Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST HAVEN, VT – The Short Track Super Series “Slate Valley 50” may have gone green-to-checkered with Matt Sheppard leading every circuit to grab the victory.
However, drivers like Mat Williamson and Demetrios Drellos still put on a show, making things interesting through the middle portion of the feature event to see who was going to stand in victory lane late Sunday afternoon at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
As the race neared halfway, both Williamson in second and Drellos in third were closing in on Sheppard as the leader maneuvered lap traffic. At one point, the super-shiny, slick surface had all three drivers within mere car lengths of each other in one corner.
Ultimately, it was the current Short Track Super Series North region point leader extending his margin the season-long standings, but Williamson and Drellos, along with fourth and fifth place finishers, Anthony Perrego and Erick Rudolph, put on a show for the fans.
“You take Matt (Sheppard) out of the equation and this was a good race,” Williamson said. “I didn’t see Anthony there because I was more focused more on what Demetrios was doing but it was a good run.”
Williamson, who actually had one of his own DIRTcar Small Block engines under the hood of the Behrent’s #3 on this night instead of the team’s normal powerplants, always seems to run well when he visits Devil’s Bowl Speedway. He’s been to victory lane in the past, winning the Slate Valley 100 in 2020, and has several top five runs.
To see him standing on the podium after the 50 laps were completed wasn’t a big surprise.
“I like this place,” he said. “It’s fun coming here. You slip-slide around and it’s more my type of racing.”
While Williamson was trying to chase down the leader, he had to fend off Drellos who was working him over lap after lap. At one point, the 111 got around the 3. That only made Williamson work a little bit hard to try and set up another pass, utilizing lapped traffic, to get back to the runner-up spot.
“Lap cars were crazy tonight,” he said. “Demetrios and I had a heck of a battle going there until the end of the race. We’re just happy to get back up here in the top three after a few races with some unlucky breaks and just bad runs.”
For Drellos, finishing third at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, a track he has countless laps and victories on, was a great end to his night.
“It pays off to have some laps here when it slicks off like this,” Drellos said. “As long as these straightaways are here, it’ just a ton of momentum here no matter what type of car you have.”
The Queensbury, NY driver loved racing with Williamson, especially when both drivers were trying to chase down Sheppard for the $10,000 first place check.
“It was just a ton of fun,” he said. “Mat and I had an absolute ball of a race. Then Perrego got in there and we all just had a lot of fun. That was one of the most “fun” races I’ve ever been a part of. Thank you to the Bruno family for having a good show here and Brett (Deyo) for putting on such an awesome event.”