BRIDGEPORT, N.J. — With his first victory since 2018, Tim Fuller took the lead at the halfway point and never looked back Tuesday night at Bridgeport Speedway.
The triumph came in the $10,000-to-win King of the Big Blocks event for the Super DIRTcar Series.
Fuller started 13th and steadily worked his way past the best modified drivers in the business, including fellow podium finishers Stewart Friesen and Max McLaughlin.
Early in the race, Fuller had to make some gutsy moves but he was so fast that he avoided taking big risks along the way. By the halfway point he was in the lead and working lapped traffic.
“I’ve been doing it so long that I’ve learned to be patient with lapped traffic and not rush it,” said Fuller. “I’ve seen people crash themselves out and lose the race because you are overdriving and it’s stupid. I’ve lost them that way and I’ve won them that way. It’s your race to lose when you are leading. Protect the bottom and don’t get slid.”
By holding on for the victory, Fuller attained some redemption after allowing Friesen to pass him late in the Thousand Islands 100 at Can-Am Speedway in April this year. The Halmar driver went into Bridgeport with a historic three-race win streak to start the championship season.
“Friesen is the best in the business right now,” Fuller conceded. “There’s no question about it. He’s in the prime of his career. I remember being his age. He can still see very well! He has so much ability and he’s not going away for a while so anytime you can win one over him means you’re doing something right.”
After starting 11th, Friesen finished second.
“We were good,” said Friesen. “We went as hard as we could get with the tire. I think some of those early cautions hurt us a bit when the tires got hot and cooled back off. We’ve got some momentum going and fast race cars. Big thanks to Halmar and Chris Larsen.”
Third-place finisher Max McLaughlin led the second-most laps of the race.
“These races are too long to count on anything early,” McLaughlin said of his early domination. “I knew when we fired well on the restart and drove right to the lead that I may have made the wrong.”
Fourth-place finisher “Batman” Peter Britten was the hard charger award winner for advancing more positions than any other driver. He drove up 16 cars for his top five from 20th.
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller [13][$10,000]; 2. 44F-Stewart Friesen [11][$5,000]; 3. 32C-Max Mclaughlin [5][$2,500]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten [20][$1,800]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [1][$1,600]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski [12][$1,400]; 7. 7MM-Michael Maresca [3][$1,300]; 8. 9S-Matt Sheppard [7][$1,200]; 9. 2L-Jack Lehner [16][$1,100]; 10. 83X-Tim Sears [17][$1,000]; 11. 88W-Mat Williamson [14][$800]; 12. 35M-Mike Mahaney [25][$700]; 13. 99L-Larry Wight [2][$600]; 14. 1T-Tyler Dippel [6][$575]; 15. 8A-Duane Howard [23][$550]; 16. 5H-Chris Hile [24][$525]; 17. 126B-Domnick Buffalino [4][$500]; 18. 28M-Jordan Mcreadie [22][$500]; 19. 14W-Ryan Watt [21][$500]; 20. 91-Billy Decker [9][$500]; 21. 4R-Kevin Root [28][$]; 22. 3M-Sam Martz [29][$]; 23. 22W-Brandon Walters [27][$]; 24. 118B-Jim Britt [18][$500]; 25. 17D-Marcus Dinkins [26][$500]; 26. 26-Ryan Godown [10][$500]; 27. 111D-Demetrios Drellos [8][$500]; 28. 25R-Erick Rudolph [19][$500]; 29. 30W-Joseph Watson [15][$500]