By DAVE SULLY - Following the ups and downs of Super Dirt Week at Syracuse, the team journeyed to Lernerville for the two day Stampede, which featured numerous divisions competing in heats on Friday and features on Saturday. Knowing that the car was going to be good, with the Big Block back under the hood, everybody was reved up for a positive showing.
Things started out very well, as Mat performed well in time trials and buried the competition in his heat, lapping several cars in the process and winning by half a lap.
For the 30 lap feature on Saturday, Mat was slotted twelfth. He immediately put the pedal down and was to reach seventh, when then the rain began to fall, necessitating numerous laps to run the track in when it subsided. Unfortunately, that proved to be Mat’s undoing, as they had planned their fuel load for a thirty lap race. In the cruelest blow, the No. 6 ran out of gas, with Mat leading, on lap 28. Instead of a well-earned win, the result showed a disappointing 16th place finish.
Mat talked about the Lernerville show, declaring, “We were good. We killed them Friday night. We won the heat by over half a lap and almost lapped half the field. The motor was certainly running, and the car was pretty good. We could have made the car a little bit better. We did for Saturday.”
“On Saturday, we started twelfth. We got up to seventh, and it started to rain. They threw the caution when a couple guys went off the end. They needed us to run the track in. We spent about twenty laps running it in and then probably another twenty in cautions. That just killed us. I didn’t put in enough fuel. It was just my call. We always play it close with weight. We don’t carry enough fuel to run fifty lap races when we’re scheduled for thirty.”
“We got the lead. I don’t know if it was our race. Brian (Schwartzlander) was certainly good. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t finish and race with him. It’s one of those things we’ll look back on all winter and remember why we should put more fuel in the car next time.”
“We were certainly good. We’re looking forward to going to Charlotte because we know the motor runs pretty good. We’ve got a new car. It’s all set up. We’ve got a new trailer (Purchased from Danny O’Brien), and we’ll be taking that to Charlotte. We picked it up yesterday (Monday). I’m pretty happy with it. It’s certainly an upgrade.”
This season has had its share of thrills and disappointments. All things point to a good showing at Charlotte, but as has been the case all year long, nothing is for certain.
On a side note, the bad luck at Lernerville wasn’t the only mishap of the weekend. On Saturday night, Mat’s dad, Randy, went to Eastern States at Orange County and suffered the bad fortune of losing his balance and falling from the pit grandstand, breaking his arm. He underwent surgery the following day and by all accounts he should make a full recovery.
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Bad Brockville Break Boots Mat From Possible Win
By DAVE SULLY - BROCKVILLE, ONTARIO – With the final championship race at Brockville on tap for Saturday, October 19th, it was going to take a great finish by Mat and an almost total collapse by Erick Rudolph to change the standings. That’s not the way, it played out, as Mat saw a great effort dissolve with one lap to go, while Rudolph went on to score his first ever series victory, clinching the overall title in the process.
The night started out very well for the Williamson Racing Team, as Mat set fast time and won $500 in the process. He then went on to win his heat, beating none other that Danny Johnson, in another heady effort. The race was going swimmingly, as well, for most of the way. However, bad luck, which has had its moments with the team this year, weighed in, with Mat suffering a flat tire with only one lap to go, dooming him to a seventeenth place finish and spoiling a really good pay day.
Talking about the Brockville trip, Mat declared, “We went there Friday night. They had timed hot laps, which paid $500 for quick time and nothing for second. We quick timed and got the $500. That was good. Saturday, we won the heat. We won over Danny Johnson, which is tough to do anywhere you go, him and Danny O’Brien. It was a pretty stacked heat. We had a really good race car in the heat. At feature time, we had just as good a race car, but the track took rubber. I put a 500 tire on the right rear and two 400s, so I went with a harder compound that most of the others went with, Erick included.”
