Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – FULTON, NY – The story of the 2024 edition of the Outlaw 200 at Fulton Speedway was the incredible battle between Modified kingpins Mat Williamson and Jimmy Phelps.
Over the final 100 circuits, the two would wrestle back and forth for the top spot. Phelps looked like the man to beat for most of the event but it was Williamson wrangling the lead away from the 98H in lapped traffic and then held off every challenge thrown at him by the HBR driver to score his second win in the crown jewel event.
“That was wild,” Williamson said. “I had a hell of a race there with Jimmy. He might have had a better car. I’m not sure. I was just trying to hang on at the end.”
As the laps clicked off, it looked like Williamson’s #6 was strongest in clean air while Phelps was methodical in lapped traffic, making up serious ground on the low line to reel in Mat.
However, on a lap 191 caution, Phelps was nearly turned by the 35 of Mike Mahaney, who was third, as the field exited turn four. The caution came out a lap later and on the ensuing restart, Mahaney got into the back bumper of the HBR mount once again, this time sending him completely around and collecting the 35C of Chris Curtis.
Phelps was done for the night, ending a dominant run that looked to be heading to a podium finish while officials sent Mahaney to the tail of the field for his part. He would rebound for a 10th place finish.
Could Williamson have fended off another late challenge by Phelps?
“I don’t really know what happened on that restart,” he said. “It was a lot of fun racing with Jimmy, back and forth, before the yellow. I feel like we could have kept him behind us but it would have been fun to find out.”
Phelps had the pole from the initial drop of the green but fell back to sixth at one point. It looked like he had a better long run car as the HBR machine picked off the likes of Tim Fuller, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, Tim Sears Jr. and eventually Williamson to get the top spot back just before the halfway break.
Only two cars, Brian Calabrese and Dave Marcuccilli, stayed out at lap 100 so Phelps and Williamson restarted third and fourth but it wasn’t long until the two were battling for the top spot again.
Phelps was the first to the point but, again, lap traffic played a roll in the outcome. This time, however, it was not in favor of the leader as Williamson used a three-wide pass where the two split the lapped car of Kyle Devendorf to muscle his way to the top spot.
That was a spot “Money Mat” would never relinquish. From that point, though, Phelps kept him honest. Did he feel the 98H making challenges?
“I saw him there when we were catching lapped cars,” he said. “I ended up moving up some to get around those guys and that probably saved me the lead but I knew he was close.”
For Phelps, a 25th place finish doesn’t show exactly how good of a car he had all night. While he didn’t get the result he wanted in his Outlaw 200 qualifier, he did, however, win his heat race, win the pole shuffle in honor of Dale Planck and then was leading at the halfway break.
Unfortunately from him, getting spun out of second place, just eight laps from the finish, put a premature end to his evening.
“Honestly, even at that point in the race, I thought we had a car that could beat Mat,” Phelps said. “I felt I still had a shot if we got to some traffic or got some heat in the tires but there’s not much to say. It’s very disappointing and a truly tough way to end our night.”
Phelps said he could understand one time almost crossed up but the second time, he feels, was uncalled for.
“I went from eight laps to go, thinking we still had a shot at winning the race to sitting backwards on the front stretch, getting crashed into,” he said. “I felt him getting into me before we even went green. I’m just really disappointed with how it all went down.”
Finishing second on the night was Darren Smith who had an eventful night in the 200 himself to come away with his career best finish in the race.
Smith had problems early on in the feature, being forced to the pits at one point. The team rallied and by the time the main event was complete, he found himself in spot number two.
“This feels just great,” Smith said. “We whacked a yuke tire once off of (turn) four at one point and it sent me to the infield. I thought I totaled the front end but Scott (Jeffery) told me I was good and to go back out.”
That’s exactly what Smith did and he began his charge from the rear of the field.
“We had to scrap and claw to get all we could,” he said. “For the second 100 laps, Scott made some fabulous adjustments and it paid off. We made the podium in the Outlaw 200.”
Did Smith, at any point, believe he had a good enough car to get up and mix things up with the leaders?
“Yea, once we got rolling in the middle of the second half of the race,” he said. “I knew we had a pretty good car, driving through the middle. Mat (Williamson) was better through the ruts and the holes.”
Finishing third in the Outlaw 200 was probably one of the big stories of the event, Matt Janczuk. Janczuk, driving a car for the Zielinski Racing team, moved from 26th starting spot to come home in the show position.
“I just love Fulton Speedway,” Janczuk said. “This track’s always been good to us but tonight, it changed with every caution. I just couldn’t get going. I needed ten laps to begin to move but this was a blast.”
Jancuk’s good run may be a surprise to some, but it kind of felt like home for him inside the no. 11.
