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Kevin King wins in dramatic fashion at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Sherbrooke (Québec) native Kevin King snatched a dramatic win, Saturday morning, in the first of two Nissan Micra Cup races held at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP).

Nick Hammann

Nick Hammann

René Fagnan

Kevin King
Xavier Coupal
Karl Wittmer
Xavier Coupal
Valérie Limoges

A grand total of 26 drivers lined up for qualifying, Friday. Behind the wheel of the no 40 Micra, King beat Xavier Coupal (no 572) and reigning champion Olivier Bédard (no 1) to pole. But Coupal wasted no time at the start, storming into the lead right away. King and Bédard begin chasing him down.

On lap 5, they dive three-wide into turns 9 and 10. Coupal comes out on top at the other end, but King is all over him! Bédard hovers in the background, ready to pounce.

The order hasn’t changed on lap 9. Coupal, King and Bédard are closely followed by Nic Hamman, Stefan Rzadzinski and Valérie Limoges. Just a little down the road, Marc-Antoine Demers is locked into a four-way fight with Karl Wittmer, veteran Normand Boyer and Chris Sahakian.

On lap 10, Bédard pays the big price for a small mistake: he drops a wheel and loses two places.

King finally puts a move on Coupal with two laps to go, and makes it stick. He holds on until the end to win, thanks to a spirited drive: “I was about to lose it at one point, going into turn 2,” he admitted after the race. “I thought I could go side-by-side with Xavier [Coupal], but it was too tight. I kept my foot hard down and made it! […] I delayed my attack until the second to last lap and it paid off!”

Bédard fought back to take third, ahead of Rzadzinski, Hamman, Limoges, Demers, Wittmer, Boyer and Sahakian.

UPDATE: In the end, Kevin King crossed the finish line first but received a penalty from the officials for putting all four of his wheels off the track as he passed Coupal on the last lap. Xavier Coupal was therefore declared the winner, ahead of his teammate Olivier Bédard and Stefan Rzadzinski. Nic Hammann and Valérie Limoges completed the top five.

The second race of this Nissan Micra Cup meeting at CTMP is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

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