By Dean Reynolds

Drummondville, PQ – Proving last years win during his rookie campaign was no fluke and shedding the sophomore jinx, Alexandria, Ont. Lee Ladouceur led wire to wire to claim career win #2 with the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints (ESS). The win came at Autodrome Drummond with the triumph for the Northwood 2 Construction/LaSalle Motorsports Canadian Sprint Car Series event worth $2,100.

The nightly invert pill for the Fondations 4 Saisons A-Main was key for Ladouceur’s quest, it put his WestFront Construction Maxim on the pole with teammate Brian McDonald right along side.  “The invert worked great for me, I’m on the pole and someone you know and trust is next to you.” noted Ladouceur in his little bit of good fortune but with a little chuckle.  “The only thing was, I had to make sure I beat him (McDonald) to turn one!” 

Indeed he did what he set out to do with the #51 nosing ahead of the #151KB of McDonald.  From there it was to be 25 tours with the right moves and no mistakes. 

“After the heats I knew I had a good car.  The track was rough for the dash and I didn’t feel comfortable but when I saw that they did work on the track after the dash I just decided to stay where we were and hoped it worked.” said the driver who builds his own motors. 

While there was some of the best behind his mount which included McDonald, Michael Parent and Alain Bergeron, Ladouceur was going to make it easy for anyone to get into the winner’s circle. 

Even though there were two early cautions, lapped traffic was part of the story but the leader was ready.  “I tried to attack the lap cars this time.  I have held back before and it bit me” Ladouceur on the strategy.  “By running hard I really didn’t have a problem with any of them and when you know you’re getting through well the guy behind you has to do the same to keep up.” 

The challengers never really had a run they needed but on lap 17, the whole outlook of the race changed.  Parent made a move inside of McDonald and they came together which also collected Bergeron.  The damage was enough to knock McDonald and Bergeron from the A-Main, Parent continued. 

While it was a misfortune for some, it was a blessing for Jeff Cook who shot from fifth past Parent and into the runner-up slot which is where he stayed when the checkered flag waved.  Parent held on for third, the winner the night before atGranby, Justin Barger claimed fourth to build in his point lead.  Mike Stelter had a fine run to take fifth.

Rounding out the top ten were Steve Poirier, who took over second in points and also leads the Canadian Series points, Lance Yonge, Doug Emery, Jim Porter and Justin Harris.