OSWEGO, N.Y. — The stars came out to play as the top six positions for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 were locked in with the Super DIRTcar Series Time Trials Friday afternoon at Oswego Speedway.
Three qualifying heats were also on the evening’s schedule but were postponed until Saturday afternoon due to rain showers.
Eight-time and defending Super DIRTcar Series champion Matt Sheppard continued his strong season when he clocked the fastest time in a field of 72 big-block modifieds during time trials. With his performance, he not only set himself up for a victory run in Sunday’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200 but was also awarded the $1,000 SRI Performance/ Stock Car Steel Pole Award.
“It feels good,” Sheppard said. “We had a really good car yesterday, got a really good car again today. There’s only one thing left to do and try and get the job done. Two-hundred laps is a long time. I’ve been here before when we’ve felt like we had really good cars and not won and been here when we’ve felt like when we haven’t been that good and won. We got a really good driving car right now and hopefully it stays that way and hopefully we can keep it rolling through Sunday.”
Two-time and defending Super DIRT Week champion Mat Williamson was awarded the Finishing Touch Construction Outside Pole Award when he logged the second fastest qualifying time, guaranteeing him the outside pole of the front row alongside Sheppard.
“It’s our best qualifying effort this year, all in all, at Oswego in general,” Williamson said. “Happy and proud for my guys. They worked really hard. We worked hard all day to get the car good enough so it timed good. I’m happy with it.”
Billy Decker (third), Ryan Godown (fourth), Peter Britten (fifth), and Mike Mahaney (sixth) rounded out the finishers, all locking themselves into starting spots for Sunday’s feature.
The top three qualifiers are also the top-three 2021 Billy Whittaker Cars 200 finishers, as Williamson was the winner, Decker finished second and Sheppard was third.
Twenty-four more drivers will lock themselves into Sunday’s field after the three qualifying heats. They were originally scheduled to take place Friday night, but rain showers postponed them until Saturday afternoon.
The Results
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:21.737[49]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:21.800[47]; 3. 91-Billy Decker, 00:21.935[17]; 4. 26-Ryan Godown, 00:21.983[48]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:21.997[38]; 6. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:22.036[26]; 7. 84-Gary Tomkins, 00:22.108[60]; 8. 27J-Danny Johnson, 00:22.118[35]; 9. 12-Darren Smith, 00:22.133[54]; 10. 9-Marc Johnson, 00:22.162[19]; 11. 25-Erick Rudolph, 00:22.167[33]; 12. 39-Kyle Coffey, 00:22.221[15]; 13. 44-Stewart Friesen, 00:22.232[27]; 14. 35L-LJ Lombardo, 00:22.234[22]; 15. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:22.244[7]; 16. 58M-Marshall Hurd, 00:22.263[10]; 17. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:22.264[12]; 18. M1-David Marcuccilli, 00:22.288[25]; 19. 215-Adam Pierson, 00:22.315[3]; 20. 98-Rocky Warner, 00:22.353[69]; 21. 22-Tanner Van Dohren, 00:22.375[61]; 22. 2-Jack Lehner, 00:22.394[65]; 23. Z8-Max McLaughlin, 00:22.395[21]; 24. 34-Kevin Root, 00:22.397[72]; 25. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:22.417[23]; 26. 62S-Tom Sears Jr, 00:22.424[59]; 27. 28L-Gary Lindberg, 00:22.426[20]; 28. 26R-Corey Cormier, 00:22.435[76]; 29. 3-Justin Haers, 00:22.451[71]; 30. 7D-Tyler Dippel, 00:22.470[55]; 31. 27W-Nick Webb, 00:22.475[24]; 32. 36B-Ben Bushaw, 00:22.492[9]; 33. 115-Kenny Tremont Jr, 00:22.530[13]; 34. 01C-Bob Henry Jr, 00:22.550[56]; 35. 37M-Mathieu Desardins, 00:22.557[51]; 36. 15-Todd Root, 00:22.603[1]; 37. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:22.622[14]; 38. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:22.624[52]; 39. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:22.629[28]; 40. 7-Rick Laubach, 00:22.641[73]; 41. 49-Billy Dunn, 00:22.647[64]; 42. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:22.649[62]; 43. 43-Jimmy Horton, 00:22.662[37]; 44. 1NY-Gregory Atkins, 00:22.745[6]; 45. 27-Jeremy Pitts, 00:22.825[34]; 46. 9X-Tyler Trump, 00:22.832[58]; 47. 28-Jordan McCreadie, 00:22.852[32]; 48. 37-Paul St Sauveur, 00:22.891[68]; 49. 125-Jackson Gill, 00:22.927[2]; 50. 48TOO-Dave Rauscher, 00:23.005[46]; 51. X-Chad Phelps, 00:23.016[42]; 52. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 00:23.116[8]; 53. 20-Brett Hearn, 00:23.130[11]; 54. 02-Roy Bresnahan, 00:23.147[70]; 55. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:23.162[39]; 56. 19W-Justin Wright, 00:23.164[57]; 57. 63-Adam Roberts, 00:23.226[36]; 58. 76-John Brown, 00:23.291[43]; 59. 14S-Brian Swarthout, 00:23.297[16]; 60. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:23.335[45]; 61. 713-Tommy Collins, 00:23.453[4]; 62. Z4-JJ Courcy, 00:23.473[31]; 63. 27JR-Daniel Johnson, 00:23.602[53]; 64. 16-Aaron Jacobs, 00:23.618[66]; 65. 17T-Richie Tobias Jr, 00:23.784[18]; 66. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr, 00:23.917[40]; 67. 14M-CG Morey, 00:24.096[41]; 68. 36-Brian Whittemore, 00:24.217[30]; 69. 11-Steve Lewis Jr, 00:24.560[75]; 70. 28T-Michael Trautschold, 00:24.721[63]; 71. 4C-Michelle Courcy, 00:24.846[5]; 72. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:24.846[44]; 73. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 00:24.846[67]; 74. (DNS) 11S-James Sweeting, 00:24.846; 75. (DQ) 0-Matt Humes, 00:24.519[50]; 76. (DQ) 18-Ryan Macartney, 00:24.846[29]