Tim Fuller Wins First Of 2022 Season Friday Night At Can-Am Speedway

Story By: ADAM CORNELL / CAN-AM SPEEDWAY – LAFARGEVILLE, NY – Last week Tim Fuller fell just short of landing in victory lane, finishing behind Billy Dunn in the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified feature.

Friday night, however, he was not going to be stopped on his way to victory.

Fuller had the deck stacked against him from the beginning of the night. He started in last position in his heat race and had to weave through seven other cars to secure the heat race win.

Yet, he still found himself starting the feature in 15th position. It was Jeff Sykes and Preston Forbes who started the Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified 25 lap feature in first and second positions. After an early caution, Fuller was able to leap-frog through the field, climbing up to fourth position by lap twelve.

By lap seventeen, Fuller was in the lead after passing up his cousin, Jeff Sykes. Once he had the lead, Fuller wasted no time separating from the rest of the field. When the checkered flag flew over the track, Fuller had a lead over the rest of the pack by nearly half a track length.

Last week’s winner and victory lane regular, Billy Dunn, struggled in heat races to get through the field and faced the same obstacle in the feature, finishing in tenth position after starting twentieth.

“The track was really fast tonight. Totally opposite of last week,” Fuller said from victory lane. “We’ve been good here for the last few years and we have a great engine thanks to the support of St. Lawrence Radiology. It’s good to be back [in victory lane.]”

When asked about beating out his cousin, Jeff Sykes, for the victory, Fuller flashed a grin, “When you’re related, you can’t let him go. It’s about bragging rights on Monday.”

In the Bob Johnson Auto Group DIRTcar Sportsman Modified feature, it was Brian Hudson who had the fast hot rod on Friday night. Hudson started in 8th position and by lap 8 he was in the lead after passing up leader and pole-sitter, Eric Nier. Tiger Chapman followed Hudson’s lead past Nier into second position. They finished one, two, three, Hudson, Chapman, Nier, when the race was over.

“This car’s pretty good,” Hudson said from victory lane. “It’s a new car for this year and a new setup on the shocks. I could pretty much run it hammer down around the corners.”

In the Donath Motor Worx Limited Sportsman feature it was a first ever win for Cole Perry from Belleville, Ontario. Things almost went very badly for Perry right out of the turn before even getting past the starting green flag, when Joey Wilcox went a little sideways and clipped Perry.

Fortunately Perry was able to stay the course and the rest of the field managed to avoid getting entangled with Wilcox as he spun out. The victory for Perry wasn’t without difficulty. Paul DeRuyter made his way up to second position with just a few laps remaining, making a play for the lead through turns three and four of the final lap.

Perry mashed his foot through the floor to keep his machine just a nose ahead of the DeRuyter car for the victory.

“I knew Paul [DeRuyter] was close and I was still working on figuring out turns three and four,” Perry said, in victory lane. “When I saw him coming around that last turn I knew I had to get on it.”

When asked if getting his first victory at Can-Am was special, Perry said, “I’ve raced Can-Am my whole life in karts. I’ve always dreamed about coming out and winning at Can-Am.”

Jonah Mutton looked like he was destined for back-to-back victories in the Panther Frameworx 602 Crate Sprint Car feature, but Josh Verne Jr. completed a final-lap pass to steal away the victory, his first ever on dirt.

“The lower and lower I got through turns three and four, the better I was getting, and that gave me the run at the end there,” Verne Jr. said. “This is my first win on dirt. I was pretty hard on myself after last week, but I’ve got a great group of people behind me. This is pretty special. Also, this win is with a pretty heavy heart. This one is for my uncle who passed away this week. I know he’s with us.”

In the Marsha Gibbons TLC Real Estate ThunderCar feature, it was Justin Pope who found himself in victory lane. Pope returned to Can-Am after traveling to Virginia the previous week to race.

“We’ve been all over, racing in Virginia and all. We try to put on a good show. I guess we had them covered tonight,” Pope said, after the race.

It will be a busy week for Can-Am Speedway this week, as the Thunder in the Thousand Islands rolls into town on Wednesday night, May 18th. DIRTcar Big-Blocks will be out in full force on the Nasty Track of the North, with supporting classes for this special mid-week race. The Thunder in the Thousand Islands race had been postponed from April due to inclement weather.

A full racing program will also be on the track at Can-Am Speedway on Friday, May 20th.

FULL RESULTS:

WHITESBORO PLOW SHOP DIRTCAR 358 MODIFIED

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller[15]; 2. 23J-Jeff Sykes[2]; 3. 24-Jordan Kelly[7]; 4. 66W-Derek Webb[11]; 5. 31-Lance Willix[13]; 6. 39-Ryan Bartlett[10]; 7. 7S-Shaun Shaw[17]; 8. 28-Jordan McCreadie[14]; 9. 21C-Taylor Caprara[12]; 10. 49-Billy Dunn[20]; 11. 9-Tyler Meeks[8]; 12. 18W-Scott Webb[16]; 13. 74-Lucas Fuller[18]; 14. 1-Jack Meeks[21]; 15. 36B-Dan Beachard[3]; 16. 21R-RJ Tresidder[6]; 17. 21-Andrew Howard[4]; 18. 23-Cameron Black[22]; 19. 73-Michael Cousins[19]; 20. 29-Preston Forbes[1]; 21. 38J-Jarrett Herbison[5]; 22. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot[9]; 23. 26-Michael Mandigo[23]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller[8]; 2. 9-Tyler Meeks[5]; 3. 38J-Jarrett Herbison[4]; 4. 66W-Derek Webb[6]; 5. 29-Preston Forbes[1]; 6. 18W-Scott Webb[7]; 7. 73-Michael Cousins[2]; 8. 23-Cameron Black[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot[5]; 2. 31-Lance Willix[7]; 3. 21R-RJ Tresidder[3]; 4. 36B-Dan Beachard[2]; 5. 24-Jordan Kelly[4]; 6. 7S-Shaun Shaw[6]; 7. 49-Billy Dunn[8]; 8. 26-Michael Mandigo[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23J-Jeff Sykes[2]; 2. 28-Jordan McCreadie[7]; 3. 39-Ryan Bartlett[5]; 4. 21-Andrew Howard[1]; 5. 21C-Taylor Caprara[6]; 6. 74-Lucas Fuller[4]; 7. 1-Jack Meeks[3]

