MALTA, N.Y. — Mat Williamson is among the favorites to win any race he enters, so when he pulled the pole for the DIRTcar 358 modified series event at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night, the rest of the field knew they were in trouble.
And they were right, as “Money Mat,” already the series point leader, led all 50 laps despite outstanding drives by challengers Anthony Perrego and Mike Mahaney, who battled each other tooth and nail through constant traffic while trying to reel in Williamson, a master in working his way through lapped cars.
Mahaney finally grabbed second with the checkers in sight when a lapped car broke Perrego’s rhythm, a satisfying finish considering he looked like he might flip after hitting a hole a few laps before that. Peter Britten was fourth ahead of Matt Caprara, Adam Pierson, Lance Willix, Walter Hammond Jr., Rusty Smith and Ronnie Johnson.
Williamson led on the original break but there was an immediate yellow for his front row companion, Felix Roy, who hit a hole and broke a shock off. He pitted for a quick replacement but was never a factor after returning.
Hammond and Perrego fell in behind Williamson on the restart as the crowd watched the ninth-starting Mahaney claw his way forward. By lap 15 he was third, as he and Perrego had both disposed of Hammond, but the next time around the leaders caught the back markers and ran in constant traffic from that point to the checkers.
Britten, who lined up beside Mahaney, finally got to fourth with ten to go but the top three dicing through traffic was the show.
“I got hung up behind a couple of lapped cars and figured someone might catch me but you just have to get up on the wheel and go when you get room,” declared Williamson. “I didn’t know how close Anthony and Mike were but I didn’t dare get too aggressive because I saw what happened to Felix when he caught that hole on the start. For sure, I didn’t want that. I’ve been on my head enough this year!”
Mahaney, who has been chasing Williamson in the series point battle all season, was happy just to finish with second an added bonus.
“I hit a rough spot and got bouncing,” he recalled. “I had to stay in the gas and keep it spinning and luckily, I landed on the wheels. The lapped cars help sometime and other times they hurt you. That’s racing! But in the late laps I got even more aggressive and hit the top hard and was right there to take advantage when the lapped car messed Anthony up.”
“My car was really good and before we got into traffic, I thought I was as good or maybe a little bit better than Mat,” tipped Perrego. “We were good in traffic too but that one guy jammed me up and Mike got by. I was track champion here a few years ago and I still love this place even though we’re only here a couple times a year now.”
The companion DIRTcar Sportsman Series feature was also a three-car tussle, with Chris Crane Jr. leading for 22 laps before Joey Scarborough muscled his way by on a restart for the win. Derrick McGrew Jr. was a tight third ahead of Tristan Ladouceur and Connor Crane.
Saturday’s Super DIRTcar Series big-block race was canceled because of pending weather.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[9]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego[6]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten[10]; 5. 11-Matt Caprara[13]; 6. 215-Adam Pierson[16]; 7. 31-Lance Willix[7]; 8. 98H-Walter Hammond Jr[3]; 9. 34-Rusty Smith[17]; 10. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 11. 91-Felix Roy[2]; 12. 75-AJ Munger[4]; 13. 12-Darren Smith[23]; 14. 4K-Elliot Gamache[22]; 15. 92-Andrew Buff[8]; 16. 3G-Brian Gleason[11]; 17. 25P-Michael Parent[25]; 18. 19-Jessey Mueller[15]; 19. 3-Cole Hentschel[21]; 20. 88H-Walt Hammond[12]; 21. 23-Brandon Loucks[26]; 22. 8-Dylan Zacharias[18]; 23. 5-Jack Butler[28]; 24. 14-CG Morey[29]; 25. 94-Joey Coppola[14]; 26. 97-Cody Higbie[19]; 27. B24-Brendan Gibbons[27]; 28. 38-Kevin Stevens[20]; 29. (DNF) 117-CJ Castelletti[31]; 30. (DNF) 3J-Marc Johnson[24]; 31. (DNF) 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[30]
