GEORGETOWN, Del. — ‘Money’ Mat. Mat Williamson lived up to his moniker on Saturday night, claiming the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial and the $25,000 top prize to go with at Georgetown Speedway.
The win was his fourth career Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco victory, and the second worth $25,000-plus.
After a back-and-forth, see-saw battle with Mike Mahaney, Williamson emerged victorious, holding off Matt Sheppard at the end for the win.
Williamson was making his first appearance at the Sussex County half-mile oval during the three-day race weekend.
“It’s just nice to win one of these big races for Jeff and Harry (Behrent),” said an elated Williamson of his win for his car owners. “It’s nice to finish the year off strong and get some momentum going into next year.”
Following the Beyea Custom Headers redraw, Williamson fired from the outside of the front row with Mike Mahaney alongside.
Mahaney fired well at the drop of the green flag, quickly racing to the front, and setting the pace for Williamson and the rest of the field to match.
Four laps in, Williamson was starting to feel pressure from David Schilling. Williamson held off Schilling’s advances, rolling the outside groove and maintaining his momentum.
Suddenly Williamson and Schilling both began to reel Mahaney in for the top spot just five laps in.
Williamson threw a slide job on Mahaney in the third turn to wrestle the lead away as the field completed the 10th circuit.
Mahaney caught a break the next lap, as Schilling had made a move for second, but the yellow came out prior to the completion of the lap, moving Mahaney back to the runner-up spot.
Mahaney took advantage of his fortune on the restart. Mahaney motored through the bottom groove and took the top spot back from Williamson, which would become a theme over the ensuing restarts.
Meanwhile, Stewart Friesen was starting to make his presence known. The all-time winningest STSS driver slid by Max McLaughlin to crack the top five with 28 laps left to go.
Another restart came one lap later, and the race saw another lead change. Williamson this time used his top side momentum to drive back around Mahaney to take the lead.
The following green flag run would allow Friesen to slide into the third spot, working over Schilling to crack the podium. One lap later, the race slowed once again due to a slowing Rick Laubach on the back straightaway.
It was Mahaney’s turn to take advantage of a restart, as the driver of the George Huttig owned No. 35 gave Williamson a slide job off the second corner and outgunned Williamson for another change of the lead.
Williamson tried to come back at Mahaney but slipped up allowing Friesen to dive into the fray. The trio went three-wide into the third turn with Mahaney holding the lead and Friesen emerging with second.
The move did not last long however, as Friesen tried the bottom groove in the first turn to get underneath Mahaney and allowed Williamson to shoot back around him for second.
The final lead change came following a yellow with 12 laps to go. Once again, the pair battled into the first turn.
Mahaney fired off the bottom groove and cleared Williamson and moved into the top groove going into turn one. Williamson responded with a dive through the middle of the corner and slid up in front of Mahaney to take the lead away once and for all.
Sheppard raced to second and got an opportunity on the next restart one lap later.
“When he (Sheppard) rolled beside me on that last restart, I thought we were in trouble because he’s been so good and they set the bar with how good they’ve been,” said Williamson of the late race restart.
In the end, Williamson prevailed for the $25,000 payday.
Sheppard’s runner-up finish was enough to crown him the inaugural Halmar International ‘Elite’ Series Champion, worth $25,000 along with the Hurlock Auto & Speed Supply South Region Championship, worth $15,000.
“We’re excited, it’s been a big year for us,” Sheppard said of his season overall. “The racecar driver in me though is competitive and when we got to second, I really wanted to win the race.”
Friesen settled for a podium finish.
“Good night for our Halmar team, but we’re excited to get to the offseason and get to work and get back to winning these races.”
Ryan Godown came home with a fourth-place run, awarding him the Georgetown Speedway J.W. Brown Logging Modified $2,500 Sunoco Championship.
Max McLaughlin advanced from the 13th starting position to round out the top-five.
The Finish:
Feature (40 Laps): MAT WILLIAMSON, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, Ryan Godown, Max McLaughlin, Mike Mahaney, Ryan Watt, Anthony Perrego, Rocky Warner, Danny Bouc, Mike Gular, Ryan Krachun, Joseph Watson, Craig Von Dohren, Jordan Watson, Jimmy Horton, Danny Creeden, Alex Yankowski, Ryan Riddle, David Schilling, Cale Ross, Andy Bachetti, Jeff Strunk, Ronnie Johnson, Rick Laubach, Louden Reimert, Matt Stangle, Brandon Grosso.