Antigonish: Series race report

Kennington Moves To The Front
Takes Over Canadian Tire Points Lead With Riverside Victory

ANTIGONISH, N.S. (Sept. 18, 2010) -- DJ Kennington moved into the driver's seat for the 2010 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 championship with a win Saturday in the Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment at Riverside International Speedway.

Kennington, who entered the race weekend trailing JR Fitzpatrick by just 21 points, used lapped traffic to take the lead for the final time from Scott Steckly on Lap 215 and withstood Steckly's challenge on an ensuing restart to pick up the win. The victory, combined with Fitzpatrick's 13th-place finish gives Kennington the points lead by 40 heading into the final race of the season next weekend.

Kennington led three times for a race-high 144 laps. Fitzpatrick led for 39 laps before being sidelined by clutch issues. While leading the race, Fitzpatrick lost power on the backstretch and coasted back around the track coming to a stop at the entrance of pit road which handed the race lead to Kennington.

It was Kennington's fifth win of the season and the ninth of his series career. The five wins is a series record for oval track wins in a season and is just one behind Andrew Ranger's record six overall wins established last season.

Steckly, who won the pole position earlier in the day with a track-record lap, finished second. Don Thomson Jr., Ron Beauchamp Jr., and Jason Hathaway rounded out the top five.

Anthony Simone was sixth, followed by Mark Dilley, Jeff Lapcevich, Joey McColm, and Jason White.

The race was slowed due to caution seven times for 57 laps and the race lead changed hands 15 times among six drivers.

The Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment will be telecast by TSN on Sept. 25 at 2 p.m. ET

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 will crown a new champion on Saturday, Sept. 25 in the Kawartha 250, the 2010 season finale at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, Ont.

-source: nascar