Mat Williamson Completes The Mission For First Land Of Legends Points Title

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Story By: STEVEN OVENS / LAND OF LEGENDS RACEWAY – GENEVA, NY – Mat Williamson celebrated his first career Land of Legends Raceway Modified title in 2024.

The Big-Block Modified celebration was unique as champion Williamson was unable to attend — but for good reason. Williamson will tackle the Chili Bowl in Tulsa, OK for the first time starting with practice on Sunday and his Qualifying Night on Tuesday. “Money Mat” will wheel a potent Keith Kunz Motorsports prepared dirt midget.

Accepting Williamson’s championship were pit crew members Ray Samuel and Anthony Macri.

“Mat wanted to make sure that we expressed his sincere appreciation for how welcomed we were to the Land of Legends by the track, the racers and the fans,” Macri noted. “The night we wrote off the chassis in the heat, we had Modified guys, Sportsman guys, Sprint Car guys and Street Stock guys over here asking how they could help. We somehow finished sixth that night and if we didn’t get that finish, we wouldn’t be standing here accepting the championship.”

Samuel was honored with Crew Chief/Team of the Year accolades for overseeing the efforts put forth by the Williamson No. 6 team.

Car owner Tim Gibson and Danny Johnson were honored with the track’s “Spirit of Racing” award for what was believed to be their final year as a pairing of the No. 27J. However, Gibson wasn’t as committed to stepping away just yet as other teams chanted in the room “One more year.”

“We haven’t sold or gotten rid of anything, we’re not sure what we are or aren’t doing just yet,” Gibson said.

Big-Block racer Dalton Martin received the track’s Sportsmanship Awards for 2024. Torrey Stoughtenger was the reluctant recipient of the annual ‘Hard Luck’ award after a season where bad luck struck numerous times.

Modified team MCS Motorsports and Alan Johnson were recognized for their 14J Throwback that was a fan-favorite. Johnson was not in attendance as he was inducted into the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Peter Britten was awarded Best Appearing Car this season.

The Land of Legends Raceway fans voted third-generation Modified driver Alex Payne as their Driver of the Year with over 600 fan votes in the final tally. The Driver of the Year program was fan voted to determine the Driver of the Month with each of those drivers being entered into the final contest, sponsored by Turn 5 Media.

 

APRIL 26 PRACTICE SESSION LAUNCHES 2025 CAMPAIGN IN CANANDAIGUA

Earmarked with its grand-opening for stock cars in 1953 and now the Ontario Co. Fairgrounds on the brink of staging oval track racing for a 62nd season, the 2025 Land Of Legends Raceway schedule leads off with a day of ‘open’ practice on Sat. April 26. Any type of race car is welcome for the evening event that runs 6:00-9:00pm with pit gates unlocked at 3:30pm and grandstand seating offered free of charge.

The first official race action gets underway on Sat. May 3 when the rescheduled Top Gun Shootout for Street Stocks headlines a fast-paced five-star show of mighty Pepsi Big-Block Modified, Stirling Lubricants Sportsman, 305 Sprint Car and Hobby Stock classes. With the Hobby Stocks finishing off their portion of the Top Gun Shootout the following weekend, New Legends Sportsman make it an even half-dozen on May 10.

 

2024 Land Of Legends Raceway Point Leaders & Award Winners

Pepsi/Geneva Club Beverage Big-Block Modified: MAT WILLIAMSON-Champion, Peter Britten-2nd, Matt Sheppard-3rd, Alex Payne-4th, Danny Johnson-5th, Justin Haers-6th, Zach Payne & Kevin Root-7th(tie), Alan Johnson-9th, Justin Wright-10th.

  • Driver of the Year – Alex Payne
  • Sportsmanship – Dalton Martin
  • Crew Chief/Team of the Year – Ray Samuel/S&W Service Centre-Marin Drywall-Bicknell Racing Products-Williamson Racing #6 Team
  • Best Appearing Cars – #14J Alan Johnson & #21A Peter Britten
  • Spirit of Racing – Tim Gibson & Danny Johnson
  • 2024 feature winners: Williamson (4), Matt Sheppard (3), A.Payne (3), Britten (2), A.Johnson, Pat Ward.
 
 
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