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Contact: World Racing Group
Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series P.R.
Director
704-254-7929 •
kkovac@dirtcar.com
Tim Fuller Returns To Scene Of First World of Outlaws Late
Model Series Victory
On Friday Night (July 11) At North Dakota’s River Cities
Speedway
GRAND FORKS, ND – July 8, 2008 – Tim Fuller had never been
in the state of North
Dakota until he competed in last year’s World of Outlaws
Late Model Series event at
River Cities Speedway.
After punctuating that visit with his first-ever victory
on the national tour, the resident of
Watertown, N.Y., can’t wait to return on Friday night
(July 11) for the high-banked,
quarter-mile oval’s 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main.
“I have real good memories of that place,” Fuller said
with a smile when asked about the
site of his milestone triumph. “You never forget the track
where you get your first big
win.”
A veteran Northeast DIRTcar big-block Modified star who
switched his focus to dirt Late
Model racing last season, Fuller made his River Cities
trip the highlight of his run to the
2007 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year title. He pulled off a
dramatic win, passing Eddie
Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va., for the lead with just
four laps remaining in a whirlwind
50-lapper that was widely acknowledged as one of the most
exciting races on last year’s
tour.
“It was a dream to win the way we did,” recalled the
40-year-old Fuller. “It was just one
of those nights when the stars and the moon lined up right
– the racetrack was good, we
picked the right tires, and I was in the right place at
the right time to get by Carrier in
lapped traffic.”
Fuller still admits that the triumph came much quicker
than he ever expected. He won in
just his 19 th
career WoO LMS start – and just three
races after he cracked the top five for
the first time on the tour.
“With the level of competition on this series, the amount
of time it took us to win one
was real good,” said Fuller. “Was I surprised we won as
soon as we did? Yeah, pretty
much.”
Of course, if you also ask Fuller if he’s surprised that
he’s still looking for his second
WoO LMS victory, you’ll get a simple answer that leaves no
uncertainty about his
feelings: “Yes.”
Fuller was one of the circuit’s top performers in the
months after he broke into Victory
Lane, rolling up nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in
his next 20 starts. He entered the
2008 season with his confidence sky high, but so far this
year he has just three top-five
and five top-10 finishes in 18 events and ranks a distant
ninth in the points standings.
“Everybody says that your second year is always your
worst,” said Fuller. “The
sophomore slump – I never believed in that, but man, it
sure seems like it’s true. We can’t
do anything right now.
“I feel like we’ve actually been running better this year
than we were at the end of last
year, but we can’t get a finish to save our life. That’s
it in a nutshell. I’ve messed up a
few times on tires this year when we had good starting
spots and then backed it up to
(finish) 10 th,
but there’s a couple races I was up front in too and stupid stuff happened
and we dropped out.
“That win last year took all the questions out about
whether we could do it or not,” he
added. “But you have to build on that by taking the next
step and becoming a consistent
top-five runner, like (defending champion Steve) Francis
and other guys who are always
in the hunt, and right now we’re simply not there yet.”
Fuller is hoping that maybe, just
maybe, another visit to River Cities
Speedway might the
tonic for his doldrums so far this season. He followed his
victory with runner-up finishes
in two of the next three WoO LMS events, so why can’t he
do it again?
With Friday’s event at River Cities part of the WoO LMS
‘Wild West Tour’ that will
visit nine tracks in six states and one Canadian province
between July 9 and July 21,
Fuller will have ample opportunity to turn around his
campaign.
“It’s gonna snowball one way or the other for us,” said
Fuller, looking at his long road
trip ahead. “Either what we do works and we’ll go good and
be happy, or it won’t and
we’ll be down in the dumps. Hopefully it’ll go good.”
Fuller will be part of arguably the most talented group of
WoO LMS travelers ever to
invade River Cities Speedway, which is hosting the tour
for the third consecutive year.
Other WoO LMS travelers headed for River Cities include
Ashland, Ky.’s Francis; points
leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who won the 2006
tour stop at River Cities; 20-
year-old Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who enters the
Wild West Tour with a
series-leading four victories this season; Shannon Babb of
Moweaqua, Ill., who drove a
backup car from the 24 th
starting spot to a fast-closing
third-place finish in last year’s 50-
lapper at River Cities; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; Shane
Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.;
Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.;
John Blankenship of
Williamson, W.Va.; and ’08 Rookie of the Year candidates
Vic Coffey of Leicester,
N.Y., and Joe Isabell of Pennellville, N.Y.
A host of regional stars have plans to enter the event,
including Jimmy Mars of
Menomonie, Wis.; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.; Adam
Hensel of Barron, Wis.;
John Anderson of Omaha, Neb.; and Kelly Boen of Henderson,
Col.
Standouts from River Cities’ weekly Super Late Model
division who will look to defend
their home turf include points leader Joey Pederson of
East Grand Forks, Minn., Mike
Balcaen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tom Corcoran of East Grand
Forks, Minn., Steve
Anderson of Grand Forks, N.D., and Brad Seng of Grand
Forks, N.D.
Adding a new element to the big program, this will mark
the first time that River Cities
runs its WoO LMS event on its regular Friday-night date.
The track’s previous shows
were contested as midweek specials.
In addition, the card will also include River Cities’
regular 410 Sprint Car division and
will run in conjunction with the Grand Forks Fair.
On Friday, on-track action is scheduled to begin with hot
laps at 6 p.m.
General admission is $25 on race day, with kids
12-and-under $15. Reserved seats are
available for $28 in advance and $30 on race day.
For ticket information call 218-773-3002, or visit
www.rivercitiesspeedway.com.
More information on the WoO LMS is available by logging on
to
www.worldofoutlaws.com .
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