Fifth Place Finish at Merrittville Keeps Team in the Hunt

By Dave Sully - Even though it’s early in the season, it’s important to record good finishes every week. After winning the previous week from the pole, it was going to be tough to do it from 12th. Mat gave it his all and soldiered to a top five finish on a cool night with a lot of contact on a tacky race track, which produced some frayed nerves during the evening.

Because of the handicapping, Mat started last in his heat. By the time he worked his way past the slower cars, he was unable to catch the leaders who had checked out by the time he got there. He still finished a solid fourth, which put him in that 12th spot on the grid for the feature.

The action was pretty frantic in the feature, with the aforementioned tacky conditions giving some cars speed they wouldn’t normally exhibit. Mat moved up a couple of spots. Then he got shuffled back, but with a concerted effort, moved into sixth. A late pass of Scott Wood produced the top five finish.

Talking about the night, Mat observed, “People were racing like it’s the beginning of the year, and that’s to be expected. There were lots of wrecks. We ran good last week and came out with a top five tonight. The car was pretty good. We just missed the boat on shocks. The track slicked off more than we thought it would, and I was lacking a little bit. It’s nice to come out with a top five after we struggled a bit.”

“The handicap killed us tonight, and we’ll be starting from 12th on back from now on. When the top’s that fast in one and two, you can’t pass. We were running with Pete (Bicknell). He got a good jump on that last restart and he ended up second. It’s the luck of the draw when you get to races like tonight. If you catch a break and somebody slows down or somebody runs into somebody else and you can get under him, it’s a real benefit. It’s tough coming from the back.”

Of the tacky conditions early, he added, “It makes everybody fast. I don’t know if it was my car, but the track seemed to slick off there later in the race. The cushion went away in three and four and made it racy. I could watch those guys ahead of me. It was nice to watch. I wish I could have had a little better finish. I’m just going into next week like it’s a new week. Hopefully, we run good.”

Mat also shared that they’ll be moving into their new shop this week, so they’ll be able to wash the car at home. The new digs will certainly help with a very busy week coming up, with a potential four races in a row, including two tour events.

You can be sure it will be all hands on deck for the task ahead.

Mat Sweeps Weekend With Win At Merrittville

By Dave Sully - Following an impressive effort at Lernerville on Friday, where the team recorded its second win, the team returned home to Merrittville to take on the talented group of weekly 358 pilots. Following a win in the heat, Mat made his pole position starting spot pay off, sparring early with Chad Chevalier, withstanding a strong challenge from Larry Lampman, and then holding off the acknowledged master of Merrittville, Pete Bicknell, to make it two for two on the weekend. You can’t get any better than that.

Mat caught a break in his heat when leader Erik Rudolph suffered transmission problems, which allowed Mat to take the lead after moving up to second from his sixth place starting spot. He wound up winning the heat, which put him on the pole for the feature. At some tracks, the pole is not the most advantageous position, but it was good this night. Mat explained, “It was very important. The bottom was really good. I think this was the first time I’ve started on the pole in about two years, so I had to take advantage of it.”

“You don’t want to go backward when you start on the pole. You need to hit your marks and make sure the car’s really good. We made the right choice on shocks tonight. . I think we screwed ourselves last week on that. My dad and Rob Sawatsky put a real good package together.”

Mat and Chad Chevalier, who started outside him on the front row, swapped the lead a few times in the early going before Mat was able to pull ahead. “I knew the top was fast early,” Mat noted, “I knew it would go away. It was just a matter of time. I just couldn’t let him get ahead of me on the bottom. We had a good race going. It’s good to race with Chad. These guys are all pretty good.”

As the race progressed, Larry Lampman and Pete Bicknell became Mat’s chief tormenters. Larry, driving for Mike Bowman this season, was especially fast on the outside. Bicknell, always on the prowl, moved past Lampman into second on lap 26, with plenty of time to do his thing. A caution on lap 27 put the two side by side for the restart.

Mat got a great run and cleared Bicknell by two car lengths going into turn one. It looked good at that point, but on lap 29 there was another caution, which proved to be a carbon copy of the previous one. Mat got the same great run, cleared Bicknell and this time was able to increase his lead over the remaining laps, putting the opening point night in the win column.

Talking about the restarts, Mat observed, “BRP builds one helluva race car. I get forward drive like nobody else. I can almost flat foot it on the restarts. ERD builds a great motor, so it’s good when you get a couple car lengths going into one. You can give yourself some room for a slip up or two.”

Mat concluded, “You have to take advantage of those opportunities. I’d like to thank my crew. They did a great job.”
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As they say, “You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one.” Well, they did that. It’s king for a week. It’s time to re-cinch and go for more.

