*Rick Young Photo Attachment // Brockville, ONT – October 18, 2009 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director
Second-generation standout Joey Ladouceur finished right where he needed to in capturing the inaugural DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals 50-lap Pro stock title race Sunday evening at Brockville Ontario Speedway.
And so did Pete Stefanski as his sixth-place feature finish locked up an unprecedented fourth straight overall Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship in the 2009 full-fender finale.
“Pete’s been tough the past four years, we’ll just have to come back next season and give him another run,” remarked Ladouceur, 33, who offered Stefanski his stiffest competition yet in the new millennium. Despite scoring five wins and posting six fast times in the nine-race championship series, the Alexandria, Ont. pilot still fell 13 points shy of a second title while extending his DIRTcar rule with an eighth top-10 finish. “Its just been a dream year any other way you look at it.”
“I like the slick stuff we had out there today, kinda separates the men from the boys a little bit. For me, I like when you gotta be consistent and smooth. This is a good series we got racing against a solid group of guys. I’m happy to be a part and have some success in it as well,” said the 2004 Mr. DIRTcar champion who now ranks third all-time with 13 series victories.
Veteran Dave Bissonnette was the closest to Ladouceur over 2.3-seconds behind, while ’06 DIRTcar division rookie Dion Oakes, Stephane Lebrun and first-year tour follower Rob Yetman filled out the front-five just ahead of Stefanski.
“We knew Joey would be strong here, just like he has been everywhere else this year,” said Stefanski, 39, who opened the series with a pair of wins to increase his career-high total to 23. Stefanski and Ladouceur also rank 1-2 all-time on the DIRTcar Northeast circuit scoring 88 and 72 Pro Stock wins respectively.
“It just comes down to one or two races, whether you have good luck or bad luck. We both had our share this season, we’re just fortunate to come out on top.”
The pre-race draw among the top-12 heat race qualifiers unfolded just like nearly every event on this year’s Pro Stock tour, with Ladouceur snatching up the pole and Stefanski selecting #2 to join his modern-day rival on the front row. Earlier in the day Ladouceur had set fast time and ran away with his heat while Stefanski won his own qualifier after running 16th-fastest under the clocks in the familiar Sunrise Racing no. 2 San Ter Sewing-PJ NFB Auto Sales/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/EMS.
As soon as the initial green flag dropped down from the starter’s stand Ladouceur was able to open up a commanding lead. And despite nine caution periods slowing the action on the slippery 3/8-miler, he repeatedly pulled away at will on every ensuing restart aboard his sleek Coffrage 20-20 Minimax Express no. 92 Cadillac-STS Stinger X machine.
“It should be good but sometimes its tough starting up front, you can’t see what the other guys are doing behind you,” noted Ladouceur, after extending his DIRTcar Northeast best Pro Stock win total to 15. “Nobody ever showed me anything so we just kept doing what we started and it worked out perfect.”
After suffering a flat tire to bring out a second yellow flag after just two laps around, Bissonnette was able to charge back to second, while Stefanski stayed in his runner-up slot only a few laps before experiencing a gradual descent the remainder of the way.
“I just tried to stay in the top-5 but towards the end of the race we started pushing a bit,” added Stefanski, after the Wheatfield, N.Y. driver finished out of the front-five for just the second time on tour all season. “With all the lapped cars getting up in there they caused a lot of melee that almost took us out.”
“One of the front runners ran into a lapped car and got him sideways, then put him in my lane and he turned back across. It was just rough and we were getting bounced around a little back there. For the most part we were playing a little conservative, when the opportunity was there we were ready to go for it,” Stefanski said.
With the race well in hand for Ladouceur from lap one, the action in his rear-view mirror provided plenty of position swapping among the top-10 racers. At the halfway mark Louie Jackson held down second followed by Oakes, fast-moving Bissonnette and Stefanski, while Yertman and Lebrun looked for room both high and low as the laps dwindled.
The biggest scare for Stefanski came with just eight laps to go as Central New Yorker Jack Terrell got wide exiting turn four right in front of the Wheatfield, N.Y. chauffeur and the resulting front-end contact shuffled him from fourth to sixth. Harvey Arquette stopped high out of turn two to incur the final caution period giving Stefanski ample time to regroup for the lap 47 restart.
Finishing behind Stefanski (1157) and Ladouceur (1144) in the final 2009 Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Championship point standings are P.J. Peters (1021), early race casualty Don Carlson (1009), Dion Oakes (956), Rob Yetman (954), Stephane Lebrun (923), Dave Bissonnette (876), Roch Aubin (817) and Sean Corr (805).
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