It didn’t start out well, as Mat, lined up third, watched Dave Murdick explode to a big lead at the drop the green, while Mat immediately took second. Murdick’s big lead vanished on a lap three restart, but he re-established his advantage when the race resumed. A restart on lap seven gave Mat another shot on the outside, and this time the No. 6 took off and he beat Murdick to the first turn. After some contact, Mat was able to clear the No. 61 of Murdick and grab the lead.
It was still very early and things didn’t get any easier. After Mat held off Murdick on a lap nine restart, Mat’s chief rival, Brian Schwartzlander, out-muscled Murdick for second on lap 12 and immediately applied intense pressure, but Mat was able to keep him at bay. On lap 15, the caution flew, giving Schawartzlander a chance to make a move, but Mat got a great restart to maintain command.
On lap 21, with the two now in lap traffic and Schwartzlander nipping at Mat’s heels, the two came out of turn four with a slower car right in the driving lane. Mat dove low and was able to hold off a determined bid by Schwartzlander to wrest the lead away. Over the final four laps, with family and friends in the stands holding their collective breaths, Mat held his line, while Schwartzlander did everything he could to spoil the party. In the end, Mat prevailed by a close margin, a great ending to a great season in Pennsylvania.
Talking about the race, Mat declared, “I needed a restart to get by Murdick. We had one and he kind of played games. On the second one, I thought, ‘If you’re going to play games, I can play games too.’ We just capitalized on that second restart. I had him by a nose going into one, and I didn’t lift. I pounded off the cushion and came off two ahead of him. I knew if he stayed on the bottom, and I could stay on the top, I could maintain with him. We capitalized on that. We had a couple more restarts, and I just had to pick up the top; it was good from there.”
Of his race with Schwartzlander, he added, “I just tried to make the car as wide as I could get it. When you’re down in horsepower, and you’re up front, you’ve got to keep as much speed up as you can. Don’t lose your momentum and that’s what we did. I saw him poking his nose in. I just got nervous and kept plugging.”
How important was the win? “It means a lot, added Mat. “Terry Vince builds one heckuva motor, and it showed last night. That’s our Syracuse motor from last year and we plan on running it at Syracuse again this year.”
With the Lernerville program succeeding beyond their wildest expectations, the team will head back to Merrittville tomorrow for the season-ending John Spencer Memorial, hoping for the best.
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