Billy Whittaker Cars 200 Top Six Set; Jimmy Phelps Claims Pole
Photo by Mike Fry
Oswego, NY — The top six starting positions for the 2023 Billy Whittaker Cars 200 were locked in Thursday night during Low-E Insulation Qualifying at Oswego Speedway.
Of the nearly 80 drivers entered, Jimmy Phelps came out on top, securing the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award with his lap of 21.810 seconds, setting himself up for a run at his first career Billy Whittaker Cars 200 title.
“I think we have a good baseline and a good idea of what we needed to come here,” Phelps said. “(My team) did a really good job in the shop the last couple of weeks preparing the car. I thought we unloaded quick, and we started finding some speed in last night’s second session, and today we just fined tuned… Obviously, the goal is to win Sunday, but this certainly takes the edge off.”
Two-time Super DIRT Week champion Mat Williamson showed speed of his own, clocking an impressive 21.824 second lap to win the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award. Williamson will join Phelps on the front row for Sunday’s ‘200’ Feature, looking to battle for his third career title.
“I like Oswego when it gets slippery,” Williamson said. “It’s a place that fits my driving style. I like a tight race car, (I can) drive off the right front… Obviously, we wanted to Quick Time, but to be second by .014 is nothing to hang our heads about.”
Second-year full-time Super DIRTcar Series driver Adam Pierson drove his way into elite company for Sunday’s Feature, notching the third quickest overall qualifying time. Pierson delivered an impressive run during last year’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200, running as high as third.While he’s excited about his career-best starting spot, he isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“(Sunday) is going to be awesome, because we locked ourselves into a starting position,” Pierson said. “Being out in front with some good guys, we should be able to pace ourselves, and just kind of go from there. If we can save our car until the end and do the right fuel deal, and wait, and (think about) the tires, it still all has to click.”
Three-time and defending ‘200’ champion Matt Sheppard will start his run for back-to-back titles from the outside of row two after qualifying fourth. Last year, the Waterloo, NY driver was able to sweep the DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 and the Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
Stewart Friesen, another repeat ‘200’ winner, with five wins of his own, piloted his #44 machine to a fifth-place starting spot. The Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON driver last took home the checkers in the prestigious race in 2016 – when Super DIRT Week debuted at Oswego Speedway.
Consistency paid off for Erick Rudolph to round out the top six. He and Dalton Slack logged their fastest lap at 22.126 seconds. However, the tiebreaker went to Rudolph as his other qualifying lap of 22.127 seconds was quicker than Slack’s 22.280 second lap.
Rudolph is the 2008 Super DIRT Week Sportsman champion, but, like Phelps, he’ll be on the hunt for his first Billy Whittaker Cars 200 victory.
The Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds return Friday (Oct. 6) for their Qualifying Heats and Last Chance Showdowns.
FULL FRIDAY SCHEDULE:
12pm (Noon) – Grandstand Opens
12:50pm – Opening Ceremonies
1pm – DIRTcar Sportsman Qualifying Heats
Super DIRTcar Series Qualifying Heats
DIRTcar Pro Stock Last Chance Showdown (if needed)
DIRTcar 358 Modified Last Chance Showdowns
DIRTcar Sportsman Last Chance Showdowns
Super DIRTcar Series Last Chance Showdowns
DTD Live (Post-Race)
9pm – DJ Party at Island Stage
For tickets to Super DIRT Week 51, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap of the event live on DIRTVision.
DIRTCAR BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:21.810[25]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:21.824[10]; 3. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:22.029[11]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:22.056[23]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:22.065[14]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:22.126[55]; 7. 3RS-Dalton Slack, 00:22.126[66]; 8. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:22.151[59]; 9. 4*-Anthony Perrego, 00:22.153[28]; 10. 91D-Billy Decker, 00:22.218[30]; 11. 12-Darren Smith, 00:22.219[54]; 12. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:22.240[74]; 13. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:22.249[45]; 14. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:22.268[63]; 15. 37S-Gary Lindberg, 00:22.271[64]; 16. 62S-Tom Sears Jr, 00:22.275[36]; 17. 15-Todd Root, 00:22.297[7]; 18. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 00:22.332[20]; 19. 3H-Justin Haers, 00:22.334[26]; 20. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:22.340[46]; 21. 22T-Tanner Van Doren, 00:22.379[65]; 22. 28-Jordan McCreadie, 00:22.389[5]; 23. 7D-Tyler Dippel, 00:22.395[49]; 24. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:22.415[50]; 25. 91-Felix Roy, 00:22.420[32]; 26. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:22.428[51]; 27. M1-David Marcuccilli, 00:22.428[40]; 28. 