Good Finish at Lernerville Keeps Williamson Racing Team on Top

By Dave Sully - (Sarver, PA) If you don’t win, second is the next best thing you can do, and that’s what Mat accomplished on Friday, May 17th at Lernerville Speedway. After soldiering to a fifth place finish in the heat, after starting eighth, Mat was able to come from tenth on the grid to record the runner-up spot behind Brian Schwartzlander. In so doing, he maintained the point lead.

Talking about the night, Mat commented, “I think we were faster than Brian, for sure. I just needed longer green flag runs. He was a lot better than me on restarts. I really didn’t need a restart with three or four to go. On the last restart he got away from me by half a straightaway, and at the line I was right on his bumper. We were faster than him when we were reeling him in, but he was better on the short runs. I needed the track to stay green and we’d have been fine. It was tough because it was so fast on the bottom. If I could have gotten to Brian, I don’t know if I could have passed him or not, just with it being so fast on the bottom.”

“I just have to get better on those restarts. Maybe next week, when we start toward the front, depending on the redraw, we’ll capitalize on it. Starting position is a big thing there. It’s tough to come from the back. We took advantage of it tonight, and we did all right.”

Lernerville mixes the order for their features, with the Mods the first one this night. Talking about that, Mat shared, “I liked going out first tonight, because the track was a little bit faster, but it still got slick. I think when we run last, it takes a driver to race instead of a race car, so we’re going to find out next week. I like it slipperier. Certainly with a Big Block, it helps to go out first, but I like it later on because you can pass, and it’s not so much one lane on the bottom.”

Each week is a learning experience, and the result was positive this night. With three races in the next three days (Merrittville, Cornwall, and Merrittville), there are challenges ahead.