Top Three Finish at Humberstone Caps Good Weekend

By DAVE SULLY - PT COLBORNE- ON - After a title clinching run at Lernerville on Friday and a fine second at Merrittville, the team notched a hard-earned third at Humberstone, culminating a very satisfying three day stint. The performances gave the team optimism for the upcoming weekend, with the final point race at Merrittvile and the next Series race at Cornwall in the offing.

The Humberstone effort on Sunday was hampered by bad luck in the pill draw, which saw Mat start sixth in his heat. He did the best he could, but there was little room to pass. Ultimately, he finished fourth, but was nipping at the heels of Mike Bowman for the last redraw spot at the end. The fourth place finish saw him start eighth in the feature.

Eric Rudolph drove away after drawing the pole, essentially leaving the rest of the field vying for the runner-up spot. Mat battled and clawed for each spot, grabbing fourth on a bonzai move between Bowman, who was running low and Todd Gordon, who was running the outside, that appeared to be inches from disaster.

He claimed third on lap 15 and set sail for Tom Flannigan, who was chasing Rudolph, close to half a lap ahead by that time. He gradually closed the gap, but ran out of laps as Flannigan was running very well on the outside.

Talking about the night, Mat explained, “It was just tough to pass. When I drew 29 out of 50 at the gate, I thought we’d be all right, but everybody had better luck than I did. I started eighth in the feature. That was about as good as it was going to get with the way we started after the heat. Certainly a top three always helps. I’m happy to finish where we did. We got second in points there. That’s not too bad. We’ve just got to build on it next year.

Things stay busy, with the Victory tour to Lernerville on Friday, followed by the final point night at Merrittville, where Mat still has a chance to move up in the standings. He is currently seven points behind third place Scott Wood and fifteen behind Mike Bowman in second. On Sunday, as mentioned, the important Series race at Cornwall.



The last few weeks have been encouraging. Hopefully, the team can build on the recent momentum.

Strong Second Place Finish at Merrittville Keeps Momentum Rolling

By DAVE SULLY - THOROLD, ON- Following the title clinching run at Lernerville on Friday, the team came back with another good effort, a runner-up finish at Merrittville on Saturday, August 24^th, as the late season push continues in earnest. With a near perfect performance last week, which saw the S and W No. Six win going away, the task was a little harder this night, as Mat started eleventh, while point leader Pete Bicknell and other fast cars went off ahead of him. A good run in the heat, where he started last and was nipping at the heels of third place finisher Tommy Flannigan at the wire, boded well for another strong performance, and Mat didn’t disappoint.

 

Things got a little dicey at the beginning, when Brandon Easey, Tyler McPherson, and Fred Carleton got together in turn four on lap five, with Mat just able to avoid being caught up. From there, he moved up steadily, claiming fourth on a lap 12 restart, third, from Mike Bowman on a lap 17 restart and second from Scott Wood on lap 29, just as Pete Bicknell was clearing Wood for the lead. Mat kept Bicknell honest over the last six laps, but couldn’t get close enough to make a move for the top spot. So, he settled for second, but was definitely the hard charger in the race.

 

Talking about the night, Mat offered, “The car was certainly good. Pete was fast. I think I could have given him a run for his money if it had been fifty laps or so, but he got to the front faster than I did. It was certainly a good night to start toward the front. He had the advantage there. He started seventh. If we would have started closer to the front, it would have been good.”

 

“It was tough coming from he back to do what we did. I used everything I had. It would have been a dream come true if I had passed him for the win. Jumping the cushion (on lap 21), I got out of my rhythm. I was overdriving, trying to go for it. That’s what you have to do. I wasn’t comfortable in second place. I wanted to win. We did as much as we could to do it. The team put a great car under me, and it was another top three. I can’t complain.”

 

Next Saturday, the 50 lap Merrittville finale will be a heads-up start, which should give Mat a decent shot at going out with a win.

 

Mat concluded, “We’re getting hot at the right time of the year. We’ve just got to keep it rolling into all the tour races and go from there.”

Team Celebrates First Track Championship

By DAVE SULLY - SARVER, PA- The Williamson Racing Team captured its first, of what they hope will be many, track championships, clinching the Big Block title at Lernerville on Friday, August 23rd, with one point race to go. The title was secured with a third place finish, once again running the Small Block motor, which put Mat out of reach going into the final race next Friday.

