BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Reigning Super DIRTcar Series champion Mat Williamson made the high line work to win his first DIRTcar Nationals presented by Bozard Ford feature Tuesday night at Volusia Speedway Park.
The 30-lap feature win did not come easy as Erick Rudolph and Anthony Perrego nearly overtook the Buzz Chew No. 88 in a close battle in turn two.
“We got lucky when that caution came out. My guys in the infield were telling me Erick [Rudolph] was coming on the bottom. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck to win these things,” said Williamson.
Rudolph charged to claim second place in the 26-car field. It looked like the No. 25r was primed for a run at the lead before the Feature’s only caution flew.
“I got to second pretty quick there but I fizzled out a bit. Mat [Williamson] had a really good car. Before the restart I was catching him,” noted Rudolph. “After the restart, he took off and got a buffer on me and I wasn’t able to close in on him.”
Midway through the race, Perrego caught Williamson and Rudolph to make it a three-way battle for the lead. Unfortunately, a caution flag, slowed his progress.
“That was definitely a good run racing up against those two cats up there [Wiliamson and Rudolph]. Before that caution, I thought I had a shot at him,” said Perrego. “We were rolling the bottom pretty good. Once that yellow came out, I think someone knocked some water out on turns three and four so I kind of lost my line there.”
Perrego never let the leaders out of sight but had to settle for the bottom step on the podium.
Five-time NAPA Super DIRT Week champion and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors World Truck Series star Stewart Friesen cut through the field to finish fourth from his 19th-place starting position.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson [1][$3,000]; 2. 25r-Erick Rudolph [9][$1,500]; 3. 44P-Anthony Perrego [5][$1,000]; 4. 44-Stewart Friesen [19][$800]; 5. 99L-Larry Wight [10][$700]; 6. 91-Billy Decker [8][$650]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard [3][$600]; 8. 49-Billy Dunn [7][$550]; 9. 42P-Pat Ward [16][$500]; 10. 3-Justin Haers [13][$450]; 11. 21a-Peter Britten [11][$400]; 12. 20-Brett Hearn [2][$375]; 13. 7-Rick Laubach [6][$350]; 14. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [14][$325]; 15. 1-Billy Pauch [15][$300]; 16. 83-Brian Swartzlander [25][$275]; 17. 7MM-Michael Maresca [4][$250]; 18. 19-Tim Fuller [18][$250]; 19. 19m-Jessey Mueller [21][$250]; 20. 23-Kyle Coffey [23][$250]; 21. 30-Ronnie Johnson [12][$250]; 22. 46-Jeremy Smith [17][$250]; 23. 5-Matthew Stangle [22][$250]; 24. 48T-Dave Rauscher [26][$250]; 25. 6D-Dillon Steuer [20][$250]; 26. 4-Andy Bachetti [24][$250]