By DAVE SULLY - Pt Colborne, ON- Following that much needed win at Merrittville, it was important to follow that up with another solid performance to help build momentum. The team came up with that, as Mat finished in the runner-up spot ion the 30 lap Modified Feature at Humberstone on Sunday, July 21. After winning his heat handily, Mat started third in the feature, right behind Erick Rudolph, who has been on fire all season long. Rudolph got a great run at the start and, following a lap two caution, grabbed the lead from polesitter Chad Chevalier, from where he immediately checked out.
While that was going on, Mat was racing Bill Bleich and Chris Steele for position before finally moving in to second on lap seven. By this time, Rudolph was in another time zone, but Mat set sail to try to close the gap. As he was narrowing the advantage somewhat, the caution flew on lap 16 when late arriving Dale Plack, winner of the last two modified features at Humberstone got involved in a tangle with Tom Flannigan and Steele, resulting in he and Steele retiring from the event and giving Mat a chance to start next to Rudolph when the race resumed.
Mat tried to hang with Rudolph, but after three laps the young driver, who finished second in the 200 lap ROC race at Oswego the night before, gradually pulled away. Mat had to be satisfied with second, but the car ran well and the team was satisfied with the effort.
Mat commented, “The car wasn’t too bad. Eric was certainly better than us. That showed tonight. I don’t know what he’s got, but it’s pretty good. We’re good, but we’re not quite good enough to beat Erick. I’m just happy that we came back with another good run. It was tough racing. The bottom lane was really good tonight. The top wasn’t too bad. The track was wicked fast. It was another good night, with no damage. I’m on vacation this week. I’m just happy that we’re going away after a couple of good runs, knowing we figured it out.”
“We certainly turned it around. We’ve just got to keep on trucking and get some more wins before the end of the year. We made some changes, and they were for the good. It will be interesting to see what happens at Merrittvile next Saturday when we start at the back. It we’re as good as we were last Saturday, we’ll be pretty competitive. I’m pretty excited.”
It’s a good time to take a break, especially when the team is upbeat after suffering through that prolonged funk at Merrittville. They’ll all be back with renewed vigor to tackle the second half of the season.
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