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.