Late flat tire at CTMP gives Jonathan Dayne the first last-place finish of his career

Jonathan Dayne picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series career in Friday's Pinty's Presents the Clarington 200 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park when his #28 La Cite De Mirabel Inc / Plancher2000.ca Dodge fell out with tire problems after completing 9 of the 10 laps.

The finish came in his 10th career series start. In the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series, it's the 1st for car #28 and the 2nd for tire issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 20th for the #28 and the 13th for tire issues.

Dayne was one of several rookies making their SCRL debuts by signing up to compete in the third ever season of the SCRL Tim Hortons Canadian Series, choosing to drive the entire season for a full experience instead of competing part-time. Dayne would struggle in his first two starts, finishing 19th in his debut at CTMP and 18th at Delaware before finishing a career best 3rd at CTMP Oval and things were looking up for the team, but contact at Circuit ICAR with teammate Roger James would place him 30th. A 15th at Motoplex and a 14th at Auto Clearing would be followed by Dayne's second third place finish of the season at St. Eustache but the good times would be short lived as Dayne finished 18th at Trois-Rivieres before finishing 15th in the last round at Riverside.

The entry list for the fourth and final time this season would be a full 33 car field for the first time since Circuit Trois-Rivieres.

In qualifying, Chakat Lightingblaze would score hir first career series pole, posting a time of 80.217 seconds. Dayne would struggle around the 2.459 mile road course, posting a time of 80.528 seconds, which placed Dayne 18th on the starting lineup. Starting last in the race was the #8 Canada's Best Store Fixtures Dodge of Boston Jones, who posted the slowest time of 80.936, 0.719 seconds behind Lightingblaze's pole winning time.

When Friday's race started, the #02 BDI / Leland / PartSource Ford of Morton Gray, who was going to start 5th, forfeited his original starting spot and pulled to the rear of the field on the pace lap due to unapproved adjustments.

Nick Kennedy suffers engine failure.

When the green flag waved, Gray would quickly knock Jones back to last, who would trail for the first lap as he worked hard to try and gain a spot, unable to do so until Lap 4 when he knocked defending Series Champion the #27 La Cite De Mirabel Inc. Dodge of Chris Kyle into last. Kyle would remain in the final spot for only one lap as exiting 10 Turn, the #51 Prairie Dodge Dealers Dodge of Nick Kennedy pulled onto pit road, reporting of engine problems to his team. If Kennedy's team didn't get him back out on track, Kennedy would break a tie with five other drivers and would become the leading driver with the most last-place finishes in Canada. But thankfully for Kennedy, his team was able to diagnose the problem and sent their driver back out onto the track just a few seconds before the leaders lapped him. Kennedy would hope and pray for a caution, it would never come, to prevent him from finishing last, and it looked like he would trail for the third time in his series career, but the racing gods appeared to finally answer his prayer.

As the field was about to take the white flag, Dayne, who was running in 17th at the time, began to suddenly slow as he entered Turn 2, pulling off to the side to allow the other drivers to get by without a problem. Dayne reported to his crew that the right front tire had blown and would try and limp back to the pits. After several nail biting seconds to see if the race would be extended or not, Dayne was able to make it to pit road, but pulled behind the wall, failing to complete the last lap and knocking Kennedy up into 32nd.

The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 31st was the aforementioned #27 of Chris Kyle, 30th was the #88 Burger Barn Chevrolet of Derek Greene and 29th was the #02 of Morton Gray.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #28 has finished last in the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series as well at CTMP.
*The only other time a driver has trailed due to "tire" issues was in the Season 1 Wild Wing 300 at the Barrie Speedway when Joe Jefferson's #01 Canadian Tire / MotoMaster / Sylvania Dodge fell out with tire problems after completing 1 of the 32 laps; 24 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #28-Jonathan Dayne / 9 laps / tire
32) #51-Nick Kennedy / 10 laps / running
31) #27-Chris Kyle / 10 laps / running
30) #88-Derek Greene / 10 laps / running
29) #02-Morton Gray / 10 laps / running