Brandon Watson Back in APC Victory Lane in Flamboro Slugfest

While the APC United Late Model Series field scrapped behind him at Flamboro Speedway, Brandon Watson snapped a winless drought with the series of nearly five years for his 20th career win with the tour.

A green-flag run of close to 100 laps ended with 26 laps to go in the London Recreational Racing 125 when Connor Maltese spun to the inside of the racetrack on the backstretch. That set off a chain of caution flags over the final 25 laps, as drivers battled physically and fiercely for every possible position.

On a restart with 24 to go, Watson took advantage of Shae Gemmell and Kyle Steckly coming together while side-by-side for the lead in turns one and two, diving to the inside and making a three-wide pass for the top spot on the backstretch. That opening proved to be all Watson needed for his first APC win since August 21, 2021 at Sauble Speedway.

"There was definitely a couple of yellows, for sure. I try and keep positive, though," Watson said in victory lane. "That was a really good run. Middle of the race there, we lost some brakes and the car was getting really tight. I thought we were just going to have to ride it out, but the caution came out. I thought we were going to lsoe some positions there, but the car came back to life.

"These Port City guys gave me a great car. The car fell off in the middle, but that was a braking problem. It was a great car all night. We were lucky to have enough there at the end. We stayed clean and had some good restarts, and capitalized on a collision in front of us there on the restart."

Watson has not been a full-time competitor with the APC United Late Model Series since that 2021 season, where he won three races en route to a second championship. He has three top-fives in the first four races of 2026, including back-to-back runner-up finishes heading into Saturday's event at Flamboro. Those strong runs added to the wait to get back to victory lane, knowing it was within Watson's grasp.

"We had some good runs to start the year, close second-place finishes, but we haven't gotten to victory lane,' Watson said. "We're really happy to be here. Hopefully, we can keep it going on to Sauble the next couple of races."

While Watson pulled away, chaos unfolded behind him on restart after restart, with drivers bouncing off of one another for position. The battle for second came down to a door-to-door joust between Connor Pritiko and two-time series champion Kyle Steckly, with Pritiko taking the spot.

"I just kind of put my foot down and held my ground there," said Pritiko. "The toe got knocked out with 30 laps to go there, so the car was just really, really tight. I was trying to roll the bottom as well as I could, but when some guys have half a hole, they'll take it as a whole hole. It doesn't always work out like that.

"We got really lucky with the choose, rolled the outside of two or three guys, got into second and finished there."

Steckly was glad to see the first caution, offering him and his team a chance to work on his car and make adjustments. The car came to life with those adjustments, which also put him in the fray in the closing laps.

"The first half, we really, really struggled with our APC Auto Parts Centers No. 22," said Steckly. |We needed a couple of cautions, and then we got a caution there and were able to make a couple of adjustments and got it better there. We just got super aggressive there and did whatever we had to do to try and get to the front and get a good run for my 22 guys.

"It was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun racing with those guys. Those cautions at the end kind of killed me. I was hoping to just run a solid second there after the struggles we've had. Super proud of my guys, it was a fight all day and we just made the most of it."

Josh Stade finished fourth, with Shawn Chenoweth rounding out the top five.

With Jake Sheridan finishing sixth, Brandon Watson closed to within four points of Sheridan in the battle for the APC United Late Model Series title. That championship battle heads to Sauble Speedway on Saturday, August 1 for the Kubota 175.

London Recreational Racing 125 Unofficial Results