RPW Column: Peter Britten Defends Home Turf Against Super DIRTcar Series Best At Land Of Legends

Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – CANANDAIGUA, NY – With the Super DIRTCar Series’ Liberty 100 getting postponed twice due to weather, it sparked an idea from DIRTCar NE.

Due to the Beasts of the Northeast returning for more stops to Land of Legends, two 60 lap features would go down. One is the July 1st/20th makeup, the other on the schedule.

Tim Fuller and Peter Britten made up the front row for the first 60-lapper and went door-to-door for a complete lap, with Fuller clearing Britten to lead the first. Behind them, a wad of cars as Mat Williamson, Larry Wight, Matt Sheppard, and Jimmy Phelps duke at it for the final podium.

Going up on his trademark “Lightning Lane,” Wight would pull away to hold onto third on lap two. Sheppard thought about looking to the high side entering the first turn on lap three, but no ground could be made up. Williamson would challenge Wight for P3 on the bottom and would successfully make the pass.

Still, it would reset as the first yellow came out for Stewart Friesen, suffering a right front flat.

Fuller selected the bottom on the restart, but Britten fired better and would have more bite on the exit of turn two to take the lead from Fuller. Suddenly, Britten would pull away from Fuller and increase the lead to 2.5 seconds at halfway.

And increase the lead.

It was remarkable. Even in lapped traffic starting on lap 20, Britten was still nailing quicker lap times than those behind him. Usually, a driver could reel in his prey, but it wasn’t the case here. 20 to go, Britten had a 4.9-second advantage. By five to go, a 9.3-second lead was getting faster lap times than Erick Rudolph and Tim Fuller by over a quarter. Britten would win by 9.5 seconds at the checkers to win the first feature of the Twin 60s.

“I knew I had a lead, but you never know how much. There’s always a chance someone could pull you in. Just praying there wasn’t going to be a caution,” Britten told RPW. “Over the moon, it’s an awesome feeling.”

This was Britten’s first Super DIRTCar Series win since 2017, when he won at Sharon Speedway. Britten is also a regular at Land of Legends on Saturdays.

“A Series win anywhere is awesome,” Britten said. “To do it at one of my home tracks is great. Icing on the cake,”

A tradition started by Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo is a shoey. They celebrate a win by drinking a beverage (usual alcohol) out of a shoe. Would Britten consider it?

“I wasn’t going to. I cringe at the thought after two features, but Ricciardo does it, so why not?” Britten said while chuckling.

In the championship picture, points leader Stewart Friesen rebounded from the flat tire to finish 7th and even beat Matt Sheppard to the end, who finished in 10th.

Big props, too, go out to Jack Lehner, who came from a provisional position in 26th position to finish 5th by running the top side of the track. Incredible points day for “The Ginja Ninja,” who entered the night 13th in standings 173 markers behind Friesen.

“It was awesome. The car was good anywhere I wanted to put it. I was running the top because it was the open lane. We just threw some stuff at it. Maybe to get engaged for the later one. Turned out to be pretty good for it,” Lehner explained.

The Super DIRTCar Series returns on August 12th for the Centennial 102 at the historic Orange County Fair Speedway. This week, Land of Legends has a Saturday Spectacular, including the Empire Super Sprints and Patriot Sprint Tour, double-action of 360 Sprint Car competition.

For more quotes from Britten and Friesen, check out the RSN Trackside Facebook page.

Twin 60 Race 1 (60 Laps)
21a Peter Britten, 2. 25 Erick Rudolph (9.531s), 3. 19 Tim Fuller (12.035s), 4. 98H Jimmy Phelps (12.460s), 5. 2L Jack Lehner (12.771s), 6. 99L Larry Wight (13.741s), 7. 44 Stewart Friesen (14.883s), 8. 88 Mat Williamson (15.456s), 9. 83x Tim Sears Jr. (21.198s), 10. 9s Matt Sheppard (21.239s), 11. 91 Billy Decker (-1L), 12. 32c Max McLaughlin (-1L), 13. 111 Demetrios Drellos (-1L), 14. 5H Chris Hile (-1L), 15. 34 Kevin Root (-1L), 16. 35 Mike Mahaney (-1L), 17. 32R Ronnie Davis (-1L), 18. 19w Justin Wright (-1L), 19. 3h Justin Haers (-1L), 20. 23c Kyle Coffey (-1L), 21. 121t Gary Tomkins (-1L), 22. M1 Dave Marcuccilli (-1L), 23. 7z Zach Payne (-1L), 24. 28M Jordan McCreadie (-1L), 25. 48t Dave Rauscher (-3L), 26. 215p Adam Pierson (-12L), 27. 14j Alan Johnson (-10L), 28. 42p Pat Ward (-11L)
Fastest Lap: 19 Tim Fuller (20.441s)