“I have to thank Nick for the chance,” he said. “This is one of my old Sportsman cars. It had a Kevlar powerplant under the hood and it ran good. We didn’t have enough for these guys but to run with these teams that do this for a living, it was a lot of fun.”
Back to the victor, however. There’s no rest for Williamson and his S&W Service team as they’re planning to head to Humberstone Speedway for the Grand Finale of the Fall Classic on Sunday.
“Man that was a long race,” Williamson said. “I’m not sure if there’s much left of this car, but we’re going to try and make it to Humberstone for the last race there. I don’t even know what time it is now though, but man, I’m beat. I’m ready for a 12-pack.”
A Feature 1 (200 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[6]; 2. 12-Darren Smith[28]; 3. 11-Matt Janczuk[26]; 4. 28M-Matt Meade[4]; 5. 14J-Alan Johnson[13]; 6. 7MM-Michael Maresca[31]; 7. 3RS-Dalton Slack[35]; 8. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[30]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese[24]; 10. 35-Mike Mahaney[19]; 11. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[8]; 12. X-Chad Phelps[44]; 13. M1-David Marcuccilli[45]; 14. 3-Chris Mackey[20]; 15. 31-Corey Barker[7]; 16. 42P-Pat Ward[36]; 17. 6NN-Nick Nye[18]; 18. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[25]; 19. 5H-Amy Holland[37]; 20. 215-Adam Pierson[22]; 21. 7Z-Zachary Payne[40]; 22. 35C-Chris Curtis[23]; 23. 5-Kyle Devendorf[41]; 24. 23-Yan Bilodeau[46]; 25. (DNF) 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 26. (DNF) 21A-Peter Britten[15]; 27. (DNF) 32R-Ronald Davis III[12]; 28. (DNF) 92-Andrew Buff[16]; 29. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[3]; 30. (DNF) 64-Tyler Corcoran[21]; 31. (DNF) 34-Andrew Ferguson[43]; 32. (DNF) 98-Rocky Warner[32]; 33. (DNF) 38P-Jason Parkhurst[38]; 34. (DNF) 38-Tim Harris[47]; 35. (DNF) 4-Anthony Perrego[34]; 36. (DNF) 44-Stewart Friesen[11]; 37. (DNF) 9S-Matt Sheppard[10]; 38. (DNF) 11C-Matt Caprara[5]; 39. (DNF) 88-Chris Hulsizer[42]; 40. (DNF) 15-Todd Root[27]; 41. (DNF) 28-Alan Fink[14]; 42. (DNF) 99L-Larry Wight[33]; 43. (DNF) 91-Billy Decker[39]; 44. (DNF) 11T-Jeff Taylor[9]; 45. (DNF) 18$-Sean Beardsley[29]; 46. (DNF) 42-Max Hill[17]; 47. (DNF) 49-Billy Dunn[2]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 4-Anthony Perrego[1]; 2. 5H-Amy Holland[4]; 3. 7Z-Zachary Payne[7]; 4. 77X-Max McLaughlin[2]; 5. 11J-James Sweeting[5]; 6. 34-Andrew Ferguson[6]; 7. 17-Rich Keller[3]; 8. 02-Roy Bresnahan[11]; 9. 27J-Danny Johnson[8]; 10. 19C-Brandon Carvey[12]; 11. 57H-Remington Hamm[13]; 12. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[10]; 13. (DNF) 17J-Brent Joy[9]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 3RS-Dalton Slack[1]; 2. 38P-Jason Parkhurst[5]; 3. 5-Kyle Devendorf[6]; 4. X-Chad Phelps[4]; 5. 24R-Garett Rushlow[2]; 6. 58M-Marshall Hurd[3]; 7. 13-Robert Gage[7]; 8. 06J-Jordan Bennett[9]; 9. 94X-Willy Decker Jr[10]; 10. 97H-Alan Hammond[8]; 11. 16-Aaron Jacobs[11]; 12. (DNS) 06-Bob Bennett
B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 42P-Pat Ward[1]; 2. 91-Billy Decker[4]; 3. 88-Chris Hulsizer[2]; 4. B2-Bob Henry Jr[6]; 5. 60-Jackson Gill[12]; 6. 38-Tim Harris[3]; 7. 79P-Jeff Prentice[10]; 8. 00W-Wade Chrisman[5]; 9. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[8]; 10. 23-Yan Bilodeau[7]; 11. 05-Jesse Morgan[9]; 12. (DNS) M1-David Marcuccilli
