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.”
Monday, 23 September 2013
Close But No Cigar in Series Race at RPM
BY DAVE SULLY - Like a golfer who has a great round going, but has a few bad shots, the Williamson Racing Team put themselves in a position to win their first ever Series race at RPM on Friday, September 20th, only to be victimized on a late race restart, which resulted in an eighth place finish. The night started very well, as Mat timed second, finished second in his heat and then drew the outside pole for the feature on the tight quarter mile oval. Mat led the first 75 laps and things looked very good indeed, until fate intervened. A caution on lap 75 set up the final side by side restart, next to Chris Raabe, and that proved to be Mat’s undoing.
He explained, “It was the last double file restart. On all the other restarts he was playing games, smashing into the side of you, firing first to get the jump. The last one was his last chance to do anything. He just decided he was going to drive into turn one and not lift. He hit the side of the car and bent the front end all to hell, put us up on the cushion and pushed us back to about seventh or eighth. Going into the next turn, because of the damage he caused, we ended up getting spun around. It was unfortunate.”
“Because there were so any cautions, there weren’t any lap cars, so we went all the way to the back. There were about eighteen cars left on the track. We passed ten cars and finished eighth. It’s unfortunate to finish eighth, when we knew we had the fastest race car. Apparently, he does that to everybody, so it wasn’t just me. The track was neat. It was something different. I can’t wait to go back there.”
The upshot of the whole thing is that Mat left Quebec in second place in the points to Erick Rudolph, who now leads Mat by 34 points going into the next Series event at Weedsport on Wednesday night of Super Dirt Week. Mat summed it up, saying, “We’ve run better than anybody on the tour so far, and, unfortunately, the results don’t show it. We’ve still got a chance to win this thing, so we need to just keep going and hope for the best.”
He explained, “It was the last double file restart. On all the other restarts he was playing games, smashing into the side of you, firing first to get the jump. The last one was his last chance to do anything. He just decided he was going to drive into turn one and not lift. He hit the side of the car and bent the front end all to hell, put us up on the cushion and pushed us back to about seventh or eighth. Going into the next turn, because of the damage he caused, we ended up getting spun around. It was unfortunate.”
“Because there were so any cautions, there weren’t any lap cars, so we went all the way to the back. There were about eighteen cars left on the track. We passed ten cars and finished eighth. It’s unfortunate to finish eighth, when we knew we had the fastest race car. Apparently, he does that to everybody, so it wasn’t just me. The track was neat. It was something different. I can’t wait to go back there.”
The upshot of the whole thing is that Mat left Quebec in second place in the points to Erick Rudolph, who now leads Mat by 34 points going into the next Series event at Weedsport on Wednesday night of Super Dirt Week. Mat summed it up, saying, “We’ve run better than anybody on the tour so far, and, unfortunately, the results don’t show it. We’ve still got a chance to win this thing, so we need to just keep going and hope for the best.”
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Interesting Weekend Produces Mixed Bag at Mohawk
By DAVE SULLY - AKWESASNE, NY – The trip to Mohawk for the 358 Series Race took some unexpected turns and resulted in a generally positive weekend before it ended, two days later than planned. The team was scheduled to race the Series event at Mohawk on Friday, and then Little Valley on Saturday, but rain threw a monkey wrench into those plans. Instead of merely canceling the 358 race, it was re-scheduled to Sunday afternoon, making the run to Little Valley a non starter, due to time and distance. The team opted to remain at Mohawk to try to qualify for the Big Block Series race on Saturday, put in a perfunctory appearance if they made the race, and then get ready for the point race on Sunday.
Things got really interesting on Saturday, when, on worn tires, Mat timed well, qualified well enough to make the redraw and started fourth in the feature. He ended up running up front all night, ultimately finishing fourth, a totally unexpected, but very satisfying result.
I’ll let Mat explain it. “Of course, we were planning on running Little Valley (on Saturday). We had 200 and 300 tires for that. We didn’t have enough tires for the Big Block race. So, we just put on old tires and ended up going out. We time trialed good. We got in the redraw from the heat and started fourth. I was really going to take a lap as soon as I dropped out of the top ten, but we didn’t get a chance to do that, so we just kept our foot into her and hoped everything went well the next day.”