66W-Derek Webb, 00:22.428[69]; 29. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:22.429[18]; 30. 32R-Ronald Davis III, 00:22.443[29]; 31. 9X-Tyler Trump, 00:22.444[19]; 32. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:22.449[16]; 33. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:22.451[22]; 34. 18R-Brad Rouse, 00:22.459[2]; 35. 58M-Marshall Hurd, 00:22.465[21]; 36. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:22.472[62]; 37. 66-Tim McCreadie, 00:22.475[52]; 38. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:22.481[70]; 39. 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:22.484[3]; 40. 34-Kevin Root, 00:22.503[67]; 41. 29-Ryan Krachun, 00:22.512[38]; 42. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:22.524[35]; 43. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:22.528[24]; 44. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher, 00:22.530[53]; 45. 27JR-Daniel Johnson, 00:22.548[41]; 46. 35L-LJ Lombardo, 00:22.552[37]; 47. B2-Bob Henry Jr, 00:22.567[8]; 48. 60-Jackson Gill, 00:22.570[76]; 49. 39-Kyle Coffey, 00:22.581[61]; 50. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:22.596[78]; 51. 22-Brandon Walters, 00:22.601[44]; 52. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:22.613[12]; 53. 7L-Rick Laubach, 00:22.622[6]; 54. 20-Brett Hearn, 00:22.625[9]; 55. 6-Robert Bublak, 00:22.641[56]; 56. 29C-Matt Caprara, 00:22.651[72]; 57. 6S-Matthew Stangle, 00:22.663[43]; 58. 82-Gary Tomkins, 00:22.666[13]; 59. 49-Billy Dunn, 00:22.669[73]; 60. 9M-Tyler Meeks, 00:22.676[31]; 61. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 00:22.682[17]; 62. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:22.756[1]; 63. 63-Jarrett Herbison, 00:22.857[15]; 64. 713-Tommy Collins, 00:22.862[39]; 65. 27W-Nick Webb, 00:22.945[75]; 66. 3-Chris Mackey, 00:22.958[60]; 67. 02-Roy Bresnahan, 00:22.988[71]; 68. 54-Steve Bernard, 00:23.031[68]; 69. 14S-Brian Swarthout, 00:23.047[33]; 70. 14-CG Morey, 00:23.133[58]; 71. 16-Aaron Jacobs, 00:23.211[4]; 72. 7-Troy Sperring, 00:23.248[27]; 73. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:23.353[47]; 74. 63R-Adam Roberts, 00:23.364[34]; 75. 18S-Sean Beardsley, 00:23.377[77]; 76. 1NY-Gregory Atkins, 00:24.035[57]; 77. 36-Brian Whittemore, 00:24.541[42]; 78. (DNS) 11S-Steve Lewis Jr, 00:24.541
==========================================================================================================================
WILLIAMSON WINS POLE FOR 358 MODIFIED ALUTE TO THE TROOPS 150, PAYNE, RUDOLPH WIN HEATS
OSWEGO, NY -- For the first time in his career, Matt Williamson will bring the DIRTcar 358 Modified field to the green Saturday in the 43rd running of the Salute to the Troops 150.
The six fastest drivers from Thursday’s Time Trial sessions have locked themselves into the Salute to the Troops 150. Williamson is joined by Zachary Payne, Erick Rudolph, Dalton Slack, Tim Sears Jr. and Derek Webb in the first three rows of Saturday’s main event for a shot at the $20,000 grand prize.
Later in the evening, both Williamson and Payne went on to win their respective Heats, as well as Rudolph, picking up the additional $1,000 bonus checks as part of the Thursday Night Thunder program.
TIME TRIALS
Coming into October, Williamson – the 33-year-old Big Block Modified ace from St. Catharines, ON – has triumphed twice in Super DIRT Week’s crown jewel, the Billy Whittaker Cars 200, but has never been to Victory Lane in the year’s biggest 358 Modified event despite over a decade’s worth of attempts. In fact, he’s never been on the pole of any Super DIRT Week Feature event.
He changed all that Thursday afternoon, laying down a lap of 21.965 seconds around the dirt-covered, 5/8-mile of Oswego Speedway – the only sub-22-second lap recorded out of all 78 cars to participate in Time Trials – and picked up the $1,000 SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award.
“It’s cool – between the Big Block and the Small Block, I’ve never put it on the pole,” Williamson said. “It’s cool momentum; hopefully we can get some luck on our side and be good on Saturday.”
Starting to his outside on Saturday – a new face to the 358 Modified front row at Oswego, Zachary Payne. The 22-year-old from Stanley, NY, turned a lap of 22.098 seconds, good enough to earn him the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award.
“I could never imagine us being in the top six,” Payne said. “We joked about it yesterday. We knew we had a fast car, and I had to just run one really good lap, and I did.”
A graduate of the Sportsman Modified ranks, Payne has been a constant presence in weekly Big Block Modified action this year, scoring a Feature win in July at Land of Legends Raceway. As one of numerous racers pulling double duty at Oswego with the Big Blocks and 358s, he was all smiles after his first big success of the week.
“I couldn’t be any happier and prouder of our team,” Payne said. “We’ve been working for this the last couple years now. To even be in the top six with the other guys in there is just crazy.”
HEAT RACES
Heat 1 – Mat Williamson
After the Feature win Wednesday at Brewerton and the Pole Award Thursday afternoon, Mat Williamson showed exactly why he’s been the most dominant 358 Modified in the field this week with a flag-to-flag win in Heat #1.
