Even with his success at Oswego Speedway, Mat Williamson added another Super DIRT Week milestone to his resume on Thursday.
The St. Catharines, ON driver earned his first SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award for Saturday’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200, along with a victory in his 25-lap Qualifier later in the evening.
However, for the second straight day, it was a stressful few hours for the defending Super DIRTcar Series champion. After setting the fastest lap in his Qualifying group, his right-rear tire went flat. Luckily for “Money Mat,” his crew changed his tire before “Super Six” head-to-head qualifying, where he laid down a 21.622-second lap to earn the pole for Saturday’s Feature.
“We got to make it stressful,” Williamson said. “It’s always stressful. I wasn’t sure what happened. The first lap, I went in there pretty good, caught the hole a little bit, and the second lap, I hit it a little harder, and the tire got into the shock mount on the bottom, and it gave me a flat.
“Hats off to my guys that were obviously working hard in the pit area to be able to get the tire back out to be able to get Quick Time in the Super Six.”
Williamson kept his momentum from qualifying going in his Heat Race Thursday night, leading all 25 laps to win his Qualifier over Gary Lindberg. The three-time Billy Whittaker Cars 200 winner thanked his crew in Victory Lane and said that he and Buzz Chew Racing are keeping things status quo for the rest of the week.
“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing,” Williamson said. “Don’t be afraid to make changes here now and stick to the game plan. We did things tonight to see if the car was going to be good in nighttime racing, and it turned out to be pretty decent.”
Joining Williamson on the front row of Saturday’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200 is Alex Payne, who earned the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole award.
Payne also dominated his 25-lap Qualifier and said he was happy with the speed his team has shown at Super DIRT Week.
“The challenges are a little bit less when there isn’t any strategy involved,” Payne said. “The early speed we have, I’m really happy with. I was really pleased at the end of that [Qualifier], how good I felt, and I hope to carry that on to 50, 75, and 200 laps and really make the most out of everything. There’s so many variables, but it’s the best spot we’ve ever been in.”
Joining Payne and Williamson as Qualifier winners was Jimmy Phelps, the only competitor to win a Qualifier in both the Big Blocks and 358 Modifieds. The Baldwinsville, NY driver fell back to third in the opening laps of the race before his car came alive toward the end of the 25-lap event.
Phelps snuck by leader Justin Haers with a pass on the backstretch on Lap 18 and cruised to the victory. He said his car started to get better on long green-flag runs, like what it did during his second-place finish in last year’s 200.
“This feels good,” Phelps said. “I felt like I let my guys down in Time Trials. We had a great car in practice, and I just missed it. I got myself screwed up, but we clawed back and got the heat win, and we’ll start in the top 10. So, I guess all is good.”
Joining Williamson and Payne in the “Super Six” are Gary Lindberg, Kolby Schroder, who will start fourth in his first Oswego appearance, Haers, and Marc Johnson.
Drivers who transferred into Saturday’s $53,000-to-win Feature through the qualifiers were Tim Sears Jr., Anthony Perrego, Peter Britten, Jackson Gill, Billy Dunn, Tyler Murray, Billy VanInwegen, Michael Parent, Alex Yankowski, Tim Fuller, Max McLaughlin, Matt Sheppard, Rocky Warner, Corey Cormier, Darren Smith, Mike Mahaney, Dalton Slack, Felix Roy, Zach Payne, Jordan McCreadie, Chris Hile, Mike Trautschold, and Tyler Trump.
The rest of the 60-plus drivers will return on Saturday for Last Chance Showdowns, which start at 2:30pm.
For a complete look at Super DIRTcar Series results, CLICK HERE.
Opening Ceremonies for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. You can get tickets by clicking here.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