“We ended up fourth. It was good. We actually passed Brett (Hearn) at one point and kept the momentum up. We faded back to fourth after being passed back by Brent, but I can’t complain about that. We had a good car. That’s for sure. We like that place. I always run good there. It just seems that when the races count, I just can’t finish. That’s the unfortunate thing.”
With the unexpected finish on Saturday, the team started well in the Small Block Feature on Sunday, timing well once more and having another good draw. Because of the number of laps run the night before, when the track rubbered over, it was no surprise that it took rubber quickly on Sunday afternoon, only a few hours after the Big Block race. That certainly affected the outcome. Mat noted, “We got the last spot in the redraw after the heat, drew four for the start and just hung in there. It was crucial to start up front. It was basically rubber downright from the first lap in the feature. It was like asphalt or go kart racing. We were running third when we got taken out (by Pete Britten) and with the rubber being down, you couldn’t really pass that well.”
Working hard, Mat was able to come back to record a fourteenth place finish. He explained, “I probably passed about four more cars. We pitted two different times for tires and tried to make some of the other rubber work, but that didn’t happen. It was unfortunate, but that’s racing.”
“You can’t look back on it. You’ve just go to move ahead. He (Britten) admitted he turned me. I don’t know if he was trying to apologize or whatnot, but it’s unfortunate that when we’ve been better than everybody else in the Series races at various race tracks, the points don’t show it. We’ve just got to get ready for the next six shows and try to win this thing.”
All was not lost however, as, even with the disappointment on Sunday, he lies in a second place tie with Carey Terrence, only 25 points behind the new leader, Erick Rudolph, going into next week’s races at RPM in Quebec on Friday and Brighton on Saturday. The good news overall is that the crew has worked very hard and the car has performed superbly. Mat is doing all he can. All they need is a bit of racing luck, and they’ll be back on top.
Things got really interesting on Saturday, when, on worn tires, Mat timed well, qualified well enough to make the redraw and started fourth in the feature. He ended up running up front all night, ultimately finishing fourth, a totally unexpected, but very satisfying result.
I’ll let Mat explain it. “Of course, we were planning on running Little Valley (on Saturday). We had 200 and 300 tires for that. We didn’t have enough tires for the Big Block race. So, we just put on old tires and ended up going out. We time trialed good. We got in the redraw from the heat and started fourth. I was really going to take a lap as soon as I dropped out of the top ten, but we didn’t get a chance to do that, so we just kept our foot into her and hoped everything went well the next day.”
“We ended up fourth. It was good. We actually passed Brett (Hearn) at one point and kept the momentum up. We faded back to fourth after being passed back by Brent, but I can’t complain about that. We had a good car. That’s for sure. We like that place. I always run good there. It just seems that when the races count, I just can’t finish. That’s the unfortunate thing.”
With the unexpected finish on Saturday, the team started well in the Small Block Feature on Sunday, timing well once more and having another good draw. Because of the number of laps run the night before, when the track rubbered over, it was no surprise that it took rubber quickly on Sunday afternoon, only a few hours after the Big Block race. That certainly affected the outcome. Mat noted, “We got the last spot in the redraw after the heat, drew four for the start and just hung in there. It was crucial to start up front. It was basically rubber downright from the first lap in the feature. It was like asphalt or go kart racing. We were running third when we got taken out (by Pete Britten) and with the rubber being down, you couldn’t really pass that well.”
Working hard, Mat was able to come back to record a fourteenth place finish. He explained, “I probably passed about four more cars. We pitted two different times for tires and tried to make some of the other rubber work, but that didn’t happen. It was unfortunate, but that’s racing.”
“You can’t look back on it. You’ve just go to move ahead. He (Britten) admitted he turned me. I don’t know if he was trying to apologize or whatnot, but it’s unfortunate that when we’ve been better than everybody else in the Series races at various race tracks, the points don’t show it. We’ve just got to get ready for the next six shows and try to win this thing.”
