Mat Scratches Out Sixth at Merrittville

By Dave Sully  - (Thorold, Ontario) On a night when it seemed like everyone was very fast, moving forward was difficult at best. The Williamson Racing Team’s No. 6 car had a good start on the evening, with Mat finishing third in his heat after starting sixth. That finish earned him the tenth starting spot for the feature, outside point leader Pete Bicknell.

The feature turned into a race within a race for Mat. While Chad Chevalier set a blistering pace before ultimately succumbing to Scott Wood in lapped traffic late in the race, Mat and Pete staged an epic battle back in the field. It didn’t end until they reached the checkered flag, with Mat finishing sixth, edging Pete by one spot and snipping two points off of Pete’s eighteen point lead.

Mat and Pete swapped sixth and seventh several times during the intense event, as Mat vainly tried to make moves on fifth place finisher Tom Flannigan as well as racing Pete. That’s pretty heady stuff when you come right down to it.

Mat was satisfied with the finish, noting to crew chief “Dipper” Windeatt that everyone was fast tonight.

Commenting on the car, crewman Wayne Conn observed, “We just seemed to miss the setup tonight in regard to the shocks. We should have put on a certain type of shock and we didn’t, so instead of digging into the ground, we were sort of skimming off the top of the track.”

Normally Mat can adjust the car during a caution period. Wayne explained, “It didn’t help at all. We didn’t leave too much in terms of adjustment for Mat to do in the car, so pretty much what he had out there was what he had to work with.”

In spite of that, Wayne concluded, “Every night we can finish ahead of the 42 always helps.”

So, after a gritty performance by Mat in heavy traffic, the issue is still in doubt and there is still a long way to go in the championship hunt.