By Dave Sully - (Thorold, Ontario) With the Merrittville Modified Championship still undecided, there was added incentive for the Williamson Racing Team for the 50 lap John Spencer Memorial on Saturday, September 1st. Trailing leader Pete Bicknell by 26 points entering the event, the mission was simple- win the race and hope Bicknell finished twelfth or worse. It was an uphill battle, but, at least, there was a chance.
Things started out very well for the team, as Mat won his heat handily and then drew the pole for the feature, while Bicknell started ninth. When the race started, Mat set a blistering pace and drove out to a commanding lead, with second place runner Mike Bowman struggling to keep pace.
Things started to change when Mat caught slower traffic on the eighth lap. With the lap cars often racing side by side on the race track and often ignoring Doug Leonard’s move over flag, it was a matter of time before Bowman, whose car was set up for later in the race, would become a factor. Around lap twelve, Bowman had closed in and began chasing Mat through traffic. The two put on a great exhibition of close quarter drill.
Fate took over on lap 28, when Mat momentarily jumped the cushion coming out of turn two, and Bowman took advantage of the bobble to grab the lead. Then it was Mat’s turn to be the chaser, but it soon became obvious that Bowman was faster and catching him was unlikely. Mat ended up settling for second, a good performance, while Bicknell wisely stayed out of trouble finished seventh, claiming the title by fourteen points.
Mat talked about the night, observing, “Bowman was faster. There’s no doubt about that. I was fast early. He was fast late. That was the difference. We got caught up in lap traffic. Nobody would show respect and move over or quit racing.”
Of the pass by Bowman, he noted, “I hopped the cushion in one and two there. That’s all it took, one little mistake, and he capitalized. You can’t do that stuff in modifieds any more. You’ve got to run a consistent fifty laps. I didn’t do it, and he took advantage. He was faster. He’s got his act together. He’s going to be tough to beat if he comes back next year.”
Looking back on the season, Mat declared, “We had a good year. I think our worst finish was twelfth. Pete’s so good that you can’t have those twelfth place finishes. You’ve got to finish top five every night. We experimented a little bit, got off track, and that’s what it came down to, really. Congrats to all those guys. They really deserved it. I put out all I had and still came in second.”
“We were a second place car all year. Pete’s just so good. It’s going to be tough beating him next year. Hopefully we’ll step it up. This is basically like a crate class when it comes to motors. Everybody has the same stuff. We tried some body changes this year. Maybe next year, we may try some new things to experiment with. At the beginning of August last year, we came out with a new car. We loved it, finished top three every night, if not win. I think we had two wins with it in August, all from the back. It was good. Now everybody’s got the same stuff, because they saw what we did last year. Maybe we should have waited until April of this year to bring it out, but that’s no fun. We’ll experiment. We’ll do something different. We’ll be the black sheep for a month. Then, hopefully we’ll be back up there.”
With some Series races and Syracuse left on the schedule, this is a good time to have things come together. There’s still time for Mat and the team to make their mark. It starts on Sunday at Cornwall.
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