Positive Weekend Has Team Optimistic

By DAVE SULLY - After a slow start at Lernerville due to mechanical issues to start the season, the team rebounded nicely. Following a much needed win at Merrittville on Saturday, May 17th, Mat scored a hard-earned fourth in the 100 lap DIRT.car 358 Series on Monday, May 19th, after winning his heat, but drawing twelfth for the feature. He actually got as high as third, passing Tim McCreadie, but McCreadie fought back for the position at the end.

Fast forward to last weekend which started with a bang, as Mat parlayed a seventh place starting spot and a bargain basement motor to win on Friday night at Lernerville. To say the win was unlikely under the circumstances would be an understatement. After the primary Big Block motor was damaged two weeks in a row at Lerrnerville, it was suggested that they try a motor which Randy had picked up at Super Dirt Week last year.

Mat picks up the story, explaining, “We didn't even know if it ran. We stole the motor, basically, and went out and ran good with it.” Mat actually got in a few laps with it at Humberstone the previous Sunday after their show was over. Mat noted, “It ran good at Humberstone. It stayed together, which was what we wanted. We took it down to Lernerville. Lernerville's a little bit bigger. In the heat race, we lacked a little bit of power, but in the feature, we were good. The race car was great. The motor was great. It was just our night.”

The following night, back at Merrittville, Mat was looking for two in a row, but it wasn't to be. After winning the previous week, the handicapping put Mat in eleventh on the grid in a very competitive field of cars. He got what he could out of the car, given the conditions, ending up sixth. Chad Chevalier, who started on the pole and was very fast, picked up the win, holding off a late charge by Pete Bicknell.

Mat observed, “It was tough. Guys were racing really hard tonight. The car wasn't that good, but it was just the case that we started eleventh and Chad started on the pole. It might have been a different scenario if we had started on the pole (Keep in mind that to start on the pole, your previous week has to be a disaster.) or up toward the front. Pete came through pretty good. We weren't a good enough race car to go from eleventh to first. I would have liked to have got Jonesy to get in the top five, but it's a case where everybody's fast right now. Everybody got new stuff over the winter. It's only the second or third race. You can't get that advantage like you used to get. There's twelve guys that can win any night. That will keep it interesting.

With renewed enthusiasm following the win at Lernerville, and solid runs at Merrittville, including a win, the team needs to build on their successes, which they will make every effort to do.

Williamson Gets Redemption Win at Lernerville Speedway

It was redemption Friday at Lernerville Speedway.

Mat Williamson and Mike Pegher Jr. overcame troubles of the past few weeks to earn victories in their respective divisions.

Williamson won the V-8 Modified feature with a backup motor and Pegher responded from, two DNFs to win the Late Model feature. The features were two of the better races so far this season.

Williamson, the defending track champion, recorded his sixth career victory at Lernerville by finishing in front of Jeremiah Shingledecker in second, Steve Feder in third, Dave Murdick in fourth and Rex King Jr. in fifth.

Williamson started seventh, took the lead from Tommy Winkle on lap 10 and never relinquished the lead.

“We broke the motor the second week and the third week,” Williamson said. “So, we just put the motor in and came on down. We wanted to come down and do some testing. It was the same motor that we broke two weeks in a row.

“Absolutely, it has been frustrating because last year we had a perfect season, and this has been a nightmare start,” Williamson added. “This is a tough sport. You can be down in the dumps one week and be right back in it the next. Tonight I just rode the bottom and found the bite. Plus, we were good in lapped traffic.”

Shingledecker, the 2009 and 2011 track champion, was pleased with his car despite a few problems and had his best finish of the season.

“I thought the car was pretty good all night, but we had a little bit of trouble with the carburetor,” Shingledecker said. “But I'd say this was probably the best setup we have had this season for the track conditions.”

For Feder, the night started out with a scare as he avoided trouble in his heat race and then worked out some bugs in the car's setup to have his best finish of the season. His top two finishes at Lernerville are a pair of seconds.

