Tim Fuller’s hot streak on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is still going strong.
Making amends for a tire choice that cost him a shot at victory the previous night, Fuller roared back to win Sunday’s 50-lap finale of the Armstrong Cable Oil Region Labor Day Classic at Tri-City Speedway.
It was the seventh triumph in the last 11 WoO LMS events for the sizzling 41-year-old standout from Watertown, N.Y., who moved into a tie with Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., for winningest-driver status on the 2009 tour. Both drivers have won seven times.
“I thought (the run of success) was ending last night after I made a bad decision,” said Fuller, who led laps 1-13 of the weekend’s opening A-Main before an overheated right-rear tire sent him tumbling to a sixth-place finish. “But tonight we put on the same tires as everybody else did and we got right back on track.
“I hope it doesn’t end. I like it the way it is.”
Fuller steered his Gypsum Express Rocket car forward from the seventh starting spot, passing Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., for the lead on lap 28 and never looking back. Defending WoO LMS champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who started alongside Fuller in eighth, overtook Francis for second on lap 37 and made a late bid to unseat Fuller but settled for second place in his one-week-old Rocket mount.
Francis, who raced off the pole position to lead laps 1-27 in the Beitler Motorsports Rocket, held on to finish third. He fell short of sweeping the weekend after capturing his sixth victory of 2009 the previous evening, but the run allowed him to regain the WoO LMS points lead by four points over Richards, who finished a quiet ninth.
Jason Covert of York Haven, Pa., advanced from the ninth starting spot to place fourth in Barry Klinedinst’s Rocket car. It was his second top-five run of the Oil Region Labor Day Classic and once again earned him the $500 ‘Bonus Bucks’ cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn’t won a WoO LMS A-Main and isn’t ranked among the top 12 in the tour points standings.
Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., completed the top five in the RSD Enterprises Rocket after starting third. He joined Francis, Lanigan and Covert as drivers with a top-five finish in both halves of the Classic.
Fuller’s latest checkered flag was arguably his most satisfying of the season.
“You can win from the front row and feel good,” said Fuller, who registered his 10th career victory on the WoO LMS. “But when you do it like we did tonight – when you start further back and pass everybody you need to pass – it’s a way better feeling.”
Fuller had to withstand a stiff challenge from Lanigan, who sailed his car hard to the outside of Fuller rounding turns three and four on lap 44. Lanigan wasn’t able to get around Fuller, however, and that proved pivotal in the outcome of the race, which was slowed by just a single caution flag, on lap 34 when Matt Lux of Franklin, Pa., stopped in turn four with mechanical trouble.
When the low-running Fuller saw Lanigan’s car above him, he immediately adjusted his groove higher on the track and proceeded to pull away over the remaining circuits.
“I showed him my nose too quick,” said Lanigan, who finished 0.995 of a second behind Fuller. “He saw me out there and knew to move up. He’s running smart right now.”
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