Over 100 drivers entered to compete in the DIRTcar 358 Modified division for Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub, but one has already emerged as the top contender.
Again.
Mat Williamson, who has won the last three Salute to the Troops 150 presented by Air National Guard events at Oswego Speedway, is another step closer to a potential fourth straight title after claiming the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel & Aluminum Pole Award and winning Qualifying Heat #3 by over four seconds.
He, along with 27 other drivers, locked themselves into Friday’s $20,000-to-win, 150-lap, DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 presented by Air National Guard.
“Super… Eight”
Due to there being 103 entries, the field was split into four Qualifying groups, expanding the number of cars re-qualifying to eight – taking the top two qualifiers from each group.
Williamson topped them all with a 22.339-second lap around the 5/8-mile dirt track. He was followed by Fratto Curbing Outside Polesitter Darren Smith, Jimmy Phelps, Larry Wight, Billy Dunn, Peter Britten, Andrew Buff and Matt Caprara.
Heat #1
While Caprara missed out on the “Super Six” photo and awards, he made up for it by dominating the first of four 20-lap Qualifying Heats. He launched ahead of the field at the sight of Dave Farney waving the green flag and never looked back.
Behind him, though, were numerous battles to secure a transfer spot. With five laps to go, Lance Willix dove under Tim Sears Jr., who was holding onto the final transfer spot, going into Turn 1. They entered with Willix as close as he could be to the inside wall and Sears just as close as he could be to the right side of the No. 31 car. That resulted in Willix bouncing off the inside and into Sears, causing him to dart right into the wall.
In the final circuits of the Heat, while Caprara enjoyed a comfortable lead, Alex Payne worked his way into second from his fourth-place starting position with four laps to go, putting Anthony Perrego back to third.
The transfer cars included Caprara, Payne, Perrego, Mike Mahaney, Andrew Buff, Marc Johnson, and Willix.
“I just can’t thank all of my guys enough. We’ve busted our tails for so many years, not making these races,” Caprara said. “To come here, lock in, and now win our Heat Race, start the Feature on Friday, it’s a dream come true. I can’t thank my parents (enough) back home. They put some much time and effort into this.”
RESULTS: Heat 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Matt Caprara[1]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[4]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego[3]; 4. 35-Mike Mahaney[7]; 5. 92-Andrew Buff[2]; 6. 3J-Marc Johnson[6]; 7. 31-Lance Willix[11]; 8. 28-Jordan McCreadie[13]; 9. 28F-Alan Fink[17]; 10. 34-Rusty Smith[10]; 11. 67W-Zack Welch[16]; 12. 8-Rich Scagliotta[14]; 13. 18R-Brad Rouse[18]; 14. 427-Carter Gibbons[23]; 15. B24-Brendan Gibbons[21]; 16. 17G-Garrett Poland[24]; 17. 33X-Matt Janczuk[12]; 18. 95C-Christopher Cormier[22]; 19. 88H-Chris Hulsizer[8]; 20. 01B-Zachary Buff[19]; 21. 19L-Owen Lewis[15]; 22. 35B-Francois Bellemare[25]; 23. 23B-Cameron Black[20]; 24. (DNF) 83X-Tim Sears Jr[5]; 25. (DNF) 17-Tyler Meeks[9]; 26. (DNS) 399-Nick Giardini
Heat #2
Peter Britten tried to capture the same result as Caprara in Qualifying Heat #2, but Larry Wight used his favorite line around the “Clay Palace” to his advantage again.
Last year, Wight worked the top lane to go from 41st to the top five in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 last year. On Wednesday night, he used it to power around Britten for the lead on Lap 8 and then drive away with the Heat win.
With five laps to go, the battle for the final transfer spot became a three-car battle between Chris Curtis, Jax Yohn, and Bobby Hackel IV. Yohn had been holding the spot for most of the race, but Curtis used a restart on Lap 15 to his advantage, sneaking around the No. 24Y for seven. Hackel tried to enter the battle for a couple of laps, but faded. Yohn stayed within striking distance of Curtis, but could never put together a run to get back by him.
The transfer cars included Wight, Lindberg, Britten, Gill, Haers, Godown, and Curtis.
“Just missed it a little bit in time trials and made up for it in the [Super Six re-qualifying],” Wight said. “The car was really good. Just made a few small tweaks to it and let the car come to us. We got that restart at halfway and really started meshing.”
RESULTS: Heat 2 (20 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[2]; 2. 37S-Gary Lindberg[3]; 3. 8B-Peter Britten[1]; 4. 60-Jackson Gill[4]; 5. 32C-Justin Haers[7]; 6. 115-Ryan Godown[6]; 7. 35C-Chris Curtis[12]; 8. 24Y-Jax Yohn[9]; 9. 14T-Payton Talbot[8]; 10. 15-Todd Root[11]; 11. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[14]; 12. 22-Brandon Walters[5]; 13. 38-Kevin Stevens[15]; 14. 52-Jessica Power[13]; 15. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[17]; 16. 39X-Alex Therrien[19]; 17. 21R-RJ Tresidder[18]; 18. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[16]; 19. 32JM-James Meehan[20]; 20. 7-Brady Cordova[21]; 21. 28L-Ted Starr[24]; 22. 88D-Dave Allen[26]; 23. 12G-Matt Guererri[25]; 24. 53-Richard Smith[22]; 25. 15X-Justin Stone[10]; 26. 16-Aaron Jacobs[23]
Heat #3
Qualifying Heat #3 was the Williamson show with his No. 6 car in a different league than the rest of the field. However, another driver had a quiet but impressive run.
