EDMONTON, AB. – The goal of winning four straight Northern Provincial Pipeline Late Model Series championships came to an end for Trevor Emond at Castrol Raceway Saturday night.  At first, it looked as though the Leduc Alberta driver denied NPP Series point leader Dwight Kennedy the opportunity to clinch the 2006 Championship after race action concluded.  Emond won the Feature event and had a more consistent night in the heat races than Kennedy.  Many thought that Emond would still have that slim chance at claiming another title in September but a late night count of the championship point’s revealed a different story.  By a slim margin of only two points, Kennedy’s fifth place finish in the Feature and a heat race victory was enough to give the Edson Alberta driver the valuable points needed to clinch top spot for 2006.  Kennedy last won the NPP Late Model Series Championship in 2001.  “That was too long of a wait,” says the Edson Alberta driver, “after four seasons we finally have a Dodge in top spot.  If we can get the other Dodge (Darrell Midgley) into the number two spot it would cap off the season nicely.”  “That won’t happen,” exclaims Trevor Emond, who did end Kennedy’s Feature win streak at three, “he may have the Series crown but I’m going to end the season the way we started it with my own winning streak.” Saturday night’s victory did put Emond back into second place in the NPP Series standings just twenty points ahead of a surging Darrell Midgley.  “With two races left in the series,” adds Emond, “third place is not an option for me right now.”  Darrell Midgley has other ideas though.  “We finished seventh in the points last season.  We got by Gerry (Emond) in the standings tonight (Saturday) and we’re now sitting third.  It’s been a good year.  With second place in our sights right now, I’d be a little disappointed if we didn’t get it now.”  Continuing to salvage what could have been his worst season ever in a Late Model stock car is Mike Tom.  The Stony Plain Alberta driver missed several race events in June and July due to a devastating crash at Castrol Raceway back in May.  At one point Tom was last in the NPP point standings.  Tom, who finished second in the points in 2005, had his best finish of the season on the weekend finishing second in the Feature.  “The home track advantage, “smiled Tom, “we made no real adjustments on the car all night.  For the first time this season we were able to show our stuff and it felt pretty good.”  Tom has had an incredible month of August with some consistent finishes at NPP race events in Swift Current, Okotoks, Drayton Valley and now Edmonton.  Tom has moved from near the bottom of the standings to eleventh place just seventeen points out of a top ten position.  “My dad (Allen) and I were hoping we could sneak into the top ten after our brutal start to the year.  With two races left, “smiles Tom, “maybe we could grab a win too.  That would be a nice touch.”  There are two races remaining in the $100,000 Northern Provincial Pipeline Late Model Series and still many positions in the standings to decide.  The next NPP Series race is Saturday, September 9th at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway.