Ryan Gibson of Morgantown, West Virginia, USA entered the General Connection 200 in seventh place in the standings, but left in second after taking the victory at the Kentucky Speedway on Tuesday night.

Gibson becomes only the second multi-race winner of the season so far.

Starting on the front row alongside pole-sitter, Mike Marini (#42 True North Racin Toyota from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada), Gibson drove his number 23 Chevrolet Camaro to victory lane for the second time in the last three races, having to bounce back from an incident in the first portion of the race where he suffered damage.

“I had to pace myself on the track,” shared Gibson.  “You can sometimes get ahead of yourself. I like to lay back and wait for the longer run; it has helped me stay consistent.  After suffering some damage early in the race, I didn’t panic and just had to get back to the finish line and get the car fixed under caution.  I tightened the car for the final green flag run to end the race.”

The victory also gives Gibson an additional five playoff points once the post-season begins in September.

Rounding out the top-five in the race was Chad Hyder in second (#21 Youtube.com/DHammIAm Ford for Buckeye Performance Emotorsports, Dayton, Ohio, USA), Jacob Nelson in third (#9 Chevrolet, Clarksville, Tennessee, USA), Shane Cannon in fourth (#88 Chevrolet for NBR Motorsports, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada) and Kevin Daigle in fifth (#13 True North Racin Toyota from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada).

Through ten regular season races, seven different drivers have secured wins, locking them into the post-season (Jacob Nelson, Waylon Brown, Shane Cannon, Darcy Ford, Scott Bailey, Jose Mercado and Ryan Gibson)

This was the sixth victory this season for Chevrolet, while Ford has claimed wins in the other four races; Toyota continues to be winless.

The 11^th race of the regular season takes place on Tuesday, August 4 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Subway 150.

General Connection 200 race recap

Mike Marini started at the pole position on Tuesday night at the Kentucky Speedway to start the General Connection 200, with the top eight breaking apart from the rest of the field in the opening laps around the 1.5-mile tri-oval; Darcy Ford would eventually take over the lead within the first ten laps.

With a max fuel-run of 30 laps, and scheduled cautions set for laps 40 and 80, several unique pit strategies were used by drivers throughout the evening.

After the first round of green flag pit stops, Ryan Gibson was the leader prior to contacting lapped traffic; Jose Mercado would hold the lead as the first scheduled caution was displayed.

Marini would retake the lead on the restart as the field would spread out and race to the next round of green flag pit stops.  Marini would ultimately reshuffle to the front of the field as the final scheduled caution was displayed.

Jose Mercado would claim the lead on the final restart, setting up a 55-lap green flag run.  With the lead group battling closely, Mercado and lapped car, Jason MacQuarrie (#66 Chevrolet, Cornwall, PEI), became tangled as Mercado would relinquish the lead to Gibson with less than 40 laps to go.

Through the final green flag pit stops, Gibson would remain up front and take the checkered flag for the victory.

There were two scheduled cautions in the race.

Here are the official results from the General Connection 200 at Kentucky Speedway.

Watch the archived broadcast of the General Connection 200 at www.hollandcollege.com/esports.

For more information on the Canadian eMotorsports Series, visit www.hollandcollege.com/esports, www.facebook.com/emotorsportsCAN, www.twitter.com/emotorsportsCAN and www.instagram.com/emotorsportsCAN.

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