The former Super DIRTcar Series champion drove 20 clean laps around Oswego untouched in his final tune-up before leading the Salute to the Troops 150 to the green on Saturday.
“We’ve certainly got a good car; we’re not in the wrong direction by any means,” Williamson said. “We’re gonna work hard, and we’re gonna try and stay on top of the racetrack.”
Heat 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 3. 3RS-Dalton Slack[2]; 4. 44-Stewart Friesen[8]; 5. 22-Brandon Walters[4]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[3]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[7]; 8. 3-Chris Mackey[19]; 9. 9C-Brian Calabrese[14]; 10. 18R-Brad Rouse[10]; 11. 19-Tim Fuller[13]; 12. 215-Adam Pierson[11]; 13. 91D-Billy Decker[12]; 14. 713-Tommy Collins[21]; 15. 25P-Michael Parent[16]; 16. 38-Kevin Stevens[9]; 17. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[22]; 18. 63-Jarrett Herbison[18]; 19. 1NY-Gregory Atkins[23]; 20. 16-Aaron Jacobs[26]; 21. 37S-Gary Lindberg[6]; 22. 2J-Robert Bublak[20]; 23. 5H-Amy Holland[17]; 24. 14S-Brian Swarthout[24]; 25. 26-Michael Mandigo[25]; 26. 427-Carter Gibbons[15]
Heat 2 – Zach Payne
Following his Outside Pole Award-worthy performance in time Trials earlier in the day, Payne led all 20 laps of Heat Race #2 untouched – the first of his 358 Modified career at Super DIRT Week.
Thinking about the day he had as a whole, Payne was still over-the-moon with the success in his second 358 Modified venture to Oswego.
“I don’t know if it’s really set-in yet,” Payne said. “It might tomorrow, next week, next month, I don’t know. I’m just doing what I’m told right now and doing my best.”
Heat 2 (20 Laps): 1. 7Z-Zachary Payne[1]; 2. 49-Billy Dunn[6]; 3. 3J-Marc Johnson[3]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[2]; 5. 9-Tyler Meeks[5]; 6. M1-David Marcuccilli[4]; 7. 8H-Max McLaughlin[10]; 8. 12-Darren Smith[13]; 9. 83-Danny Johnson[8]; 10. 21A-Peter Britten[14]; 11. 32R-Ronald Davis III[12]; 12. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[11]; 13. 31-Lance Willix[15]; 14. B2-Bob Henry Jr[19]; 15. 28-Jordan McCreadie[7]; 16. 18W-Scott Webb[16]; 17. 01C-Chris Raabe[17]; 18. 27W-Nick Webb[21]; 19. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[22]; 20. 01-Robert Gage[23]; 21. 21R-RJ Tresidder[20]; 22. 50-William August[24]; 23. 115-Montgomery Tremont[26]; 24. 21JR-Jeffrey Reis[25]; 25. 29-Matt Caprara[9]; 26. 24-Zach Aubertine[18]
Heat 3 – Erick Rudolph
In what was likely the most dominant performance given in a Heat Race all night, Erick Rudolph led wire-to-wire for the win in Heat Race #3.
The veteran racer from Ransomville, NY, stretched his led out to almost five seconds at its largest before second-running Larry Wight slowed and brought out the caution in the closing laps, taking it pit-side where the crew made adjustments underneath the hood.
Back to green with two laps left, and Rudolph aced the restart to bring the field around to the checkered and score the win.
“All practice is was two laps at a time, then Time Trials was two laps at a time, so this was the first time we ran it any more than a couple laps,” Rudolph said. “We didn’t really do much; we were just more curious to see what it was gonna do in a longer run.”
Heat 3 (20 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[1]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[4]; 3. 4*-Anthony Perrego[8]; 4. 60-Jackson Gill[7]; 5. 66-Tim McCreadie[10]; 6. 66W-Derek Webb[2]; 7. 70A-Alex Payne[13]; 8. 19C-Brandon Carvey[9]; 9. 14B-Jack Lehner[3]; 10. 8-Rich Scagliotta[11]; 11. 26R-Corey Cormier[5]; 12. 21C-Taylor Caprara[12]; 13. 58M-Marshall Hurd[14]; 14. 28T-Michael Trautschold[17]; 15. 92-Andrew Buff[19]; 16. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[18]; 17. 28H-Brett Hearn[15]; 18. 99L-Larry Wight[6]; 19. 28F-Alan Fink[21]; 20. 15X-Justin Stone[16]; 21. 02-Roy Bresnahan[20]; 22. 4SL-Bob Hentschel[23]; 23. 5-Tanner Siemons[22]; 24. 117JR-CJ Castelletti[24]; 25. 39-Ryan Bartlett[26]; 26. (DNS) 18S-Sean Beardsley
UP NEXT
The 358 Modified action continues Friday, Oct. 6 at Oswego Speedway, with Last Chance Showdown events to lock-in six more drivers into Saturday’s Feature. Get a ticket at the gate or on SuperDIRTWeek.com, and stream live on DIRTVision.
Our Partners
.png)
