The DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Great Lakes 75 will be led to the green flag by a new face in 2026.
Twenty-three-year-old Tyler Peet clinched the SRI Performance / Stock Car Steel Pole Award Thursday afternoon at Oswego Speedway in his third appearance at Super DIRT Week presented by StubHub, and later backed it up with a Heat Race win. The Pennsylvania native has only two previous showings at “The Clay Palace,” but looked right at home racing the dirt-covered 5/8-mile oval with a clear display of speed and skill behind the wheel of the Woodframe Structures No. 9G.
Like Peet, 23 other drivers have also been locked into the main event via Qualifying and Heat Races, all of whom are vying for the $5,000 grand prize on Saturday afternoon.
Super Six (Eight) Qualifying
With a grand total of 90 entries in the field, Qualifying was split into four groups instead of its originally scheduled six, taking the fastest two from each group and re-qualifying them for their starting spots in Saturday’s main event.
Peet was among the final two cars to hit the track in the re-qualifying session and outpaced all seven other drivers with his lap time of 23.081. Second-fastest was Cody McPherson at 23.271, who was disqualified in post-Qualifying technical inspection for a carburetor infraction. This gave third-fastest Tristan Ladouceur the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award with his time of 23.291. Ladouceur was followed by Jessica Power (23.334), Mike Fowler (23.511), Tanner Warner (23.575), Chris Darling (23.635), and Karl Comfort (23.665).
Gavin Eisele was moved up one spot in the Group 3 Qualifying results due to McPherson’s disqualification and was awarded the corresponding guaranteed starting spot inside the top four rows for Saturday’s main event.
Heat Race #1
Tristan Ladouceur has had a standout 2026 campaign thus far with 14 Feature wins in DIRTcar Sportsman Modified competition and a spot atop the Sportsman Series points standings with only two races remaining. One of which is the Great Lakes 75, which would forever stand as one of the biggest wins in his young career should he taste victory Saturday evening.
The Ontario native got a jumpstart on that feat with a flag-to-flag win in the first Heat Race Thursday night, leading all 15 laps unchallenged to clinch victory over Jessica Power, Zachary Buff, Joe Trichilo, David Hackett, and Chris Crane Jr. — all of whom transfer into Saturday’s main event.
Brent Smith Photo
“It’s pretty cool (racing around Oswego Speedway),” Ladouceur said. “We always dream of being here. To be a Qualifier winner is pretty awesome.”
Heat 1 (15 Laps): 1. 92T-Tristan Ladouceur[1]; 2. 52-Jessica Power[2]; 3. 01-Zachary Buff[4]; 4. 32-Joe Trichilo[3]; 5. 82-David Hackett[8]; 6. 711-Chris Crane Jr[12]; 7. 33-Richard Murtaugh[11]; 8. 23-Chad Gregory[16]; 9. 26-Derrick McGrew[9]; 10. 711X-Connor Crane[5]; 11. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[7]; 12. 28-Brian Harber[10]; 13. 10H-Trevor Houghton[6]; 14. 22-Parker Fowler[22]; 15. 21J-Justin Liechti[18]; 16. 55-Jonathan Feagles[17]; 17. 41S-Chase Spoor[20]; 18. 20T-Preston Trautschold[14]; 19. 44M-Mason Rogers[13]; 20. 1I-Daniel Odell[21]; 21. (DNF) R1-Riley Rogala[19]; 22. (DNF) 59K-Dakota Kohler[15]; 23. (DNS) 16-Matt Barbour
Heat Race #2
Veteran DIRTcar Sportsman Modified talent Mike Fowler has long been an entrant at Oswego in October, but never has he experienced the thrill of a win at Super DIRT Week. This year, the Fulton, NY-resident has a big opportunity to cash-in for that first triumph during Racing’s Biggest Party, starting with his flag-to-flag win in Heat Race #2 Thursday night.
For 15 laps, Fowler ruled the 5/8-mile oval, driving to the checkered flag unchallenged for the win over Josh Sokolic, Josh Coonradt, Trevor Catalano, and Austin Germinio — all of whom qualified for Saturday’s Feature.
Brent Smith Photo
“The car has not been the same every time we’ve hit the track,” Fowler said. “We’ve made adjustments to it, and every time we hit the track, it’s a little bit better. There’s room for improvement, but overall, I’m happy with it. We had a pretty good piece.”