“I went out and was being pretty aggressive with my tires. I was warming them up on restarts and wasn’t saving them at all. I wasn’t thinking it would be an issue. When we were sitting third, I was actually expecting the top two cars to blow a tire, considering they had 400s on. I could see that tire wear was an issue. If it would have been Erick getting the flat tire, we would have been champions. It just didn’t go that way. I’m glad that the point race is over, because we were just having bad luck points racing.”
After all was said and done, it was a good season in the Series. Mat’s duel with Erick Rudolph gave a lot of attention to the region and their one/two finish certainly bodes well for racing in Southern Ontario and western New York in the future.
The Williamson Racing Team isn’t finished yet, as this weekend, October 25th and 26th, they will be at Lernerville for their Firecracker weekend. They run all the heat races on Friday and the features on Saturday. It’s $3000 to win on Saturday for the Modified race, which is also a BRP Big Block tour event. Chad Brachmann has clinched the title in that series. Mat will have the Big Block back in the car, hoping to top off his track championship with a Big Block Tour win. Other local drivers planning on competing, along with Mat and Chad, are Ricky Richner, Justin Wright, Chad Homan, and possibly Randy Chrysler. Mat expects up to 45 cars for this event.
The team is ready to have a good finish to their Lernerville finale, a track which has been very kind to them this year.
The night started out very well for the Williamson Racing Team, as Mat set fast time and won $500 in the process. He then went on to win his heat, beating none other that Danny Johnson, in another heady effort. The race was going swimmingly, as well, for most of the way. However, bad luck, which has had its moments with the team this year, weighed in, with Mat suffering a flat tire with only one lap to go, dooming him to a seventeenth place finish and spoiling a really good pay day.
Talking about the Brockville trip, Mat declared, “We went there Friday night. They had timed hot laps, which paid $500 for quick time and nothing for second. We quick timed and got the $500. That was good. Saturday, we won the heat. We won over Danny Johnson, which is tough to do anywhere you go, him and Danny O’Brien. It was a pretty stacked heat. We had a really good race car in the heat. At feature time, we had just as good a race car, but the track took rubber. I put a 500 tire on the right rear and two 400s, so I went with a harder compound that most of the others went with, Erick included.”
“I went out and was being pretty aggressive with my tires. I was warming them up on restarts and wasn’t saving them at all. I wasn’t thinking it would be an issue. When we were sitting third, I was actually expecting the top two cars to blow a tire, considering they had 400s on. I could see that tire wear was an issue. If it would have been Erick getting the flat tire, we would have been champions. It just didn’t go that way. I’m glad that the point race is over, because we were just having bad luck points racing.”
After all was said and done, it was a good season in the Series. Mat’s duel with Erick Rudolph gave a lot of attention to the region and their one/two finish certainly bodes well for racing in Southern Ontario and western New York in the future.
The Williamson Racing Team isn’t finished yet, as this weekend, October 25th and 26th, they will be at Lernerville for their Firecracker weekend. They run all the heat races on Friday and the features on Saturday. It’s $3000 to win on Saturday for the Modified race, which is also a BRP Big Block tour event. Chad Brachmann has clinched the title in that series. Mat will have the Big Block back in the car, hoping to top off his track championship with a Big Block Tour win. Other local drivers planning on competing, along with Mat and Chad, are Ricky Richner, Justin Wright, Chad Homan, and possibly Randy Chrysler. Mat expects up to 45 cars for this event.
The team is ready to have a good finish to their Lernerville finale, a track which has been very kind to them this year.
Super Dirt Week Produces Good Performances, But No Luck
By DAVE SULLY - SYRACUSE, NY- The Williamson Racing Team was a prepared as it could be when it set out for Syracuse for Super Dirt Week, and the car came back to St Catharines relatively unscathed from a hectic period of hot laps, qualifying, and racing when it was over. In between, there were a number of good things, some learning experience, and general satisfaction, but not a lot of luck.
The week started on Wednesday, October 9th, at the newly re-opened Cayuga County Speedway, affectionately referred to as Weedsport by most racers. The race, which was a seventy-five lap 358 Series event, proved to be a struggle. Mat finished 5th in his heat (behind Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, Pat Ward, and Ryan Susice), one spot out of qualifying, and then barely made it into the feature by finishing third in the second consolation race (behind Carey Terrance and Larry Wight), the last qualifying spot.
