Jo Lawrence Sweeps Jukasa to Claim APC Pro Late Model Series Title

Jo Lawrence became the fifth different APC United Pro Late Model Series champion in as many seasons after completing a sweep of the season finales on Saturday at Jukasa Motor Speedway in Hagersville, Ontario.

The 25-year-old from London, Ontario won four times in five races with a second-place result in his other start to claim the championship by 15 points over Brandon Watson.

Lawrence held just a slim one-point advantage over Watson entering the day of racing and extended the championship by outdueling his points rival head-to-head in the first 75 lap feature. Lawrence bookended his 2020 season with another win, but it wasn’t even necessary with Watson struggling to the tune of a seventh-place finish.

“Definitely due to all the hard work from my team,” Lawrence said in victory lane after the finale. “They put in a lot of hours away from home and away from their wives and girlfriends.

“They all put up with our shop hours and I just want to say thank you to them. The guys did awesome with the car. Every adjustment was dead-on. They performed today.”

Watson was unable to crack the top-five in the final after finishing runner-up earlier in the day. He pit during a caution with 25 laps to go for adjustments, but that ultimately resulted in a tire failure that brought out the caution with 17 to go.

Watson kept it off the wall, but that allowed Lawrence to focus purely on the win with the championship all but confirmed barring a mistake or misfortune.

“They didn’t give me any information on that,” Lawrence said. “They said keep doing what you’re doing and it’s going to pay off.”

RACE 1

The championship hung in the balance between Lawrence and Watson as the two contenders raced side-by-side for the better part of 15 laps inside the final 25.

Lawrence finally cleared Watson with 10 laps to go and was driving away until Tyler Di Venanzo spun and brought out a caution with six laps remaining. Lawrence drove away from the inside lane and was unchallenged once he got the backstretch untouched.

“Honestly, with the team I have, it feels like we’ve been doing this for a long time,” Lawrence said. “The guys stay calm. We got the job done. I can’t thank them enough. I’m happy that the wives and girlfriends could attend this race and celebrate with us. They put up with our long hours and shop time so I appreciate their support through and through.”

1. Jo Lawrence
2. Brandon Watson
3. Pete Shepherd III
4. JR Fitzpatrick
5. Shae Gemmell
6. Darrell Lake
7. Gary Adriaensen
8. Jake Sheridan
9. Dale Shaw
10. Matt Pritiko
11. DJ Kennington
12. Lane Zardo
13. Shawn Chenoweth
14. Patrick Freel
15. Carson Nagy
16. Shawn McGlynn
17. Piper Adams
18. Andrew Gresel
19. Treyten Lapcevich
20. Mat Box
21. Ryan Kimball
22. Tyler Di Venanzo
23. Erik Dalla Riva
24. Steve Arrand
25. Danny Benedict
26. Tom Gibbons
27. Jason Lidster
28. Josh Stade
29. Hudson Nagy
30. Shane Maginnis
31. Ray Morneau

RACE 2

The highlight of the second race was a three-wide battle for the lead across the start-finish line and into Turn 1 between Lawrence, Pete Shepherd III and Gary Adriaensen.

Lawrence ultimately won that battle and set sail with the lead with 40 laps to go.

Shepherd ultimately finished second in that race and it was enough to secure third place in the points with finishes of fifth, seventh, third, third and second.

“Every single race since Sunset, we’ve gotten better and better,” Shepherd said. “You know, we were lacking a little bit of speed the weekend before this, but we got it. Congratulations to Jo (his teammate) because he deserves this … The race was won with that three-wide pass for the lead and he was able to drive off so much better than we were. We got better as the heat cycles progressed, but second is good, and we’ll take that momentum into next season.”

1. Jo Lawrence
2. Pete Shepherd III
3. Dale Shaw
4. Gary Adriansen
5. Shae Gemmell
6. DJ Kennington
7. Brandon Watson
8. Treyten Lapcevich
9. Jake Sheridan
10. Shawn Chenoweth
11. Ryan Kimball
12. JR Fitzpatrick
13. Tyler Di Venanzo
14. Patrick Freel
15. Lane Zardo
16. Erik Dalla Riva
17. Steve Arrand
18. Darrell Lake
19. Tom Gibbons
20. Shawn McGlynn
21. Matt Pritiko
22. Carson Nagy
23. Danny Benedict
24. Hudson Nagy
25. Piper Adams
26. Jason Lidster
27. Mat Box
28. Andrew Gresel

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