Nice Recovery at Cornwall Big Block Series Event

By Dave Sully - (Cornwall, ON) – What difference a day makes. After a frustrating night at Merrittville on Saturday, the team hustled home, re-worked the car and headed for the Big Block Series race at Cornwall on Sunday morning, June 30th, with the Small Block. Mat offered, “We found a little bit of a problem after Merrittville, and we addressed that. Then we just went back to square one. It’s just one of those things where you use the “KISS method” (Keep it simple, stupid). It’s basically that theory all wrapped up in a race car.”

There were two reasons for taking the Small Block. First, the tight quarter mile Cornwall oval is more conducive to less horsepower, and second, there was a Small Block Series race the next day, as well, and it’s impossible to transport two cars. Thus, the Small Block was the order of the day.

Fifty-eight cars, including all of the heavy hitters, were on hand, meaning there would be a number of cars that wouldn’t make the field, adding to the anxiety. “There were ten in the heat, and I timed eighth (where he started),” Mat noted. Things brightened when Mat was able to move up to finish fourth in the heat, which relegated him to the B Main, since only three qualified for the feature out of each of the six heats.

The fourth place finish in the heat allowed Mat to start on the outside pole in his B Main, and he wound up winning it and qualifying for the A Main. Things really came together in the feature, as starting in twentieth, he was able to record a fine seventh place finish, ahead of the likes of Danny O’Brien, Dale Planck, Danny Johnson, Brett Hearn, and Billy Decker, to name a few.

Mat explained, “I like Cornwall. That’s the start of it. I always run good there. I’ve got a lot of laps there. I’ve been up there for regular nights and all the tour shows over the last few years. I’ve probably got over a thousand laps there. It certainly helps in that aspect.
We were rolling pretty good. I got up beside Sheppard there and then he got on the gas, but if the right rear tire hadn’t chunked out we would have been a top five car. It seemed like I got up to the front and used everything I had to get there. When I got there, I couldn’t really race with those guys.”

As for the breakdown between Big Blocks and Small Blocks, Mat thought there were three or four ahead of him. He noted, “It was kind of even. There were seven Big Blocks and eight Small Blocks in the top fifteen. I don’t think it was an advantage or a disadvantage to have a Small Block. They’ve got the rules pretty wrapped up so that a Small Block can compete on the Big Block Tour at these small tracks.”

It was important to come back with a good performance, after the team struggled once again at its home track. It was good to get the Big Block points and puts them in a good frame of mind going into the Small Block event on Monday.