8/26/2022
RacinBoys
Mat Williamson scores first win of championship season at Ransomville Speedway
By Michelina Friss, Super DIRTcar Series PR (Ransomville, NY) -- Mat Williamson came into the 2022 season as the two-time and defending NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week Champion. The expectations were high for the St. Catharines, ON driver.
Williamson claimed a Feature victory during DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in February, and then went winless.
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Bruce
Until Thursday night at Ransomville Speedway.
After a slow start to the 2022 Super DIRTcar Series championship season, Williamson found momentum during SummerFAST with two fourth-place finishes, moving him back into second in the point standings. But he was still looking to get the “monkey off his back,” and score his first points-paying victory of the year.
All the pieces seemed to align as the Series rolled into Ransomville Speedway, where Williamson is the current 358 Modified points leader. He won his Heat Race and then drew the pole for the 75-lap Summer Nationals Feature in the redraw.
He jetted out to a quick lead at the green flag and held a tight grip on the lead throughout the race, never letting the likes of Peter Britten, Matt Sheppard, Gary Lindberg and Billy Decker get close enough to challenge.
“It’s much needed,” Williamson said about the win. “I’ve been pretty vocal with how we’ve struggled lately, and this was needed tonight. These guys work harder than anybody and when you struggle, you don’t know what’s going on. You don’t know if it’s you or the other driver. It gets to the point where you don’t know if you can do it anymore. So that’s nice to win.
“The starting position obviously helped us tonight. It seems like lately that’s the place you need to be to start these races. You gotta start out front. Hopefully we learned a thing or two.”
Peter Britten drew the outside pole for the Feature and maintained that position throughout the night, fending off Gary Lindberg and Sheppard. He attempted to stay within striking distance of Williamson on the multiple restarts, but the Williamson was too strong each time. Britten settled for second, with Lindberg rounding out the podium in third.
“The first part of the race, I couldn’t even stay near [Williamson],” Britten said. “He was just zinging. I didn’t know how he was doing it either because I didn’t have that much grip. He’s a local around here. He’s really good. He started on the pole. He just knows exactly what to do here. He knows how to set up the car.”
Lindberg, of Ridgeway, ON, started the Feature in fourth but found himself in sixth halfway through the race. After some slick maneuvering in traffic, he found the right formula to pass Sheppard, the eight-time and defending Super DIRTcar Series champion.
“The restarts here are always better if you start on the top,” Lindberg said. “We were lucky we were on the top. He gave me room and I gave him enough room. I know he runs the Series, so I didn’t want to mess with him. Earlier I was behind him, so I didn’t want to push the issue. When I was beside him, I knew he would run me clean. We just got lucky and rolled around on the top on him.”
Matt Sheppard crossed the line fourth and local driver Erick Rudolph rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series will travel back to Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, NY on Sept. 3 for Mr. DIRT Track USA. It will pay out a massive $25,500 and grant the winner a guaranteed starting spot at the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week.
