Mat Williamson wins Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Oswego
Photo by R. Clark
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Mat Williamson drove his way into Victory Lane for the second time in a day at Oswego Speedway aftertaking the checkers in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 Monday afternoon.
His third victory of the prestigious race followed his first ever DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 win, making him only the fourth driver in history to sweep both titles in the same year. And now the first to do it on the same day.
The Billy Whittaker Cars 200 42-car field was loaded with talent. Three of the top six starting spots were filled by current top five contenders in the Super DIRTcar Series points race – including current Series points leader and reigning ‘200’ winner Matt Sheppard.
Jimmy Phelps sped his way to the top time in Thursday night’s qualifying round, securing the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award for the $51,000-to-win, 200-lap Feature. Williamson missed the top qualifying time by .014 seconds, making him the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award winner. Sheppard locked into fourth, while five-time ‘200’ champion Stewart Friesen started from fifth place.
At the drop of the green flag, Phelps shot out in front to start the marathon race. Williamson followed behind him in second, while Sheppard moved up one spot into third on the first lap. Phelps paced the field until Lap 21, when the Baldwinsville, NY driver was overpowered by both Williamson and Sheppard. The defending champion won the battle for the lead, but it was to beshort lived. Williamson found his way around him two laps later, finding clean air on Lap 24 for the first time.
He continued his drive forward, showing no signs of weakness, with Phelps and Sheppard trailing successively behind. The competition for the lead stayed fierce, as Max McLaughlin became the next driver to challenge, moving up two positions to second by Lap 49.
After a multi-car pile-up around Turn 3 and 4 on Lap 51, the red flag was brought out, giving the drivers a chance to reset.
Several laps later, McLaughlin found a second wind, juicing by Williamson for the lead on Lap 56. The Mooresville, NC driver approached the first optional pit stop of the race on Lap 75 with his lead still intact.
“I was really good (before the Lap 75 pit stop),” McLaughlin said. “I just wasn’t as good after. I don’t know if the tires were different or what, but it was different.”
As the competitors lined up to resume competition, Williamson asserted his dominance on the restart, passing McLaughlin to regain the lead on Lap 81. McLaughlin dropped back to second, while Sheppard trailed in third.
Williamson continued to charge forth knocking laps of the counter, crossing the race’s halfway point comfortably out in front. Peter Britten passed into third on Lap 111, charging all the way from 14th place, hungry for a shot at his first Super DIRT Week title.
As the second optional pit stop approached on Lap 125, the contenders in the top five positions opted out, retaining their position. Sheppard rolled into the pit area from seventh place to take the opportunity, changing his right rear tire and making shock adjustments.
“Track position (was the reason we opted out of the second pit stop),” Williamson said. “I think that if I had pulled in and no one else did, we were screwed.”
After a series of cautions and restarts that slowed the race’s momentum, Williamson and McLaughlin continued full steam ahead once they finally saw green. Britten battled relentlesslyto stay in step with the frontrunners back in third, but his resilience met it’s end on Lap 178.
In heartbreaking fashion, the Aussie pulled into the infield and rolled to a stop with mechanical issues, permanently sidelining him. Mike Mahaney moved up into third after Britten’s exit.
The King Ferry, NY driver started from 13th place, slowly picking off drivers, one-by-one, to put himself in position for a podium finish.
“We just had a really balanced car,” Mahaney said. “On restarts, guys just started getting really tight. Then there were times they were getting really loose. Throughout the race, ours stayed steady. I had sensations of being a little tight or a little lose, but not as bad as other cars looked…I certainly think track position was important. We got it by the end, but just not early enough.”
Williamson held steady, as the last 10 laps ticked down, never wavering in his Buzz Chew Racing machine. He held on to take the checkers, scoring his third career Billy Whittaker Cars 200 victory and first since 2021. McLaughlin crossed the finish line in second, and Mike Mahaney finished in third to round out the podium.
Sheppard ended with a fourth-place finish while Friesen finished in fifth place.
Williamson became only the fourth driver in Northeast Dirt Modified history to win both the Big Block Modified and Small Block Modified titles in the same year. Brett Hearn, Danny Johnson, and Sheppard are the three other drivers to accomplish the feat.
