RPW Column: Could A Better Draw Have Helped Mat Williamson Repeat As Summer Nationals Champ?
News Director 
Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – RANSOMVILLE, NY – After scraping the turn three wall in the opening circuit, Mat Williamson recovered to finish in the third position in Tuesday night’s Super DIRTcar Series Summer Nationals at Ransomville.
It was an excellent night for Williamson entering the feature. He set quicktime in qualifying and won his heat race over Matt Sheppard to help him briefly close the 64-point lead Sheppard had entering Tuesday.
A tough redraw put Sheppard in the eighth spot for the feature. Immediately he touched the wall to put him in 10th.
“Got a really good start and drove down the back straightaway with some momentum,” Williamson explained to RPW. “Drove into three and bottomed the right side frame rail out. Tightened the car out too much that it flopped on the right side and bounced up the hill. Had to regather it.”
Williamson passed Adam Pierson for the podium spot with three laps to go. Prior to that, he had a hard-fought battle with Tim Sears Jr. for fourth at the time late in the going.
“Timmer was really good. He was running the top of three and four, and I think I got him down in the bottom [on lap 57].”
Another close call for Williamson happened on a lap 29 restart when he was in the middle of a three-wide sandwich, along with Chad Brachmann and Pierson. All three closed in on Jimmy Phelps, who was third then, and Brachmann looked underneath the 98H, forcing Williamson to hit the brakes and recover.
“The restarts were the only time you could pass multiple cars,” Williamson said. “Tried the middle and got a good run, then had to back out. Could’ve played out in our favor but didn’t.”
A joyous night though, for “Money Mat.”
“We gained a little bit on Mat (four points),” Williamson said. “Not gonna hang our heads third to two great racecar drivers. Congrats to Erick. Two years in a row, a local that races on Friday night wins the big race. Hats off to those guys, and we’ll get ready for Lebanon Valley.”