Heat 1 (12 Laps): 1. 49-Billy Dunn[3]; 2. 11T-Jeff Taylor[1]; 3. 14J-Alan Johnson[4]; 4. 215-Adam Pierson[8]; 5. 12-Darren Smith[6]; 6. 4-Anthony Perrego[10]; 7. 17-Rich Keller[5]; 8. 11J-James Sweeting[2]; 9. 7Z-Zachary Payne[7]; 10. 17J-Brent Joy[9]; 11. 02-Roy Bresnahan[12]; 12. (DNF) 57H-Remington Hamm[11]
Heat 2 (12 Laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller[3]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[10]; 3. 28-Alan Fink[1]; 4. 35C-Chris Curtis[5]; 5. 18$-Sean Beardsley[6]; 6. 3RS-Dalton Slack[9]; 7. 24R-Garett Rushlow[7]; 8. X-Chad Phelps[12]; 9. 5-Kyle Devendorf[8]; 10. 97H-Alan Hammond[11]; 11. 94X-Willy Decker Jr[4]; 12. 06-Bob Bennett[2]
Heat 3 (12 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 2. 31-Corey Barker[1]; 3. 21A-Peter Britten[7]; 4. 21C-Brian Calabrese[3]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[11]; 6. 42P-Pat Ward[12]; 7. 88-Chris Hulsizer[10]; 8. 38-Tim Harris[9]; 9. 00W-Wade Chrisman[8]; 10. 23-Yan Bilodeau[4]; 11. 05-Jesse Morgan[5]; 12. (DNF) M1-David Marcuccilli[6]
Heat 4 (12 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 32R-Ronald Davis III[3]; 3. 92-Andrew Buff[6]; 4. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[1]; 5. 7MM-Michael Maresca[8]; 6. 77X-Max McLaughlin[12]; 7. 5H-Amy Holland[7]; 8. 34-Andrew Ferguson[4]; 9. 27J-Danny Johnson[5]; 10. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[9]; 11. 19C-Brandon Carvey[11]; 12. 60-Jackson Gill[10]
Heat 5 (12 Laps): 1. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[2]; 2. 11C-Matt Caprara[1]; 3. 42-Max Hill[4]; 4. 11-Matt Janczuk[3]; 5. 98-Rocky Warner[8]; 6. 35-Mike Mahaney[10]; 7. 58M-Marshall Hurd[6]; 8. 38P-Jason Parkhurst[11]; 9. 13-Robert Gage[7]; 10. 06J-Jordan Bennett[5]; 11. 16-Aaron Jacobs[9]
Heat 6 (12 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 2. 28M-Matt Meade[2]; 3. 64-Tyler Corcoran[3]; 4. 15-Todd Root[8]; 5. 99L-Larry Wight[10]; 6. 3-Chris Mackey[6]; 7. 6NN-Nick Nye[9]; 8. 91-Billy Decker[11]; 9. B2-Bob Henry Jr[4]; 10. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[7]; 11. 79P-Jeff Prentice[5]
Dale Planck Pole Dash (7 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[1]; 2. 49-Billy Dunn[2]; 3. 19-Tim Fuller[3]; 4. 28M-Matt Meade[4]; 5. 11C-Matt Caprara[5]; 6. 6-Mat Williamson[7]; 7. 31-Corey Barker[9]; 8. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[8]; 9. 11T-Jeff Taylor[6]; 10. 9S-Matt Sheppard[12]; 11. 44-Stewart Friesen[11]; 12. 32R-Ronald Davis III[10]
Last Chance Showdown #1 (15 Laps): 1. 34-Andrew Ferguson[4]; 2. 94X-Willy Decker Jr[9]; 3. B2-Bob Henry Jr[2]; 4. 02-Roy Bresnahan[7]; 5. 00W-Wade Chrisman[8]; 6. 38-Tim Harris[5]; 7. 23-Yan Bilodeau[11]; 8. 16-Aaron Jacobs[12]; 9. 24R-Garett Rushlow[3]; 10. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[13]; 11. (DNF) 13-Robert Gage[6]; 12. (DNF) 19C-Brandon Carvey[10]; 13. (DNF) 77X-Max McLaughlin[1]; 14. (DNS) 06-Bob Bennett
Last Chance Showdown #2 (15 Laps): 1. X-Chad Phelps[1]; 2. 58M-Marshall Hurd[4]; 3. 79P-Jeff Prentice[6]; 4. 60-Jackson Gill[3]; 5. 06J-Jordan Bennett[7]; 6. 17-Rich Keller[5]; 7. 97H-Alan Hammond[10]; 8. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[9]; 9. 05-Jesse Morgan[12]; 10. (DNS) 57H-Remington Hamm; 11. (DNS) 27J-Danny Johnson; 12. (DNS) 17J-Brent Joy; 13. (DNS) M1-David Marcuccilli; 14. (DNS) 11J-James Sweeting