MALTA, N.Y. — It didn’t take long for Mat Williamson to show the rest of the field that the road to the Super DIRTcar Series championship still goes through him.
The St. Catharines, Ontario, driver stormed past Matt Delorenzo on a Lap-28 restart and held on to win Friday’s 61st Season Opener at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Delorenzo, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Award winner, took the early lead in the 61-lap feature, using the inside lane to pull away from Williamson on the race’s opening lap. That advantage only lasted a few laps, though, as Mike Trautschold brought out the race’s first caution with a left-front flat tire on Lap 4.
When the race resumed, Delorenzo took advantage again on the bottom and this time pulled away from the No. 88. “Matty D” was able to navigate through traffic with ease for 15 laps until another caution came out on Lap 22 for Alex Payne, who drove over the banking and spun in Turns 1 and 2.
That caution was the break that Williamson needed, as he made his move on the next restart. When the green came back out, Delorenzo ran the bottom in Turns 1 and 2, but went to the outside in Turns 3 and 4. Seeing Delorenzo go high, Williamson swapped lanes to the bottom and drove underneath the No. 3D to take the lead.
“Money Mat” held the lead for two more restarts, but Delorenzo wouldn’t go away. As Williamson battled through traffic in the race’s closing laps, Delorenzo got within three car lengths while the three-time Series champion struggled to get by Tyler Dipple, a lap car.
With Delorenzo in striking distance, Williamson had to gain separation any way he could. As he entered Turn 3 with five laps to go, he had Jeremy Pitts and Dippel in front of him, with only the middle lane open. That’s exactly where Williamson went, driving by them both and sliding in front of Dippel’s No. 1 in the middle of the corner.
“It was just kind of knowing how much speed I was carrying,” Williamson said. “I got stuck behind the [Dippel], and there was somebody running the bottom. Tyler was pretty committed to the top. I saw “Matty D” poke his nose in (Turn) 4, so I threw a Hail Mary on the [Dippel] there, and I cleared him.
“I don’t know if I opened up there at the end, but I was on pins and needles.”
From there, Williamson drove away to earn the $6,100 prize and his 39th career Super DIRTcar Series victory.
Williamson said he knew Delorenzo was close, as these two have battled for wins at the track before.
“It was a great race tonight,” Williamson said. “I appreciate him for racing me with a lot of respect there. When we got into traffic, I felt like I was catching him a little bit, but on his own, I think he was better than I was. Once you get in that dirty air, it’s tough with these Modifieds.”
Delorenzo crossed the line second, matching his best-career Super DIRTcar Series finish. He said he was happy to represent the weekly Albany-Saratoga field with a strong run.
“I’m with the best in the business here,” Delorenzo said. “I’m running one night a week as a weekend warrior here. That’s not too bad. He was a little bit better in traffic than me, and he was showing us some better lines. There wasn’t enough coming out of (Turn) 4 there to get anything. He was just sliding through, but I thought I was better in (Turns) 1 and 2 if I hit the hole right. Just came up a little bit short.”
Stewart Friesen rounded out the podium, while Jack Lehner finished fourth, and Jimmy Phelps rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (61 laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 2. 3D-Matt Delorenzo[1]; 3. 44-Stewart Friesen[5]; 4. 2-Jack Lehner[14]; 5. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[7]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[9]; 7. 111-Demetrios Drellos[6]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[13]; 9. 35-Mike Mahaney[11]; 10. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 11. 20-David Schilling[10]; 12. 91-Felix Roy[18]; 13. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 14. 27T-Tanner Van Doren[19]; 15. 4-Anthony Perrego[17]; 16. 99L-Larry Wight[20]; 17. 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 18. 25-Erick Rudolph[12]; 19. 15X-Justin Stone[26]; 20. 21C-Brian Calabrese[24]; 21. 20C-Cole Stangle[22]; 22. 27-Jeremy Pitts[25]; 23. 1-Tyler Dippel[23]; 24. 3J-Marc Johnson[16]; 25. 99-Kolby Schroder[21]; 26. 17-Marcus Dinkins[28]; 27. (DNF) 6-Matt Stangle[27]; 28. (DNF) 28-Michael Trautschold[15]