All was not lost however, as, even with the disappointment on Sunday, he lies in a second place tie with Carey Terrence, only 25 points behind the new leader, Erick Rudolph, going into next week’s races at RPM in Quebec on Friday and Brighton on Saturday. The good news overall is that the crew has worked very hard and the car has performed superbly. Mat is doing all he can. All they need is a bit of racing luck, and they’ll be back on top.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Bump in the Road at Autodrome Drummond
By DAVE SULLY - DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE - After a good finish in the Series race at Cornwall, the team anticipated a good showing at Autodrome Drummond the following week on September 6th. It started out well enough, as Mat timed 21st in an impressive field of 48 cars, finished third in his heat, which put him 13th on the grid for the start. Unfortunately, things unraveled from there, as the No. 6 went backward at the drop of the green, something that has been unheard of lately. The team ended up 19th and ended up surrendering the point lead to David Hebert, who won the race. They are now four points down to Hebert going into this Friday’s Series event at Mohawk.
Talking about the night, Mat observed, “We were good right out of the gate. We time-trialed well. We were half-decent in the heat, which put us in a decent spot for the feature
We passed Brett (Hearn) in the heat and started 13th in the feature. When the green flag dropped, we just started going backwards. We weren’t very good. We just tightened up too much. That just happens due to lack of experience at that race track. We pitted about lap 25, and that didn’t help at all, so we just kind of struggled. The way the point races are, you just have to keep your foot in it, and we ended up 19th. “
“We changed a lot between the heat and the feature. It had a lot to do with stagger and the shock combination. It’s hard to pinpoint. I think we were all right, but a lot of people were very good. The top five cars were very fast, and that made us look worse than we were. It is what it is, and we just have to move on to the next one Friday.”
With only one race track left on the schedule that the team is unfamiliar with, that being RPM in Quebec, the task, at least as far as preparation is concerned, should get a little easier. However, in racing, nothing is being taken for granted, and the team will be diligent in readying the No. 6 ready for every race.
Talking about the night, Mat observed, “We were good right out of the gate. We time-trialed well. We were half-decent in the heat, which put us in a decent spot for the feature
We passed Brett (Hearn) in the heat and started 13th in the feature. When the green flag dropped, we just started going backwards. We weren’t very good. We just tightened up too much. That just happens due to lack of experience at that race track. We pitted about lap 25, and that didn’t help at all, so we just kind of struggled. The way the point races are, you just have to keep your foot in it, and we ended up 19th. “
“We changed a lot between the heat and the feature. It had a lot to do with stagger and the shock combination. It’s hard to pinpoint. I think we were all right, but a lot of people were very good. The top five cars were very fast, and that made us look worse than we were. It is what it is, and we just have to move on to the next one Friday.”
With only one race track left on the schedule that the team is unfamiliar with, that being RPM in Quebec, the task, at least as far as preparation is concerned, should get a little easier. However, in racing, nothing is being taken for granted, and the team will be diligent in readying the No. 6 ready for every race.
Monday, 9 September 2013
Fourth Place Series Finish at Cornwall Puts Team on Top
There was a momentary bit of angst at the start, however, before things brightened up. Mat explained, “It was a rough start to the night. We got to Cornwall and realized the fuel cap was off when we were washing the car. We thought there was some water in the fuel, so we drained the tank when we arruived. From there, we went out for hot laps and the motor was breaking down because the floats were too low. We fixed that, and things got a lot better. We went out for time trials and timed second in our group. We wound up winning the heat, started third in the feature and finished fourth.”
It wasn’t just a case of riding around at the front all night. Running a hundred twenty-five laps on a quarter mile track requires some strategy and a lot of concentration. There is really no time at all to relax. Early in the race, Mat actually surrendered some spots to save the equipment before making his surge back up to the front at the end.
Mat noted, “We dropped back early in the race. We were back to tenth or eleventh. In big long races, you do that to preserve the tires and brakes. The first 75 laps (before a mandatory yellow) is more like an extended hot lap session. I was just happy we were there at the end.”
With that finish the current Series standings show Mat ahead of Erick Rudolph by 44 points, David Hebert by 72 points, and Carey Terrence by 95 points. Rudolph, Hebert, and Terrence will probably be running the entire Series, so they figure to be some of the top pursuers for now.
All in all, it was a great weekend for the team, which now gears up for the long drive to Drummondville on Friday to try to keep the drive alive.
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