Williamson Racing Team Two For Two At Lernerville

By Dave Sully - Make that two in a row for the Williamson Racing team at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, PA on Friday, May 3rd. Using information gleaned from last week, Mat used a late race pass of veteran Jim Weller to win the Big Block Modified Feature, after taking the opening week win when Brian Schwartzlander came up 25 pounds light at the scales.

Mat didn’t need anybody’s help this week, as he started scratch in his heat and improved to third, placing him tenth on the grid for the feature. From there he picked his way forward, putting himself in position for the final push.

Mat explained, “We weren’t exceptional in the heat but we were pretty good. I think we were the fastest car in the heat, but we started too far back, so they kind of checked out on me in the heat. They were gone.”

“We didn’t make a lot of changes between the heat and the feature. We started tenth, got into a jingle early, bounced back and ended up catching the guy with two to go and passed him with two to go, so it was a good night. The track had a little more bite than last week. I don’t know if the Late Models laid down rubber, but it was pretty good. There were some bitey spots. The car was on a rail.”

I’ve got to thank Pat at Bilstein Shocks. He and my dad worked all week on the shocks and I think we’ve got it figured out now. The only sad part of it is we only had one set of them. We were planning on putting them on for Merrittville, but when we got into that wreck we bent the shock.”

We ran the Big Block, and I think Weller was running an open small block (as Schwartzlander did the previous week).I still think the Big Block is the way to go here. It’s kind of hit and miss. If we run last (in the order of events) I don’t know if I’m going to bring my small block or not. It’s still very much up in the air. We’ll learn more as the season goes on. Two weeks from now, our division runs first, so I think the Big Block will be the way to go. The week after, well have to think about running the Small Block. I’m not sure.”

There’s no question that the locals at Lernerville realize that Mat is a force to be reckoned with. Whether that changes their approach remains top be seen, but Mat plans to race them the way they race him, noting, “I’m racing them with respect and trying to earn my keep. Hopefully we’ll race them like that all year.”

Mat concluded, “I’d like to thank my crew and everybody for getting us here. They did a helluva job.”

Williamson Racing Team Notches Top Five Finish in Merrittville Opener

By Dave Sully - With great weather, a large crowd and a slew of cars, the Williamson Racing Team started off the local 2013 season with a fifth place finish in the 35 lap Modified Feature. After finishing second to Erik Rudolph in the third heat, Mat lined up sixth for the feature in his brand new car. After dropping back as far as ninth, Mat was able to stick with the program, dodged the trouble spots and ultimately finished in fifth, losing fourth to Larry Lampman on a late restart. Chad Brachmann made a last second pass of Pete Bicknell to win the race. All in all, it was a good night for the team.

 

Mat explained, “We’re getting it. I think we need minor changes to make the car a little better. Brachmann was definitely good tonight. He passed me in the middle. I was able to get under him a couple of times, but I think track position was a lot tonight. If you could run the top early, you could gain some positions, but you had to be on the bottom late. Todd Gordon got by me early, and it looked like he was going to win the race. He just stayed on the top too long and the bottom came in. The top went away.”

 

“It was good racing because it was side by side. I think we just missed the boat a little bit and hopefully, we’ll get it next week. We’ve just got to make some minor changes and we’ll be up there. It just gets discouraging not winning. It gets in your head, but it is what it is.”

 

I don’t know if a tire didn’t come in, but it took me a while to get going. I think once the track slowed down we got better. It was certainly tight ion the middle. We’ve got to get rid of that. I think we’re going to change two front shocks. That should help.”

 

Though it wasn’t a win, there is plenty to build on. After one race the team is in the thick of what should be a close point battle, with several teams in the mix to finish on top. Time will tell. 

Williamson Racing Team on Top at Lernerville

By Dave Sully  - After an encouraging Big Block foray to Canandaigua a couple of weeks ago, the Williamson Racing Team started its season in earnest at Lernerville Speedway on Friday, April 26th, in fine style by winning the inaugural event of 2013.

Despite a bad draw, which put him at the tail of his heat, Mat wound up winning it. The top three finishers in each heat were placed in the redraw, which, thankfully, was conducted by the track, as Mat, by his own admission, has terrible luck in redraws. The track came through big time, as Mat started on the outside pole, next to Brian Schwartzlander.

Regarding the race, Mat explained, “He got the lead early, and then we got a restart. I
got the lead and built a little bit of an advantage over him, a little bit of a comfort
zone. Then he caught back up to me, and the caution came out. I sealed my right rear
tire over. It was two or three to go. He got by me, and I couldn’t pass him back. . He
went over the scales and was light by a drastic amount. They tried again and he was
still light and they gave the win to us. That’s good because we get a good point lead
this week.”

