BREWERTON, NY (Oct. 4, 2023) – With his fourth consecutive win in the Hurricane Harvey 75, it’s nearly become Mat Williamson’s tradition of going to Brewerton Speedway on the Wednesday night of Super DIRT Week and winning the famed DIRTcar 358 Modified main event.
Williamson, the two-time Super DIRT Week champion from St. Catharines, ON, won a relentless battle for the lead with Jordan McCreadie, enduring a lap-after-lap, inside-outside chase for the top spot in the second half of the Feature to score the $4,000 check and his third 358 Modified Series win in six starts this year.
He’s now won the last four editions of the track’s marquee event – honoring longtime promoter Harvey Fink – going back to his first event win in 2019.
From sixth on the starting grid, Williamson worked his way up to third before one particular caution period on Lap 28. Following Jordan McCreadie coming to the restart, Williamson immediately pressured McCreadie and would not go away.
“I was being very patient; I probably could’ve slid him a couple times, but I wanted to put on a good show for the fans, and Jordan’s always raced me clean,” Williamson said. “I didn’t wanna risk driving into Turn 3 and clipping him by chance if I wasn’t clear on the slider.”
In an effort to maximize speed, Williamson began entering Turn 1 on the high side and cutting down toward the bottom out of Turn 2. Several times Williamson pulled up beside McCreadie down either straightaway but was unable to make the move.
Multiple times in Turn 3, it appeared as though Williamson had a shot to put a slide job on McCreadie for the lead but would not complete the slide up the track in Turn 4. Instead, he left McCreadie a lane on the top.
“I knew I had a good car; I didn’t really want to wait that long, to be honest,” Williamson said. “I felt like I was gonna get by him and then the caution came out two or three times. But he ran a great race.”
Cat-and-mouse, lap-after-lap, the two battled for the top spot for nearly 25 laps, but McCreadie was able to retain the lead. That was, until a Lap 55 restart, where Williamson snuck under McCreadie for the lead going into Turn 1 and completed the slide up in front of him to seal the pass out of Turn 4.
From that point forward, it was all Williamson out front. He survived one final restart on Lap 68 and brought the field back around the collect the checkered.
McCreadie was able to hang on for second and indicated that his car could have been better toward the end of the race.
“Tonight, we made adjustments, and they were the right ones it felt like for the first 50,” McCreadie said. “And then for the last 25, it seemed like we needed a little bit more to continue the speed we had early.”
A runner-up to Williamson at Brewerton is nothing to hang a head about, and McCreadie was glad to have started his Super DIRT Week off on the right foot.
“To be able to come out here and run good against somebody like Mat and the years that he’s been so good here, it says a lot for how good this car was going,” McCreadie said.
RESULTS
Feature (75 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[6]; 2. 28J-Jordan McCreadie[1]; 3. 29-Matt Caprara[9]; 4. 91-Felix Roy[12]; 5. 3J-Marc Johnson[11]; 6. M1-David Marcuccilli[7]; 7. 49-Billy Dunn[27]; 8. 19C-Brandon Carvey[2]; 9. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 10. 5H-Amy Holland[8]; 11. 35-Mike Mahaney[21]; 12. 01-Chris Raabe[17]; 13. 215-Adam Pierson[16]; 14. 15X-Justin Stone[13]; 15. 7MM-Michael Maresca[5]; 16. 60-Jackson Gill[25]; 17. 31-Corey Barker[20]; 18. 20-David Schilling[26]; 19. 22-Noah Walker[15]; 20. J82-Will Shields[22]; 21. 39-Ryan Bartlett[28]; 22. 117JR-CJ Castelletti[29]; 23. (DNF) 3-Chris Mackey[30]; 24. (DNF) 31W-Lance Willix[14]; 25. (DNF) 24K-Nick Krause[19]; 26. (DNF) 99L-Larry Wight[18]; 27. (DNF) 70A-Alex Payne[3]; 28. (DNF) 12-Darren Smith[10]; 29. (DNF) 28-Alan Fink[23]; 30. (DNF) 63-Jarrett Herbison[24]
MISTER OCTOBER: Hurricane Harvey 30 Goes to Sobotka for Second Time
Brewerton Speedway star Zach Sobotka starts his Super DIRT Week 51 with a meaningful DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series victory
Brewerton Speedway kicked Super DIRT Week 51 into high gear Wednesday night with the annual DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series’ Hurricane Harvey 30. Track champion Zach Sobotka broke his winless streak on the track’s biggest night, fending off challenges from runner-up Cody Manitta.
