Strong Second Place Finish in the Winger Memorial at Merrittville Helps Salve the Wounds

By Dave Sully - (Thorold, Ontario) For a long time, it looked like that much-needed win was at hand for the Williamson Racing Team, as Mat grabbed the lead early and held it for 32 laps, but in the end a worn right rear tire and a pesky lap car proved to be his undoing, relegating him to second place finish in the Jerry Winger Memorial on Saturday, July 14th. Still in all, it was a strong performance for the No. 6 car and helped to ease the distractions of the last couple of weeks, giving the team some momentum to build on for the future. With Mat finishing two spots ahead of point leader, Pete Bicknell, he is still very much in the hunt for the coveted Merrittville title.

The night started well, as Mat dominated his heat after starting third. He then profited from the redraw, once again sitting third on the grid, behind polesitter Bill Bleich and Larry Lampman. A strong push at the drop of the green put Mat in second, as Lampman took control, but then Mat got a big break when Lampman chose the top on a lap three restart. Mat was able to get a great jump, and a slide job on Lampman in turn one put him in control.

Lampman kept the pressure on, and the two put on a crowd-pleasing duel, with Mat careening around the top, while Lampman hugged the bottom. Mat knew Larry was there, as he saw his nose virtually every lap. After holding him off on two restarts the right rear finally began to fade, and on lap 35, as the two came upon a lap car in turn four, Mat lost his momentum, and Larry was able to slide underneath. The quest for the win was essentially over.

Mat actually lost second to Travis Braun on lap 39, but regained it on a lap 44 restart and was able to come home with a hard-earned runner-up spot. Mat summarized the effort, noting, “We had a good race there. Larry picked the outside on the restart, and I got the benefit of that and got by him. I raced the car pretty hard. I saw him poking his nose in out of turn four every lap, so I had to go harder and harder. We went with a used tire instead of putting a new one on. We couldn’t get the stagger with the new one, so we risked it, and it ended up hurting us. We burned it up pretty good. I could feel it going away. I was better on the short runs, but I needed more cautions and less lap traffic. Larry was good tonight. Like I said, my tire went away and he just out drove me tonight. He was pushing. I could see him down on the bottom. I didn’t want to slow down and go to the bottom, but he just outraced me. I’m pretty happy though. We’ve had a rough couple weeks, so coming in second is pretty good.”

With the Friday night gig at Ransomville out of the picture, Mat is exploring other options, like different tracks and perhaps even different race cars. We’ll keep you posted.