Corey Wheeler Victorious In DIRTcar 358-Modified Series Event During Brockville’s Fall Nationals
News Director 
Story By: MICHELINA FRISS / DIRTCAR – BROCKVILLE, ONT – Corey Wheeler came away victorious Saturday night at Brockville-Ontario Speedway, scoring the DIRTcar 358-Modified win in the 100-lap, $10,00-to-win, Fall Nationals.
William Racine and Erick Rudolph occupied the front row to start the night’s matchup, followed by Wheeler and Ryan Arbuthnot behind them. At the drop of the green flag, Racine shot out in front to pace the field with Rudolph following close behind. Racine held the lead until Rudolph made his way around him on Lap 25 to find clean air.
The Ransomville, NY driver commanded the lead for majority of the race, remaining largely unchallenged until 15 laps remained. Mat Williamson followed behind in second, and Wheeler remained close to the front in third. After Williamson and Rudolph made contact in Turn 1, Wheeler was given space to shoot out in front. It was all that the Cornwall, ON driver needed, as he stayed steady for the remaining 15 laps to score his first DIRTcar 358 Series win.
“Sometimes you need a little luck to get these big wins,” Wheeler said. “When I saw Mat (Williamson) and Erick (Rudolph) get together, I just went for it and it worked. It really is a dream come true.”
Williamson was able to untangle himself from the contact and break free, following behind Wheeler. He held on to finish runner-up and officially capture the 2023 DIRTcar 358 Modified Series title.
“Second place isn’t bad, congrats to Corey (Wheeler) and his team, it’s a cool win for them, and we’ll take it.”
Arbuthnot rounded out the podium, finishing in third-place.
“I kinda got one lane there at the end and everyone was just hanging on,” Arbuthnot said. “A top three is still a good night.”
Kyle Dingwall came in fourth place and Brian McDonald finished in fifth place to round out the top five.
DIRTcar 358 Championship (100 Laps): 1. 47S-Corey Wheeler[3]; 2. 6-Mat Williamson[5]; 3. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot[4]; 4. 66-Kyle Dingwall[14]; 5. 151KB-Brian McDonald[8]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph[2]; 7. 25*-Steve Bernier[7]; 8. 124-Mario Clair[17]; 9. 5-Amy Holland[11]; 10. 54R-William Racine[1]; 11. 39-Ryan Bartlett[27]; 12. 41-Samuel Charland[24]; 13. 17-Tristan Draper[12]; 14. 01-Chris Raabe[15]; 15. 70A-Alex Payne[19]; 16. 15B-Brianna Ladouceur[18]; 17. 91-Felix Roy[22]; 18. 18JR-Louis Jackson Jr[23]; 19. 117-CJ Castelletti[29]; 20. (DNF) ONE-David Hebert[9]; 21. (DNF) 77E-Ryan Stabler[13]; 22. (DNF) 44-Johnathon Ferguson[20]; 23. (DNF) 23-Joey Ladouceur[25]; 24. (DNF) 12-Darren Smith[16]; 25. (DNF) 11S-Steve Lewis[30]; 26. (DNF) M1-David Marcuccilli[6]; 27. (DNF) 35M-Mike Mahaney[10]; 28. (DNF) 31-Lance Willix[21]; 29. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[26]; 30. (DNF) 63-Jarrett Herbison[28]
LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 31-Lance Willix[3]; 2. 18JR-Louis Jackson Jr[1]; 3. 23-Joey Ladouceur[2]; 4. 26C-Gary Lindberg[6]; 5. 16-Gage Morin[4]; 6. 0-Jay Mallory[7]; 7. 18-Kalen Draper[8]; 8. 88-Lee Ladouceur[5]; 9. (DNF) 17M-Gavin MacFarlane[11]; 10. (DNF) 63-Jarrett Herbison[9]; 11. (DNF) M75-Joe Banks[12]; 12. (DNF) 83-Dylan Evoy[13]; 13. (DNF) 80EH-Doug Buzzell[10]
LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. 91-Felix Roy[1]; 2. 41-Samuel Charland[2]; 3. 19-Tim Fuller[5]; 4. 13-Kevin Hamel[7]; 5. 11S-Steve Lewis[4]; 6. 38-Jean Mathieu Raymond[8]; 7. 117-CJ Castelletti[3]; 8. 88L-Jeffrey Lapalme[9]; 9. 35-Francois Bellemare[11]; 10. 08-Chris Ferguson[10]; 11. 55-Dan Reif[12]; 12. (DNS) 39-Ryan Bartlett
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot[1]; 2. 151KB-Brian McDonald[2]; 3. 5-Amy Holland[5]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[3]; 5. 18JR-Louis Jackson Jr[4]; 6. 117-CJ Castelletti[7]; 7. 26C-Gary Lindberg[6]; 8. 38-Jean Mathieu Raymond[9]; 9. 17M-Gavin MacFarlane[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 47S-Corey Wheeler[2]; 2. 35M-Mike Mahaney[1]; 3. 17-Tristan Draper[3]; 4. 124-Mario Clair[4]; 5. 91-Felix Roy[5]; 6. 16-Gage Morin[6]; 7. 39-Ryan Bartlett[8]; 8. 63-Jarrett Herbison[7]; 9. 35-Francois Bellemare[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 54R-William Racine[2]; 2. ONE-David Hebert[1]; 3. 77E-Ryan Stabler[3]; 4. 15B-Brianna Ladouceur[4]; 5. 23-Joey Ladouceur[6]; 6. 11S-Steve Lewis[5]; 7. 0-Jay Mallory[8]; 8. 88L-Jeffrey Lapalme[7]; 9. M75-Joe Banks[9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. M1-David Marcuccilli[1]; 2. 6-Mat Williamson[2]; 3. 66-Kyle Dingwall[3]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 5. 41-Samuel Charland[6]; 6. 88-Lee Ladouceur[5]; 7. 13-Kevin Hamel[7]; 8. 80EH-Doug Buzzell[8]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[2]; 2. 25*-Steve Bernier[1]; 3. 01-Chris Raabe[4]; 4. 44-Johnathon Ferguson[3]; 5. 31-Lance Willix[7]; 6. 19-Tim Fuller[5]; 7. 18-Kalen Draper[8]; 8. 08-Chris Ferguson[9]; 9. 55-Dan Reif[10]; 10. (DNF) 83-Dylan Evoy[6]
Qualifying G1 (2 Laps): 1. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot, 00:15.045[6]; 2. 151KB-Brian McDonald, 00:15.121[9]; 3. 12-Darren Smith, 00:15.210[7]; 4. 18JR-Louis Jackson Jr, 00:15.231[2]; 5. 5-Amy Holland, 00:15.262[1]; 6. 26C-Gary Lindberg, 00:15.362[5]; 7. 117-CJ Castelletti, 00:15.424[4]; 8. 17M-Gavin MacFarlane, 00:16.154[3]; 9. (DQ) 38-Jean Mathieu Raymond, 00:14.912[8]
Qualifying G2 (2 Laps): 1. 35M-Mike Mahaney, 00:14.969[8]; 2. 47S-Corey Wheeler, 00:15.075[7]; 3. 17-Tristan Draper, 00:15.149[3]; 4. 124-Mario Clair, 00:15.249[6]; 5. 91-Felix Roy, 00:15.255[5]; 6. 16-Gage Morin, 00:15.361[2]; 7. 63-Jarrett Herbison, 00:15.454[9]; 8. 39-Ryan Bartlett, 00:15.547[1]; 9. (DQ) 35-Francois Bellemare, 00:15.637[4]
Qualifying G3 (2 Laps): 1. ONE-David Hebert, 00:14.978[3]; 2. 54R-William Racine, 00:15.087[1]; 3. 77E-Ryan Stabler, 00:15.315[6]; 4. 15B-Brianna Ladouceur, 00:15.324[2]; 5. 11S-Steve Lewis, 00:15.354[7]; 6. 23-Joey Ladouceur, 00:15.355[9]; 7. 88L-Jeffrey Lapalme, 00:15.366[5]; 8. 0-Jay Mallory, 00:15.511[4]; 9. M75-Joe Banks, 00:15.885[8]
Qualifying G4 (2 Laps): 1. M1-David Marcuccilli, 00:14.963[6]; 2. 6-Mat Williamson, 00:15.093[1]; 3. 66-Kyle Dingwall, 00:15.116[8]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:15.128[2]; 5. 88-Lee Ladouceur, 00:15.157[9]; 6. 41-Samuel Charland, 00:15.237[7]; 7. 13-Kevin Hamel, 00:15.500[3]; 8. 80EH-Doug Buzzell, 00:15.681[5]; 9. (DNS) 99-Mikael Labreche
Qualifying G5 (2 Laps): 1. 25*-Steve Bernier, 00:14.891[6]; 2. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:15.019[3]; 3. 44-Johnathon Ferguson, 00:15.091[4]; 4. 01-Chris Raabe, 00:15.150[7]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:15.243[1]; 6. 83-Dylan Evoy, 00:15.261[5]; 7. 31-Lance Willix, 00:15.284[9]; 8. 18-Kalen Draper, 00:15.384[8]; 9. 08-Chris Ferguson, 00:15.556[2]; 10. 55-Dan Reif, 00:15.791[10]
