Mat Rebounds at Ransomville

By Dave Sully - (Ransomville, NY)After a disappointing night at Mohawk, where Mat saw a good chance to score his first 358 Series win scuttled by an ailing motor, he came back strong on Friday night, June 22nd at Ransomville. Returning from the journey to Hogansburg, Dipper and the crew rolled out the second car and made it ready for battle.

 

Things didn’t start very well, as Mat lost the final qualifying spot in his heat on the front straightaway on the final lap, forcing him to run the consi.  Mat scored a third place finish in the consi, which saw him placed 21^st on the grid of 28 cars. After considerable discussion, with plenty of give and take, the team agreed on what changes were needed on the car, and they seemed to work.

 

The car was hooked up for the feature, and Mat used the bottom of the track to perfection. With the 30 lap race slowed by only one caution, it was up to the driver to provide a good finish, and Mat didn’t disappoint, as he kept digging the entire way. He ended up with a hard earned seventh place finish. The solid performance somewhat dulled the pain of the Mohawk disappointment and renewed the optimism in the No. 6 camp.

 

Commenting on the night, Mat declared, “It was there. We’re still better than where we finished tonight, but we came from the back tonight. I wish it could have been a hundred laps. The car was good. We were definitely set up for the track to get slicker than it was, so it was good. The guys hustled their butts off today and got it out there. It’s definitely a comeback”.

 

With Chad Brachmann dominating the event, Mat realizes that improvement is necessary.  He noted, “We have to keep experimenting until we find something good. Brachmann is definitely the car to beat here. I want to be better than him, so we’re going to have to lose some races to find out how to win some races. It’s a gamble every night. Tonight we changed the shocks and the wedge a little bit. It was good.”

 

With little time to contemplate, it’s on to Merrittville on Saturday to do it all over again.