LAFARGEVILLE, N.Y. – Tim Fuller bested Mike Maresca, Erick Rudolph and the rest of the 73-car 358 Modified field on the St. Lawrence Radiology night of OktoberFAST action at Can-Am Speedway Friday night.
Taking the lead from Maresca on lap 15, Fuller drove to victory and picked up the $4,000 check.
When the green flag waved, Maresca made the most of his third-place starting spot and dove to the bottom of the track through turns one and two to take the lead down the backstretch. It wasn’t long before he hit lapped traffic, which he maneuvered through sufficiently until Fuller found the magic lane in turns three and four.
“Maresca – he really showed me the way there,” Fuller said. “I was running through the middle and he was running the bottom in [turns] one and two, and he showed me the groove there. I could just get a run on him; I was a little bit better than he was down in three and four on the outside.
“It was the long way around… I figured I was gonna get him, I just kept gaining and gaining… and sure enough, we hit lapped traffic.”
Fuller soon got a great run on Maresca’s No. 7MM into turn three on lap 15 and sailed around the outside, taking the lead as they crossed the stripe. He then began to wade through the line of lapped traffic in front of him, while other drivers made their push to the front.
Erick Rudolph started tenth and had cracked the podium by lap 28. He was beginning to close the gap on second-place Anthony Perrego when a caution flag flew on lap 34. This completely restacked the field and erased any gaps.
“The car was really good; we passed a bunch of cars early, and we didn’t really have too many yellows, so we had to chase everybody down a little bit,” Rudolph said. “Tim looked like he had the faster car anyways. All-in-all, all year long here at Can-Am, we’ve had a solid piece.”
As the green waved one final time over the 40-lap contest, Fuller hit the gas and took off. His lane of choice and proper car setup allowed him to open up a 1.532-second gap by the time the checkered fell, showcasing Fuller’s dominance over the field Friday night.
“This is a pretty stacked field; it’s no different than the Big Block race. There’s a lot of Big Block drivers in this and they all know what they’re doing here,” Fuller said.
Meanwhile, Rudolph was able to squeak by Perrego in the closing laps to claim the runner-up spot. Perrego said if it weren’t for the condition of his tires, he may have had something for Fuller in the earlier stages.
“I was kinda floating to the outside of lapped traffic in [turns] three and four and found a really good lane down off of turn four. We were closing the gap on [Fuller], and I actually did feel a little bit better than him in one and two; I was latched in the rubber a little bit better. The yellow came out, and unfortunately, I think out right-rear tire sealed-over,” Perrego said.
The finish:
Tim Fuller, Erick Rudolph, Anthony Perrego, Michael Maresca, Billy Dunn, Larry Wight, Jimmy Phelps, Mike Mahaney, Jackson Gill, Mat Williamson, Tim Sears, Rocky Warner, Pat Ward, Jordan McCreadie, Billy Decker, David Schilling, David Marcuccilli, Willy Decker, Adam Pierson, Roy Bresnahan, Marc Johnson, Preston Forbes, Stewart Friesen, Bob Henry, Matt Steffenhagen, Todd Root, Justin Haers, Ryan Bartlett, Tyler Meeks, Matt Sheppard.