WEST HAVEN, Vt. — After a 29th-place finish in the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series opener at Lebanon Valley Speedway, defending series champion Mat Williamson needed a good finish Saturday at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
A good finish was exactly what he earned, passing Tim Fuller with 35 laps remaining to win the inaugural King of the Clay.
The $5,000 victory is the St. Catharines, Ontario driver’s 21st career series triumph, bringing him within one win of Fuller for fourth on the series all-time wins list.
Fuller and Felix Roy led the field to the green in the 60-lap feature, but it wasn’t long before Williamson started moving forward. “Money Mat,” who started third, quickly snuck by Roy for second on Lap 1 and set his sights on the lead.
He didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity, either, as a caution for Adam Pierson on Lap 2 lined him up next to Fuller on the next restart. When the race resumed, Williamson thundered around Fuller to take the lead.
But like Fuller two laps earlier, Williamson’s lead was also short-lived. A three-car incident on the backstretch brought out the caution for the second time on Lap 4, which gave Fuller a chance to regain the lead. Fuller, who started on the bottom when Williamson chose the top, drove past the No. 6 as they entered Turn 1.
Fuller survived four restarts over the next 20 laps to hold onto the lead, but a yellow flag on Lap 24 proved to be the difference in the race’s outcome. After watching how Fuller started on the last four tries, Williamson got the momentum he needed on the outside lane and took the lead back from Fuller as they completed Lap 25.
“He had the lead early, and I got a really good start on the outside,” Williamson said. “On the next one, I beat him into (Turn 1), and then on the next restart, when I was the leader, he got a really good start on the bottom, and he had me by a car length at the flag stand. Those restarts were really a see-saw race.”
As Williamson handled lap traffic up front, Fuller had to deal with challenges from Alex Payne and Mike Mahaney in traffic. Both drivers snuck by the Edwards, NY driver in the race’s closing stages, with Payne getting to second.
A caution with four laps to go for Andrew Buff gave Payne an opportunity to start next to Williamson, but Payne couldn’t get the momentum he needed at the end to take the lead.
Williamson went on to lead the final four laps to score his first Series win of 2026.
“I knew at the end Alex was second,” Williamson said. “There’s probably not anybody better at running that cushion than he is. I knew he’d be beating the boards down to try and win that thing. So, we had to work really hard for it.”
Payne crossed the line second, earning back-to-back top fives.
“The Billy the Kid (engine) under the hood was pretty good tonight,” Payne said. “We just needed to be a little bit better late there to beat the six. Overall, it’s a solid night. Second time here, so we’re happy with it. It’s a beautiful racetrack and just a good night.”
Mahaney rounded out the podium and leads the standings with a two-point advantage over Payne.
Justin Stone finished fourth after starting 17th, and Fuller rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (60 Laps): 1. 6M-Mat Williamson[3]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[5]; 3. 35-Mike Mahaney[7]; 4. 15X-Justin Stone[17]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller[1]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[9]; 7. 49-Billy Dunn[12]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[11]; 9. 73-Kevin Chaffee[8]; 10. 74F-Dave Flannigan Jr[18]; 11. 11X-Josh Masterson[19]; 12. 28-Jordan McCreadie[13]; 13. 75-AJ Munger[6]; 14. 01-Chris Raabe[14]; 15. ONE-Felix Roy[2]; 16. 31-Lance Willix[16]; 17. 18R-Brad Rouse[23]; 18. 215-Adam Pierson[10]; 19. 35R-William Racine[24]; 20. 5-Tanner Siemons[28]; 21. B24-Brendan Gibbons[21]; 22. 89-Dylan Madsen[22]; 23. 24F-Jordan Fornwalt[4]; 24. 92-Andrew Buff[15]; 25. 54-Tim LaDuc[27]; 26. 26-Dave Camara[20]; 27. 14-CG Morey[29]; 28. 5B-Jack Butler[26]; 29. M2-Todd Morey[25]
