Desjardins celebrates his birthday with speed, winning at Quebec’s Le RPM Speedway
ST-MARCEL-DE-RICHELIEU, QUE – Saturday, September 20, 2014 – Martin Bélanger, DIRTcar Correspondent – Mathieu Desjardins gave himself the best birthday present he could get by leading all 50 laps to win the DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series feature event Saturday, Sept. 20, at Le RPM Speedway.
Local runners Martin Hebert and Mathieu Desjardins were on the front row of a stout field of 29 cars ready to take the initial green. Desjardins was the early leader over Hebert as a good battle occurred for third between Mathieu Laramee and Etienne Cournoyer.
Kevin Chagnon stopped in turn 4 and caution came out on lap 5, slowing the field down. Desjardins stayed first with Louie Jackson, Jr. having a great start taking second spot and Corey Wheeler cracking the top 5.
Wheeler took the fourth spot over Cournoyer while DIRTcar Sportsman Series point leader Brad Rouse also ran in the top 5 with a dozen laps completed.
Desjardins reached slower cars by lap 17, taking some distance over Jackson as Chagnon stopped again in turn 4 and caution was out on lap 19.
On the restart Desjardins stayed in front as Jackson spun out in turn 1, losing his strong second spot.
On the following green, Desjardins kept the top as Corey Wheeler made his move to take second while Hebert and Rouse were battled for third.
At the halfway point, Desjardins was the leader over Wheeler, Rouse, Cournoyer and Martin Pelletier.
Desjardins saw his good lead fade away as Mathieu Laramee slowed in turn 3 with 19 laps to go. However, he had a strong restart, as, behind him, a battle raged for second just. A four-car accident in turn 4 with 33 laps in the record books brought yellow conditions back to the racetrack.
Desjardins sped to the lead on the restart with Pelletier finding a great line on top, passing both Rouse and Wheeler and grabbing second just as the yellow was with 14 laps to go.
Third in series points Shane Pecore started to make some noise with 40 laps completed joining the front five while Desjardins build a good lead over the field.
Desjardins led the final laps to capture his second DIRTcar Series race of 2014 over Pelletier and Wheeler.
Birthday boy Mathieu Desjardins was real happy winning in front of his home crowd: “The car was perfect, starting second also helped.” Desjardins is aiming for the DIRTcar title: “Last year we were first in points going in to the last events but bad luck hit us but we are ready again for this year!”
“The car ran great on the outside row,” mentioned second place finisher Martin Pelletier. “The track is narrow and we rubbed a bit with some competitors,” stated the Series regular about the short track.
Finishing in third, Corey Wheeler had good comments about his event: “This track his fun to race and finishing in third his great, we will try and run the final events of the series and see where it will lead us.”
The DIRTcar Sportsman series is taking a well deserved break before Super DIRT Week XLIII has the series visiting the Weedsport Speedway on Thursday, Oct. 9, before starting activities at the NY State Fairgrounds on Friday, Oct. 10, with triple-10 qualifiers and the 30-lap event over the weekend.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series Race #9-Le RPM Speedway, September 20, 2014 Event Summary
Feature Results:
M.Desjardins, M.Pelletier, C.Wheeler, S.Pecore, D.Gagne, E.Cournoyer, B.Rouse, J.Ladouceur, M.Maresca, Y.Leveillee, S.Desrochers, A.Salvas, M.Laramee, M.Giguere, L.Jackson, J.Power, M.Lessard, M.Richard, P.Dumouchel, M.Stacey, A.Lajoie, J.Nadeau, K.Chagnon, B.Ladouceur, M.Hebert, F.Murray, A.Quesnel, J.Plante
LAP LEADERS:
Desjardins (1-50)
Heat Races (8 laps, top 3 went to redraw, 5 to feature)
#1: Desjardins, Chagnon, Rouse, Gagne, Maresca, Lessard, Desrochers, Power, Murray
#2: Wheeler, Laramee, Pecore, B.Ladouceur, J.Ladouceur, Y.Leveillee, Quesnel, Dumouchel, Plante
#3: Jackson, Pelletier, Cournoyer, Hebert, Stacey, Richard, Nadeau, Lajoie
RPM Speedway DIRTcar Sportsman Series Race #9 Roster (29)
0 Shane Pecore/St-Andrews, ONT
1m Mathieu Desjardins/Sorel, QUE
2x Martin Lessard/Drummondville, QUE
3d Patrice Dumouchel/Beauharnois, QUE
4 Samuel Desrochers/Granby, QUE
6 Mikael Richard/Drummondville, QUE
7 Mike Maresca/Hawanna Falls, NY
8 Alexandre Salvas/Granby, QUE
9 Jonathan Nadeau/Granby, QUE
11j Martin Giguere/Sherbrooke, QUE
14 Kevin Chagnon/St-Hyacinthe, QUE
15B Brianna Ladouceur/Cornwall, ONT
16 Martin Hebert/St-Hyacinthe, QUE
18 Etienne Cournoyer/Sorel, QUE
18jr Louie Jackson jr/Akwesasne, NY
20 Jean-Francois Arpin/St-Guillaume, QUE
23 Mike Stacey/Kahnawake, QC
30 Brad Rouse/St.Catharines, ONT
47s Corey Wheeler/Cornwall, ONT
52 Jessica Power/Kingston, ONT
60 Josianne Plante/St-Hyacinthe, QUE
72 Alex Lajoie/Acton Vale, QUE
77 Francis Quesnel/St-Hyacinthe, QUE
90 Dany Gagne/ Granby, QUE
91 Mathieu Laramee/St-Hyacinthe, QUE
92p Martin Pelletier/Sorel, QUE
92 Joey Ladouceur/Alexandria, ONT
94 Felix Murray/Granby, QUE
139 Yves Leveillee/Granby, QUE
2014 DIRTcar Sportsman Series Schedule
Date Track Location
Sun., June 1 Cornwall Speedway Cornwall, Ontario M.Pelletier
Wed., July 2 Ransomville Speedway Ransomville, New York J.Sharp
Mon., July 21 Autodrome Granby Granby, Quebec M.Pelletier
Tues., July 22 Autodrome Drummond Drummondville, Quebec S.Pecore
Fri., Sept. 5 Ransomville Speedway Ransomville, NY J.Friesen
Sat., Sept. 6 Merrittville Speedway Merrittville, Ontario C.McPherson
Sun., Sept. 7 Humberstone Speedway Port Colborne, Ontario M.Desjardins
Sat., Sept. 13 Mohawk International Raceway Akwesasne, New York D.Evoy
Fri., Sept. 19 Brighton Speedway Brighton, Ontario G.Lindberg
Sat., Sept. 20 Le RPM Speedway St. Marcel de Richelieu, QC Mathieu Desjardins
Wed., Oct. 8 Cayuga County Fairgrounds Speedway Weedsport, NY
Sat., Oct. 11 New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse, NY
Sat., Oct. 18 Brockville Speedway Brockville, Ontario
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