CANANDAIGUA, NY – When Mat Williamson chose to race at Land of Legends Raceway weekly, he had a goal; he wanted to win his first Super DIRTcar Series feature at the track. The St. Catharines, ON driver accomplished that goal on Thursday, leading the final 62 laps to win the Stars and Stripes Spectacular – his third series victory in the last four races.
“To win the Super DIRTcar Series race was why we came here every week,” said Williamson.
“Traditionally, we’d go and win at Weedsport and do something completely different at [Land of Legends],” he continued. “We never stuck to the same thing. It seems like we went to [Albany-Saratoga] after Weedsport and ran pretty good, went to Canandaigua on weekly race and run, then went to Ransomville and won with it…it says a lot about my guys to get the car the same between cars, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Anthony Perrego, the pole sitter, led the field to the green flag in the 76-lap feature, as he pulled away from Jack Lehner on Lap 1.
Behind the Montgomery, NY driver, Williamson moved forward using the outside lane to power past Jimmy Phelps and Jack Lehner to grab second by Lap 8.
Ten-time defending series champion Matt Sheppard followed Williamson into the top-three, using the outside to pass Phelps and Lehner by Lap 10.
Lehner’s top-five run ended one lap later, as he slowed with fuel and ignition issues on Lap 11, bringing out the race’s first caution. That put Williamson on Perrego’s outside for the restart.
When the race resumed, Williamson thundered down the front stretch, nosing ahead of Perrego as the two entered Turn 1. Then, with a burst of speed, “Money Mat” thundered around the outside of the No. 4* to take the lead when they exited Turn 2.
Sheppard kept pace with Williamson, using the outside to move around Perrego for second on Lap 19. Williamson drove to a two-second lead before a right-rear flat tire for Zach Payne slowed the field again on Lap 35, giving Sheppard his best shot at the win.
When the green came back out, Williamson beat Sheppard to Turn 1, but the Waterloo, NY driver stayed with him, as he tried to pass Williamson on the outside. Sheppard got to Williamson’s right-rear quarter panel with him once in the next few laps, but just as Sheppard got close in Turn 2, Williamson pulled away.
From there, Williamson survived another caution with 24 laps to go, leading the rest of the way to earn his fourth win of 2024 and 26th of his career, tying him for 11th all-time with Doug Hoffman. The 2019 series champion said his car was fast despite some handling struggles.
“I felt really good in the middle keeping the torque arms loaded,” said Williamson. “It didn’t steer very good. It was tight, but I think that’s why we were so good at getting off the corner. I could use the lap cars to judge how good I was on the bottom or the top. And when Matt’s behind you, you never stop thinking.
“This win meant a lot for the 88 team, and it’s cool to get the win.”
With the $7,600 victory, Williamson extends his Super DIRTcar Series points lead to 15 points over Sheppard, who finished second.
“Super Matt” went to a backup car following timed Hot Laps, after he said something was wrong with his primary car. The change benefitted Sheppard, who drove from 10th to a re-draw spot in the Heat Race, and sixth to second in the feature.
Sheppard said his best chance to pass Williamson came after the caution on Lap 32.
“I thought I was going to get him for a little bit there, but when I was trying to get by him, I overheated my right-rear,” said Sheppard. “(I) blistered it all up and that was pretty much it for me…we obviously want to win races, but we keep knocking on the door. If we keep knocking, eventually, we’ll get there.”
Jimmy Phelps crossed the line third, earning his first podium finish of 2024.
“We fell back to fourth but climbed our way back,” said Phelps. “There were a couple of really fast cars in front of us, and we were just a spec off being able to run with those two. But, all in all, that’s the goal right now, and we got to be third before we can beat them.”
Peter Britten, the race’s hard charger, finished fourth after starting 22nd. Perrego rounded out the top-five.
Stars and Stripes Spectacular (76 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[4]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[3]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten[22]; 5. 4*-Anthony Perrego[1]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[11]; 7. 99L-Larry Wight[19]; 8. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[5]; 9. 15X-Justin Stone[9]; 10. 35-Mike Mahaney[13]; 11. 25-Erick Rudolph[15]; 12. 14J-Alan Johnson[14]; 13. 27J-Danny Johnson[20]; 14. 3RS-Dalton Slack[12]; 15. 3-Justin Haers[17]; 16. 12-Darren Smith[24]; 17. 27JR-Daniel Johnson[7]; 18. 28-Michael Trautschold[21]; 19. 19W-Justin Wright[18]; 20. 91-Felix Roy[10]; 21. 14-CG Morey[23]; 22. 17-Marcus Dinkins[26]; 23. (DNF) 7Z-Zachary Payne[8]; 24. (DNF) 48T-Dave Rauscher[25]; 25. (DNF) 15-Todd Root[16]; 26. (DNF) 2-Jack Lehner[2]
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series debuts at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, NY, for The Natural 77 Honoring Dale Planck on Tuesday, July 9. Drivers will battle in a 77-lap feature paying $7,700-to-win.
- By Mike Warren/Super DIRTcar Series
