With his second Super DIRTcar Series championship, Mat Williamson reached a milestone only eight other drivers have accomplished.
The St. Catharines, ON driver became the ninth multi-time Series champion at World Finals, joining Will Cagle, Jack Johnson, Alan Johnson, Danny Johnson, Brett Hearn, Billy Decker, Bob McCreadie, and Matt Sheppard.
Williamson finished the season with eight points-paying victories, 14 top fives, and 17 top 10s. However, a mechanical failure at Weedsport Speedway in July left him 15 points out of first with three features to go.
He stayed consistent by finishing fourth on night one and reclaimed the points lead after Sheppard finished 28th. After that race, Williamson said nerves started to set in.
“Going down there, we didn’t have any nerves,” Williamson said. “We knew if we didn’t win all three races, we probably weren’t going to win the points championship. It was probably out of reach for us to win it as long as Matt stayed as consistent as he did. With his DNF, it pretty much evened out our DNF from earlier in the year.
“But the nerves started on Thursday once we knew we had to get through Friday. And with the unique format at Charlotte where Saturday is set off your two previous finishes, it makes the DNF even larger there. Matt got to start third in the heat race which wasn’t huge, but if he didn’t rebound with a good run, it would’ve been a huge hole to dig out of.”
Williamson backed up his fourth-place finish with his eighth points-paying win on Friday, giving him a 30-point lead.
He won the title by 33 markers over 10-time series champion Matt Sheppard. Sheppard won once en route to second in the standings.
“We had a really good year,” Sheppard said. “We had a solid year, but it wasn’t an outstanding year. And a solid year isn’t going to beat a team like the Buzz Chew team and Mat. Those guys had an outstanding year, and we had a solid year.
“We’re going to go to work, we’re going to try again next year, and I can’t thank my whole team, my family, my girlfriend, and sponsors enough. Like I said, a really solid year, but we’re going to try again.”
Anthony Perrego, Jimmy Phelps and Tim Sears Jr. completed the top five.
Stewart Friesen won three times, including the Billy Whittaker 200 during Super DIRT Week at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway.
The Points
- Mat Williamson 3,560
- Matt Sheppard 3,527
- Anthony Perrego 3,412
- Jimmy Phelps 3,374
- Tim Sears Jr. 3,362
- Jack Lehner 3,243
- Alex Payne 3,204
- Darren Smith 3,189
- Felix Roy 3,180
- Mike Mahaney 3,136
Winners
Mat Williamson 8
Stewart Friesen 3
Anthony Perrego 2
Matt Sheppard 1
Jimmy Phelps 1
Alex Payne 1
Tim Fuller 1
Alex Yankowski 1
