David Byers picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Tim Hortons Canadian Series career in Sunday's Pinty's 250 at the Kawartha Speedway when his #84 Equipment Express Chevrolet completed all 25 laps under power.
The finish came in his 12th career series start. In the SCRL Tim Hortons Canadian Series, it's the 2nd for car #84 and the 15th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 6th for the #84 and the 328th for running at the finish.
Byers is still looking to make a name for himself in the SCRL, having yet been to victory lane, but was hoping to make a good showing in his first trip into Canada. Byers would impress in his debut, finishing 8th on the twisting and demanding road course at CTMP, and followed it up with a 9th in the next round at Delaware, before struggling for the first time to a 13th place finish at CTMP Oval. A 28th at ICAR would be followed with a 10th at Motoplex, before Byers would score his first career win in just his 6th career start at Auto Clearing. A 10th at St. Eustache would be followed by a 20th at Trois-Rivieres, 7th at Riverside, 15th at CTMP before finishing 19th in the last round at Barrie.
The entry list for the eighth 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 two races ago.
In qualifying, Defending Series Champion Chris Kyle would win his first career series pole, posting a time of 19.041 seconds. Byers would struggle around the 0.375 mile short track, posting a time of 19.405 seconds, which placed him 18th on the starting lineup. Starting last in the race was the #7 National Exhaust / Rama Smoke Shop Dodge of Killian Breen, who posted the slowest time of 19.449, 0.408 seconds behind Kyle's pole winning time.
When the green flag waved, Breen's stay in last only lasted for two turns before knocking Byers back to last on the first lap. Byers would remain in last for the first two laps before knocking the #47 WeatherTech Canada / Bellemare of Cameron Hathaway into last on Lap 3. Hathaway would be in last for two laps as well before knocking the #50 Canada's Best Store Fixtures / Espar Dodge of Christian Russel into last on Lap 5, a spot he would hold for only two laps before knocking Motoplex last-place finisher the #07 Archibal / AutomobileEnDirect.com Dodge of Brandon Mayhew into last on Lap 8.
Mayhew was determined to not finish last in the finale as he was in the final spot for only one lap before knocking the #88 Lucas Oil Chevrolet of Derek Greene into last on Lap 9. Greene would trail for two laps before knocking Russel back to last for the second time on Lap 11, but Russel wasn't there for long as he would pass Byers and move him back to last on Lap 14. As much as Byers tried to rebound, he was never able to gain a spot over the next eleven laps and would finish a full ten seconds behind the race leaders when the checkered flag waved to end the season.
The remaining Bottom Five were: 19th was the aforementioned #50 of Christian Russel, 18th was the #16 Mercedes-Benz St. Nicolas Chevrolet of Billy Kidd, 17th was the #07 of Brandon Mayhew and 16th was the #88 of Derek Greene.
With Byers trailing the field, that meant that Roger James won the SCRLASTCAR Champion by winning the tie breaker over Zachary Fitzwater by having two more Bottom Five finishes as the two drivers had two last-place finishes enter Kawartha.
The Season 3 SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series Championship went to Ignazio Alberti, who scored a major upset. Alberti, who entered the season finale one of twelve drivers who could mathematically, finished 5th and won the championship by one point over Brian Fox, despite not winning a single race. Alberti, had no last-place finishes this season, but he did have 1 Bottom Five finish, a worst place finish of 19th at Auto Clearing.
Congratulations to Alberti and the Micks Motorsports team for having a great year.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #84 has finished last in the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series at Kawartha.
*The only other time the #84 has trailed a Canadian Series race was the Season 1 Grand Prix ICAR at Circuit ICAR when Zachary Fitzwater's #84 Schick Hydro Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after completing 6 of the 8 laps; 34 races ago.
*This was the first time the #84 has finished last in the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series at Kawartha.
*The only other time the #84 has trailed a Canadian Series race was the Season 1 Grand Prix ICAR at Circuit ICAR when Zachary Fitzwater's #84 Schick Hydro Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after completing 6 of the 8 laps; 34 races ago.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #84-David Byers / 25 laps / running
19) #50-Christian Russel / 25 laps / running
18) #16-Billy Kidd / 25 laps / running
17) #07-Brandon Mayhew / 25 laps / running
16) #88-Derek Greene / 25 laps / running
20) #84-David Byers / 25 laps / running
19) #50-Christian Russel / 25 laps / running
18) #16-Billy Kidd / 25 laps / running
17) #07-Brandon Mayhew / 25 laps / running
16) #88-Derek Greene / 25 laps / running
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