FULLER WINS FLORIDA TOUR FINALE TO CLAIM WINTER NATIONALS TITLE
BARBERVILLE, FL.....Speed wins feature races and consistency wins point titles. Tim Fuller had plenty of both as he triumphed in the 50-lap DIRT Modified main Saturday night at Volusia Speedway Park to capture the overall 2003 Florida Tour Championship.
"I was just looking at the list of guys winning the title down here and its quite an elite group," said Fuller, 35, after picking up the $5,000 winner's check for his third win in the Sunshine State. Fuller has won one race each of the past three Februarys to improve his career big-block total to 25 on the DIRT circuit.
"I'm just a no-name compared to those drivers but its still great to be a part of this show. Everybody looks forward to coming down here every winter and I have to thank the track crew for doing such a great job. We used hard tires last year and this week ran the soft compound all the way," added Fuller, who scored three top-five finishes last year to rank behind only four-time Florida points king Brett Hearn.
The 2003 Florida Tour finale continued to showcase DIRT Motorsports' premier big-block Modified division as the 50-lap main event produced constant three-wide racing and even four-wide action on occasion. A special treat was the addition of defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart to fill out the 28-car starting field aboard Craig Mitchell's no. 93 J&J Auto Maintenance-Dom's Towing/PMC entry.
With the 32nd Annual Winter Nationals points championship on the line entering the Saturday showdown, the title chase turned anti-climactic even before the feature took its first green flag. Fuller and Danny Johnson were dead-locked atop the standings but D.J. suffered terminal motor problems during the consolation round and completed only one lap in the feature to pocket some gas money.
With Johnson suddenly out of the picture, Fuller still needed a decent finish as Hearn started the 25-mile main outside front row and loomed just a dozen markers behind. Crossing the line fourth or better would lock out Hearn but if the 'Jet' was able to win his second straight feature and Fuller finished out of the top-five, high point honors would go to Hearn for a fourth straight year.
The heads-up start put heat one winner Pat Ward on the point alongside Hearn. Ward out-dragged his front row partner when the initial green flag waved but Hearn took control on lap three with Fuller charging into third from his eighth-place start after five laps were scored.
Ward regained the top spot on lap nine as Hearn began to retreat with tire problems. When Hearn nearly spun himself out between turns three and four a lap later, Fuller was in position to take over the runner-up slot and set his sights on the leader.
After a pair of brief caution periods for Alan Johnson who had slowed to a stop in turn three and Jeremy Markle who got turned around on the front chute, a half-dozen green flag laps were scored with Fuller and Ward running side-by-side as they crossed under the starter's stand. Big-block rookie Mike Adderley slowed in turn four on lap 24 to incur another yellow and it took only two more times around for Fuller to sweep around Ward once the green lights reappeared.
With Fuller and Ward battling up front at the halfway mark, Keith Hoffman, opening night winner Craig VonDohren and Rick Laubach completed the top-five while 18th-place starter Tim McCreadie blistered the high side of the track to move into sixth-place. By lap 31 McCreadie had taken over second and he set his sights on the black no. m1 B&F General Machine-Dixon Steel/TEO mount hoping to mirror his 50-lap victory in last year's Florida Finale.
Three more yellow flags flew over the next seven circuits to tighten the field but it was the continuous green flag conditions over the final dozen laps that enabled Fuller to extend his lead unchallenged through the end. The Edwards, N.Y. pilot rolled under the checkers five car-lengths ahead of McCreadie to register the victory which was also his fourth consecutive top-three tally of the week.
"There 's a lot of room to race out here and I just got lucky tonight," said Fuller, after scoring his first victory as a married man. He wed Lori Call on January 18th to relinquish his bachelor status just prior to embarking on his 12th season of open-wheel competition.
"I could've won a couple races this week but I made some stupid mistakes. I still missed on the set-up tonight but I changed things a little and decided to throw the car around more," added Fuller in victory lane. McCreadie's Sweeteners Plus teammate Vic Coffey held off a rally by Hearn to finish a tour-best third with Ward rounding out the front-five. After running as high as ninth at the midway mark, Tony Stewart faded to 16th on the final score sheet, completing all 50 laps in his 2003 DIRT car debut.
Final top-ten finishers in the 32nd Winter Nationals point standings are Fuller (220), Hearn (198), Tim McCreadie (190), Danny Johnson (180), Alan Johnson (174), VonDohren (172), Ward (160), Rick Laubach (149), Mike Adderley (142) and Jimmy Horton (136). Fuller was the only driver to place among the top-five in each of the four feature races.
With Florida Tour 2003 in the record book, teams packed up and headed home to get ready for the start of DIRT Motorsports' 28th season at their favorite home track. The first major event of the season in the Northeast is the Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series opener scheduled at Hagerstown(Md.) Speedway on Saturday, March 29.