|
|
|
|
|
Send news, features and photos to editor@racewaymagazine.com
|
Williamson Completes Perfect Weekend
With Win at Merrittville
By Dave Sully
(Thorold, Ontario) Matt
Williamson captured his second impressive win in two nights, taking
the 35 lap Modified Feature at Merrittville Speedway on Saturday,
August 27, after
dominating at Ransomville the night before. Piloting an ERD-Powered
2012 Bicknell X car that he built himself, the talented young
driver, from St. Catharines, clawed his way to the front from his
tenth place starting spot, and then engaged leader Brandon Easey for
several laps before taking the lead on a lap 28 restart en-route to
the win.
Easey, a former sportsman standout, who
has been improving in his rookie year in the modifieds, set a
blistering pace after taking the top spot on a lap one restart. He
was joined at the front by veteran Scott Wood, who came from eighth
to take the runner-up position on lap eleven. Wood
hounded Easey for the lead and made a spectacular save when the two
got together on lap seventeen, with Wood getting airborne and
sideways before gathering his car back in.
Larry Lampman, who started twelfth, was
the next to test Easey. He
worked his way to second and actually took the lead on a lap
nineteen restart, only to see Easey come back at him later in the
lap, with Lampman spinning in turn four trying to hold on to the
point.
The restart showed Easy now leading Rob
Pietz, up from fourteenth, and Williamson. Williamson took second on
lap 23, then set out after Easey. Easey
held sway, while Williamson tried to find traction, actually using
the front stretch moat several times to gain momentum, but to no
avail.
A caution on lap 28, when Mark D’Ilario
slowed on the front stretch, gave Williamson the chance he needed
and he was able to out-gun Easey on the restart. From
there, he won going away.
At the line, it Williamson, by a big
margin, Pete Bicknell, who soldiered up from 13th, Mike
Bowman, who went off 15th, Pietz, and Tim Jones, to
complete the top five. Lampman
came from the rear to finish seventh, after his lap 20 spin. Easey
ended up ninth when a tire started going down late in the race.
Williamson observed, “I don’t know if I
could have gotten him (Easey) without the cautions, but you’ve got
to go where there’s bite, and there’s bite in the moat, so I’ll go
anywhere. We ran each
other clean. It was fun
racing. I had a week off from work, and I figured I’d make use of
it. I built a new race
car and, ever since then, it’s been good.”
Easey, who had a great run going, was
happy with his effort, noting, “It was good. I’m
getting better. It was the best I’ve run all year. I
led some laps. I’m
really happy with that.”
BJ Willard, from St. Catharines, won
the 25 lap Sportsman Feature, coming from thirteenth to take the
lead from Greg Panunte on a lap nineteen restart. Panunte
ended up second, followed by Brad Rouse, Cody McPherson, who
recovered from a lap 15 flat tire, and Gary Lindberg.
Larry Czinege Jr., from Ridgeway, made a
dramatic last turn pass to nip Austin Wood in the 20 lap Hoosier
Stock Feature by a nose, while Garnet Wilson, from Canfield, held
off point leader Rocco Conte to win the 4 Cylinder event.
Notes: Pete
Bicknell is closing in on his twenty-first modified title. With
one race remaining in the 2011 season, he holds a commanding lead
over second place driver, Mat Williamson……….Brad Rouse leads in the
sportsman division, while Ken Sargent is on top in the Hoosier Stock
point race……..Josh Sliter has a lock on the Mod Lite title, as does
Conte in the 4 Cylinders.
MODIFIED FEATURE: (35 laps) - 1.
Mat Williamson, 2. Pete Bicknell, 3. Mike Bowman, 4. Rob Pietz, 5.
Tim Jones, 6. Scott Wood, 7. Larry Lampman, 8. Travis Braun, 9.
Brandon Easey, 10. Rick Richner, 11. Fred Carleton, 12. Chad
Chevalier, 13. Boyd MacTavish, 14. Kenny Winfield, 15. Todd Gordon,
16. Shayne Pierce, 17. Pete Cosco, 18. Dennis Giancola, 19. Mark
D’Ilario, 20. Bill Bleich, 21. Justin Sharp, and 22. Tommy
Flannigan. Heat winners
were Wood, Lampman, and Richner.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE: (25 laps)- 1. BJ
Willard, 2. Greg Panunte, 3. Brad Rouse, 4. Cody McPherson, 5. Gary
Lindberg, 6. West Talons, 7. Brent Begolo, 8. Robbie Rounce, 9.
Jesse Penner, 10. George Bosse, 11. Jason Moore, 12. Robert Baker,
13. Steve Robins, 14. Jason Farraway, 15. Nick Cupolo, 16. Matt
Sharpe, 17. Ron MacAulay, 18. Adam Leslie, 19. Remington Price, 20.
David Flannigan, 21. Ray Hockridge, 22. Paul Gaboury, and 23. Rob
Knapp. Heat winners were
Flannigan, Talons, and Cupolo.
HOOSIER STOCK FEATURE: (20 laps) - 1.
Larry Czinege, 2. Austin Wood, 3. Lee Winger, 4. Billy Bleich, 5.
Jim Lampman, 6. Ken Sargent, 7. Brian Schmidt, 8. Jason Fontaine, 9.
Jimmy Begolo, 10. Ian Blanchard, 11. Terry Ronning, 12. Ed McNamara,
13. James Thompson, 14. Rob Murray, 15. Dave Small, 16. Matt
Bartlett, 17. Chris Crawford, 18. Jeff Dayman, 19. Chris Schneider,
and 20. Devin Habiuk. Heat
winners were Fargnoli, Wood, and Knapp.
4 CYLINDER FEATURE: (15 laps) - 1.
Garnet Wilson, 2. Rocco Conte, 3. Dillan Sliter, 4. Kyle Pelrine, 5.
Kameron Kocarik, 6. Jason Coutu, 7. Greg Wilson, 8. Jason Langaro,
9. Nathan Monahan, 10. Rob Overholt, 11. Jocelyn Wiley, 12. Tony
Kelly, 13. Chris Laskey, 14. Kevin Kocoarik, 15. Mike Giberson, 16.
Evan Curtis, 17. Brandon Boychuck, 18. Chris Sheppard, 19. Nathan
Steeley, 20. Robert Goulding, and 21. Jeff Larmet. Heat winners were
Garnet Wilson, Laskey, and Kelly.
|