It was the culmination of the decision to go Big Block racing at Lernerville his season, despite the long haul to Central Pennsylvania. With three wins in the first four races, Mat established the S and W No. 6 as the car to beat. Consistently high finishes, including a fourth feature win, allowed Mat to build a substantial point lead over veterans Brian Schwartzlander and Jeremiah Shingledecker as the season progressed, with the ultimate prize being delivered on Friday.

Mat talked about the effort, noting, “We went in there like a regular night. We didn’t get ahead of ourselves and didn’t let the nerves get to us. We ended up coming out with a third place finish, after finishing second in the heat and locked up the point championship. It was one of the things we always wanted to do.”

“The first one’s the hardest one to get, so now we look forward to the 358 Series, try to knock that one off and look forward to next year. The year’s not over at Lernerville. We’re going to go back and try to knock off another win and keep the point lead where it is. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t have our Big Block the last couple weeks. We might have been able to make it a little better. We can’t complain where it ended up.”

Mat was effusive in his praise of the Lernerville operation, observing, “Everybody there treats you right. The fans are great. We met a couple new people again last night. The staff is very appreciative that you go there. We’re looking forward to next year and, hopefully, we’ll be doing the same thing. Time will tell.”

Mat is very appreciative of the extraordinary support from his sponsors, without whom the expensive undertaking of running a Big Block and a Small Block effort would not be possible, and his dedicated crew who have made personal sacrifices all year to make this first championship a special one.

Hard-earned Fourth At Humberstone Caps Good Weekend

By Dave Sully - PT COLBORNE, ON- Following a third at Lernerville and a win at Merrittville, the team asked the small block to hang in there for the third night in a row, and it did, as Mat collected a fourth place finish on the slick Humberstone Speedway. Following a second place finish in the heat race, which saw him gaining steadily on winner Mike Bowman, Mat lined up eighth for the feature, following one of his now infamous redraws.

Dale Planck, who doesn’t need the extra help, was lined up on the outside pole in his big block, just where he wanted to be, and he took off at the drop the green. He ended up being chased by Erick Rudolph, who started fourth, while Mat worked his way past Tom Flannigan and Chris Steel to claim fourth by lap 11. That was as far as he could get however, as the race went caution free after lap nine. The leaders capitalized on the slippery surface, which made it tough to pass.

In the end, fourth was about the best Mat could do under the conditions, and he was satisfied with the effort, noting, “It doesn’t help when you redraw eighth, but we ended up fourth, and we can’t complain about that. It was tough to pass, but the car was good. It would be nice to go there and draw a little better, but it is what it is, the luck of the draw. That’s racing.”

The car performed well again, with Mat adding, “We didn’t even unload it from Saturday night.”

All in all, it was a good three night stint for Mat and the team, as they begin to fine tune for the last few point races and gear up for the big post season series shows..    

Near Perfection Keys Satisfying Win At Merrittville On Saturday

By Dave Sully - THOROLD, ON - After the encouraging finish at Lernerville on Friday, the team arrived at Merrittville on Saturday, August 17th, with a degree of confidence, despite the broken push rod, which sidelined them the week before. Using the same car and motor, Mat and the team turned in the most technically perfect race performance anyone has seen at Merrittville in a long time.

After winning the heat, albeit by a technicality (Mike Bowman crossed the line first, but was penalized for jumping the start, while Mat crossed the line second, after starting fifth), Mat lined up tenth for the start of the feature. The car took off at the drop of the green. With the race going caution free, Mat had to race past nine cars to take the lead. By lap 16, he was in second, passing Tyler McPherson, and one lap later he drove past Fred Carleton to take the point.

He wasn’t finished there. Staying on the gas, he built a half straightaway lead, which became close to half a lap by the time the checkered flag flew. Through the whole race, the car never wavered, and Mat could use any line he wanted to engage the lap cars. This, the team’s third win of the season at Merrittville, was easily their strongest performance. It wasn’t the most exciting. The other two wins had more drama, but on this night it showed the kind of dominance that they have been seeking all year.

Mat concluded, “We’ve been rolling since we won down here three weeks ago. We just haven’t had any luck. We broke a push rod last week, and the week before we were rolling pretty good and just got caught up in a little wreck and had to go to the back, but
this car’s been good for the last four weeks. I’ve got to give credit to all the guys who helped me get here, all my crew, my father, and all the sponsors. I couldn’t do it without those guys. You also get a lot of input from a lot of other drivers, like Matt Sheppard and Mike Payne, when I was struggling. We’ve got seven (wins) now. It feels good to be back here. Maybe we’ll get two more here and two more at Lernerville and we’ll be up to eleven. We’ve got to win a tour race one of these days and get ready for Syracuse and Charlotte.”

