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

Williamson Racing Team Finishes Speed Weeks in Florida on a High Note

By Dave Sully - (Barberville, Florida) The Williamson Racing Team peaked on the final night, turning in their best performance of the week in their big block debut in Florida. Buoyed by a strong 11thplace finish on Friday, when Mat won his consi and then moved up from his twenty-first place starting spot, he outdid himself on Saturday, timing fourth overall, which put him on the front row in his heat. Concerning that qualifying effort Mat revealed, “Just a combination in the setup. We changed the carburetor, and I learned the track a little bit more by the time we got to time trial on Saturday.

He grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and wound up holding off none other than Danny Johnson for most of the race, crossing the line in first, for his second checkered flag of the week. Mat noted, “Actually, I didn’t sense that Danny was back there. I didn’t know how close he was. That was good.”

Mat drew six in the redraw, and, after being shuffled back at the start, reasserted himself and finished a solid seventh, putting him 16th in points, despite not qualifying on Thursday. Mat explained, “We struggled early. I was trying to putt around the bottom, but I kept getting tight off, so I started to roll the middle there and then got past a couple cars that got past me earlier. We just got a good race going.” It was a fine performance for the whole team, and Mat thanked them profusely whenever he could.

As has been stated often, the trip was meant to be a learning experience, and it certainly was. It gives them a leg upon the competition when the season starts, especially in the big blocks. Mat put it this way, “It was a good end to the week. It felt good to get our stuff together before anyone else at home.”

Of the overall experience Mat concluded, “It was great. I loved it. It was a great experience. I’m pretty happy with the way everything went down.” After the initial success on opening night, things went down hill on Thursday. What turned things around? Mat responded, “We put Matt’s (Sheppard) setup in, and we figured out that I don’t drive like him, so we put our setup back in and started running better. It felt good.”

Things stay busy, as Mat noted that they have to get back to St Catharines to put a small block car together for a car show coming up. You can bet they’ll be in a good mood for the task, following their success in the Sunshine State.

Williamson Racing Team Bounces Back Big Time on Friday at Volusia

By Dave Sully - (Barberville, Florida) After Thursday night when the team struggled and the learning curve took a dip, Mat declared that they would figure it out and come back strong. You always feel like you’re going to do that, and Mat was indeed prophetic as the team bounced back to record its best performance of the week.

The team put a setup in the car they were familiar with, made the right tire choice, and Mat showed that he was becoming familiar with the nuances of the big half mile.“We scaled the car yesterday and got it back to what we run at Merrittville, and it’s been pretty good since then,” Mat explained. “We basically tried to do what Matt (Sheppard) did with his race car, but it didn’t work. It’s learning curve. We had to try it. We need to work slowly to get better with what we have.”

Mat explained, “We went out for hot laps and the carburetor started bubbling. We got in and changed that and went back out for the heat. We were decent. It’s hard to pass. We went out for the consi started on the outside pole, got out front and won by half a lap. It felt good to just win down here, even if it’s just a consi. Hopefully we can time trial a little better on Saturday. We’re in a tough group. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get it. ”

That finish put him in 21st starting spot for the feature.

“Was the improvement due to the driver or the setup?” I asked.

He replied, “I think it was a little bit of both. We’re coming down here to a new track. It’s definitely hard if you don’t have your own setup. At least I knew the race car, so I could learn the race track instead of learning both at the same time. We’ve run into problem after problem this week.”

In the feature, he drove a solid race, passed some cars, stayed out of trouble and finished a solid eleventh, which was a great morale builder for the team going into the final night on Saturday.

Team Struggles on Thursday at Volusia; Vows to Persevere

By Dave Sully

As hard as it was to qualify on opening night, the job got considerably more daunting on Thursday. With the machinations of the pill draw to determine time trial groups, which set the lineup for the heat races, Mat found himself sharing the track with an All Star Team, which included Brett Hearn, Stewart Friesen, Danny Johnson, and Andy Bachetti, among others.

Needless to say, things didn’t go well in the time trial session, with Mat ending up ninth out of ten, placing him in an unenviable position. He ended up finishing ninth out of ten in the heat, relegating him to the second consi to try to make the show. With only two qualifying spots available, it was going to be an uphill battle, with passing at a premium any way. Mat ended up 7th in the consi and didn’t make the feature.

“We’re struggling right now, “ Mat remarked. We’ve got to get back to the basics. We’re trying different things. Last night, we ran the same setup as Matt (Sheppard), but it didn’t help. The bottom of the track (where Mat traditionally likes to run) was soup and tacky, while the top was only one lane, so that made things even tougher. We’ll figure it out.”

It would be easy to get discouraged, but putting the whole experience in perspective, the team’s goal is to get big block seat time and experience at a big fast half mile. Whatever the results, they are getting that experience, and, hey, you can’t beat the weather.