Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – BREWERTON, NY – Even with the run and pass around Matt Sheppard that got Mat Williamson the win, what many will be talking about for days to come after race number one of DIRTcar SummerFAST Monday night at Brewerton Speedway will be the battle, and contact, between he and Danny Johnson.
On a restart, with 44 laps complete, Williamson, who was running third at the time, powered off the second corner and was door-to-door with the Doctor as the two entered the third corner.
Williamson entered on the bottom with Danny running a half groove up towards the middle.
As Johnson began to enter the corner, he drove his #27J to the bottom and the two made contact. Williamson got the runner-up spot while Danny lost third to Tim Sears Jr.
Under the caution, Johnson showed his displeasure to Williamson for the move and did so in the pit area post-race.
While it appears as if he felt Williamson forced the issue, Mat sees it another way.
“I don’t think I did at all,” he said. “I believe if the rolls were reversed, and he had done that to me, I wouldn’t have thought twice. Lehner and I raced side-by-side for many laps. There were times I saw him going into turn three on the bottom. I tried to go down there but saw he already had position so it forced me to roll the middle.”
Williamson truly believes he did everything he could to avoid contact with Danny while still trying to race for the spot.
“I couldn’t go any lower on the track,” he said. “We were wheel-to-wheel. There’s not a mark on my siderail. I honestly don’t know why Danny was so upset.”
Johnson’s been around racing for quite a long time and Williamson has tried to model a lot of how he races after the veteran.
“I look up to Danny,” he said. “I’ve tried to replicate what he’s done in his racing career. He’s one of the greats but tonight, I was disappointed in how he reacted. I was especially disappointed about how things went in the pit area because of something so little on the race track.”