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Williamson Cruises to Mod Win at
Ransomville; Championship Race Tightens
By Dave Sully
(Ransomville, NY) Mat
Williamson, From St. Catharines, Ontario, scored his second 30 lap
Modified Feature win of the season in convincing fashion at
Ransomville Speedway on Friday, August 26th. Meanwhile,
the heated race for the modified crown got even hotter, as three
drivers, point leader Pete Bicknell, defending champion Todd Burley,
and Chad Brachmann, all have a legitimate shot at the title, heading
for the final point race next Friday.
Williamson, one of the top young drivers
in the region, had his 2012 Bicknell X car dialed in perfectly, and
ended up winning by a big margin, but it took some early race
theatrics to turn the trick. Starting
eleventh, he worked his way to sixth, before a caution on lap six,
slowed proceedings. He
got a great restart and vaulted to third in just one lap, getting by
Burley, Scott Kerwin, and Ryan Susice with a dive to the bottom.
He grabbed second from Dave Just on lap
nine, and then squeezed inside Scott Just on a lap 12 restart. From
there, he never looked back, opening a commanding lead over the
remaining laps. Attention
then shifted to the race for the championship, where Bicknell held
an eighteen-point lead over Burley going into the event. After
a furious battle in traffic and a restart which pinned him to the
bottom of the track, Bicknell emerged with an eighth place finish,
while Burley, who went off tenth, made a late pass of Kerwin to end
up third. Brachmann
charged into contention, by finishing fifth after starting
fifteenth.
Going into next week’s final point race,
Bicknell, bidding for his twelfth Modified title, unofficially holds
an eight point lead over Burley, who seeks his fifth championship
and third in a row, and a fourteen point lead over Brachmann, who
has not won a Ransomville mod crown.
Williamson, who has become a force to be
reckoned with this season, wherever he races, noted, “We had a ton
of gear in the car. I
was hitting the chip halfway down the back straightaway. (The
gear) helped me on the restarts but to pull away from everybody, it
certainly didn’t help.” Of the pass for the lead, he added, “ I sort
of did a slide job on Scott (Just) and didn’t look back from there. It
was good.”
Bicknell, who had closed to a spot just
behind Burley, and was looking to protect his point lead, ran afoul
of the low groove on a lap 14 restart. He
declared, “That inside just wasn’t very fast. The
outside guys just took off on me. I
tried to race them on the bottom, but it was just too rough down
there.”
In other racing, Brett Martin from Burt,
held off a determined Kevin Wills to capture his first ever
Sportsman Feature. It
appeared that Ken Camidge had won his first ever Street Stock
Feature, as he crossed the line ahead of Chris Burek after a tense
duel over the final laps, but he was found to be illegal in tech and
was DQ’d, giving the win to Burek. Mike
Hossfeld won his first ever 4 Banger feature, besting Mike
Kramarz, while Pat O’Keefe, from Youngstown, held off Chad
Lederhouse to take the Fireball Feature
MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH: (30 laps) – 1.
Mat Williamson, 2. Scott Just, 3. Todd Burley, 4. Scott Kerwn, 5.
Chad Brachmann, 6. Dave Just, 7. Ryan Susice, 8. Pete Bicknell, 9.
Jeff McGinnnis, 10. Boyd MacTavish, 11. Robbie Krull, 12. Brian
Sage, 13. Tommy Flannigan, 14. Ricky Richner, 15. Rich Vinson, 16.
Pat Vigneri, 17. Steve Schumacher, 18. John Smith, 19. Anthony
Hermanson, 20. Justin Sharp, 21. Bob Broomfield, and 22. Jon
Miller. Heat winners
were Dave Just, Sharp, and Miller.
SPORTSMAN
FEATURE FINISH: (25 laps) – 1. Brett Martin, 2. Kevin Wills, 3. Jipp
Ortiz, 4. Justin Wright, 5. Don Spatorico, 6. Mark Chiddy, 7. Mike
Williams, 8. Sandy Pembleton, 9. Allan Wills, 10. James Henry, 11.
Dave Conant, 12. Scott Krull, 13. Gordon Hermanson, 14. Rich Legace,
and 15. Greg Martin. Heat winners were Chiddy and Williams.
STREET STOCK
FEATURE FINISH: (20 laps) – 1. Chris Burek, 2. Jesse Johnston, 3.
Andy Smith, 4. Billy Coleman, 5. Roger Israel, 6. Derrick
Borkenhagen, 7. Charles Harvey, 8. Jake Stefanski, 9. Mike
Greenawalt, 10. Pat Dell, 11. Jon Richael, 12. Chad Livermore, 13.
Jennifer Greenawalt, 14. Webb Nashwinter, 15. Brandon Poole, 16.
Jaren Israel, and 17. Gerald Poole. DQ: Ken Camidge. Heat winners
were Harvey and Jaren Israel.
FIREBALL
FEATURE FINISH: (12 laps) – 1. Pat O’Keefe, 2. Chad Lederhouse, 3.
Jonathon Stoelting, 4. Ashley Harbison, 5. Jim Harbison, 6. Jamie
Woods, 7. Gary Watier, 8. Ryan Stephenson, 9. Rick Hess, 10. Gerry
Gipp, 11. Steve Matson, 12. Dick Wilkinson, and 13. Chris Leone.
Heat winners were O’Keefe and Wilkinson.
4 BANGER
FEATURE FINISH: (12 laps) – 1. Mike Hossfeld, 2. Mike Kramarz, 3.
Marika Morris, 4. Ryan Plante, 5. Rick Bleich, 6. Richard Zellner,
7. Anthony Hermanson, 8. Ken Washburn III, 9. Dave Sheehan, 10.
Robin Nashwinter, 11. Ed Martin, 12. BobbiLynn Spillman, 13. Mike
Pahl, 14. Gordon Gau, 15. Joey Zimmerman, 16. Brett Rowles, 17. Lisa
Marie Dussault, and 18. Jose Torres. Heat
winners were Gau and Hossfeld.
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