WEST HAVEN, Vt. — Mat Williamson drove to his seventh Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco Modified victory on Sunday evening at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, winning $7,567 in the Slate Valley 67 at the Green Mountain State venue.
The 67-lap event officially kicked off a weather-challenged HYTORC of New York STSS Modified North Region.
“Man, we had a hot rod tonight,” Williamson surmised, admitting he had struggled in recent STSS starts. “We’ve been working hard on getting this program better.
“It’s awesome to finally get a win. Tonight, we brought the right motor. We had a 360 (cubic inch engine) in it. We didn’t get a big weight break, but it was just enough smooth power.”
Williamson, who started third, surpassed Felix Roy for the lead on lap 14 and kept an emerging Stewart Friesen at bay in the final laps for the victory.
Roy jetted into the lead with Williamson in tow.
The lead pair remained in tandem through the 14th tour of the wide and racy venue, when Williamson utilized a double-file restart to take over a lead he ultimately would not relinquish.
As Williamson led, all eyes were on Friesen, who started 13th after failing to finish in a redraw position during his heat race.
Friesen found the extreme outside lane to his liking as he carved through traffic in the Halmar International No. 44.
With 23 laps remaining, Friesen cleared Roy for the runner-up position and set his sights on race-leading Williamson.
Lapped traffic was slowing Williamson’s pace as Friesen closed in the race’s final third.
However, a caution on lap 57 provided the clear track Williamson needed. He outpaced Friesen for his first STSS victory in more than a year.
“I got by Felix (Roy) on the outside and every time Stew is beside you, you know you have to be really good,” Williamson said.
Friesen ended his drive forward with a runner-up effort.
“Any time you can rip the top like that on a Sunday afternoon track, it’s a lot of fun,” Friesen said. “Props to the track crew.
“We got to second and I started gaining on Mat in lapped traffic and we got that caution – I really didn’t want to see it. He got clean air out front.”
Roy completed the podium with a third-place effort.
“The car was awesome,” Roy said. “I led a few laps there and it was good. I am happy with third place.”
Alex Payne drove from 10th to finish fourth and Mike Mahaney completed the front five.
The finish:
Feature (67 laps): 1. 3-Mat Williamson[3]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[13]; 3. 91-Felix Roy[1]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[10]; 5. 35M-Mike Mahaney[7]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[12]; 7. 27-Tanner Van Doren[15]; 8. ONE-David Hebert[11]; 9. 02-Jack Lehner[21]; 10. 19-Tim Fuller[14]; 11. 93-Danny Varin[8]; 12. 14T-Payton Talbot[5]; 13. 215-Adam Pierson[19]; 14. 27B-Robert Bublak[6]; 15. 27R-Jason Reome[25]; 16. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[2]; 17. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[26]; 18. 14-CG Morey[22]; 19. 55J-Gorden Clair[18]; 20. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[23]; 21. 3J-Marc Johnson[16]; 22. 4P-Anthony Perrego[4]; 23. 357-Marty Kelly III[24]; 24. 22J-Bubba McPhee[28]; 25. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[17]; 26. 01-Chris Raabe[9]; 27. 13A-Troy Audet[20]; 28. (DNS) 11X-Josh Masterson
