Modified driver uses the bottom to finish on top

Mat Williamson made headlines after getting the inside scoop and running with it.

The St. Catharines driver also collected $3,000 Saturday night at Merrittville Speedway after following his pit crew’s advice to hug the inside of the track for the final half of the 74-lap Harry Sittler Memorial.

“My crew guys were at the top of the trailer telling me I should move to the bottom under them yellows,” he said in victory lane after taking his 10th checkered flag of the season in 358 Modified, the top racing class at the Thorold track.

“I went to the bottom and I think that’s what won us the race.”

Williamson’s domination in the final 37 laps of a twin 37-lap feature interrupted by a 10-minute “pit event” was mirrored in the opening half by Mike Bowman, also of St. Catharines.

Bowman was leading by half a lap with five laps when a Rick Richner spinout heading out of Turn 4 brought out the first caution flag and put Williamson alongside Bowman for the restart.

Bowman regained his frontrunner position, though not for long. Williamson, making the most of the opportunity, whittled at Bowman’s lead finally overtaking his with two laps remaining before the break.

Williamson’s strategy for the first half was to put himself into a good starting position for the second-half restart.

“Mike was setting up a fast pace that first little bit,” he said. “I knew if I just stayed in second, the caution was going to come out at (Lap) 37, so we did and played it smart.”

A race honouring the memory of Sittler, a longtime racer and car owner, almost didn’t happen.

Rain earlier in the day made it touch-and-go until about 5 p.m., when the decision to proceed was made.

Williamson was glad that Don Spiece, the speedway’s owner, didn’t pull the plug on the program. Instead, the start was delayed by about an hour.

“Donny had a challenging night with the weather,” Williamson said.

“We stuck it out, put on a good show in honour of a great man.”

Williamson never got to work with Sittler.

“They said he was pretty smart in the pit area, and a good one to have on your side,” Williamson said. “It’s pretty cool to win a race to honour him.”

Defending track champion Chad Brachmann, winner of the inaugural Harry Sittler Memorial; Scott Wood, Ryan Susice and Pete Bicknell rounded out the top five.

Bowman and Gary Lindberg, who both called it a night with 24 laps remaining, finished 13th and 14th, respectively, in the field of

18.

In Sportsman, Dave DiPietro of North Tonawanda, N.Y., led defending champion Chad Chevalier across the finish line to win the 30-lap Race of Champions

Series race.

“Oh, man that was a blast,” he said after his dominating victory. “With the weather today, you knew the track was going to have a lot of bite.

“Everyone knows that’s my kind of track, I love it.”

Chevalier’s car didn’t take to the tacky track as DiPietro’s did.

“You can’t really help what Mother Nature gives us,” the

Port Colborne driver said after his second-place finish.

“I’m happy for Dave, he’s a good race driver. Congratulations to him.”

Cody McPherson, Adam Leslie and Jay Mallory rounded out the top three.

“I thought about taking the top, I guess I should have, but the top was just so quick,” McPherson said. “I tried the bottom there the first two laps, he was just gone.

“I knew I had to go back up top and, unfortunately, we had some contact with a lap car with a few to go, and that kind of cost us.

“But that’s all right, we’re happy with a third.”

The 25-lap main event in the Hoosier Stock class also featured a dominating performance. Dave Bailey battled Jason Fontaine in the early going but two-time defending track champion from Hagersville didn’t long before pulling away for his fourth win of the season.

“It’s nice when it rains like this,” Bailey said. “It might of sucked sitting around worrying about getting the show in, but now that we got the show in, we got a nice grippy race track and I loved it.”

Rounding out the top five in the 25-lapper were Rob Murray, Brad Sheehan, Fontaine and Dave Small.

Jay Moulton of St. Catharines raced to his second win of the season in Mini Stocks, Merrittville’s 4-cylinder division.

“The track was fantastic, I could put the car anywhere I wanted,” he said.