“It’s very cool (to win both races in the same year),” Williamson said. “Just to win both of themnow is cool, to win that Big Block race three times is cool, but I really can’t say enough about my guys. I really wanted to win it for them. We had to work hard for it. I really appreciate them.When you sit and look at who is in the field, there’s a lot of guys who don’t race the Series that are really good race car drivers. That shows how deep the field is. It’s tough to win these races. You never feel comfortable when you are leading because guys like that always work harder to try and win. Thankfully, we got it done.”
The second-place finish is McLaughlin’s second podium performance in a row in the ‘200’. He finished third in last year’s matchup.
“We were just a little bit short,” McLaughlin said. “We were pretty good, just not quite good enough. It was a decent end to the day, just have to be a little better to beat (Williamson)… I almost got him again there again at the end, but I just fell a little bit short. We finally have our equipment in line, and hopefully we can finish off the year strong because of that.”
With the win, Williamson shaved off 25 points from Sheppard’s points lead – now 72-points back – in the battle for the 2023 Super DIRTcar Series title heading into the World of Outlaws World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte, Nov. 1-4.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series will travel to Concord, NC for the World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Nov. 1-4 – the final event of the 2023 season where the Series champion will be crowned.
RESULTS
Billy Whittaker Cars 200 (200 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 8H-Max McLaughlin[8]; 3. 35-Mike Mahaney[13]; 4. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 6. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[24]; 7. 25-Erick Rudolph[6]; 8. 9-Marc Johnson[12]; 9. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[18]; 10. 2-Jack Lehner[26]; 11. 4*-Anthony Perrego[9]; 12. 91D-Billy Decker[10]; 13. 3H-Justin Haers[19]; 14. 26-Ryan Godown[20]; 15. 34-Kevin Root[36]; 16. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 17. 5H-Chris Hile[37]; 18. 12-Darren Smith[11]; 19. 15-Todd Root[17]; 20. 29-Ryan Krachun[31]; 21. 3RS-Dalton Slack[7]; 22. 215-Adam Pierson[3]; 23. 37S-Gary Lindberg[15]; 24. 14-CG Morey[40]; 25. (DNF) 99L-Larry Wight[38]; 26. (DNF) 7D-Tyler Dippel[23]; 27. (DNF) 21A-Peter Britten[14]; 28. (DNF) 9X-Tyler Trump[33]; 29. (DNF) 62S-Tom Sears Jr[16]; 30. (DNF) 91-Felix Roy[25]; 31. (DNF) 66-Tim McCreadie[35]; 32. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[41]; 33. (DNF) 22T-Tanner Van Doren[21]; 34. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[32]; 35. (DNF) 28-Jordan McCreadie[22]; 36. (DNF) 49-Billy Dunn[42]; 37. (DNF) 15X-Justin Stone[29]; 38. (DNF) 32R-Ronald Davis III[30]; 39. (DNF) 66W-Derek Webb[28]; 40. (DNS) 54-Steve Bernard; 41. (DNS) M1-David Marcuccilli; 42. (DNS) 7Z-Zachary Payne
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MAT WILLIAMSON WINS FIRST SUPER DIRT WEEK 358 MODIFIED TITLE
OSWEGO, NY – Before Super DIRT Week 51 at Oswego Speedway, Mat Williamson called out one race he really wanted to win.
Not a Big Block race, instead the DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150.
As successful as Williamson has been in a Big Block Modified, he’s built an even more impressive resume in a 358 Modified. Several track championships. A plethora of wins. And thousands of dollars racked up for “Money Mat.”
The missing line on that resume – a Super DIRT Week 358 Modified title.
This year, he left no stone unturned to change that.
He was fastest in both practice sessions on Wednesday. He won the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award and his Qualifying Heat on Thursday. Then, after Mother Nature made him await two extra days, Williamson scored his first Salute to the Troop 150 title on Monday afternoon.
“It means a lot,” Williamson said. “It meant a lot to get that one. It was like the monkey on my back. We have such a good Small Block program between the S and W team and the CW team. We should be winning them races. Hopefully, once you get the first one the next ones come easy.”
The competition didn’t make this one easy on him.
Williamson led the first 65 laps of the Feature, which saw Max McLaughlin flip on the first lap, Matt Sheppard move up to second from ninth by Lap 10 and several battles within the top five in that period.
Sheppard gave Williamson a scare on the Lap 29 restart, jumping ahead of Williamson’s red and white #6 car in the first corner, using the bottom lane. However, the caution came out before the lap was completed, giving the lead back to Williamson.
