Series Veteran Wins Tough Battle At Nova Scotia Track

Scott Steckly came out on top in a fierce battle with Pete Shepherd III to win the Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment at Riverside International Speedway on Saturday and extend his lead in the championship standings of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Steckly - who set the pace in practice and qualifying on the .333-mile oval earlier in the day - battled back-and-forth with Shepherd for much of the 300-lap event, before pulling away in the closing laps.

“It was the best day possible,” said Steckly, driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire/MotoMaster Dodge. “We were the fastest car in practice, won the pole and won the race. I can’t ask for much more than that.”

He became the fifth different driver to win in five visits by the series to the high-banked Nova Scotia track.

“Last year, we came in here and were fastest in practice and qualifying, but came up a little short in the race and finished second,” he stated. “We came here to win the race and my crew came up with a little different pit strategy than what we did last year and it worked out for the best.”

The victory marks a series leading third win this year for the 2008 series champion from Milverton, Ont., and his 11th career series win. He now leads defending series champion D.J. Kennington by 94 points as he is in search of his second series crown and did it coming into the race looking to expand the lead.

“We didn’t come here looking to protect the points lead,” he said. “We wanted to leave here with as big of a lead as possible going into Kawartha. Earlier this year, we lost 80 points at Saskatoon, so we came into the race looking to expand the lead, not protect it.”

Needing a caution in the final 100 laps to change right-side tires, Shepherd held on for second for his third top-five finish in six starts this season in the No. 7 National Exhaust/Hy-Tech Drilling Dodge.

“It would have been nice to get a caution there toward the end to get new right sides, but you never know how that might have worked out,” said Shepherd, out of Brampton, Ont. “With the way it worked out, I could catch (Steckly), but I was never going to get around him. There just wasn’t enough left.”

Donald Chisholm, racing at his home track, finished a series career-best third as he was able to nudge his way past Kennington in the final few laps of the race and put together a complete race for his hometown fans behind the wheel of his No. 89 Keltic Ford/Nova Construction Ford.

“Obviously, I wanted to get around (Kennington), but tapping him like that was not intentional. That’s not how I had it planned,” Chisholm said. “It was great, though, to turn in a good performance here at home.”

Kennington, looking to stay in contention for the title, finished in fourth with Kerry Micks just behind him in the fifth position. Completing the top 10 were J.R. Fitzpatrick, Jason Hathaway, Ron Beauchamp Jr., Chris Raabe and Mark Dilley. It was Raabe’s second top 10 in as many starts for the accomplished dirt-track racer.

The race was slowed due to caution just two times for 32 laps while the lead changed hands eight times among four drivers with Steckly leading a race-high 194 laps.

The Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment will be telecast by TSN on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series closes out the 2011 season on Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Kawartha 250 at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, Ont.