EDMONTON, AB – The 2016 Rookie of the Year in the Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series was behind the wheel of his Casylor Engines/Northern Lights Welding #108 Chevrolet this past weekend in Edmonton. Jeff Duperron was competing in the Super Stock class at the 2017 Castrol Raceway season opener. “Last season was a bit of a test drive for me (in the NPP Series),” admits Duperron, “the car was underpowered so winning the rookie of the year was a bonus.” The season opening delay of the NPP Late Model Series for 2017 allowed Duperron to race in Edmonton for track points. “I only have six races on this car,” says the Ashmont, Alberta driver, “it’s pretty much the same as last year. The way the car is right now, I can run in either class.” Duperron says he hopes to be a little quicker on the track when it comes to future NPP Series events. “I have an engine back at the shop that I can’t use in the Super Stock class. It’s only for the NPP Series.”

The opportunity to find out if his NPP Series engine is competitive won’t be known until July. “It’s too bad for the delay (to the season). I really enjoyed running the NPP Series last year. I’ll be ready for the Gold Cup.” As far as his on track action Saturday night in Edmonton, Dupperon was hoping for a better night. “We had distributor problems in the heat race and had to pull off. The Feature race was a lot better until we lost our power steering.” Duperron built up a commanding two-second lead by the halfway point of the Feature until the power steering issue turned his dominating race car into a major handful. “Couldn’t do anything with it in the corners. I was just along for the ride.” The Super Stock Feature win went to Edmonton, Alberta’s Matt Martel. Dupperon, the only real challenger to Martel in the Feature, finished second. NPP Series officials continue behind the scenes work on bolstering the car count numbers for the 2017 Gold Cup event at Castrol Raceway on July 21st and 22nd. The NPP Late Model has been the support class to Canada’s oldest open wheel race event since 1999.