“This is a special race to everyone that races here weekly,” Sobotka, of Parish, NY, said. “It’s the Hurricane Harvey. To win that two years in a row. You can’t beat it here. It’s the biggest one to win.”
Two seasons in-a-row Sobotka was without a win at Brewerton going into the Hurricane Harvey. And two years in-a-row Sobotka clocked the field to park it in the eye of the storm.
Sobotka started on the outside pole position when the green flag flew to start the 30-lap Feature. He battled hard with polesitter Nelson Mason before finally completing the pass on Lap 5. He kept pushing, but Cody Manitta inched closer every lap.
“I didn’t ever see him there but I had a feeling he was there,” said Sobotka. “That sixth sense feeling you get when someone is there. I know he wasn’t going around the top because it was getting slick. I knew that as long as I stuck to the bottom I could hold it. For the first 90% race I was driving it in hard and letting it float up to the top. I knew the top in three and four would never be great after lap 10. I knew I had to go to the bottom there. It’s like that every week. You can run up there for five to 10 laps but as then it’s gone.”
Second-place Cody Manitta, from Cato, NY, had a faster race car at certain stages but he could not find a way around the No. 38.
“It’s just Sobotka’s experience here,” noted Manitta. “He has multiple track championships here. I finished third to him in the points once. His experience is really the difference.
“This is a Novice Sportsman that I borrowed because my car is at Oswego. We’re going to run it next year because it’s been really good for us so far. It’s got an eighth place at Weedspot and a second place here.”
DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series points leader Andrew Buff, from Latham, NY, finished third after top-three finisher Nelson Mason was disqualified for using illegal fuel.
Mike Fowler’s Super DIRT Week has already been extra challenging. Fowler, from Fulton, NY, experienced engine issues while leading at Weedsport, changed the engine overnight, practiced at Oswego Speedway during the day, and then had to transfer out of the Last Chance Showdown to make the Hurricane Harvey. Once the green flag flew, the No. 410 machine was on the move, picking up 16 spots before the checkered flag fell.
The DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series action shifts back to Oswego Speedway for the remainder of Super DIRT Week 51. On Thursday, Oct. 5, the Series has a practice session at 2:30 p.m. followed by Time Trials to lock in the Top 6 for the Chevrolet Performance 75.
DIRTcar Sportsman Feature (30 Laps): 1. 38-Zach Sobotka[2]; 2. 6-Cody Manitta[9]; 3. 35-Nelson Mason[1]; 4. 92-Andrew Buff[4]; 5. 7M-Cody McPherson[8]; 6. 30-Nicholas Root[10]; 7. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[5]; 8. 52-Jessica Power[6]; 9. 410-Mike Fowler[25]; 10. 5D-Kyle Devendorf[15]; 11. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[23]; 12. 83-Brett Sears[14]; 13. 01-Zach Buff[20]; 14. 23T-Scott Towslee[26]; 15. 111-Brett Senek[12]; 16. 29-Nick Heywood[21]; 17. 42-Daryl Nutting[16]; 18. 5-Tanner Siemons[28]; 19. 11C-Austin Cooper[19]; 20. 0-Billy Bleich Jr[13]; 21. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[7]; 22. 74-Taylor Vanderzanden[11]; 23. 95-Kearra Backus[30]; 24. (DNF) 06W-Dorian Wahdan[17]; 25. (DNF) 33-Richard Murtaugh[3]; 26. (DNF) 02-David Boisclair[24]; 27. (DNF) 33R-Travis Bruno[22]; 28. (DNF) 399-Nick Giardini[27]; 29. (DNF) 11-Dan Ferguson[18]; 30. (DNF) 2-Taylor Doxtater[29]