By Dave Sully - Thorold, ON- Following a good performance at Lernerville on Friday, resulting in a second place finish, Mat and the team found themselves still chasing the setup a little bit. After a third place finish in his heat, Mat started sixth in the feature. While Todd Gordon held sway at the front, joined later by Shayne Pierce, Pete Bicknell, and Tom Flannigan, Mat found himself in a pitched battle with Mike Bowman for fifth.
As the race in front consumed most of the interest, Mat and Bowman, who were both fast, went at it in the heavy going. At one point there was some heavy contact going down the front stretch. Mat took exception to it, and took a run at Bowman in turn two.
After that, Bowman spent the rest of the time trying to catch up to Mat, which he was unable to do, though he got close. Mat ended up fourth after Flannigan broke late, with Bowman fifth. On the cool down lap, Bowman expressed his displeasure with Mat by trying to spin him out on the front stretch. Warned by race director Bob St. Amand, not to pursue that course of action, Bowman followed Mat to the inspection area off pit road, where he reportedly exited his car, went over to Mat, still in his car. Officials quickly stopped that action, but when Mat exited his car another melee ensued, which was broken up by officials and bystanders.
Tempers still ran hot some time afterward, with no word at this time on any penalties.
Talking about the on-track incidents, Mat declared, “When you race some guys as hard as they race you, they sometimes get a little upset about it. We can take it and we can put it out. It was hard racing for sure. He (Bowman) came up on me on the front straightaway and took my left front out of my hands. Took the left front away and got by me. I got back by him and he tried to chop me going into turn one. I drove it in hard and took the wheel out of his hands. That’s one thing about racing. You’ve got to be able to take it, if you can put it out. When you can’t take it, but you want to put it out every week, you’re not going to get much respect from anybody. What happened in the pits was just emotions running high at the end of the race.”
About the race, Mat explained, “We’re trying some stuff to try and get better. Sometimes it helps you and sometime it hurts you. Tonight we were just holding on for fifth. Everybody’s racing hard.”
Fourth place is good most nights and on a hot night, literally and figuratively, with a full moon to boot, you file this in the back of your mind, and get ready for the next race. There’s still a long way to go.
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