Josh Stade Wins Season-Opening Steve Slaughter Classic at Sunset Speedway

Innisfil, ON – Josh Stade and the No. 17 Pro Late Model team kicked off their 2025 season in dominant fashion, capturing the victory in the prestigious Steve Slaughter Classic at Sunset Speedway on Saturday night.

Stade set the tone early by qualifying with fast time at 14.312 seconds. After the redraw, he rolled off 6th on the grid, but wasted no time charging through the field. What followed was some clean, intense battles including noteably with fellow competitor Taylor Holdaway, trading lines and pressure for over 30 laps in what was one of the night’s most entertaining duels.

Stade took over the top spot on lap 51 and held firm through a series of aggressive late-race restarts to secure the win.

“I can't thank my guys enough,” said an elated Stade in victory lane. “The car was really, really good tonight. We were just saving our tires for closer to 30 laps to go, and once we got there, it was game on.”

The win is a statement-making start to the season for the Stade Motorsports team as they prepare for a full run at the APC Series Tour, which kicks off at Sunset Speedway over the May long weekend.

“Pretty awesome way to kick off our season,” Stade continued. “Sunset is definitely the place to be this summer for racing. This weekend allowed us to really make some notes in our notebook and get dialed in for the APC opener.”

With momentum on their side and a strong notebook already forming, all eyes will be on Stade and the No. 17 team as they return to Sunset in just a few weeks to for the APC United Racing Series Dayco 100 to launch their championship pursuit.

The 2025 race season is proudly supported by Dayco, Canada Flat Roof Systems, Canada Clean Fuels, Nicol Insurance, N. Piccolli Construction, Vinny’s Masonry, Ferrier Contracting, APC, J Bumstead, Ryan Enright Co-operators, Side Street Pizza, MEI Paving, Teeswater Concrete, Langland Farms, Clear Water Shores Civil Engineering, and Tiremaster.