Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – LAKE CITY, FL – One driver whose night at All-Tech Raceway was over before it started Friday evening was Mat Williamson.
The St. Catherines, ONT driver fired from the 15th spot for the 40-lap main event. However, by the time his #6 reached the second corner, he was out of the race, being involved in a multi-car incident that necessitated a red flag.
“There really wasn’t a place to get out of the way,” Williamson said. “It was just an accordion where everything closed in and we got caught up in it.”
Williamson was okay after the accident. His car, however, will need some more TLC.
“The car’s bad but we’ll get it back together for the last race,” he said. It got a little bit of the frame and a lot of the bolt-ons (parts) need to be replaced but my crew is working their asses off to get this thing fixed.”
Another driver caught up in the lap one melee was Seth Zacharias. However, unlike Williamson, he was able to continue.
Zacharias, whose car is carrying the #3Jr. this week in honor of his good friend, DJ Forbes, who passed away unexpectedly recently, qualified for the main event by taking the last transfer position in his heat race.
After starting 19th, he was collected in the pileup in turn two, doing mostly body damage but also bending some suspension parts.
He returned only to have another competitor make contact with his Bicknell and cut down the left rear tire.
Even through all of that, Zacharias returned to the fray and saw the checkered flag, finishing in 18th.
“It was definitely a tough night,” Zacharias’ father, Chris said. “More important right now, Seth’s making laps and is getting better on a tricky surface like we’ve seen here at All-Tech.”
After qualifying for all three events so far in the Sunshine Swing, the Zacharias team is hoping to continue that trend on Saturday night’s finale before shifting their focus to another division.
“Saturday’s our last shot here,” he said. “Hopefully we can make the race and have a good showing before we bust out the Late Model for Volusia Speedway Park.”
The 19-year-old from Vestal, NY attempted to qualify for events at All-Tech with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series last week and will shift to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series at Volusia.
After two uncharacteristic nights of struggles to open the Short Track Super Series’ swing through Florida, a solid ninth place finish may be exactly what the doctor ordered for Peter Britten.
Britten was good all night on Friday at All-Tech, clocking in fourth in his group of timed hot laps which placed him fourth in his heat race. The Australian drove his #21a to second in his qualifier to lock into the redraw, where he pulled ninth.
Battling as high as seventh in the 40-lap feature, ‘Batman’ finished where he started but was pleased with the effort.
“We had mechanical issues on Thursday,” Britten said. “We definitely weren’t perfect tonight but ninth is a big improvement for our team. Hopefully we can continue this and run good on Saturday.”
Bobby Hackel kept his string of top 10’s on the Sunshine Swing going Friday night, bringing his Killer Crate #97 home with a solid fourth place finish.
“We’re still in the hunt,” Hackel said. “We just weren’t as good on the slimier track tonight. As it dried up, this car got better.”
Hackel believes his car was better than the box score will show.
“Once the track started to change, our car started to come to life,” he said. “I think we had a top 3 car but it just didn’t work out that way, but we’ll be ready for Saturday’s finale.”
Capital Region Sportsman competitor John Santolin is happy with how his Sunshine Swing has gone so far.
Although he missed the opener by one position, the Pittsfield, MA driver has qualified for the last two events and is extremely pleased with his trip south.
“All I can say is Wow,” Santolin said. “After years of never qualifying, to make the show for two of these races so far this week has been amazing.”
Friday, Santolin drove from 10th to fifth in the last chance race and then worked his way up from the 25th starting position in the feature to place 16th at the finish.
“It was a great night,” he said. “They didn’t give me an inch and were pretty rough but moved forward. We will have our work cut out for us tomorrow (Saturday) for the last night, though.”