Two-time Super DIRT Week Small Block champion Tim Fuller patiently picked his way through the field from his sixth-place starting position, driving the Slack family’s No. 3RS car. On the final lap, he worked his way past Phelps to score the runner-up finish.
Cedric Gauvreau and Erick Rudolph also had a battle worth watching in the final stages of the Heat. After Gauvreau fell to seven on from fourth on Lap 4, he had to try to fend off Rudolph for the remaining 16 laps. But while Rudolph was able to keep the pressure on him, the No. 22C hit its marks, awarding Gauvreau the final transfer spot.
The transferring drivers included Williamson, Fuller, Phelps, Alex Yankowski, Ronnie Davis III, Matt Sheppard, and Gauvreau.
“[The car] feels really good, but I think we still have some work to do,” Williamson said. “If I could get the right rear to stop sliding into (Turn) three I’d feel really good. We have some really smart people on my team; tomorrow we’ll go to work on it and try to make it a little better than it was tonight.”
RESULTS: Heat 3 (20 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 3RS-Tim Fuller[6]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[10]; 5. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[3]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 7. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[4]; 8. 25-Erick Rudolph[8]; 9. 25P-Michael Parent[11]; 10. 72-Ajay Potrzebowski II[9]; 11. 6S-Matt Stangle[13]; 12. 58M-Marshall Hurd[7]; 13. 51-Ryan Krachun[12]; 14. 35M-Nelson Mason[16]; 15. 11T-Jeff Taylor[22]; 16. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[26]; 17. 7B-Mitchell Bard[21]; 18. 29H-Nick Heywood[15]; 19. 4K-Elliot Gamache[18]; 20. 39A-Alan Therrien[20]; 21. 28S-Matt Smith[17]; 22. 7M-Paul Mancini[19]; 23. 514-James Hanson[23]; 24. 26-Michael Mandigo[25]; 25. (DNF) 117J-CJ Castelletti[24]; 26. (DNS) 29-Garrett Krummert
Heat #4
Qualifying Heat #4 had a similar look to Heat #3, with the leader leaving the field and a driver methodically working their way up through the field.
Fratto Curbing Outside Polesitter Darren Smith went unchallenged for all 20 laps, winning by over two seconds at the finish.
Behind him, Felix Roy was on the move, working his way up through the sixth-starting position. He reached the runner-up spot by Lap 12 and began cutting tenths out of Smith’s lead. But not quickly enough, having to settle for second at the end.
The transfer cars included Smith, Roy, Brian Calabrese, Billy Dunn, Michael Maresca, Chris Raabe, and Tanner Van Doren.
“Starting up front and locking yourself in like that is huge,” Smith said. “It takes all the pressure off this Heat racing out here. We tried a little something. I don’t know if it’s good or not, but we’ll see how it is [Friday].
“We’re on a little bit of a different package for here than we have been all year, just because this place is so weird. Even in this Heat Race there, I didn’t feel good in (Turns) three and four at all. I was kind of pushing getting in and skating through the middle. But we’re having fun. We’ll try to have a fun week.”
RESULTS: Heat 4 (20 Laps): 1. 12-Darren Smith[1]; 2. 91R-Felix Roy[6]; 3. 21C-Brian Calabrese[8]; 4. 49-Billy Dunn[2]; 5. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 6. 01-Chris Raabe[5]; 7. 27-Tanner Van Doren[4]; 8. 30-Nicholas Root[9]; 9. 12T-Tyler Peet[10]; 10. 97W-Rocky Warner[11]; 11. 3-Cole Hentschel[7]; 12. M1-David Marcuccilli[16]; 13. 57H-Remington Hamm[13]; 14. 79-Brandon Loucks[15]; 15. 91-Josh Reome[20]; 16. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[12]; 17. 22X-Mike Richmond[14]; 18. 5-Jack Butler[17]; 19. 14S-Brian Swarthout[25]; 20. 36-Brian Whittemore[23]; 21. 11Z-Nicholas Zielinski[19]; 22. 0-Glenn Styres[24]; 23. (DNF) 14-CG Morey[21]; 24. (DNF) 4P-Chase Moran[18]; 25. (DNF) 284-Jamie Kamrowski[22]
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series returns on Friday, Oct. 9, with Last Chance Showdown for the remaining 74 drivers not yet locked in, and the $20,000-to-win, 150-lap, Salute to the Troops 150 presented by Air National Guard.
How can you watch every lap of Super DIRT Week 54 if you can’t be at Oswego Speedway? Live on DIRTVision.
