RPW Exclusive: Williamson Takes DIRTcar SummerFAST Night One; Yankowski A Strong Second
News Director 
Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – CANANDAIGUA, NY – Check. Trophy. W & Beer. Another celebration for Mat Williamson.
“Money Mat” made the pass for the win on Alex Yankowski on lap 35 to score his fifth win of the Super DIRTcar Series season and his first sweep at Land of Legends Raceway in his career.
For Williamson, this was a win he needed badly. After a string of races that left him 27 points behind Matt Sheppard in the running for the points lead, the driver of the No. 88 trimmed the fat down to 16 markers.
“When we blew up at Weedsport (Hall of Fame 100), I stopped looking at the points,” said Williamson, who is the weekly points leader at Land of Legends. “We’ve got a lot of races at places we run really good at coming up. This was one of the places we sucked at coming here. Bringing my own S&W car (to run weekly in 2024) was a big help for the series races. We have a good notebook.”
Williamson came from the sixth position and made moves throughout the night, from his pass on Yankowski in the long run to making moves on restarts. On lap 26, restarting third, he held his line through one and two and found a way to get past his championship rival.
“He had a push in the center and took advantage,” Williamson said. “When you get cars like that it’s fun to be a part of.”
This is an important win for Williamson, too, to give him momentum approaching next week’s final points race of the season for the Modified class at Land of Legends Raceway. Up 23 points on Alex Payne, he’s got a great shot. But with the handicap process and the potential for double points, you just don’t know.
“It puts on a good show for the fans, but hard to win,” said Williamson. “If you can be ahead of the guys you race against that makes a big difference. It would be nice to start in that 12th area. We’re excited about it.”
In his fourth appearance, Alex Yankowski had a track-best second tonight in Canandaigua. The young gun in the No. 84y started second and wasted no time getting the front past polesitter Mike Mahaney on lap four on top. Once the long run started and the leader approached lapped traffic, Yankowski started to fade and lose the lead to Williamson. He held on for his second straight SDS podium finish.
“I felt pretty good about my car,” explained Yankowski. “As the leader, it’s hard to know where to be. I knew the top was going away, but I felt I was gonna lose time trying to figure out where to be. Second, at one of these races is really good and excited to go to Fulton.”
