Ladouceur Becomes First Woman to Win a NAPA Super DIRT Week Triple
Pelletier and Warner also win Triple 15 qualifier
by Brendan Capria
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Oct. 7, 2016 – DIRTcar Sportsman driver Brianna Ladouceur added to the long list of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week unforgettable moments – 45 years of cherished history — Friday night. She became the first woman to win a NAPA Super DIRT Week Triple (or Twin, for that matter.
“Well, I didn’t know [that I made history],” Ladouceur said. “That just made me feel 10 times better now.”
Ladouceur’s qualifier was earned, as there were many position changes within the 20-car field – mainly the runner-up position. In the opening laps, Kyle Inman jumped to the front from fourth; Matt Farham, who won one of the Sportsman Futures features earlier in the program, followed suit into the second spot.
A caution on the fourth lap made Farham’s jump from sixth short-lived, as Ladouceur took second on the sixth lap. The following lap, she overtook Inman. A caution on the eighth lap regrouped the field, but Ladouceur managed to solidify her spot in front.
Still, winning the race was not yet guaranteed. Tyler Trump climbed into the second spot with his sights set on Ladouceur’s No. 15B car. With roughly three-tenths of a second separating the podium, Trump made a last-ditch effort but ran out of real estate. Ladouceur was the only driver to break 23 seconds in the feature (22.922).
“Yeah, I just feel awesome,” said Ladouceur, left speechless in victory lane. “[The win] just feels awesome. I’ll try my best to win [Sunday’s feature].”
The following two 15-lap qualifiers were polar opposites. In the second qualifier, the No. 92p of Martin Pelletier started in the front row on the outside. Thereon, he began to build momentum at the top and decisively win his qualifier.
Pelletier led by as many as 6.007 seconds. He never looked back until the final caution on the closing lap of the race forced a green-white-checkered scenario. The 19-car field stayed single-file – with a few distant outliers – into the checkers. Cody McPherson, who maintained his podium standing throughout the race, finished second, while Adam Pierson finished third.
The final qualifier was a total shootout. Rocky Warner, who led every lap of the race, was challenged throughout the feature by places two through six. At times, a three-wide spanned the track behind him. Notably, Thursday night’s feature winner, Brad Rouse, used the three-wide battle to get to the runner-up spot sooner than later.
Rouse, however, ran out of time and faded towards the end. This left room open for Futures-winner Greg Martin to move into the second spot.
“I didn’t know if we were going to even run the triple race,” said Warren. “Start last, run it… run first, not even run it at all. [Seat] time definitely can’t hurt. Hopefully we can put on a good show this weekend.”
Warner recorded a top-three finish in time trials earlier in the day, and like Ladouceur, he was the only driver in his qualifier to record a lap time under 23 seconds (22.907).
The Sportsman division is set to run one of NAPA Super DIRT Week’s main attractions, the Chevy Performance 75 Championship. It will open a full day of racing as it is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.
Qualifier No. 1 (15 laps) – 1. 15B- Brianna Ladouceur [3]; 2. 9x- Tyler Trump [5]; 3. 94- Chris Burek [8]; 4. 20k- Kyle Inman [4]; 5. 09- Connor Cleveland [7]; 6. 2- Jack Lehner [14]; 7. 73- Kevin Chaffee [11]; 8. 79- Dave Constantino [28]; 9. 34s- Kelly Smith [22]; 10. 1R- Brad Weaver [27]; 11. 29k- Chris Cunningham [18]; 12. 11s- Steve Lewis Jr. [21]; 13. 16- Mike Schultz [20]; 14. 92NY- Brandon Carvey [23]; 15. 85- Steve Abt [13]; 16. 2T- Mike Taylor [15]; 17. 34L- Patrick LaPage [24]; 18. 7S- Mike Sabia [9]; 19. 7F- Matt Farnham [6]; 20. 6- Matt Stangle [10]
Qualifier No. 2 (15 laps) – 1. 92P- Martin Pelletier [4]; 2. 7- Cody McPherson [3]; 3. 15P- Adam Pierson [5]; 4. 10%- Timothy Hartman Jr. [9]; 5. 27B- Robert Bublak Jr. [6]; 6. 711- John M Sowle [9]; 7. 14- Jeremy Pitcher [7]; 8. 1RH- Adam Hilton [8]; 9. 713- Tom Collins Jr. [11]; 10. 20D- Gregory Doust [12]; 11. 52- Jessica Power [10]; 12. 14x- Scott Duell [23]; 13. 28w- Sandy Pembleton Jr. [17]; 14. 98T- Tyler Thompson [25]; 15. 33J- Jason Occhino [13]; 16. 98- Andrew Buff [18]; 17. K8- Brian Michers [26]; 18. 16JR- Jean-Pierre Labelle Jr. [24]; 19. 44c- Gregg Carner [21]
Qualifier No. 3 (15 laps) – 1. 1J- Rocky Warner [1]; 2. 4- Greg Martin [4]; 3. 18R- Brad Rouse [9]; 4. 27- Jeremy Pitts [3]; 5. 234- Adam McAuliffe [14]; 6. 60- Jackson Gill [10]; 7. 74- David Flannigan [15]; 8. 19- Jamie Begor [13]; 9. 43- Martin Hebert [6]; 10. 88C- Connor Dawdy [17]; 11. 88H- Mike Jackson [16]; 12. 16A- Aaron Jacobs [24]; 13. 81- Luke Klob [22]; 14. 352- Fred Proctor [18]; 15. 180- Aaron Pugh [11]; 16. F16- Earl Rudy [21]; 17. 22J- Stacey Jackson [12]; 18. 0- Shane Pecore [5]; 19. 18JR- Louie Jackson Jr. [8]; 20. 19L- Joe Williams [20]
*Those who already qualified for the Chevy Performance 75 Championship had an option to participate.
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