By Dave Sully
(Syracuse, NY) Big smiles adorned the faces of the Williamson Racing Team following an exemplary performance in the Gander Mountain 150, which concluded a memorable Super Dirt Week LXI. From the depths of despair on Wednesday night at Cayuga County to the euphoria of a great finish on the Mile in the 150, the team experienced a gamut of emotions that, fittingly, ended on a high note.
There were high hopes entering the Series event at Cayuga. Following a solid performance at Brighton, which ate into Dale Planck’s Series point lead, the team was ready to keep the momentum rolling. Their optimism was short-lived, however, as a blown motor early in the event, doomed the team to a 29th place finish, which not only saw the point gap between first and second grow, but allowed Carey Terrence to supplant Mat for the runner-up position.
Mat explained, “We just blew a motor on about lap 20. The car was good. I was running fifth, after starting tenth.” That unfortunate turn of events necessitated an all-night session replacing the motor, which afforded the team about three hours sleep. Mat noted, “I’ve really got to thank Terry and Carl from ERD. We were hurting for a motor today, and they really came through.”
There was little time to reflect on Cayuga, as on Thursday night, it was off to Rolling wheels to do it all over again, with another Series event. Mat ended up starting in nineteenth, outside Danny Johnson, and was making steady progress, but two flat tires kept him pedaling from the back most of the night. Mat observed, “The car was good for the position we put it in. We shouldn’t have been wrecking like that. It comes down to the fact that a lot of drivers don’t have respect.”
Two incidents resulted in the flat tires that put the team behind the eight ball. Mat explained, “Ryan Susice got around me going down the front straightaway, and he wasn’t clear of my door. He knew I was there and he thought I was going to lift for him, but he chopped me going into one and put me in the water. He took us both out. I’m pretty sure that flattened the first right front. Then, going down the back straightaway later in the race, the 117 wanted the outside. I was on the outside of him on a restart. I don’t know why, but he kept pushing us off the race track. I was off the race track already, when I ended up catching his right rear wheel under yellow.”
As for the overall night, Mat added, “We had a good enough car to be top five, I think, but when you’re racing at the back, things happen. Vinson spun me going into three. I got under him clean in one and two and then he wanted to push me into the guard rail, and then he wanted to spin me. The track was slick, but the water was a big factor on the bottom of three and four, and also going into one.”
Considering the fact that the car suffered two flat tires, and Mat was forced to pass a slew of cars, sometimes the same ones twice, it was a great effort, as Mat soldiered to a ninth place finish. There was little change in the points, as Mat finished only one spot ahead of Terrence, but every point counts; so, all in all, it was a good night.
There was no time to bask in the glory of the top ten finish, as the Twin 20s loomed for Friday. Because the race was at night, a change from the normal afternoon time, the team could finally catch its collective breaths before going to war on the Mile.
Mat timed well and ended up starting fifth in the second of the Twins. He wasted no time being noticed, as he dazzled everybody with a daring move at the start, which saw him dive under Tim Fuller to take fourth, a position he would hold throughout the race, which assured him of a ninth place starting spot for the 150.
Mat described the move, declaring, “We had more motor than he did. I got a good run off of four, and it seemed like, if I was going to stay behind him, I was going to be all over his bumper, so I put it under him. I stated gaining on him as we went by the flag stand, got enough that he knew I was there, and kept it going through one and two.”
On the overall run, he added, “The car was good. It got a little tight at the end. Those bumps in three and four were really bad. I wasn’t going to wreck a race car to gain a spot for the start, because they lock in the top six. If I had gotten by Andy (Bachetti), I would have started eighth instead of ninth. It’s not worth it to wreck a race car for that. I didn’t think I was better than Danny or T-Mac (who finished one/two). We might’ve been better than Andy, but clean air is important here at the Mile. He had it and I didn’t. I think I kept gaining on him through the bumps because I was going slower, and he was kind of sliding across them.”
Regarding those bumps, which prompted a comment from Billy Decker in Victory Lane, Mat declared, “It was horrendous down there, but that’s the only spot on the race track that was. They were all across the race track. If you slowed down enough, you could get under the bumps, even though there were still small bumps there. The track crew did a good job getting the rest of the race track in (racing shape). They can turn it (turns three and four) around for tomorrow. We’ll see.”
Saturday dawned with steady rain, and the team was forced to keep the adrenalin in check until almost 3:45 before the race went green. With a starting spot near the front for the 150, the job was to be prepared, but no amount of preparation could have precluded what transpired. The afternoon became a “feast or famine” affair for Mat, which fortunately, ended with a feast. Having to come from the rear twice, due to flat tires and a scoring snafu, Mat engineered a great recovery, using his wonderfully prepared car and some good instincts to carve out a splendid fifth place finish, which included passing point leader Dale Planck twice during the event. Combined with Carey Terrence’s near miraculous ninth place (he actually lost a wheel during the race), Mat is back in second by a scant five points going into the final race at Brockville.
Mat summarized his day, saying, “We started up front. It was my best start here. I just got in a deal with a lap car on the backstretch and broke both right side wheels. Then we were stuck in the pits and didn’t know if we were down a lap or not. It was mass confusion, and I got mad over the deal, so I said, ‘You know what? Just drive the heck out of the car, and that’s what I did. We found a lane on top before anybody else did, and when that went away, I found the bottom before anybody else did. I benefited from that by passing a lot of cars. I knew we were good on fuel and that’s a positive mental aspect you need to have here, when you don’t have to worry about saving fuel or tires. It was good. I’m just happy to be here.”
As for passing point leader Dale Planck, he observed, “Yea, he got me on the one restart, and I asked my spotter how he got me, because he blew right by. They said that he jumped the restart, and I said, ‘That’s fine. I’ll get him back.’ So, as soon as the next restart fired, I got underneath him to the point where I could benefit.”
He concluded, “I’ve got to thank Bicknell Racing Products, ERD Engines, Semenuk’s Esso, S and W Service Centre, Champion Oil Products, and all of my other sponsors. It was a real good run.”
After a well-eared celebration into the wee hours of the night on Saturday, the team will now roll up their sleeves to get ready for the final Series race of 2012 at Brockville. Whatever happens there, it has been a memorable season for the Williamson Racing Team, for which the entire team can be justifiably proud.
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