The race didn’t go as well as the team would have wanted. Starting toward the rear, Mat struggled to a nineteenth place finish. The only good thing about the night was that Erick Rudolph, who led Mat by 34 points going into the race, finished twentieth, which kept Mat in the hunt for the 358 title.
Talking about the night, Mat explained, “We were stuck in a tough group, didn’t time trial as well as we wanted to, and racing-wise we just made the wrong calls in setup and tires. I personally made the wrong call on tires. We just struggled for seventy-five laps. We’ve only raced Weedsport three or four times. It’s tough when you don’t go to a race track every week. You certainly know more when you do. Nobody has that advantage when you come to Super Dirt Week. It’s one of those things. You can’t look back on it.”
Moving onto Brewerton on Thursday, things improved somewhat. Running in the fifth heat, he finished in a qualifying position, third, behind two pretty good runners, Matt Sheppard and Tim McCreadie.
Mat explained, “It wasn’t too bad. We were back in a tough group again. You never get an easy group when you come to DIRT Week. We ended up third in the heat race. We weren’t very good then. We did what we usually do at Merrittville. It just didn’t pay off. We weren’t as good as we thought we would be. I thought we’d be a top five car for sure. It’s just disappointing that we weren’t.”
There was no time to fret, because the team had to get ready for the Twin Twenties on Friday, the qualifying events for the Salute to the Troops 150 on Saturday. Time trials went well earlier in the day, with Mat ultimately timing eighth after being on the pole for quite a while before the sun came out and the track got faster, allowing several of the later drivers to time quicker.
Mat observed at the time, “I think we’re faster than an eighth place car. That’s the disappointing part. The worst part about it is that eighth is the worst place you can be because you can only go backwards from there. You can’t gain spots. You can only lose them. I think we’ve got a fast enough car to do well in the Twins.”
“We’ll be all right. We’ve got a fast enough car to not get passed. The guys who timed faster start ahead of us. We’re not worrying about anybody coming up from behind us.
We’re hopefully not going to lose any spots. We’re starting ahead in the twin twenties and hopefully we can get a win. That would be great. I think we’re faster than the cars ahead of us. We’ve just got to keep plugging.”
Mat was prophetic about the Twins, as he finished in the runner-up spot in race number two. After a nifty move at the start got him into third, it appeared he would end up there, but on lap 18, Chris Raabe, who had led the entire distance, suddenly slowed on lap eighteen, advancing Mat to second, while giving the win to Marc Johnson.
In the 150 on Saturday, Mat had a good starting spot and seemed poised for a good finish. He ended up starting seventh, but was never able to improve, ultimately sliding back to a thirteenth place finish, not bad, but not what they expected after his finish last year. The condition of the track didn’t help, as passing was very difficult.
There were other factors that entered into it, as well. Mat noted, “We were better through the week than we were on race day. That’s for sure. I think we had a loose race car come race day, and you have to be almost perfect to pass on the outside at Syracuse. We weren’t one of those people. Racing for points hurts us when we go to a race like that. Guys can take chances pitting on earlier laps than we can, because we know we have to finish. We didn’t lose any spots in the pits. We didn’t gain any. I was happy with it. It went off without a problem. Like last year, it proved we could pit late and still finish up front. This year we had the car to finish up front, but the race track didn’t allow us to. It was one lane on the bottom, and if you got out of line, you’d lose two, three spots. It wasn’t a race track we’re used to seeing at Syracuse.”
Mat summed up SDW this way. “It was a good week. We didn’t have any problems mechanically. We didn’t have any problems physically with the race track. We finished every race we started. It was a good week that way, but we didn’t get the results that we wanted. Of course, we wanted to win. We put a lot of effort into that week. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t win.”
