FULTON, N.Y. — Fulton Speedway’s prestigious Neivel Precision Plumbing Outlaw 200 weekend concluded with a pair of wild feature events. Mat Williamson took his second Outlaw 200 trophy, outlasting challenges from a number of different competitors to bank a $20,000-plus payday.
A flurry of lead changes kicked off the 38th edition of the 200-lap grind, with Jimmy Phelps the early pacesetter. Tim Fuller slipped by Phelps on lap 10, with Williamson getting to the front on lap 15. With 27 circuits in the books, Fuller went back to the front, but Williamson regained the lead on lap 33. One lap later, Fuller got the top spot once again, but Williamson returned to the point on lap 41. The race from third on back was equally as hectic, as Phelps, Fuller, Matt Sheppard and more argued over their positions.
As the race settled into extended green flag runs, some new faces entered the fray. Stewart Friesen methodically climbed into the runner-up position, poking a nose ahead of Williamson on lap 66. However, Williamson held tough, fending off Friesen for the time being. Meanwhile, Phelps had found his groove, marching forward after nearly falling out of the top five. While Friesen and Williamson battled, Phelps disposed of Sheppard for third, then took second from Friesen on lap 71. Phelps went to work on Williamson, and on lap 94, completed the pass to return to the lead. At halfway, the scoreboard showed Phelps ahead of Williamson, Sheppard, Friesen and Tim Sears Jr.
Two cars, Brian Calabrese and Dave Marcuccilli, elected to stay out at the halfway break. These two restarted on the front row, with Phelps and Williamson lining up in row two.
At halfway, things started to go haywire for several frontrunners. Sheppard retired his ride with mechanical issues at the halfway stoppage, and Sears went for a spin soon after the restart. On lap 110, Friesen suffered a part failure and headed to the pits while he was racing with Phelps and Calabrese for the lead. By lap 115, Phelps and Williamson had returned to the front and continued their battle.
On lap 129, Phelps skated up the track, and Williamson plugged the hole. With Williamson heading to the lead, Phelps regrouped and mounted another series of charges. Time after time, Phelps reached Williamson’s door, but every time Phelps looked to make the pass, lapped traffic fell in Williamson’s favor. As the race passed the three-quarter mark, Phelps’ pressure only increased, but Williamson appeared to be a bit more maneuverable around lapped cars, allowing Williamson to hang on. Behind the top two, a pair of deep starters had marched forward, with Matt Janczuk and Mike Mahaney fighting for third after starting 26th and 19th respectively.
With 20 laps remaining, Mahaney started to make ground running the extreme outside, solidifying his spot in third. Phelps continued to look for a way by Williamson, as the leaders began forming a three-car breakaway. However, a yellow with nine laps remaining reset the pack.
On the restart, Mahaney and Phelps made contact, with Phelps spinning and Mahaney being docked positions. This put Janczuk behind Williamson for the restart, but Janczuk’s focus was set on defending second from Darren Smith. While the battle for second ensued, Williamson had clear track and a clear route to the finish. At the checkered, it was Williamson scoring his second Outlaw 200 victory. Smith slipped by Janczuk for second in the final circuits, with Matt Meade and Alan Johnson completing the top five.
Williamson started sixth for the feature event, bouncing around the top three for much of the event. The win is his second overall, the first in his S&W Service Centre No. 6, his previous being in 2021 with the Buzz Chew No. 88.
“Phelps and I were talking earlier today about how they’ve changed this place some and it has hurt both of us,” Williamson noted. Neither of us ran good in our last race here, but we found ourselves battling for the lead against one another for most of the race. We went to work and ended up with a really good piece tonight, then Matt broke, Stew broke, Jimmy got spun out and I survived.”
Darren Smith had an up-and-down event. After starting deep, moving forward, going backward, Smith eventually ended up with a strong car in the final stages and brought it home second.
“We started 28th, got moving pretty well, then I ran into a yuke tire in the first half and threw away all the ground we gained,” said Smith. “I think we rolled off 20th for the second half, and just kept pecking away at it. Some other people’s misfortune became my fortune. We ended up in the top ten, then the top five, and on that last run we were able to grab second from Janczuk. This is the first time I’ve actually finished this race, and really the first time this place has been good to me, so it’s awesome to put together a good run.”
Janczuk was a bit of a surprise entry, hopping into a chassis he sold to a friend, Nick Zielinski. With a familiar car, but an unfamiliar everything else, Janczuk made the most of it and landed on the podium of a marquee event.
“I’m about speechless, I wouldn’t be here without the Zielinski family,” Janczuk stated. “This is one of my old cars that I ran in Sportsman. We survived there at the end, I think we were a top five car, had some things fall our way and we were able to bring it home third. Nick and I have helped each other, he ended up buying two of my old frames and put a 358 in one of them. He wanted to come race, wanted me to run this car while he focused on his Sportsman.
“It is definitely different, motor is different, setup is a little different, trying to get the power to the ground, but it was a blast out there racing against great guys, many of them do it for a living.”