BROCKVILLE, Ont. — One night after his brother Kalen opened Brockville Ontario Speedway’s Fall Nationals with a win, Tristan Draper earned another victory for his family on Saturday.
The Sydenham, Ont. driver led all 100 laps to score his first career DIRTcar 358 Modified Series win.
“This is just surreal,” Draper said. “I’m out of breath. I knew I had to get out in front of [Fuller] as quick as I could, but he kept hanging tough there on the top. To race with these guys and to win is big.”
Starting on the outside pole, Draper outdueled Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Famer Tim Fuller, thundering around him on the outside lane to take the lead on lap one. Then, he drove away from Fuller, opening his lead up to over a second before the race’s first caution on Lap 6.
While those two battled for the lead, Lance Willix and Felix Roy were in a battle for the 2024 series championship. Separated by 16 points, Willix needed to finish eight positions ahead of the Canadian driver to secure his first title.
Roy’s championship hopes almost slipped away on Lap 12 when the Napierville, Quebec driver went off the track, dropping back to 29th place with 88 laps remaining.
Draper continued to lead Fuller toward the race’s halfway point until a caution on Lap 42 proved vital toward the championship battle. By avoiding a multi-car wreck, Roy jumped from 25th to 17th, seven spots behind Willix and back in title contention.
When the race resumed, Draper gained control of the race again as Willix and Roy started moving forward behind him.
Fuller challenged Draper for the lead on the outside on lap 72 and 73 but couldn’t make the pass on the Brockville regular.
From there, Draper went unchallenged to earn the $10,000 (Canadian) victory, his first Fall Nationals win.
Fuller settled for second, chasing Draper for the entire race. The Edwards, N.Y. driver said he ran a harder tire than everyone else.
“It was a screw-up on my end,” Fuller said. “But [Draper] did a great job. He got the jump there. I thought at Lap 60-70 I had a better car on restarts, and then toward the last 20-30 laps, he was gone.”
Mat Williamson, the 2023 Series champion rounded out the podium after starting ninth. The St. Catharines, ON driver said he enjoyed racing on Brockville’s surface all weekend.
“The race track was tricky and challenging,” Williamson said. “It was a lot of fun. Hats off to the Drapers. They ran great all weekend.”
Chris Raabe finished fourth, and Ryan Arbuthnot rounded out the top five.
Willix crossed the seventh, but it wasn’t far enough ahead of Roy, who finished 13th to secure his first DIRTcar 358 Modified Series championship by four points.
“Hollywood” said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to come back after his lap 12 mistake.
“We had a good race car,” Roy said. “I think I forced the issue there by trying to go three-wide and I thought the championship was over. But we were able to capitalize and have a good end of the race.
“I’m very happy for the whole crew and my team and sponsors.”
Feature Finish (100 Laps)
1. 17-Tristan Draper[2]; 2. 19-Tim Fuller[1]; 3. 6-Mat Williamson[9]; 4. 01-Chris Raabe[10]; 5. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot[3]; 6. 66-Kyle Dingwall[6]; 7. 31-Lance Willix[17]; 8. M1-David Marcuccilli[4]; 9. 47S-Corey Wheeler[7]; 10. 37S-Gary Lindberg[21]; 11. 13-Kevin Hamel[25]; 12. 16-Gage Morin[13]; 13. 91-Felix Roy[16]; 14. 39-Ryan Bartlett[19]; 15. 90G-Dany Gagne[26]; 16. 7S-Shaun Shaw[8]; 17. 25*-Steve Bernier[5]; 18. 92-Andrew Buff[11]; 19. 22-Noah Walker[18]; 20. 15B-Brianna Ladouceur[24]; 21. 0-Glenn Styres[28]; 22. 117-CJ Castelletti[29]; 23. (DNF) 44-Johnathon Ferguson[31]; 24. (DNF) ONE-David Hebert[14]; 25. (DNF) 35R-William Racine[27]; 26. (DNF) 18-Kalen Draper[22]; 27. (DNF) 151KB-Brian McDonald[20]; 28. (DNF) 77E-Ryan Stabler[15]; 29. (DNF) 5-Amy Holland[12]; 30. (DNF) 41-Samuel Charland[23]; 31. (DNF) 38J-Jarrett Herbison[32]; 32. (DNF) 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[30]