LP Dumoulin got to his back bumper.
Dumoulin used the bumper to get past Lacroix, pulling out to a few car lengths leads before the rain arrived. On Lap 166, a massive storm swept through Saskatoon, bringing thunder and lightning with it. In the end, NASCAR officially declared Dumoulin the victor of Race No.1. This marked Dumoulin’s eighth career win and second at Saskatoon.
Following the torrential downpour, the second twin got underway under the lights. By virtue of the quickest lap time in race No.1, Andrew Ranger was on pole for race No.2.
Ranger’s speed showed early dominating the early stages of the race, but it would end up being a two horse battle for the win. Ranger’s teammate D.J Kennington stayed locked to the back bumper of Ranger for most of the night.
In the end, nobody could catch Ranger who would go on to score his 26th series win.
“Oh it was an awesome race, with my teammate DJ Kennington, to have a nice battle together” Ranger said. “I want to thank all of my crew, the Mopar guys did a great job, they’ve been working very hard. We finished third in the first race and first on the second race. So, it’s fantastic, I’m very happy about my team and we’re going to Edmonton on Saturday.”
The next race will be Saturday July 28, where the Series will take on Edmonton International Raceway.
The results to both races can be found below.
RACE 1
- L.P. Dumoulin
- Kevin Lacroix
- Andrew Ranger
- Alex Labbe
- Jason Hathaway
- Brett Taylor
- Donald Theetge
- Jamie Krzysik
- Marc-Antoine Camirand
- Mark Dilley
- Alex Tagliani
- Luc Haukaas
- Anthony Simone
- Jason White
- Brandon White
- D.J. Kennington
- Julia Landauer
- T.J. Rinomato
- Shantel Kalika
RACE 2
- Andrew Ranger
- DJ Kennington
- Brett Taylor
- LP Dumoulin
- Kevin Lacroix
- Alex Tagliani
- Donald Theetge
- Jamie Krzysik
- MA Camirand
- Alex Labbe
- Mark Dilley
- Julia Landauer
- Brandon White
- Anthony Simone
- Luc Haukaas
- Jason White
- Jason Hathaway
- T.J. Rinomato
- Shantel Kalika