Of the race, he explained, “I’ve got the setup here where I’ve got to keep the momentum up. When we’ve got to shut down and putt around the bottom as much as you have to, it doesn’t help as much, so we try to roll in a little bit heavier than anybody else. We’ve got some good side bite with this thing, so it tends to stick and drift up to the cushion. We just hammer the throttle. These guys (the crew) make things a lot easier for me when they set it up like this. It feels good to be back in Victory Lane.”



I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Solid Night At Lernerville Puts Team On The Doorstep

By Dave Sully - SARVER, PA – There was some trepidation in the air as the team departed for Lernerville on Friday, August, 16th without the big block, which, as noted previously, is out of service until Charlotte, due to the breakdown in Michigan. There are circumstances which favor the Small Block, however, and the stars seemed to be lining up right, as the Modifieds were scheduled to race their feature third, which meant that under normal circumstances the track would be slick, a definite advantage for the Small Block.

The heat race went well, with Mat starting fourth and ending up second to his closest pursuer in points, Brian Schwartzlander, who started on the pole. Anticipating the slick surface, the team was sobered by the fact that the track had probably the best grip of the night, meaning there was no advantage to the Small Block. It would take a good job by the driver to get a good finish.

They got it. Dave Murdick, who started on the pole, was in another time zone all night as he bolted to a big lead and never surrendered it, even after a lap 13 caution bunched the field. Mat started sixth and actually passed two cars on the first lap, and by lap ten was up to third. From there, it was just trying to hang on, as Murdick was out of sight in front and Jeremiah Shingledecker was good in second.

The challenge for Mat came in the form of Rex King Jr., who put serious pressure on Mat in the latter stages of the race, with Mat just edging him out for third at the line. With Schwartzlander starting tenth and finishing sixth, Mat actually gained five points on him, with two races to go.

Talking about the night, Mat declared, “I was happy that we got more points than Brian. We put ourselves in good position for the end of the year. That’s all that really matters at this point. We’re happy that we finished third. We have a good small block program, and I wasn’t really worried about it going down there. I knew we’d still be a contender, but it was tough to pass. I’m just happy we finished up there and got more points than Brian. The only bad part about it was that we knew we would have been a lot better with the big block. I’m just happy we did so well with our small block program.”

As they say, it isn’t over until the fat lady sings. She isn’t singing yet, but I think she’ll be tuning up soon.

Rain and a Broken Pushrod Sideline Team on Weekend

By Dave Sully - In what turned out to be a bit of a needed break after that hectic five races in five nights stretch the week before, the Friday night, August 9th show at Lernerville was rained out, giving the team a chance to catch their collected breaths. It was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained, or, in this case, lost, as there are now only three point shows left in the championship chase. The only fly in the ointment is the fact that the Big Block motor, which was hurt at Michigan, will not be available for the stretch run, so Mat will be running his spec 358 motor from here on out. That shouldn’t be a big handicap, as both Jeremiah Shingledecker and Brain Schwartzlander have won with 358’s at Lernerville and, in reality, Mat doesn’t have to win races there to win the title. He only needs decent finishes. Mat has total confidence in the power that Terry Vince of ERD puts in all his motors, so he is not overly concerned. We’ll see how it plays out.

On Saturday at Merrittville, Mat suffered a rare DNF when a push rod let go early in the race, relegating him to a 17th place finish. Everybody has a spate of bad mechanical woes. Mat observed that as things go, a broken pushrod is not a big problem, and it was nothing that can be checked for ahead of time. It just happened. Let’s hope that this is the extent of it, with another busy weekend on tap, with Lernerville, Merrittville, and Humberstone on the schedule.

Stay tuned.

Five Races in Five Days Produces Mostly Positive Results

By DAVE SULLY - A grueling stretch of five races in five days, starting in Pennsylvania and ending in Michigan tested the team’s endurance and mettle. It started off on a positive note, with a solid second place at Lernerville, which protected the big points lead and ended with a bit of a downer as the motor let go at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan, while Mat was contending for the win. In between, there was a sixth place finish at Merrittville on Saturday, a third place finish at the All Canadian at Humberstone on Sunday, and a nice fifth place result in the 100 lap Bob St. Amand Memorial at Merrittville on Monday. All in all, it was a productive run of races, with the cars performing well until the motor problem in Michigan.

Friday night, August 2nd, the team made the six hour haul to Lernerville, and came home solidly in first place. Racing with his nearest rival in the point chase, Brian Schwarzlander, Mat was in contention all night, but came up just short of the win. A heat victory, with the points awarded, made the night a wash in points with four races to go.

