Williamson continues dominance at Lernerville
Mat Williamson's performance in Friday night's Mid-Season Championship at Lernerville Speedway was a microcosm of how dominant he has become the past 4 1⁄2 seasons.
Williamson, of St. Catharines, Ontario, won his fifth V-8 Modified feature of the season in convincing fashion.
Mid-Season Championship winners locked themselves into Lernerville's top events of the season. Williamson secured a starting spot in September's Steel City Stampede main event for Modifieds; Jack Sodeman Jr., by virtue of his Sprint Car victory, earned a spot in the World of Outlaws Don Martin Silver Cup on July 18; Russell King's Late Model victory puts him in the main event for next week's World of Outlaws Firecracker 100; and Corey McPherson earned a spot in September's Autumn Motive Fest with his Stock victory.
“We were fortunate in that we started third tonight and were able to get up front right away,” Williamson said. “Rex (King Jr.) surprised me on the one restart out there and got by me, and I had no idea what happened. I must have made a mistake.”
King Jr. finished second, followed by Jeremiah Shingledecker in third, Steve Feder was fourth and Rex King Sr. rounded out the top five.
The track was slower all night, which was a bit surprising considering the amount of rain that fell Thursday. But drivers said that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. One of the by-products is the cars don't take as much punishment.
“I like it slow like that,” Williamson said after he scored his 24th career Lernerville victory. “The track was good in some spots and slick in others. This place suits my driving. It's wide, and you can pass.
“I just like this place. Hockey players go into some arenas and play better than in others. Right now, we are not doing anything special, but this is my arena.”
Even though King grabbed the lead at one point, he knew he needed a major mistake from Williamson to grab a victory.
“I thought coming out of Turn 2 that we were a little bit better,” King said. “But I couldn't make it stick. I like the track when it is slick like this. I'd prefer a 20-second track because you learn how to race on a track like that.”
For Feder, running a car he bought off Williamson, the restarts were more of a hindrance.
“I like the track to have a bit more bite,” Feder said after his top finish of the season. “I'm not the best at restarts. I like to set up a guy and get by him that way. We started up front, and we stayed up there.
“We were running a bit warm tonight, so I was looking at the gauge a lot. This is one of Mat's (Williamson) cars that he ran last year, but I can't just take what he runs and put it on my car. Every racer drives differently. But we are getting there.”
For Sodeman, the defending track champion, the victory was his first of the season and 16th of his career, which ties him with Rick Ferkel on the track's all-time Sprint Car victory list.
“Before the heat we put the slick setup on and embellished it a little bit after,” Sodeman said. “We went straight through, so there was lapped traffic that I had to deal with. At that point, I just wanted to hit my spots and I figured if someone was going to pass me they were going have to really work to get around me because I wasn't going to do anything dumb.”
Thomas Zuck is a freelance writer.
