Win Some Lose Some
You win some; you lose some; unless you’re Kyle Masson.
Kyle Masson was back on track taking home two wins in the MPC class after avoiding significant incidences and rough racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Round 7 and 8 of IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda. Masson and his No. 18 have collected seven of eight possible wins. He also has won three of the four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Championship races this season.
Dr. Robert Masson finished the weekend with a third and fourth place finish in the MPC Masters championship. Along with solid finishes, the series rookie claimed fourth fastest driver in Sector One on track in both Race One and Two. Race Two dashed Dr. Masson’s podium hopes due to contact on the track. Masson had recently made the pass for third in Masters when he was spun. Masson continued and fought back for his fourth-place finish, sixth overall.
Howard Jacobs weekend was successful as hoped. Jacobs, in the No. 77, also fared well through the multiple incidences in Race One and missed the early contact that took out teammate Stephen Dawes in Race Two. In Race One Jacobs finished fifth in Masters, a season best. In Race Two he turned a personal best lap time of 1:23.174 to finish sixth in Masters. Jacobs continues to show improvement over his rookie season.
Canada was anything but kind to Stephen Dawes in the No. 38 MPC. Race One began with a delayed for Dawes after his car failed to start. The crew pushed Dawes down pit lane to get the car started; he entered the race before the green flag due to an early incidence on track. Once the race was underway, Dawes made progress through the field.
His progress came to a quick halt when entering Turn 2 midway through the race. There was significant damage to the right rear of the No. 38 including a broken suspension bolt, deck and wing. However, the team was able to repair the car and Dawes finished Race One seventh in MPC Masters. Race Two ended early for Jacobs after the No. 7 car spun and collected Dawes while doing so; Dawes had no time to react and was forced to retire early due to the damage.
Performance Tech Motorsports Team Principal Brent O’Neill was left to pick up the pieces after Race Two. He had no time to enjoy Masson’s victory as he sorted through in-car footage and looked over the battle wound of Dawes’ No. 38.
“It’s a shame that our races were ruined because some guys were able to compete that had already crashed multiple times over the weekend,” O’Neill said. “I’m in a battle with IMSA over that. All of our guys did an excellent job out there. This is probably one of the roughest race tracks we go to all season. They handled the challenge well. Kyle had another two wins, another two poles. Dr. Masson, the fastest laps he turned all weekend were in Race Two and same for Howard. Steve couldn’t catch a break.”
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