Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – DUNDEE, NY – The dejection on Alex Payne’s face after Tuesday night’s Short Track Super Series race at Outlaw Speedway was extremely apparent.
You had to feel for the young driver from Canandaigua, NY. He wanted to win this race bad and add his name to the list of victors on the Short Track Super Series.
Payne seemed to run the perfect race at his former home track but unfortunately made one error, jumping the cushion on the final lap, and that’s what cost him the race.
Other than that, he was perfect.
“I’m just disappointed in myself,” Payne said. “This is a tough one to lose. We worked really hard and we’ll just keep digging and see what we can do from here.”
Payne has worked hard and he deserved the victory at Outlaw, but there’s no doubt his time is coming. After several great runs on Brett Deyo’s tour the last few years, that visit to victory lane is right around the corner.
“This is a great race car and I have a great team,” he said. “I just made a mistake tonight.”
Even with that, Payne loved the battle he had with eventual winner Cory Costa.
“It was a great race between me and Cory the whole time,” he said. “He ran me clean. I think I ran him clean. Lap traffic was really tough.”
Payne may have had a strong race all feature long and came away with a great finish, however, in the back of his mind, he’s still wondering what might have been.
“I just got in my own head,” he said. “I hit the hole (in turns one and two) and bounced over the top but we will be back.”
Third place finisher on the night was veteran Alan Johnson. The driver known as ‘AJ Slideways’ ran a solid event all race long and sitting fourth at the final caution.
That’s when third place runner Matt Sheppard pulled to the pit lane with a flat right rear tire and gave Johnson a podium spot.
Over the final laps of the event, the Middlesex, NY driver was able to hold off the challenges of Mat Williamson and his younger brother, Danny Johnson, to finish in the show position.
“We had a good car tonight,” Johnson said. “I am disappointed we couldn’t keep pace with the leaders but we’re gaining on it. Maybe, in the future, we’ll get a little better.”
In his mind, could the veteran have been aided by a few more cautions or was he happy with out the race played out?
“I honestly think we were in the spot we were going to stay tonight,” he said. “I don’t think having more yellows or not would have mattered too much.”