Woes Return at Merrittville

By DAVE SULLY - THOROLD, ON- The elation of the Friday night win at Lernerville lasted less than twenty-four hours, as a disappointing finish at Merrittville on Saturday, July 13^th, had the team scratching their collective heads again. An outside pole start in the heat set Mat up for an easy win, providing reason for optimism, but at the drop the green for the 50 lap feature, with a seventh place starting spot, the car struggled, and Mat ultimately finished tenth. 

 

To say Mat was dejected would be an understatement. He offered, “I knew the first lap we were no good. Last night (at Lernerville), we put the shocks on and lap one you get good side bite and drive off the corner real good. You know pretty much whether you’re going to be good or not. Tonight, I knew I wasn’t gong to be very good.”

 

“It’s so frustrating to know that you should be running better than you’re doing. You put the work and the effort in, and your guys work hard. Everybody thinks about it throughout the week. Then we come out, change everything around, trying to get better, and it doesn’t change a thing.”

 

“Mike (Bowman) ran great tonight and last we week we were battling for last. Those guys got their stuff changed around. Obviously, we haven’t. So, that aspect of it is frustrating. That’s racing. There’s a lot of nay-sayers, but this is racing. This is the game we play.”

 

Sometimes, a driver can make changes during a caution to improve the car, such as the brakes and panhard bar. However, with no cautions Mat couldn’t try and he suggested that it wouldn’t have made any difference, noting, “There wasn’t enough adjustment in the cockpit that I could have done to make the car any better. I could have changed it a little bit and maybe gone from a tenth place car to a ninth place car, but, as I said, it’s just frustrating. I hope we can get it turned around some time.”

 

“There’s two different race cars we’ve got here. They’re pretty much the same. The only difference is the motor. I ran the identical four shocks tonight that I did last night.”

 

“It’s so disappointing when you work throughout the week. You put your heart and soul into it and then come out and run like crap. We’ve just got to keep at it, and hopefully we’ll get it turned around one of these weeks.”

 

It’s doubly hard to have a tough night after the success the night before, but it’s precisely that sweet smell of success that will keep the team striving to end the misery at Merrittville.