Mat explained, “Brian started outside of us and he got to the front first. We had to play chase and weren’t fast enough to get him. We missed the setup a little bit. We were fast in the heat. We should have left the car (alone), but we changed it and loosened it up too much. I just couldn’t get around as fast as he could. It was all right. We’ll take second place any day of the week. We won the heat, so we didn’t lose any points to him and just have to keep it rolling for the last four weeks.”

The team hoped to keep the momentum up at Merrittville on Saturday, where they’ve gotten things turned around recently. It didn’t quite go the way they would have liked, but it could have been a lot worse. A jingle early in the race forced Mat to play catch up and he was able to salvage a good finish after coming from the back.

Mat talked about the night, saying, “We were fast. I think we were fast enough to win. We started ninth and eventually we got racing with Scott Wood, and he spun out in front of us. I had nowhere to go and got caught up in the wreck. It was one of those deals where you know it’s your night and just got caught up in somebody else’s problem. I can’t complain. We ended up sixth after that deal. I think the top three cars were the only ones that didn’t get caught up in a wreck. The car was wicked. I can’t say enough about it. We were the fastest car on the race track, I think.”

On Sunday, the team made the short hop over to Humberstone for the prestigious All Canadian Championships and, as he has been often this year, Erick Rudolph was the class of the field, while Mat and Mike Bowman battled for the runner-up spot, which ultimately went to Bowman.

Mat related, “We started third and finished third. Erick was faster than anybody there. He got by me and Bowman and, with the sun going down, we couldn’t see much going down the back straightway, so it didn’t make it very racy, but I’ll take third place. We had two top fives this weekend, should have been three, but we’ve just got to keep it going.”

On Monday, the much anticipated 100 lap Bob St. Amand Memorial, a Super Dirt Series Big Block event, attracted 41 cars, 18 of them Big Blocks. The team chose to run the Small Block. Following time trials, Mat started sixth in the fourth heat and raced his way to second, which put him in the redraw, where he ended up with the seventh starting spot.

After dropping back early, the car came to life in the second half of the race, which was won handily by Matt Sheppard. The No. 6 car was able to find the right groove and pedaled to a nice top five, passing Dale Planck and Pete Bicknell in the process.

Talking about the race, Mat declared, “We weren’t very good for the first fifty or so laps. The last fifty we were kind of hanging in there until the last restart (lap 85), and we started to roll the outside. The car was good tonight, just had to do so much to get there. These guys are good (The top three were Sheppard, Danny Johnson, and Brett Hearn) and the problem you’ve got is if you’re off a little bit, you’re struggling. That was our problem the first fifty laps. We put new tires on and didn’t heat cycle them. It took a while for them to come in. Once they did, we were good. Maybe if it had been two hundred laps we would have raced Matt, but he was fast.”

We passed Dale and Pete. We passed Alan (Johnson). It was good once we got rolling on the outside. I knew I had to do something. It was good that it finally came around to us. It was really slick the last fifty laps. It was a little slick before that, but it didn’t dry completely until then. Once we got strung out on single file restarts we were good. You can’t give up ever. It showed tonight. I was happy we got a top five out of it.”

With scant little rest, though Mat said he got a good night’s sleep on Sunday, the team headed to Lake Odessa, in Western Michigan on Tuesday for the second appearance of the Super Dirt Series Big Blocks at the five eighths mile, I-96 Speedway. Things were going well, and Mat was running up near the front in the feature when the motor suddenly lost power and Mat wisely steered it into the pits, ultimately scored in 18th place.

Mat described the night, observing, “It’s a fast place. It’s actually really fast. I like it. It’s good. Things were going great. We had a great race car. We started sixth and were up to second, racing with Matt (Sheppard). Brett (Hearn, the eventual winner) kind of walked away from us. There was a caution, and I noticed that the motor lost power, so I drove it to the pits rather than do anything stupid. We broke a valve spring. We lost out on a good run. Maybe it could have been a win. It was just unfortunate that we were running good when this stuff happened.”

Overall, it was a wonderful effort by the team to persevere through the five race stint, with plenty of travel along the way. Mat deserves a lot of credit for running as well as he did over that period. It takes a lot of physical stamina to run that many laps, not to mention the mental stress of adjusting to five totally different race tracks and surfaces. Congratulations to the team for a great job with the cars, as well. Racing, after all, is a team sport and the team was up to the challenge, with more to come.