For the next restart, Williamson chose to fire from the inside row, making sure Sheppard didn’t get the jump on him again.
Anthony Perrego, who started 11th, steadily made his way through the field in the first quarter of the race, reaching the top-three by Lap 55. While most drivers were hugging the bottom, Perrego ripped around the high lane of the 5/8-mile track.
When Williamson found himself caught in heavy traffic, Perrego pounced and snuck around Williamson to take the lead on Lap 65.
In front of Williamson, Perrego drove away. Behind him, Sheppard, Stewart Friesen and Marc Johnson argued over third place.
With a caution on Lap 95 for Lance Willix in the Turn 4 wall, drivers got the opportunity for their one and only fuel stop. The majority of the field took the chance to pit, while Jimmy Phelps (running 11th at the time) and Brian Calabrese (running 14th at the time) gambled and stayed out – putting them first and second on the restart.
Williamson was the first in, and thanks to a clever communication system he and his team came up with, they were able to plan out their adjustments before he even parked at his pit stall.
“Me and Jeff (my crew chief) had a communication system,” Williamson said. “He’s usually up in the grandstands, usually telling me, ‘You need to go high, you need to go low.’ This year we didn’t have radios. This year, we had a communications system that if I put my hand up on the roll bar on the yellow tape it was tight, if I put it up on the orange tape it was loose.
“So, I was telling him, ‘Hey, we do need to make changes.’ Luckily, we were leading and got to talk for a couple of minutes before all the cars got stopped on pit road. We decided to change a right rear, change a right front, and leave some other stuff alone. The car was really good.”
When the race resumed, Calabrese dropped several spots in the first corner, while Phelps’ lead lasted until Turn 3. Perrego, who restarted fourth, powered around the outside of Turns 1 and 2 to get to second by the backstretch and then used that momentum to slide around Phelps for the lead by Turn 4.
Williamson passed Phelps for second two laps later, but Perrego was already a straightaway ahead.
A caution on Lap 120, brought the field back together and helped put Williamson in a position to at least keep Perrego within striking distance as he built a run for the lead.
Perrego ran high, while Williamson stayed low and experimented with the middle lane. His #6 machine inched closer and closer to Perrego’s #4* ride every lap.
On Lap 134, Williamson’s persistence finally paid off as he was able to dive under Perrego going into Turn 1 and drive away with the lead off Turn 2.
Perrego tried to keep pace with Williamson, but the Canadian seemed to have his first Salute to the Troops 150 triumph in hand.
Then, a caution on Lap 145 – setting up a Green-White-Checkered finish.
While it brought Perrego back to Williamson’ bumper, the final two laps were smooth sailing for the #6, reaching the checkered flag with a 1.6 second lead.
“What a racetrack,” Williamson said. “A racetrack like that, it don’t matter where you start. Luckily, we started out front. But when Anthony got back around me, it let me search around a little bit. I got worried about protecting the bottom and he showed me the top. Then, I just started sliding the middle there and floating over the bumps and that was really good.”
After leading 56 laps, Perrego had to settle for second. But still a career-best performance in the race.
“We needed that brown (tacky spot on the track) to not go away, right up against the wall there,” Perrego said. “I knew Mat was pretty good. When we almost got up in the fence there, getting to the halfway break and he snuck by me.
“You can’t really hang your head. We had a really good car to get up there and give him a challenge.”
After running out of fuel with a chance to win the ‘150’ last year, Johnson rebounded with a third-place finish this year.
Friesen entered the weekend unsure if he’d even race after a hard crash in the NASCAR Truck Series race the weekend prior. But he battled through and ended the night in fourth.
“It was good, we had a good long-run car there,” Friesen said. “A couple of those cautions, our tires cooled off a little bit. Definitely add to the notebook and be… OK, with a top five. Obviously, we would’ve liked to be better than that and win the damn thing. But proud of the Halmar team and to have a top five with this tough field and everything everyone has went through here."
While Phelps' gambled to not pit didn’t end with a win, he still landed a fifth-place finish.
“It really wasn’t in our plan,” Phelps said about the strategy call. “I thought our car was halfway decent, we just weren’t going anywhere… I think it worked out great for us. We came in [11th], without it I don’t see us finishing in the top five. Especially with our 358 car, which we’ve been kind of off a little all week with it. It’s a good finish.”