Heat 2 (15 Laps): 1. 410-Mike Fowler[1]; 2. 6S-Josh Sokolic[4]; 3. 00X-Josh Coonradt[5]; 4. 56-Trevor Catalano[7]; 5. 10G-Austin Germinio[3]; 6. 11A-Anthony Alger[8]; 7. 12G-Matt Guererri[12]; 8. 8KL-Karl Letendre[6]; 9. 29H-Nick Heywood[13]; 10. 185-Tyler Puchalski[11]; 11. 4W-Rob Wirth[14]; 12. 45-Michael Lupold[10]; 13. 63-Dylan Woodworth[22]; 14. 113JR-Frank Guererri[20]; 15. 10K-Kolyn Schane[15]; 16. 12-Owen Bird[17]; 17. 9-Logan Brown[16]; 18. 20-Brayden Bullock[18]; 19. 18JR-Madyson Rouse[19]; 20. 61-Alexander Palmer Sawyer[21]; 21. 78-Tanner Warner[2]; 22. 54C-Tommy Catalano[9]
Heat Race #3
After Gavin Eisele received word that he’d been awarded a guaranteed starting spot in Saturday’s Feature after the McPherson disqualification, some pressure came off him, but that did not dampen his efforts in Heat Race #3.
The LaFargeville, NY-native dominated, leading all 15 laps unchallenged to score the win and further solidify his top-eight starting spot for the Great Lakes 75 over fellow main event transfers Chris Darling, Tony Finch II, Owen Lewis, John Drumond, and AJ Albreada.
Brent Smith Photo
“We were supposed to start third but ended up starting second, and now we’re locked into the top eight, which is great,” Eisele said. “Had a really good car. Looking forward to the Feature on Saturday.”
Heat 3 (15 Laps): 1. 18-Gavin Eisele[2]; 2. 714-Chris Darling[1]; 3. 0-Tony Finch II[3]; 4. 19-Owen Lewis[4]; 5. 31J-John Dumond[7]; 6. 22AJ-AJ Albreada[11]; 7. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[10]; 8. 6-Cody Manitta[12]; 9. 12P-Connor Prokop[5]; 10. 92-Frank Sibley[6]; 11. 916-Nick Brundige[21]; 12. 51-Bryan Preville[14]; 13. 78JR-Nigel Pendykoski[8]; 14. 7-Cody McPherson[23]; 15. 10X-Cory Castell[9]; 16. 31G-Cayden Graham[15]; 17. 2-Greg Henry[18]; 18. 1F-AJ Lloyd[19]; 19. 3-Stephen Bushey[20]; 20. 4-Kobe Hernandez[17]; 21. 16-Matt Barbour; 22. 111-Henry Desmoreau[22]; 23. 50-William August[16]; 24. 3N-Noah Mamo[13]
Heat Race #4
After capturing the pole award during the day and a Heat Race win under the lights, Tyler Peet has shown he’ll be a worthy contender in the chase for the $5,000 grand prize and DIRTcar Northeast immortality on Saturday.
The Pennsylvanian reigned supreme for all 15 laps, never once letting his competition challenge him for the top spot. He collected the checkered flag and the $500 check for his efforts over Karl Comfort, Tyler Stevenson, Taylor Wason, Bodie Marks and Camron Hotaling — all transfers into Saturday’s Feature.
Brent Smith Photo
“We threw some wholesale changes at it to try, and I think we got a little better,” Peet said. “The track is in great shape right now, so I hope it is something like what we get Saturday. We’ll keep fighting and see what happens.”
Heat 4 (15 Laps): 1. 9G-Tyler Peet[1]; 2. 10-Karl Comfort[2]; 3. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[8]; 4. 07W-Taylor Wason[4]; 5. 33M-Bodie Marks[10]; 6. 98-Camron Hotaling[3]; 7. 3H-Cole Hentschel[9]; 8. 83-Brett Sears[7]; 9. 64-Tyler Corcoran[21]; 10. 44-David Rogers[12]; 11. 15X-Kyle DeMetro[5]; 12. 29-Matt Ellery[11]; 13. 13-Steve Davis[16]; 14. 0W-Broden Weiler[22]; 15. 4S-Stephen Stasko[19]; 16. BK2-Kelly Smith[18]; 17. 28L-Lea Jeanne Lauziere[17]; 18. 27R-John Redner[15]; 19. 77-Garrett Biagiarelli[20]; 20. B17-Randy Brokaw[13]; 21. 54-Sullivan Dickey[14]; 22. (DNS) 35T-Cameron Tuttle
UP NEXT
Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub at Oswego Speedway continues for the DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds on Saturday, Oct. 10, with the running of the Great Lakes 75.
Tickets and event information are available at SuperDIRTWeek.com. If you can’t be there in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
