VERNON, N.Y. — In a battle between the top two drivers in the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series standings, Mat Williamson got the upper hand Wednesday at Utica-Rome Speedway.
The St. Catharines, Ontario, driver passed Mike Mahaney on a Lap-43 restart and never looked back to win the Dale Planck Memorial, becoming the first repeat winner of the season.
Mahaney, the polesitter, led the early portion of the 77-lap feature after beating Utica-Rome regular Brandon Loucks to Turn 1. From sixth, Williamson forward, passing Loucks for third on Lap 15 before driving by Sears for second 13 laps later.
With eight cautions in the race, Mahaney turned away all challengers for the first 25 laps and stayed ahead of Williamson on three consecutive restarts. Williamson tried both the inside and the outside lanes to get by the No. 35, but Mahaney stayed in front until the caution came out for Mike Richmond on Lap 39.
When the race resumed, Williamson tried the outside lane again, and it worked. “Money Mat” used his momentum to power around the outside of Mahaney through Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead.
From there, Williamson went unchallenged through the final 35 laps to score his second DIRTcar 358 Modified Series win of the season, and 22nd career triumph. The victory ties the two-time champion with Tim Fuller for fourth on the series all-time wins list.
While Williamson said he had a great S&W No. 6 car, he also made sure to honor Dale Planck in Victory Lane after collecting the $5,077 check.
“I really wanted to get this one,” Williamson said. “I got to race with Dale quite a bit when I was starting off, and he was racing up at [Mohawk International Raceway] and [Cornwall Motor Speedway]. We were following the 358 tour together, and any time I had a question, Dale would always answer. He was always good to talk to and good to be around.
“To win this race in honor of him is pretty cool.”
Mahaney crossed the line second after leading the first 42 circuits.
“Tough loss,” Mahaney said. “Very happy to run in the top three here, but I would’ve liked to have had a better start there. In clean air, I think [Williamson] had a pretty good car and was balanced, but we were pretty good, too. I would’ve liked to see where it could’ve gone if we had a few less cautions, but he earned it.”
Mahaney leaves Utica-Rome with a 12-point lead over Williamson with eight races remaining.
Erick Rudolph finished third after starting 11th. Billy Dunn finished fourth and Sears earned his second consecutive top-five finish.
The finish:
Feature (77 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[6]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[1]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph[11]; 4. 49-Billy Dunn[15]; 5. 83S-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 6. 12-Darren Smith[16]; 7. 14T-Payton Talbot[8]; 8. 99L-Larry Wight[7]; 9. 23-Brandon Loucks[2]; 10. 01-Chris Raabe[19]; 11. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[21]; 12. 30-Nicholas Root[12]; 13. 31-Lance Willix[26]; 14. 21A-Peter Britten[22]; 15. 4S-Chris Mackey[3]; 16. 18$-Sean Beardsley[23]; 17. 18R-Brad Rouse[10]; 18. 11S-Steve Lewis[28]; 19. 77X-Addison Bowman[18]; 20. 7B-Mitchell Bard[30]; 21. 5-Jack Butler[24]; 22. 14-CG Morey[27]; 23. 117-CJ Castelletti[29]; 24. M1-Dave Marcuccilli[5]; 25. 33X-Matt Janczuk[9]; 26. 22X-Mike Richmond[20]; 27. 92-Andrew Buff[13]; 28. 21C-Brian Calabrese[17]; 29. 44-Ryan Barrett[25]; 30. B24-Brendan Gibbons[14]