Williamson’s win was his second straight DIRTcar 358 Modified Series win, his fourth this year and the 15th of his career. He also became the fifth straight different winner of the Salute to the Troops 150.
The win also became the lead-in for his third Billy Whittaker Cars 200 win Monday evening – making him the fourth driver in Super DIRT Week history to win the Small Block race and Big Block race in the same year (joining Matt Sheppard, Brett Hearn and Danny Johnson). And now the first in the event's history to win both on the same day.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series concludes its 2023 championship season at Brockville Ontario Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Special Award Winners:
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award: Mat Williamson
Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award: Zach Payne
DIRTVision Last Chance Showdown Winners: Tim Fuller and Ronnie Davis III
Bart Contracting Hard Luck Award: TBD
Velocita USA Last Car/Finisher: Max McLaughlin
Dig Race Products Halfway Feature Leader Award: Anthony Perrego
Integra Racing Shocks Last Car on Lead Lap: Derek Webb
Fastline Performance Lap 51 Leader Award: Mat Williamson
Penske Racing Shocks Hard Charger: Billy Decker (33rd to ninth)
Swift Springs First Non-Qualifier Award: Taylor Caprara
RESULTS:
Salute To The Troops 150 (150 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 4*-Anthony Perrego[11]; 3. 3J-Marc Johnson[10]; 4. 44-Stewart Friesen[12]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[16]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph[3]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard[7]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[29]; 9. 91D-Billy Decker[33]; 10. 3RS-Dalton Slack[4]; 11. M1-David Marcuccilli[17]; 12. 91-Felix Roy[19]; 13. 66-Tim McCreadie[13]; 14. 49-Billy Dunn[8]; 15. 9C-Brian Calabrese[25]; 16. 14B-Jack Lehner[24]; 17. 19-Tim Fuller[31]; 18. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[5]; 19. 28-Jordan McCreadie[37]; 20. 83-Danny Johnson[26]; 21. 32R-Ronald Davis III[32]; 22. 22-Brandon Walters[14]; 23. 3-Chris Mackey[22]; 24. 01C-Chris Raabe[38]; 25. 26R-Corey Cormier[30]; 26. 35-Mike Mahaney[9]; 27. 12-Darren Smith[23]; 28. 5H-Amy Holland[39]; 29. 66W-Derek Webb[6]; 30. 19C-Brandon Carvey[21]; 31. 39-Ryan Bartlett[40]; 32. (DNF) 215-Adam Pierson[34]; 33. (DNF) 31-Lance Willix[36]; 34. (DNF) 18R-Brad Rouse[28]; 35. (DNF) 8-Rich Scagliotta[27]; 36. (DNF) 70A-Alex Payne[18]; 37. (DNF) 9-Tyler Meeks[15]; 38. (DNF) 8H-Max McLaughlin[20]; 39. (DNS) 7Z-Zachary Payne; 40. (DNS) 84Y-Alex Yankowski
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MATT JANCZUK SCORES FIRST CAREER SUPER DIRT WEEK SPORTSMAN TRIUMPH
By Joe Grabianowski
OSWEGO, NY -– Matt Janczuk joined Super DIRT Week Champions like Matt Sheppard, Dave Marcuccilli, and Kyle Inman on the all-time DIRTcar Sportsman Chevrolet Performance Feature winners list Monday afternoon.
Janczuk, from Oneida, NY, has been chasing a Super DIRT Week championship for years with finishes of second and fifth in his last two runs at Oswego Speedway.
“This is one of the things on the bucket list that I hadn’t checked off yet,” Janczuk noted.
Janczuk captured the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award in Time Trials putting him in prime position to take a stab at the lead on Lap 1. When the green flag dropped on the 50-lap Chevrolet Performance Feature, Janczuk seized the opportunity to drive into the corner farther than 15-year-old pole-sitter Nicholas Root.
He kept his foot down on the 602 Chevrolet Performance engine under the hood and powered into the lead.
“This TEO Pro Car has been so good,” Janczuk said. “I couldn’t do it without my sponsors like Billy Whittaker Cars.”
Thirty-six DIRTcar Sportsman poured into Turns 1 and 2 cleanly to start the race. However, on Lap 2 disaster struck mid-pack. Ryan Dolbear, Trevor Catalano, Jason Reome, and Jason Parkhurst Jr. careened into the Turn 4 wall blocking the track and necessitating a red flag.