BOB JOHNSON DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6-Brian Hudson[8]; 2. 34-Eric Nier[1]; 3. 271-Tiger Chapman[3]; 4. 44-David Rogers[13]; 5. 57H-Remington Hamm[12]; 6. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[9]; 7. 18E-Gavin Eisele[10]; 8. 7D-Dustin Hutton[6]; 9. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[16]; 10. 52-Jessica Power[18]; 11. 91-Josh Reome[11]; 12. 92-Frank Sibley[2]; 13. 18-Justin Gadbaw[20]; 14. 10B-Jamie Brown[17]; 15. 2X-Michael Amell[7]; 16. 76G-Skylar Greenfield[19]; 17. 12S-Kyle Sharp[22]; 18. 707-Greg Brinklow[21]; 19. 63M-Franklin Mackin[4]; 20. 21-Gage Howard[23]; 21. 62-Jonathan Murphy[24]; 22. 64-Tyler Corcoran[15]; 23. 621G-Trevor Gibbons[25]; 24. 410-Mike Fowler[14]; 25. 8-Kevin Warren[26]; 26. 35B-Brennan Moore[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Frank Sibley[2]; 2. 6-Brian Hudson[6]; 3. 64-Tyler Corcoran[9]; 4. 91-Josh Reome[7]; 5. 2X-Michael Amell[5]; 6. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[8]; 7. 76G-Skylar Greenfield[1]; 8. 12S-Kyle Sharp[4]; 9. 8-Kevin Warren[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 271-Tiger Chapman[2]; 2. 57H-Remington Hamm[7]; 3. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[6]; 4. 44-David Rogers[8]; 5. 35B-Brennan Moore[4]; 6. 10B-Jamie Brown[3]; 7. 18-Justin Gadbaw[5]; 8. 21-Gage Howard[9]; 9. 621G-Trevor Gibbons[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7D-Dustin Hutton[2]; 2. 34-Eric Nier[1]; 3. 410-Mike Fowler[8]; 4. 18E-Gavin Eisele[6]; 5. 63M-Franklin Mackin[3]; 6. 52-Jessica Power[7]; 7. 707-Greg Brinklow[4]; 8. 62-Jonathan Murphy[5]

DONATH MOTOR WORX LIMITED SPORTSMAN

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Cole Perry[2]; 2. 1D-Paul DeRuyter[5]; 3. 34-Keegan Nier[3]; 4. 17-Owen Nier[4]; 5. 66R-Ray Hughto[6]; 6. 32-Joe Trichilo[8]; 7. 44-Tim Bailey[9]; 8. 2-Steven Tabor[7]; 9. 33-Alan McDonald[10]; 10. 73-Joey Wilcox[1]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1D-Paul DeRuyter[9]; 2. 23-Cole Perry[6]; 3. 17-Owen Nier[8]; 4. 34-Keegan Nier[7]; 5. 73-Joey Wilcox[5]; 6. 66R-Ray Hughto[4]; 7. 2-Steven Tabor[10]; 8. 33-Alan McDonald[2]; 9. 32-Joe Trichilo[3]; 10. 44-Tim Bailey[1]

PANTHER FRAMEWORX 602 CRATE SPRINT CARS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[1]; 2. 39-Jonah Mutton[2]; 3. 00-Ryan Poole[3]; 4. 88-Logan Crisafulli[5]; 5. 30-Ken Klinkowsky[4]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 00-Ryan Poole[5]; 2. 39-Jonah Mutton[4]; 3. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[2]; 4. 30-Ken Klinkowsky[3]; 5. 88-Logan Crisafulli[1]

MARSHA GIBBONS TLC REAL ESTATE THUNDERCAR

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 27-Justin Pope[12]; 2. 11A-Joe Orvis[14]; 3. 100-Charles Monica[6]; 4. 11J-Justin Burns[2]; 5. 16-Steve Smith[3]; 6. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[10]; 7. X-Travis Berkman[7]; 8. 52J-Justin McIntyre[4]; 9. 94-OJ White[5]; 10. 22V-Daniel Valade[9]; 11. 5-Gerald Rogers[8]; 12. 52-Robert Flint[11]; 13. 22-Tony Frezzo[1]; 14. 31-Austin Smith[13]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 16-Steve Smith[4]; 2. 100-Charles Monica[6]; 3. 11J-Justin Burns[3]; 4. X-Travis Berkman[5]; 5. 22V-Daniel Valade[7]; 6. 52-Robert Flint[2]; 7. 31-Austin Smith[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Tony Frezzo[1]; 2. 52J-Justin McIntyre[4]; 3. 94-OJ White[5]; 4. 5-Gerald Rogers[2]; 5. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[3]; 6. 27-Justin Pope[6]