Zachary Fitzwater picked up the 3rd last place finish of his SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series career in Saturday's Hudco Electric Supply 300 at the Barrie Speedway when his #4 unsponsored Fitzpatrick Motorsports Chevrolet completed 29 of the 30 laps.
The finish, which came in his 23rd career series start, was his first on the circuit since the Pinty's Presents the Vortex 200 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park when he completed all 10 laps under power; 10 races ago. In the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series, it's the 2nd for car #4 and the 14th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 16th for the #4 and the 327th for running at the finish.
After trailing at CTMP, Fitzwater would continue to struggle by finishing 19th in the next round at Delaware before scoring his first Top 10 of the season, a 9th at CTMP Oval. A 16th at ICAR would be followed up by his first Top 5 finish, a 5th at Motoplex and followed it up with a 4th at Auto Clearing, before struggling to finish 11th in the next two races at St. Eustache and Trois-Rivieres. Fitzwater finally was able to get some good luck going his way when he started second at Riverside and assumed the lead when Christian Russel suffered engine failure, as Fitzwater would go on to lead every single lap on his way to his second series win, and 15th overall in the league. With momentum in his corner, Fitzwater traveled to the sight of his first series win and most reason last-place finish, this time finishing 3rd, his best finish on the road courses this season.
The entry list for the seventh time this season would be 20 as only the full time drivers would be competing as the part-time drivers are done after competing at CTMP in the last event.
In qualifying, Cameron Hathaway would win his second career series pole, posting a time of 14.930 seconds. Fitzwater would struggle around the 0.333 mile short track, posting a time of 15.123 seconds, which placed him 16th on the starting lineup. Starting last in the race was the #5 EMCO / Rheem / Praxair Dodge of Sebastian Torres, who posted the slowest time of 16.443, a full 1.513 seconds behind Hathaway's pole winning time after slapping the outside wall coming off Turn 2.
When the green flag waved, Torres's stay in last was brief as he knocked the #16 Mercedes-Benz St. Nicolas Chevrolet of Billy Kidd into last, as Kidd would trail for the first two laps before knocking Fitzwater into last for the first time on Lap 3. Fitzwater would trail for two laps before knocking two-time last-place finisher the #29 La Cite De Mirabel Inc. Dodge of Roger James into last on Lap 5, a spot he would hold for only one lap before knocking the #84 Equipment Express Chevrolet of David Byers into last on Lap 6. Byers would trail for two laps himself before knocking Fitzwater back to last on Lap 8, as Fitzwater continued to struggle, he would remain in last for the next three laps before knocking Byers back to last again on Lap 12.
By this time, with no caution flying yet, the back of the field was being caught by Hathaway, as Byers remained in the final spot on Lap 23 he became the first driver to fall a lap down. Just two laps later, as Hathaway was lapping Fitzwater, Byers was able to sneak by and dropped Fitzwater to last. As much as he tried, the four time champion was unable to get back the position over the final laps with Fitzwater and Byers as the only two drivers to not finish on the lead lap.
The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 18th was the aforementioned #16 of Billy Kidd, 17th was the #29 of Roger James and 16th was the #5 of Sebastian Torres.
Entering the season finale, only Roger James and Zachary Fitzwater can mathematically win the SCRLASTCAR Championship, as both drivers have two last-place finishes, only those two drivers will walk out of Kawartha with the championship. If anyone but James of Fitzwater finishes last, no matter if Fitzwater finishes in the Bottom Five and James doesn't, James will win the championship by having one more Bottom Five finish. The only way James can lose the championship is if Fitzwater finishes last at Kawartha out right, that would give Fitzwater 3 last-place finishes to James's 2.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #4 has finished last in the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series at Barrie.
*This was the first time the #4 has finished last in the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series at Barrie.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #4-Zachary Fitzwater / 29 laps / running
19) #84-David Byers / 29 laps / running
18) #16-Billy Kidd / 30 laps / running
17) #29-Roger James / 30 laps / running
16) #5-Sebastian Torres / 30 laps / running
20) #4-Zachary Fitzwater / 29 laps / running
19) #84-David Byers / 29 laps / running
18) #16-Billy Kidd / 30 laps / running
17) #29-Roger James / 30 laps / running
16) #5-Sebastian Torres / 30 laps / running
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