Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEEDSPORT, NY – On Memorial Day at the Weedsport Speedway, Mat Williamson simply obliterated the Super DIRTcar Series field to win the Heroes Remembered 100 by nearly 16 seconds.
On Sunday night, Williamson proved that his trip that night to Victory Hill was no fluke as he captured yet another victory at the Port in the Hall of Fame 100.
The slick racing surface played right into Williamson’s hands as the St. Catherines, ONT driver proved just what type of track he prefers.
“My cars are always really good through the middle of the slick,” Williamson said. “They have been for like two or three years now. Even like at Oswego during Super DIRT Week or the Outlaw 200 at Fulton. When the track gets slicker, our set-up seems to shine.”
While hammer down type surfaces are great for speed and showcasing true horsepower, its race tracks where the surface begin to take rubber that show a driver’s true talent and that was on full display Sunday by Williamson.
“As a track get slippery, I’m just good through the middle of the race track,” he said. “We have worked hard to get a good set-up so that my cars will be tight enough that I can do like we did on Sunday and it showed.”
Williamson drew the fifth starting position for the 100-lap main event, right alongside his closest rival in the Series standings, Matt Sheppard. Does he believe his car was good enough that he could have started further back and still raced to the win?
“I think so,” he said. “Obviously, I probably would have burned my stuff up a little bit more. I was pretty easy on it early on when Anthony (Perrego) and Stewart (Friesen) were beating up the top.”
When you start closer to the front you, you’re able to dictate just how you want to run your race a little more than if you start deep and have to make a lot of moves early.
“I could conserve a little bit more than I actually needed to,” he said. “The Buzz Chew car was certainly good on Sunday night.”
Once Williamson got around Perrego and he got to the back bumper of Friesen’s #44, the two began to encounter lap traffic. That also allowed Perrego and Sheppard to close in. Did the traffic help or hurt the progress of car #88?
“I got some breaks with the lapped traffic,” he said. “I think everybody else got the same breaks. It just looked easier for me because our car was that much better.”
That’s not to say Mat didn’t make things interesting with the back markers.
“There was some lapped traffic that I got behind that screwed me around a little bit,” he said. “I couldn’t get the runs that I needed and I didn’t have a perfect 100-lap race because of some of those lap cars but I’m sure Matt and Stew had the same thing.”
Was Williamson grateful that there was such a long green flag run late in the feature or would he have liked to see yellow flag to bunch up the field and relieve him of the traffic? Does he think his car could have withstood one last restart?
“I think so,” he said. “After restarts, though, when your tires have cooled down, it could go one way or the other but I think our car was good enough that we were all set if there was a caution late in the race. Obviously, I didn’t want to see one but I think we would have been okay.”
From the moment the green flag dropped to begin the Hall of Fame 100, Williamson’s car showed that he would be one of the drivers to beat for the win. However, from the driver’s seat, Mat knew the job he had at hand.
“There were some risks that I took,” he said. “I tried to go under (Tim) Fuller once off of turn two with traffic. It was a little risky but like I said after the last race (at Weedsport), anytime the 9S (Matt Sheppard) is behind you, you’ve got to run a perfect 100 laps.”
Does Mat feel like he ran a perfect race?
“I think that I probably let five laps slip away out of the hundred,” he said. “However, a 95% success rate is way better than anything I ever got in High School.”
The win also had one other big perk. Besides the trophy and the big $10,000 check, Williamson is now a guaranteed starter for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 during Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway.
“It definitely takes a little pressure off but we definitely will want more,” he said. “It’s great to have but you don’t want to have to rely on the spot during that week. If we need to, you’re in trouble.”
It’s now full speed ahead for the Buzz Chew team. They know what they want in 2023.
It’s great that we got the spot but we can’t slow down,” he said. “Matt’s been running very consistent all year so far so if we can’t to beat him, we can’t take our foot off the gas. Wins are great but the title’s our ultimate goal. We want to sit at the head table again in November.”