RESULTS
Summer Nationals 75 (75 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 37S-Gary Lindberg[4]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph[12]; 6. 91-Billy Decker[3]; 7. 3J-Marc Johnson[14]; 8. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 9. 215P-Adam Pierson[8]; 10. 3-Chad Brachmann[11]; 11. 4-Anthony Perrego[7]; 12. 42-Pete Bicknell[20]; 13. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[15]; 14. 38-Ryan Susice[19]; 15. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[9]; 16. 34-Kevin Root[18]; 17. 8H-Max McLaughlin[10]; 18. 37-Paul St Sauveur[16]; 19. 27J-Danny Johnson; 20. 111-Allan Wills[22]; 21. 17-Marcus Dinkins[13]; 22. 96-JF Corriveau[21]; 23. 27-Daniel Johnson[17]; 24. 12S-Darren Smith[23]; 25. 2L-Jack Lehner[26]; 26. 70A-Alex Payne[25]; 27. 7Z-Zachary Payne[24]
Hytorc of New York Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 42-Pete Bicknell[2]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 3. 2L-Jack Lehner[6]; 4. 14-CG Morey[4]; 5. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[3]; 6. 26-Rich Richner[5]; 7. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[7]; 8. (DNS) 33J-Robbie Johnston
Hytorc of New York Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 96-JF Corriveau[1]; 2. 111-Allan Wills[2]; 3. 33-Tyler Willard[3]; 4. 56-Garrison Krentz[5]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith[4]; 6. 26C-Luke Carleton[7]; 7. 1-Andrew Smith[6]; 8. (DNS) 27J-Danny Johnson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 3. 91-Billy Decker[3]; 4. 17-Marcus Dinkins[5]; 5. 27-Daniel Johnson[6]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 7. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[7]; 8. 26-Rich Richner[9]; 9. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25R-Erick Rudolph[3]; 2. 4-Anthony Perrego[5]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 4. 3J-Marc Johnson[2]; 5. 7Z-Zachary Payne[9]; 6. 42-Pete Bicknell[6]; 7. 14-CG Morey[8]; 8. 2L-Jack Lehner[1]; 9. 33J-Robbie Johnston[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 215P-Adam Pierson[1]; 3. 21A-Peter Britten[3]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[4]; 5. 34-Kevin Root[5]; 6. 96-JF Corriveau[6]; 7. 33-Tyler Willard[7]; 8. 56-Garrison Krentz[9]; 9. 26C-Luke Carleton[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Chad Brachmann[1]; 2. 37S-Gary Lindberg[4]; 3. 8H-Max McLaughlin[3]; 4. 37-Paul St Sauveur[2]; 5. 38-Ryan Susice[6]; 6. 111-Allan Wills[8]; 7. 12S-Darren Smith[5]; 8. 1-Andrew Smith[7]; 9. (DNS) 27J-Danny Johnson
My Place Hotels TT Group 1 (2 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:17.114[4]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:17.160[8]; 3. 91-Billy Decker, 00:17.163[7]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:17.483[1]; 5. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:17.540[6]; 6. 27-Daniel Johnson, 00:17.866[3]; 7. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr, 00:18.093[2]; 8. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr, 00:18.175[5]; 9. 26-Rich Richner, 00:18.345[9]
My Place Hotels TT Group 2 (2 Laps): 1. 2L-Jack Lehner, 00:17.189[3]; 2. 3J-Marc Johnson, 00:17.308[4]; 3. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 00:17.347[1]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:17.435[2]; 5. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:17.455[9]; 6. 42-Pete Bicknell, 00:17.882[7]; 7. 33J-Robbie Johnston, 00:17.948[8]; 8. 14-CG Morey, 00:18.015[5]; 9. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:18.015[6]