The week started on Wednesday, October 9th, at the newly re-opened Cayuga County Speedway, affectionately referred to as Weedsport by most racers. The race, which was a seventy-five lap 358 Series event, proved to be a struggle. Mat finished 5th in his heat (behind Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, Pat Ward, and Ryan Susice), one spot out of qualifying, and then barely made it into the feature by finishing third in the second consolation race (behind Carey Terrance and Larry Wight), the last qualifying spot.
The race didn’t go as well as the team would have wanted. Starting toward the rear, Mat struggled to a nineteenth place finish. The only good thing about the night was that Erick Rudolph, who led Mat by 34 points going into the race, finished twentieth, which kept Mat in the hunt for the 358 title.
Talking about the night, Mat explained, “We were stuck in a tough group, didn’t time trial as well as we wanted to, and racing-wise we just made the wrong calls in setup and tires. I personally made the wrong call on tires. We just struggled for seventy-five laps. We’ve only raced Weedsport three or four times. It’s tough when you don’t go to a race track every week. You certainly know more when you do. Nobody has that advantage when you come to Super Dirt Week. It’s one of those things. You can’t look back on it.”
Moving onto Brewerton on Thursday, things improved somewhat. Running in the fifth heat, he finished in a qualifying position, third, behind two pretty good runners, Matt Sheppard and Tim McCreadie.
Mat explained, “It wasn’t too bad. We were back in a tough group again. You never get an easy group when you come to DIRT Week. We ended up third in the heat race. We weren’t very good then. We did what we usually do at Merrittville. It just didn’t pay off. We weren’t as good as we thought we would be. I thought we’d be a top five car for sure. It’s just disappointing that we weren’t.”
There was no time to fret, because the team had to get ready for the Twin Twenties on Friday, the qualifying events for the Salute to the Troops 150 on Saturday. Time trials went well earlier in the day, with Mat ultimately timing eighth after being on the pole for quite a while before the sun came out and the track got faster, allowing several of the later drivers to time quicker.
Mat observed at the time, “I think we’re faster than an eighth place car. That’s the disappointing part. The worst part about it is that eighth is the worst place you can be because you can only go backwards from there. You can’t gain spots. You can only lose them. I think we’ve got a fast enough car to do well in the Twins.”
“We’ll be all right. We’ve got a fast enough car to not get passed. The guys who timed faster start ahead of us. We’re not worrying about anybody coming up from behind us.
We’re hopefully not going to lose any spots. We’re starting ahead in the twin twenties and hopefully we can get a win. That would be great. I think we’re faster than the cars ahead of us. We’ve just got to keep plugging.”
Mat was prophetic about the Twins, as he finished in the runner-up spot in race number two. After a nifty move at the start got him into third, it appeared he would end up there, but on lap 18, Chris Raabe, who had led the entire distance, suddenly slowed on lap eighteen, advancing Mat to second, while giving the win to Marc Johnson.
In the 150 on Saturday, Mat had a good starting spot and seemed poised for a good finish. He ended up starting seventh, but was never able to improve, ultimately sliding back to a thirteenth place finish, not bad, but not what they expected after his finish last year. The condition of the track didn’t help, as passing was very difficult.
There were other factors that entered into it, as well. Mat noted, “We were better through the week than we were on race day. That’s for sure. I think we had a loose race car come race day, and you have to be almost perfect to pass on the outside at Syracuse. We weren’t one of those people. Racing for points hurts us when we go to a race like that. Guys can take chances pitting on earlier laps than we can, because we know we have to finish. We didn’t lose any spots in the pits. We didn’t gain any. I was happy with it. It went off without a problem. Like last year, it proved we could pit late and still finish up front. This year we had the car to finish up front, but the race track didn’t allow us to. It was one lane on the bottom, and if you got out of line, you’d lose two, three spots. It wasn’t a race track we’re used to seeing at Syracuse.”
Mat summed up SDW this way. “It was a good week. We didn’t have any problems mechanically. We didn’t have any problems physically with the race track. We finished every race we started. It was a good week that way, but we didn’t get the results that we wanted. Of course, we wanted to win. We put a lot of effort into that week. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t win.”
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