OSWEGO, N.Y. — Mat Williamson sat at his hauler with no automotive in entrance of him as DIRTcar 358 Modifieds entered Oswego Speedway for Time Trials on Wednesday.
Two days later, he stood atop his automotive in a bathe of champagne and beer as the opposite automobiles exited the monitor.
The second immortalized his third straight Tremendous DIRT Week DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 title and wrote a storybook ending to his dramatic week.
“I’ve liked this race ever because it got here to Oswego,” Williamson stated. “I actually didn’t have good automobiles and I wasn’t that good of a driver after we raced at The Mile… To come back to Oswego and have success, I like coming right here yearly.”
Throughout follow on Wednesday afternoon, the motor blew in Williamson’s Eibach No. 6 358 Modified. With no spare motor within the trailer, he was left and not using a journey, and nobody was providing one. Then got here the mission: choose up Williamson’s S&W No. 6w 358 Modified sitting in his store in St. Catharines, Ontario three hours away from Oswego Speedway and attempt to get it again in time to make the present by means of a warmth race.
Minutes earlier than 7 p.m. (the beginning of on-track motion for the evening) the automotive arrived. He and his crew began thrashing on it to get it as race-ready as they will.
They received it by means of tech simply as 358 Modifieds began staging for his or her Warmth Races, after which Williamson, once more, proved why he’s known as “Cash Mat.” He charged from twenty fourth to fifth in his warmth, inserting him twenty second on the beginning grid for Friday’s Salute to the Troops 150.
However there was nonetheless work to be executed earlier than the 150-lap race.
“We went by means of it in the present day. We modified the oil, we modified the jets, we checked the rear finish fluid ranges, cleaned every part up, took all of the grease out of it and put contemporary stuff in,” Williamson stated. “It actually wasn’t race-ready Wednesday evening, however we made it so we weren’t going to harm ourselves doing what we did.”
When the inexperienced flag waved over the $20,000-to-win characteristic, SRI Efficiency/Inventory Automobile Metal and Aluminum Pole Award winner Matt Sheppard and Fratto Curbing Outdoors Pole Award winner Alex Payne led the sector to the primary flip, whereas Williamson plotted his course to the entrance.
Sheppard, piloting Dave Camara’s Small Block Modified, led for the primary 21 laps till Payne outdueled him for the lead. At that time within the race, Williamson was as much as 14th.
Eight laps later, he broke into the highest 10. One other eight laps later, he was eighth. Two extra laps, sixth. 4 extra laps fourth. By Lap 60, he had handed Sheppard for second and was simply over a second behind Payne.
Whereas the hole was already shrinking, a warning on Lap 65 put the lead inside Williamson’s grasp. Staying inside just a few toes of Payne’s rear bumper, he darted underneath Payne going into Flip 3 and left the nook as the brand new chief on Lap 70.
Within the wake of Williamson’s cost, Alex Yankowski was placing on his personal present. After an unapproved adjustment pressured him to start out at the back of the sector in forty first place, the Pennsylvania native made his method into the highest 5 by Lap 84.
Groups have been capable of cease for gas and changes in the course of the Lap 90 competitors warning. Most took benefit of the chance to placed on new tires. Nonetheless, just one driver determined towards pitting – Jack Lehner, who suffered a damaged shock earlier within the race.
When the race resumed, Lehner led the sector to the inexperienced, however Williamson didn’t let him take pleasure in it lengthy, reclaiming the lead by the point they exited the primary nook. Nonetheless, Lehner’s plan wasn’t initially as flawed as some may need anticipated. He held on to a podium spot for almost 30 laps.
After Sheppard settled his battle with Payne for third place and started a trek ahead, he handed Lehner for second with 39 laps to go. Lehner continued to fall, handing third to Payne and fourth to Yankowski.
Whereas Lehner’s plan fell, Yankowski’s trajectory rose. He took the final podium spot from Payne and set his sights on Sheppard’s No. 9S. Nonetheless, misfortune struck once more. With 18 laps to go, Yankowski suffered an engine subject, taking him out of the race.
That gave everybody one final shot at Williamson with a 12-lap sprint to the end on the restart.
The 2-time Tremendous DIRTcar Collection champion was untouchable on restarts and simply gapped the sector by seconds. However within the closing laps, “Tremendous Matt” discovered one other gear. Whereas Williamson struggled with site visitors and the monitor’s rubbered floor, Sheppard minimize tenths off his lead each lap.
On the ultimate lap, Sheppard was shut sufficient to learn the graphics on the again of Williamson’s automotive – the one which was in items in Canada just a few days prior – desirous to spoil his rival’s story. However there was no stopping Williamson’s reign over the Salute to the Troops 150.
“[The car] felt actually good till we latched rubber and I believed we have been in hassle,” Williamson stated. “The robust half about having a automotive that good is when it does rubber up, you suppose you’re nonetheless Superman, and you’ll go to the center. I simply wanted to calm myself down and keep on the underside.
Sheppard needed to accept his second consecutive second-place end within the ‘150’ as he stated the timing, “simply didn’t work out.”
“Maty has dominated this place for the previous few years, and we’ve been the bridesmaid,” Sheppard stated. “I’m actual happy with this workforce, everybody has busted their butts. The Camara household let me drive this automotive and to return out of right here with a second-place end for him, and to be sandwiched in between [Williamson] and Alex (Payne) who’ve been the blokes to beat all week lengthy, it’s undoubtedly not a foul evening for us.”
After an elevator race of falling and rising for Payne, he ended the 150-lap race along with his first Tremendous DIRT Week podium. It was additionally the second time in 5 begins on the occasion that he accomplished each lap.
“Lastly received a while to race with the automotive, get a number of monitor time and actually see the place my robust factors have been,” Payne stated. “I knew I used to be actually good. I received by Matt there, we race nice. I received by him a pair occasions, actually. When Williamson got here round… I don’t know, there’s simply one thing I don’t have that he’s received. I undoubtedly felt like I used to be a second-place automotive. The outcomes don’t present it, however I’m undoubtedly comfortable.”
Jimmy Phelps completed fourth and Felix Roy rounded out the highest 5 by incomes the Penske Racing Shocks Onerous Charger Award along with his run from thirtieth to fifth.
