Tristan Ladouceur took the lead on Lap 15 and held it for the rest of Saturday's Great Lakes 75 at Oswego Speedway, earning his first Super DIRT Week victory and the $5,000 winner's prize.
The 20-year-old driver from Alexandria, Ontario, passed polesitter Tyler Peet on a restart and led the final 60 laps of the DIRTcar Sportsman Series race, according to the Super DIRT Week race report. The victory was his 14th in DIRTcar-sanctioned competition this season and mathematically clinched the series championship.
A lead held through repeated restarts
Ladouceur started second behind Peet, with Jessica Power third. Several early cautions prevented the leaders from building much of a gap. On the Lap 15 restart, Ladouceur gained momentum down the backstretch and went around Peet's outside in Turns 3 and 4.
He stayed ahead through more cautions and two red-flag periods. Ladouceur said the repeated restarts made him nervous because another driver might use the outside lane against him, but his car was strong enough to hold the lead.
Power passed Peet for second on Lap 37 and finished there. The event's organizers said she broke her own record for the highest finish by a woman in Super DIRT Week history. Peet took third, his best finish at the event. Tyler Corcoran advanced from 28th on the starting grid to fourth, and Chris Crane Jr. finished fifth.
"To be able to cap it off here with a win is just an unbelievable feeling," Ladouceur said in the race report.
The win completed a season that included 12 consecutive victories at Mohawk International Raceway, where Ladouceur won the track championship without a loss. He will be officially crowned DIRTcar Sportsman Series champion at the Fall Nationals on Friday, Oct. 16, at Brockville Ontario Speedway.
The victory also carried family significance. Ladouceur's father, Joey, raced Pro Stocks at Super DIRT Week from 2002 through 2013 and finished second in 2012, when the event was held at the New York State Fairgrounds. The younger Ladouceur said he was glad to represent his family with a win at Oswego.
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