Williamson Racing Team Finishes Speed Weeks in Florida on a High Note

By Dave Sully - (Barberville, Florida) The Williamson Racing Team peaked on the final night, turning in their best performance of the week in their big block debut in Florida. Buoyed by a strong 11thplace finish on Friday, when Mat won his consi and then moved up from his twenty-first place starting spot, he outdid himself on Saturday, timing fourth overall, which put him on the front row in his heat. Concerning that qualifying effort Mat revealed, “Just a combination in the setup. We changed the carburetor, and I learned the track a little bit more by the time we got to time trial on Saturday.

He grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and wound up holding off none other than Danny Johnson for most of the race, crossing the line in first, for his second checkered flag of the week. Mat noted, “Actually, I didn’t sense that Danny was back there. I didn’t know how close he was. That was good.”

Mat drew six in the redraw, and, after being shuffled back at the start, reasserted himself and finished a solid seventh, putting him 16th in points, despite not qualifying on Thursday. Mat explained, “We struggled early. I was trying to putt around the bottom, but I kept getting tight off, so I started to roll the middle there and then got past a couple cars that got past me earlier. We just got a good race going.” It was a fine performance for the whole team, and Mat thanked them profusely whenever he could.

As has been stated often, the trip was meant to be a learning experience, and it certainly was. It gives them a leg upon the competition when the season starts, especially in the big blocks. Mat put it this way, “It was a good end to the week. It felt good to get our stuff together before anyone else at home.”

Of the overall experience Mat concluded, “It was great. I loved it. It was a great experience. I’m pretty happy with the way everything went down.” After the initial success on opening night, things went down hill on Thursday. What turned things around? Mat responded, “We put Matt’s (Sheppard) setup in, and we figured out that I don’t drive like him, so we put our setup back in and started running better. It felt good.”

Things stay busy, as Mat noted that they have to get back to St Catharines to put a small block car together for a car show coming up. You can bet they’ll be in a good mood for the task, following their success in the Sunshine State.

Williamson Racing Team Bounces Back Big Time on Friday at Volusia

By Dave Sully - (Barberville, Florida) After Thursday night when the team struggled and the learning curve took a dip, Mat declared that they would figure it out and come back strong. You always feel like you’re going to do that, and Mat was indeed prophetic as the team bounced back to record its best performance of the week.

The team put a setup in the car they were familiar with, made the right tire choice, and Mat showed that he was becoming familiar with the nuances of the big half mile.“We scaled the car yesterday and got it back to what we run at Merrittville, and it’s been pretty good since then,” Mat explained. “We basically tried to do what Matt (Sheppard) did with his race car, but it didn’t work. It’s learning curve. We had to try it. We need to work slowly to get better with what we have.”

Mat explained, “We went out for hot laps and the carburetor started bubbling. We got in and changed that and went back out for the heat. We were decent. It’s hard to pass. We went out for the consi started on the outside pole, got out front and won by half a lap. It felt good to just win down here, even if it’s just a consi. Hopefully we can time trial a little better on Saturday. We’re in a tough group. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get it. ”

That finish put him in 21st starting spot for the feature.

“Was the improvement due to the driver or the setup?” I asked.

He replied, “I think it was a little bit of both. We’re coming down here to a new track. It’s definitely hard if you don’t have your own setup. At least I knew the race car, so I could learn the race track instead of learning both at the same time. We’ve run into problem after problem this week.”

In the feature, he drove a solid race, passed some cars, stayed out of trouble and finished a solid eleventh, which was a great morale builder for the team going into the final night on Saturday.

Team Struggles on Thursday at Volusia; Vows to Persevere

By Dave Sully

As hard as it was to qualify on opening night, the job got considerably more daunting on Thursday. With the machinations of the pill draw to determine time trial groups, which set the lineup for the heat races, Mat found himself sharing the track with an All Star Team, which included Brett Hearn, Stewart Friesen, Danny Johnson, and Andy Bachetti, among others.

Needless to say, things didn’t go well in the time trial session, with Mat ending up ninth out of ten, placing him in an unenviable position. He ended up finishing ninth out of ten in the heat, relegating him to the second consi to try to make the show. With only two qualifying spots available, it was going to be an uphill battle, with passing at a premium any way. Mat ended up 7th in the consi and didn’t make the feature.

“We’re struggling right now, “ Mat remarked. We’ve got to get back to the basics. We’re trying different things. Last night, we ran the same setup as Matt (Sheppard), but it didn’t help. The bottom of the track (where Mat traditionally likes to run) was soup and tacky, while the top was only one lane, so that made things even tougher. We’ll figure it out.”

It would be easy to get discouraged, but putting the whole experience in perspective, the team’s goal is to get big block seat time and experience at a big fast half mile. Whatever the results, they are getting that experience, and, hey, you can’t beat the weather.

Florida Trip a Learning Experience for the Williamson Racing Team

By Dave Sully -

No one said it was going to be easy when the team unloaded at Volusia Speedway Park inBarberville, Florida, and it wasn’t. Moving from a small block to a big block doesn’t seem like a quantum leap, but most drivers, including Mat, will tell you it’s not as seamless as it looks. There are significant differences in the two cars, and when you find yourself on the national stage while you’re sorting things out, it can be daunting.

Of his first impression of Volusia, he observed, “It was good. It’s fast, definitely fast. The big block is a different animal. I just have to get more seat time to figure out how to tame it.”

The team was allowed to hot lap on Tuesday night and Mat was about in the middle of the field as far as lap times. He got a little better, and then the rest of the field began to get faster. When they time trialed for the first race on Wednesday, Mat was near the bottom of his group, which forced him to start near the back of his heat. “The track changed and I didn’t have the experience to figure it out as fast as everybody else did,” he noted.

He ended up finishing eighth out of ten cars, which put him seventh on the grid for his consi. He had a good run in the consi and grabbed the third and final qualifying spot for the feature, pretty heady stuff for sure. “I was pretty pumped up. I found the outside before everybody else did. We got some breaks that put us into a qualifying position. We were good once we got to the consi. Up until then we were struggling. Even in the feature I think we went a step backward after the consi.”

In the feature, he started 25th and was able to move up as high as 19th when he had a problem with tear-offs. “When we came to the feature later on I didn’t have time to put enough tear-offs on, went out with fourteen and ran out by lap 8. We have to conserve them. We’ve taken some measures, like taping off the wind screen.” The tear-off problem made him decide to pull in on lap 25 of the 30 lapper. While Mat ran out of tear-offs early in the race, he was not alone. Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, HJ Bunting, and several others were plagued with the same problem due to the track conditions.

Of the effort in the feature, Mat opined, “I don’t know if it was more the car, or if I couldn’t see in the feature. We’re going to figure it out for tomorrow. We’re going to scale it over. Matt (Sheppard) helped us a lot with the setup tonight. Hopefully, we’ll get there.”

Still in all it was a good learning experience and the team looked forward to Thursday night with guarded optimism.