Emmett Waldron’s expectations are high. He expects to win races and championships.
And on Sunday at Weedsport Speedway, he earned one of the biggest victories of his career, passing Tristan Ladouceur with five laps to go to win the 11th edition of the Sportsman Classic.
The Savannah, NY driver’s win put him eight points behind Shane Pecore in the DIRTcar Sportsman Series standings with two races to go.
“This is badass up here on Victory Hill,” Waldron said. “I used to weed this thing a couple of years ago.
“I just knew I had to send it in there and pass them guys going into (Turn 1). I didn’t know how many more restarts we were going to have. I didn’t see [Flagger Dave Farney] show five to go. Then I saw him put two up and knew I had to go.”
Ladouceur took the early lead in the 75-lap Feature, driving away from Hunter Hollenbeck in the race’s first two laps. His momentum was quickly slowed, however, as Sullivan Dickey brought out the race’s first caution on Lap 2.
When the race resumed, Ladouceur, from Alexandria, ON, continued his pace out front, getting ahead of Hollenbeck’s No. 72. Behind Ladouceur, Waldron and reigning DIRTcar Sportsman Series champion Cody McPherson moved forward, with Waldron gaining second by Lap 17, and McPherson taking over third by Lap 45 from eighth.
As Ladouceur dominated out front, he eventually caught the tail of the field during a 53-lap green flag run. At first, he kept Waldron at a distance. However, eventually, Waldron began to catch up to the Canadian competitor as Ladouceur struggled to navigate the traffic.
Waldron wasn’t the only car catching the No. 92, either. McPherson started closing in on Ladouceur as well, making it a three-car battle for the lead in traffic on Lap 57. That’s also when McPherson, from St. Catharines, ON, took his chance at the Sportsman Classic win.
Entering Turns 1 and 2, McPherson swung around the outside of Waldron to take second. Then, he pulled even with Ladouceur down the backstretch and appeared to take the lead in Turn 3. However, a caution for Mike Fowler negated the pass for the lead, giving Ladouceur back the top spot.
When the green came back out, Ladouceur reassumed control of the lead. But McPherson had another chance to wrestle the position away. On Lap 60, Ladouceur left the inside lane open for McPherson, allowing the No. 1 car to slide ahead of him in the middle of the corner. But Ladouceur was saved by another yellow flag, as Nigel Pendykoski and Riley Rogala tangled.
On the restart, Ladouceur switched lanes and ran the bottom, taking away McPherson’s momentum as they entered Turn 3. However, he left the outside lane open for Waldron, who rolled around the middle of the track to re-take second.
Ladouceur stayed on the bottom, and Waldron’s momentum quickly brought him to the leader’s back bumper. Waldron remained in the middle of the track, pulling even with Ladouceur. But for six consecutive laps, he couldn’t find enough momentum to make the pass, as Ladouceur would slide in front of him through Turns 3 and 4.
That changed on Lap 70, though, as Waldron drove the car into Turns 3 and 4 harder, a move that paid off as he powered around Ladouceur to take the lead.
Emmett Waldron passes Tristan Ladouceur for the Win at Weedsport/Joe Grabianowski
From there, no one was catching Waldron as he went on to score the $2,500 Sportsman Classic win, and his second career DIRTcar Sportsman victory.
Waldron said he had to be patient with Ladouceur and wait until his line on the outside opened.
“I couldn’t really turn down and drive underneath him there, so I had to wait for him to do it again,” Waldron said. “He finally didn’t see me that one time I got a good run coming into three, and it paid off.”
McPherson passed Ladouceur with two laps to go to finish second. Despite his podium finish, he said he felt he gave that race away on the final restart.
“Before that last restart, Tristan started running the top,” McPherson said. “So, I thought that was what he was going to do again. He just held the bottom, and I committed to the bottom. Emmett got a good run on the top, and then I was kind of blocked in there.”
Ladouceur held on for third and earned his best Weedsport finish. He said he had a good car for most of the night, but that things changed on the Lap 60 restart.
“I think if we didn’t get a yellow there at the end, we would’ve really had a shot at it,” Ladouceur said. “After the yellow, the car just kind of went away on me, and I couldn’t keep up with the top two.”
With Ladouceur’s third-place finish and a seventh by Shane Pecore, Ladouceur is one point behind Pecore in the DIRTcar Sportsman Series title chase.
Tyler Corcoran finished fourth, and Cody Manitta rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Sportsman Series heads to Super DIRT Week 53 (Oct. 6-11) at Oswego Speedway for the Great Lakes 75 on Saturday, Oct. 11.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all of the Super DIRT Week action on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
Sportsman Classic (75 Laps): 1. 4-Emmett Waldron[6]; 2. 1-Cody McPherson[7]; 3. 92T-Tristan Ladouceur[1]; 4. 64-Tyler Corcoran[10]; 5. 6-Cody Manitta[11]; 6. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[2]; 7. 0-Shane Pecore[8]; 8. 21J-Justin Liechti[21]; 9. 52-Jessica Power[13]; 10. 18-Gavin Eisele[15]; 11. 714-Chris Darling[9]; 12. 10G-Austin Germinio[3]; 13. T69-Travis Green[23]; 14. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr[20]; 15. 20K-Kyle Perry[26]; 16. 44-Ryan Barrett[18]; 17. 33-Richard Murtaugh[5]; 18. 25-Evan Nugent[24]; 19. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[29]; 20. 78JR-Nigel Pendykoski[4]; 21. 9-Logan Brown[17]; 22. 10-Trevor Houghton[28]; 23. 16X-Savannah Laflair[27]; 24. 14-Samuel Groom[25]; 25. 410-Mike Fowler[22]; 26. R1-Riley Rogala[12]; 27. 28$-Brian Harber[30]; 28. 0F-Tony Finch II[19]; 29. 17-Caleb Durgan[14]; 30. 54-Sullivan Dickey[16]
