Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEEDSPORT, NY – “I was thankful I could see him tonight!”
That was the sentiment of Matt Sheppard, who finished second to Mat Williamson in Sunday night’s Super DIRTcar Series Hall of Fame 100 at Weedsport Speedway.
After the nearly 17-second victory by Williamson over the rest of the field in the first Series race at the Port on Memorial Day Weekend, Sheppard was happy with finishing second on Sunday, but was even more pleased with the fact that he was able to contend for the win, especially with how good the winner has been at the track this season.
“It was interesting tonight,” Sheppard said. “One-hundred laps here always is. I didn’t feel that great early.”
Then, things began to settle out and Sheppard found his rhythm which allowed him to close in on the top two, Williamson who was second at the time and leader Stewart Friesen.
“Threw the mid-stretch of the race, we were all battling for the lead there,” he said. “I thought to myself, maybe I could sneak up in there.”
The Hurlock Auto & Speed #9s fired for the 100-lapper from sixth starting spot and fell back at tick at the beginning. However, in true Sheppard style, the defending Super DIRTcar Series champion began picking his way through the field but could only get to spot number two at the finish.
“We were okay tonight,” he said. “We had a good car to get up to second. Mat was outstanding again. I’m thankful I could at least see him tonight so were gaining on it a little bit.”
Ultimately, a possible problem with his racecar may have hindered Sheppard’s progression and his chances to compete with Williamson for the lead late in the race.
“I picked up a wicked vibration about lap 65,” he said. “I’m just really thankful this thing held together. I was cringing if I was going to lose a driveshaft u-joint or something.”
Even though he would hate to hurt his equipment, if Sheppard was indeed forced to reture from the event Sunday, the hit to his championship hopes might have been just as great.
“You hate to drop out of a Super DIRTcar Series race when you’re running second,” he said. “I’m just thankful this thing made it to the end. This was another good points night for us.”
It was almost the perfect night for Sheppard, but he came up that one spot short at the end.”
“Fast time in qualifying, a heat race win and second in the feature,” he said. “We just came up one spot short in the main but I’m thankful for my whole crew, my sponsors and everyone that’s been working so hard on this team.”
For third-place finisher Stewart Friesen, it was a decent night to finish on the podium, but after starting on the pole, the #44 was just a tick off compared to Williamson and Sheppard as the race ran through that long green-flag run.
“The car went away about halfway through the race,” Friesen said. “Actually, it’s a tire game with these Hoosiers. They’re real finicky.”
After leading a good portion of the first 100 laps, Friesen encountered lap traffic and had to play both offense and defense. He was on offense while trying to maneuver around the lap cars while also being defensive to try and hold off Williamson who was charging.
Was the fact that he was pushing too much end up burning the right rear off his racecar or was there more to it?
“We really having done much racing on Hoosiers this year,” he said. “We’re just getting back into the swing of things on how to sipe them, how to cut them and grind them because it seems you have to do one thing to time trial, one thing for the heat race and another for the feature.”
No matter the issues on Sunday, Friesen was quick to give credit to the dedication by his team, especially to the leader of his tire program, Jay Castimore, for the third-place showing.
“Jay and Tommy (Conroy, crew chief) did a great job tonight,” he said. “I’m proud of the whole Halmar team. We’ll take a top three, build the notebook and just try to get back on track.”