A Top Five at Humberstone Completes Busy Weekend

By Dave Sully - (Pt Colborne, Ontario) After debuting a brand new car on Saturday, which produced a sixth place finish, the team continued to chase the setup on Sunday at the Canada Day Modified event at Humberstone on Sunday, July 1st. After qualifying for the Outlaw Redraw (where each driver must give the position they draw to another driver), he ended up starting sixth.

While action was fast and furious around him, in dusty conditions, Mat tinkered as much as he could, but in the end he was able to gain only one position, finishing fifth, after a spirited battle for fourth with Tom Flannigan, who was able to prevail for the spot running on the outside.

It was a case of trying to dial the car in for the next serious test, the “Battle of the Border, at Ransomville on Tuesday, July 3rd, which is also a 358 Modified Series event. Since no points were involved at Humberstone, the team chose to look at the big picture.

Mat, sounding somewhat frustrated, noted, “It’s part of experimenting. Sometimes you hit the nail on the head; some times you’ve got to experiment a little bit. We’ll get it. I can’t step on the gas like these guys can. They just drive off like nobody else can. We’re getting beat somewhere, and we’re going to have to figure it out. It was a top five car tonight. That’s for sure. It’s just little stuff. I know we’ll get it. There’s no doubt about that.”

Of the race, where he ran low most of the night, he added, “I knew the top was faster in three and four. That’s where they were getting me. I could get them in one and two, but they’d get me better in three and four.”

Regarding his duel with Flannigan, with Mat hugging the bottom, he noted, “That was good side by side racing for sure.”

Despite running a grueling three races in three days, with a 75 lapper scheduled on Tuesday, Mat noted optimistically, “No Problem. We’ll be ready.”