Matt Billings got hot at the right time, winning the Action Sprint Tour (AST) National Tour title on the strength of his first career AST victories.
Billings split regional starts between the East and West tours, before taking the National Tour by storm. He won on all four tracks, with a total of four victories in eight races. Brockville was his first win, Brighton proved that he could do good outside of his home venue, and Humberstone was a track where he had minimal experience, but the win that stood out the most was at Ohsweken.
“The biggest chest pump and belief in everything was to get the win at Ohsweken over Mike Bowman,” said Billings. “To be able to beat him on a track that he had basically won every race at (in 2023), and in equal equipment, that just shows that we are a team and a program that knows what we’re doing and has good things going on.”
Billings has raced for Ryan Hunsinger since 2021. He says that something clicked last year, where the team got into a good mindset, attacking every night with the same approach.
“We believed in what we had, we believed in what we were doing, and we kept trying to continue that way,” said Billings. “But we also didn’t stop trying to be better. We dissected every night and went ‘yah, we’re pretty good here, but we still need to be a little bit better there.’ I think that’s what made us stay hungry and stay consistent throughout that good stretch of runs.”
The AST title is the first big touring series championship for Billings, who ranks it in the top-three of his racing accomplishments.
“It felt amazing; I was very proud to have the chance to even be fighting for this championship,” continued Billings. “It was a big relief for myself, just confidence-wise. It told me that everything I’ve been doing for the last almost fifteen years in racing worked out.”