The race stopped and started several more times without a steady groove or serious incident but each restart gave drivers a chance to make ground.
“The restarts were key,” Janczuk noted . “Nick (Root) was really good. I figured if I rolled the outside and be smooth he’d go through the hole and I’d beat him to Turn 1 but it didn’t always work out.”
Not only did Janczuk come away with the victory but he was also the halfway leader awarding him a 602 Chevrolet Performace Engine in addition to his winnings.
“What a testament to the team and all the fans for sticking it out,” Janczuk said. “Hats off to the track crew. I looked at the track yesterday and thought we were in trouble. What a great facility and thanks to DIRTcar for putting on the show. Man, what a race.”
Jessica Power, from Kingston, ON, and Mike Fowler, from Fulton, NY, battled in and out of the top three before Zach Sobotka came charging in the final 10 laps.
Unfortunately for Fowler, his championship run took a hit as the left front lost air late in the race. The No. 410 did everything to stay ahead of the pack but Fowler fell to 20th.
After 50 laps of DIRTcar Sportsman action, Janczuk remained cream of the crop and stood on top of the Chevrolet Performance Feature podium. Root, from Geneva, NY, finished in his wake.
Root started the week winning the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award. However, the driver and crew were concerned about a vibration. Putting all worries aside, Root planned his foot firmly on the accelerator to bring the field to green but Janczuk jumped him and never gave him another shot.
“I had the expectations that Matt Janczuk was going to be one of the ones to beat,” Root said. “I had a really good car but I started to pick up that vibration again. I got some oil on the ground over there”
The young racer was calm and collected despite the high stakes. Root survived and thrived at the extended 51st Super DIRT Week.
“I have to thank my crew and all my sponsors. We’ve had a great year but now we’ll finish out this last race at Brockville, maybe Middletown, and see what we can do for the rest of the season.”
The Hurricane Harvey 30 winner and Brewerton Speedway Track Champion Zach Sobotka crossed the line just behind the #30 of Root.
Sobotka, from Parish, NY, drove from 11th to third in the 50 laps, left wishing weather didn't shorten the race from its original 75 laps.
“All those restarts gave me opportunities to make moves," Sobotka said. "As soon as we hit 40 laps I knew it was time to start sending her into the corner. I just got up on the wall and never lifted. It just kept sticking for me. I don’t know how we could have made the car any better there. If we had more laps we could have caught them.”
Another driver who made big moves was James Michael Friesen in the No. 72f. Friesen, from St. Catharines, ON, powered up 19 positions to claim the Penske Racing Shocks Hard Charger Award for $500.
The DIRTcar Sportsman Series goes to Brockville Ontario Speedway to finish off its points championship. After that, all eyes are on the World Short Track Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Oct. 26-28.
RESULTS
Chevrolet Performance Feature (50 laps)
1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[2]; 2. 30-Nicholas Root[1]; 3. 38-Zach Sobotka[11]; 4. 33-Richard Murtaugh[4]; 5. 52-Jessica Power[5]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[18]; 7. 21C-Tanner Warner[7]; 8. Z8-JT Sperring[13]; 9. 35-Nelson Mason[15]; 10. 01-Zach Buff[6]; 11. 115-Dylan Madsen[14]; 12. 72F-James Friesen[31]; 13. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[24]; 14. 64-Tyler Corcoran[22]; 15. 7M-Cody McPherson[27]; 16. B24-Brendan Gibbons[29]; 17. 18E-Gavin Eisele[35]; 18. 3A-Adam Hilton[8]; 19. 10-Karl Comfort[17]; 20. 410-Mike Fowler[3]; 21. 80-Dominic Roselli[20]; 22. 92-Andrew Buff[26]; 23. 38JR-Jason Parkhurst Jr[32]; 24. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[12]; 25. 28X-Stephen Marshall[23]; 26. 2-Taylor Doxtater[33]; 27. 1X-Willy Decker Jr[19]; 28. 95-Kearra Backus[34]; 29. 8-Kevin Chaffee[10]; 30. 29-Nick Heywood[30]; 31. 02-David Boisclair[9]; 32. 27-Jason Reome[21]; 33. 54T-Trevor Catalano[16]; 34. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[25]; 35. 23T-Scott Towslee[28]; 36. 66B-Jason Bruno[36]
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