Unfortunately, as the team was heading home at 11:30, another drama had to be
played out. Mat noted, “Apparently somebody, said that I had a small block and I should have had to weigh more and that I was light going over the scales. That wasn’t the case. I had the big block
I ran in Florida. They made a big stink over it, so they said they had to cube the
engine, and we had to unload the car. They cubed the motor and it turned out we
were well under what we could have been, so there was nothing to worry about.
I’m pretty excited.”

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Schwartzlander runs an open small block,
which isn’t even dirt legal. If the Schwartzlander motor is legal, he might run his small block there as well.

Track conditions for the race were slippery, not ideal for big blocks. Mat observed,
“Schwardzlander was good. No doubt about it. We’ve got some homework to do.
I made the wrong choice on the right rear shock and that hurt us. We’ll get better
for next week. I don’t think the car is what it should be to go down there and win.
I think we were lucky to get a win, but the monkey’s off our back now. I think we’ll
be better as the weeks go on and we figure out the race track. We’re definitely learning.”

Ultimately, a win is a win. Any racer will tell you that you’ll take them any way you
can get them. It really helped to do it at a foreign track, with championship points
at stake. We’ll see what happens next week.

Williamson Racing Team Has Solid Big Block Finish at Canandaigua on April 6th

(Canandaigua, NY) In their first competition north of the Mason-Dixon line after the highly successful Florida excursion during Speed Weeks at Daytona, the No. 6 finished just outside the top ten at Canandaigua's chilly 64 lap season opener on Saturday, April 6th. It was a good early test for the team and an opportunity to get some Big Block laps in on a spacious half mile.

Using the same car and engine that were so successful at Volusia in February, Mat carved out a third place finish in his heat, a race he actually could have won. He explained, "I was leading the heat and blew it off the end of one and two. Sheppard and Homan got by me."

Talking about the effort in the feature, he noted, "We did what we wanted too. We started twelfth and finished eleventh, so we didn't go backwards. We struggled early in the race . It was nice to actually finish a lot better than we thought we were going to early in the race. I never really had lap time at Canandaigua, so it was good to get some lap time there. It would have been nice to get a top ten, that's for sure, but we're going to go back again this week to see how we make out."

Canandaigua is a good starting point, but the plan continues to be to run Lernerville with the Big Block Fridays on a regular basis. The season opener for the central Pennsylvania facility is April 13th, a day the team has circled on its calendar.

Another intriguing development is Humberstone's move back to Sunday after trying unsuccessfully for a while to make a go of it on Friday night. Humberstone has eight modified shows on its schedule, featuring Big Blocks and Small Blocks racing together, with track points being awarded in both divisions. Right now, the team hasn't decided which car to take there.

Regarding track points, Mat offered, "We're going to kind of play it by ear. I'd like to get the Big Block points at Lernerville and the Small Block points at Merrittville. that way we can kind of keep our options open. As of right now, I think we're going to follow the 358 Tour."

The next few weeks will be busy as the team is settling into a new shop that currently doesn't have electricity, so they're currently headquartered at BRP until the new facility is ready to go.

So far, 2013, courtesy of Florida and now Canandaigua, has shown a lot of promise. The 6 team will be hard at work preparing for what promises to be a very busy season.

 

Williamson Racing Team Expresses Gratitude for Florida Success

By Dave Sully - Unquestionably, the recent Florida excursion during Speed Weeks for the Williamson Racing Team was a major success, topped off by the final night performance, which saw Mat time trial fourth, win his heat, and finish seventh in the feature. The team would like to thank Matt Sheppard for his help, encouragement, and insights, along with Matt's car owner Jeff Brownell, who made the big block engine available, along with the equipment required to make it run at peak efficiency. Regarding the engine, appreciation is also extended to Chuck at CC Performance for his assistance in installing it and working to adapt it to Mat's driving style. Without their help, the trip would not have experienced the success that it had.

 

The Team also wants to thank all of the loyal sponsors, whose dedication and support helped to fuel the effort.

 

Mat wanted to extend special kudos to Matt Sheppard's team and the Williamson crew members, Dipper, Teddy, and Rob, along with his dad and Cliff Warner, for their collaboration in getting the early bugs ironed out, never losing focus, which contributed mightily to the success that was ultimately enjoyed.

 

The Team is looking forward to continuing its association with Matt and his team, Jeff, and Chuck in the upcoming season.

 

Once again, thanks to everyone who contributed to making the first Florida trip a memorable one.

 

 Mat and the rest of the Williamson Racing Team