Matt Billings - Jim Clarke Photo
Belleville, ONT — April 27, 2009 – By Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications
When you’ve been tagged with a nickname like ‘Hollywood’, you’d better get used to being in the spotlight. For DIRTcar Sportsman Modified racer Matt Billings, the 2009 racing season is his time to shine.
The young racer entered the current campaign on the strength of a 5th-place finish in points at his hometown track, Brockville Ontario Speedway. His 1 win combined with 6 front-five and 7 top10 runs left him hungry for more.
Billings survived some less than perfect track conditions to bring his Billings Automotive/Stealth Racewear/Pastime Motors/Babe Design/Turnone High Performance Steering/Brockville Motors Bicknell entry home to a 10th-place finish at the year’s first Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Series event Sunday, April 5 at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, New York. That performance was followed-up by a 5th-place effort in the second round of this year’s tour Friday, April 17 at Can-Am Motorsports Park.
The Billings team has a history of travelling to some different tracks during the early part of the season and claimed a 7th-place showing Sunday, April 19 on the unfamiliar clay of Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport, New York.
On Friday, April 24 the #74 ride was back at Can-Am, one of the team’s two weekly venues for the 2009 season, and came across the line fourth at the checkers, less than 3.0-seconds behind race winner Chris Raabe. Billings said he likes the challenge of running at a variety of tracks early in the year.
“In some ways, we have an advantage because Brockville doesn’t open until the middle of May,” Billings figured. “It gives us a chance to get the car into some racing situations and gain additional experience. When we roll into the pits at some of the shows, no one knows who we are and we don’t know anything about the track. There are no expectations to live up to and the only thing we can do is pick up some knowledge. It’s a lot of fun to race when there really isn’t any pressure to finish in a certain spot.”
Currently in his spohomore season behind the wheel of a DIRTcar Sportsman, the 15 year-old —who has an 80% average in his 10th grade studies at Brockville’s Thousand Islands Secondary School— is a graduate of the highly competitive go-kart program that has launched the career of many of today’s bright, young stars.
Ever humble, when asked to talk about his early season success, Billings responded just by saying, “thanks – it’s been a really good start to the year.” This is one ‘Hollywood’ star that needs to get used to his time in the spotlight.
Media contact: Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com, 613/968-6410 or 613/922-0654