My Place Hotels TT Group 3 (2 Laps): 1. 215P-Adam Pierson, 00:17.206[5]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:17.370[2]; 3. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:17.424[9]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:17.577[6]; 5. 34-Kevin Root, 00:17.645[3]; 6. 96-JF Corriveau, 00:17.692[8]; 7. 33-Tyler Willard, 00:17.885[1]; 8. 26C-Luke Carleton, 00:18.086[7]; 9. 56-Garrison Krentz, 00:18.099[4]
My Place Hotels TT Group 4 (2 Laps): 1. 3-Chad Brachmann, 00:17.604[7]; 2. 37-Paul St Sauveur, 00:17.792[4]; 3. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:17.833[3]; 4. 37S-Gary Lindberg, 00:17.834[2]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith, 00:17.836[1]; 6. 38-Ryan Susice, 00:17.983[8]; 7. 1-Andrew Smith, 00:18.098[5]; 8. 111-Allan Wills, 00:18.126[9]; 9. (DNS) 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:18.126
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INVESTOR'S SERVICES SPORTSMAN
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 111S-Brett Senek[2]; 2. 7-Cody McPherson[7]; 3. 38-Zach Sobotka[8]; 4. 35-Nelson Mason[1]; 5. 08-Dave DiPietro[6]; 6. 22-Noah Walker[3]; 7. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[9]; 8. 14D-Dylan Duhow[11]; 9. 66-Brett Martin[5]; 10. 3M-Justin McKay[12]; 11. 18-Cliff Gregg[17]; 12. 18W-Jim Harbison[10]; 13. 132-Dalton Martin[19]; 14. 61-Derek Wagner[4]; 15. 63-Jessica Kriegisch[14]; 16. 42A-Colby Adamczak[15]; 17. 75-AJ Custodi[13]; 18. 21K-Randy Chrysler[16]; 19. 1R-Ricky Thompson[21]; 20. (DNS) 108-Billy Bleich Jr; 21. (DNS) 07-Brian Harris
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 111S-Brett Senek[1]; 2. 3-Chris Mackey[2]; 3. 22-Noah Walker[6]; 4. 66-Brett Martin[3]; 5. 18W-Jim Harbison[5]; 6. 64-Tyler Corcoran[8]; 7. 44-David Rogers[7]; 8. 42A-Colby Adamczak[10]; 9. 18-Cliff Gregg[9]; 10. 132-Dalton Martin[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 61-Derek Wagner[1]; 2. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[2]; 3. 3N-Justin Sharp[7]; 4. 08-Dave DiPietro[3]; 5. 14D-Dylan Duhow[4]; 6. 3M-Justin McKay[9]; 7. 63-Jessica Kriegisch[8]; 8. 21K-Randy Chrysler[5]; 9. 71-Jacob Bansmer[10]; 10. 108-Billy Bleich Jr[6]; 11. 49-Bill Gill[11]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Cody McPherson[1]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[2]; 3. 35-Nelson Mason[3]; 4. 92-Andrew Buff[4]; 5. 410-Mike Fowler[6]; 6. 75-AJ Custodi[8]; 7. 42-Daryl Nutting[7]; 8. 74-Taylor Vanderzanden[5]; 9. 07-Brian Harris[9]; 10. 21-Ryan Barrett[11]; 11. 1R-Ricky Thompson[10]
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 111S-Brett Senek, 00:18.294[7]; 2. 3-Chris Mackey, 00:18.403[9]; 3. 66-Brett Martin, 00:18.447[10]; 4. 132-Dalton Martin, 00:18.450[1]; 5. 18W-Jim Harbison, 00:18.468[3]; 6. 22-Noah Walker, 00:18.477[2]; 7. 44-David Rogers, 00:18.576[4]; 8. 64-Tyler Corcoran, 00:18.597[5]; 9. 18-Cliff Gregg, 00:18.828[6]; 10. 42A-Colby Adamczak, 00:18.971[8]
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 61-Derek Wagner, 00:18.292[1]; 2. 35T-Cameron Tuttle, 00:18.436[5]; 3. 08-Dave DiPietro, 00:18.444[9]; 4. 14D-Dylan Duhow, 00:18.504[3]; 5. 21K-Randy Chrysler, 00:18.518[6]; 6. 108-Billy Bleich Jr, 00:18.530[8]; 7. 3N-Justin Sharp, 00:18.619[4]; 8. 63-Jessica Kriegisch, 00:18.749[7]; 9. 3M-Justin McKay, 00:18.765[2]; 10. 71-Jacob Bansmer, 00:18.765[10]; 11. (DNS) 49-Bill Gill, 00:18.765
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 7-Cody McPherson, 00:18.411[6]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka, 00:18.425[10]; 3. 35-Nelson Mason, 00:18.524[2]; 4. 92-Andrew Buff, 00:18.546[8]; 5. 74-Taylor Vanderzanden, 00:18.612[7]; 6. 410-Mike Fowler, 00:18.644[9]; 7. 42-Daryl Nutting, 00:18.661[1]; 8. 75-AJ Custodi, 00:18.736[4]; 9. 07-Brian Harris, 00:18.786[11]; 10. 21-Ryan Barrett, 00:19.058[5]; 11. 1R-Ricky Thompson, 00:19.159[3]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott