A happy homecoming
St. Catharines driver Mat Williamson races to fifth win since returning to his hometown track
Who says you can’t go home. Mat Williamson, who spent last season competing in big blocks at Canandaigua Motorsports Park instead of 358 Modifieds at Merrittville Speedway, has picked up right where he left off when he last raced at his hometown track.
The St. Catharines 27-year-old’s victory in the completion of a raindelayed feature from the week before was his fifth of the season at the Thorold track.
Williamson, who finished third in points in 2015, his last full season racing at Merrittville, also has seven victories so far this season at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., where he is on track to win his fourth track championship since 2013.
“It just got to be too much travelling last year,” he said. “This year we decided to get another small block and race around home.”
Despite leading the highly competitive division in wins and trailing the front-runner by only 34 points in the driver standings at Merrittville, the No. 6 car remains a work in progress.
“I still don’t think we’re quite where we should be,” Williamson said. “We’ve won more than anyone else, but we don’t seem to have the consistency.
“We seem to find the magic and every time we have to go back to the basics.”
He made those comments before rain washed out the final 23 laps of the feature that was completed as part of Saturday night’s doubleheader in Merrittville’s premier class.
Williamson definitely had the car that couldn’t be beat in the first 358 Modified feature of a full, five-division program that wrapped up with the final Enduro qualifier of the year.
He beat Tommy Flannigan by 0.968 seconds leading a top five that also included Larry Lampman, Pete Bicknell, the defending track champion, and Ryan Sucise across the finish line.
Lampman appeared headed to victory lane in the nightcap, but instead of seeing the checkered flag he saw Chad Brachmann of Sanborn, N.Y., beat him by 0.378 seconds on a last-lap pass.
Erick Rudolph, Tim Jones and Sucise rounded out the top five, while Williamson placed eighth in the 16-car field.
It was the third win of the season for Brachmann, the current points leader and the track champion in 2015.
Williamson, who won track championship in 2014, isn’t surprised that only 76 points separate the top five drivers in the class.
“It’s a really tough division, there are a lot of good cars here,” said the sheet metal fabricator at Bicknell Racing Products in St. Catharines.
“I’d say there are 12 cars that can win on any given night.”
Williamson, who won 11 karting championships on Merrittville’s inside track before graduating to Sportsman at age 14, likes races longer that the standard 35-lap features.
“It puts a strategy into the race with the tires and the race car,” he said. “Sometimes, 50 (laps) isn’t enough.
“Those 100-lap races are fun, I always enjoy them.”
Williamson said it’s always better to finish strong than jump out of the gate and lose steam in the late going.
“You don’t want to be good for the first 40 and bad for the last 10,” he said. “These cars are so even, it tends to be a guessing game.
“Whoever guesses right seems to be there at the end.”
Little, if any, guessing was needed after co-pole sitters Tony Kelly of Niagara Falls and Sam Iftody of Fenwick led a field of 15 to the green flag for the final round in the Triple Crown Series for Mini Stocks.
After Kelly took an early lead
It’s a really tough division, there are a lot of good cars here. I’d say there are 12 cars that can win on any given night.” 358 Modified racer Mat Williamson
that he would never relinquish in the caution-free, 20-lapper, the only question left to answer was what his margin of victory would be.
Kelly went on to win his career-high sixth feature of the season, as well as the three-race series, by 9.106 seconds.
Rob Sauder, who trailed Kelly by more than half a lap on the final circuit, Iftody, Kyle Rothwell and Garnet Wilson rounded out the top five.
The flag-to-flag victory increased his lead over Alex Riley in the driver standings to 78 points, and put the Kelly in the driver’s seat for the first track championship of his 15-year racing career.
His previous high of five wins, split between Merrittville and New Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne, was achieved last year in a car that was “totalled” in the final race of the season.
He gave a big thumbs up to Tyler Lafantaisie and Rothwell of the Twisted Metal Racing team for helping him rebuild the car over the off-season.
“The car is making all the difference,” Kelly said. “This is a new car this year, except for the roll cage, that’s the only thing left from the other car and some suspension stuff.”
Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks and Mod Lites also featured repeat winners on a Saturday night program sponsored by W Abrasives.
Double threat Brent Begolo of Thorold raced to his second Sportsman victory of the season after winning his sixth of the year in Mod Lites.
This was the second time Begolo swept the two divisions on the same night this season.
In Hoosier Stocks, St. Catharines’ Rob Murray, the 8-cylinder winner the night before at Ransomville Speedway, earned his second victory at Merrittville.
Points leader Brad Rouse, Cody McPherson, the reigning track champion; Jay Mallory and Justin Sharp rounded out the top five in Sportsman, while the top also-rans in Mod Lites were Tyler Winger, R.J. Pietz, Chris Watson and driver of the week Steven Beckett.
Dave Small, Dave Bailey, Jim Lampman and Steve Shaw finished second through fifth, respectively, in the 20-lap Hoosier Stocks feature.
Two nights of racing are on track next weekend at Merrittville Speedway. Tim Hortons presents 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks, the Eataly Foods Pro 4 Triple Truck Challange and the Thunder of the Dirt Vintage Racing Series on Saturday.
On the holiday Monday it’s St. Amand Auto and Truck Repair presenting the eighth annual Bob St. Amand Sr. Memorial 100-lapper for 358 Modifieds.
Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks and Mini Stocks also will be in action.
Pits open at 4 p.m. with racing getting underway at 7 p.m.
Notes: Tickets for a pre-race dinner of pasta, meatballs, salad, roll and soft drink are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Food will be catered by Club Castropignano in Port Robinson.