“We were having some trouble with the car, turning, and after that it was just staying out of trouble,” Feder said. “We had Randy Williamson (Mat's father and partner) come up and give us some ideas. 

The track seemed a little slick tonight, but we kept it going pretty good tonight.”

Thomas Zuck is a freelance writer. 

Meet the Team- Cliff Warner

Cliff Warner is no stranger to the racing wars. Starting his career at the age of sixteen, the now sixty-four year old resident of Port Colborne was a legitimate star before technology began taking over the sport. His career began in the mid-fifties, piloting first Bombers and then 358 Sportsman. He was a familiar figure on both sides of the border, winning races and title at places like Perry Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, and Freedom Raceway, in New York, along with Canadian tracks. He did make an excursion to the pavement, racing at Cayuga in the Bomber. He observed, “I think there were forty or fifty up there. We ran good for that first time, and that was it. The dirt was better.”

As noted, Cliff competed at a time when racing was far more affordable. He recalled, “The car was built with wrecking yard parts. No race parts at all. We had stock motors in the car. We had a Chevette, Acadian, and a Malibu. They were all stock. Nothing was done to those motors.”

Following his racing career, Cliff became a fixture at Gasport Speedway, which has now reverted to its original name, Humberstone, working for Al and Edith Wagner. He ran all the track grooming machinery, except the grader. “I didn't want anything to do with that,” he intoned. He mentioned how track prep was (and still is) a real challenge, especially when it came to watering. “Gasport was different. You had to water on Friday and Saturday. Then you had a good racing surface on Sunday. If you didn't look after the watering and maintenance on Saturday, you had a real dust bowl on Sunday,” he explained.

Warner, who has a tenure of 35 years at PC Forge in Port Colborne where he works in the maintenance department, tries to arrange his schedule so that he can travel with the team as often as possible, a valuable asset to any racing team that is on the road as much as the Williamson team.

His relationship with the Williamson Racing Team began in the early stages of Mat's career. He noted, “I hooked up with Mat when he first started racing, and I've been following him ever since. We've been to a lot of big shows. It's been good on the road. Going on the road with those guys, I have a ball. Going on the road was a real problem there for awhile because I was working fifty or sixty hours a week. Then Mat wanted to go on the road trips, so I had to put more hours in to get days off. Now, I'm looking to plan ahead to take more trips.”

Cliff contributes his time and energy to the team wherever its needed, including the arduous task of removing and installing motors, including, at his suggestion, the big block that was victorious at Lernerville on May 23rd, after the team's A motor suffered damage two weeks in a row.

He works at Merrittville on Saturday nights, so he is unable to participate on race nights there, but Cliff's contributions at the shop, and now, especially, on the road make him another of the much appreciated members of the Williamson Racing Team.

Meet the Crew- Adam Williams

Adam Williams, a resident of Grimsby, who will be twenty-six on June 1st, is no stranger to racing, having watched his uncle, Rick Book race for over 20 years and participating himself since the age of sixteen. He noted, “When I turned sixteen, I got my license, got a truck, got a trailer, and I've been racing four cylinder cars ever since then.

His crew experience began before he met Mat. He explained, “I started helping my buddy BJ Willard and then got introduced to Matty and then BJ kind of stopped racing. I just came over and started helping Matty every chance I could. Since I got hooked up with Matty about three years ago I haven't raced my car, but I've been helping Matty make his way to the front. I'll still race every once in a while, but I've mostly put it aside to help Matty go after championships and make sure his career is going the right way.”

As for his occupation, Adam is a pipeline inspector for Sun Canadian Pipeline. His work zone is from Sarnia to North Toronto, which keeps him in the area most of the time, which allows him to work with the race team. His job entails managing a high pressure petroleum pipeline in the ground and making sure that when anyone is working in the area of the line, he and his colleagues mark the area so that they don't hit the line. He also responds to accidents and makes sure that an accurate account of the occurrence is forthcoming.

He added that he spends as much time racing as time allows. As he put it, “That's for making money. This is for having fun. Sometimes you have to have fun too.”

Not all of the crew is able to travel, but Adam will try to go on the road a soften as possible. He observed, “I've already booked my holidays for North Carolina (for the Dirt.car event at Charlotte) and Super Dirt Week. Any time I get a free minute, I'll be hooked on with the trailer and head on wherever it's going.”

Adam has no special duties on the team. He does whatever needs to be done, from washing the car, scaling the car, grinding tires, or seeping the floor. He is just happy to contribute any way he can. He laughed, “I do whatever nobody else wants to do, getting dirty, all the fun stuff.”

As for his own racing future, he concluded, “Right now I've had my fill of it. I'm just having a fun time helping Matty.” With that outlook and his willingness to to do anything to help the team succeed, Adam Williams is the kind of guy every race team would love to have and the Williamson Racing Team is the beneficiary of his dedication.

Young champ Williamson eyes repeat in Lernerville Modified

It's safe to say Mat Williamson upset the applecart last season.

In his first season at Lernerville Speedway, the 24-year-old from St. Catharines, Ontario, won the track's V-8 Modified championship.

This year Williamson is set to make that 480-mile round trip each week to defend his championship.

“I'd say it was one of those years where we had a lot of races that went our way; that was mostly on Fridays,” Williamson said. “We also had some nights that we just wanted to forget. On Saturday at Merrittville (Speedway in Ontario) we won the most races, four, but still finished third in points because we had a couple of DNFs due to mechanical issues.”

Williamson races his 358 Modified on Saturday at Merrittville so that makes Friday night racing at Lernerville a bit easier to handle because the team does not have to prep the car for two consecutive nights of racing.

Last season's championship was Williamson's first. He won five features at the track and also scored 13 top-five finishes. His worst finish of the season was fourth, and part of that was due to a tire issue while he was running second. Williamson's points lead at the end of the season was 53 over seven-time track champion Brian Swartzlander.

Two weeks ago Swartzlander took the checkered flag in the V-8 Modified feature, his 83rd Lernerville victory. Williamson finished second.

“Last season was very good,” Williamson said. “I certainly didn't expect to come down and win a championship but we got lucky a few times and things came together.

“Lernerville is a wide track and that certainly allows you the ability to pass and to work your way up through the field,” Williamson added. “At Lernerville you get a handicap after you win and have to start the next feature in 12th, so it helps that there is enough room to pass.”

The team did make adjustments for this season.

“One of the biggest changes from last year is that we didn't have a shop,” Williamson said. “We have a shop now, and I'd say we are bit better stocked with parts. This is a whole new car. There is not much you would see that would show it is new, but most of the parts are new.”

Williamson does feel he is a different driver than he was last season, due mainly to an accumulation of experience.

“I really think you learn more each year as you go out and race,” Williamson said. “Just by doing more it helps you know what to do to prepare. As a team we have all been together for about 10 years so there are no surprises, and we all know what to do.”

Williamson's father, Randy, is a partner in Bicknell Racing Products with Pete Bicknell and Bob Slack. It is also where Mat works, but it is not as much of an advantage as some would suspect.

“We are, and we aren't, a guinea pig for the factory,” Williamson said. “You can try to do some new and innovative things but the rules have gotten so tight that it makes it tough to make anything new. You have to ask for approval and by the time you do that, everybody else has it too.”

Lernerville's history with V-8 Modifieds is well regarded and some of the sport's biggest stars have won titles, including Blackie Watt, Ed Lynch Sr., Bob Wearing Sr., Swartzlander and of course, Lou Blaney.

“It really is something to win a championship at Lernerville because you watch some of these guys get inducted into various halls of fame,” Williamson said. “One day you hope to be in that same situation. But for now we are going out and trying to win races.”