CONCORD, N.C. – If you’re looking for a tight championship battle, there is none tighter than the one taking place in the Super DIRTcar Series.
Entering Friday’s action during the Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, defending Super DIRTcar Series big-block modified champion Matt Sheppard and Mat Williamson were tied at 2,075 points a piece.
Williamson has had a career year driving the Buzz Chew No. 88, scoring a $100,000 triumph in the Orange County Fair Speedway anniversary race in Middletown, N.Y., as well as a $50,000 victory in the Super DIRT Week finale at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway.
He’d love to close out the season by hoisting the championship trophy on Saturday night, but even if he doesn’t he said it has been a season to remember.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate to just be here and in this spot. We’re going to make the most of it and enjoy it while it lasts,” said Williamson, who has three Super DIRTcar Series victories this year. “We’re more than satisfied with what we’ve done this year. It’s been a dream so far. To cap it off here with a championship would be pretty amazing.”
Sheppard is a seven-time series champion in search of his eighth championship since 2010 this weekend. He’s been in this position before, most recently last year when he entered the Can-Am World Finals with Erick Rudolph breathing down his neck in the standings.
The New York native ended up beating Rudolph by a comfortable 130 points by the time the 2018 World Finals were over, but this is a new year and a new rival. Despite that, Sheppard not’s the least bit concerned about Williamson.
“I guess I’ve been in this situation a lot of times,” Sheppard acknowledged. “This is his first time in this situation. It is what it is. We’re going to go out, race hard and if he comes out on top, more power to him.”
Looking at recent results, you could argue both men have momentum entering the World Finals. Williamson has the aforementioned big wins at Orange County Fair Speedway and Oswego Speedway, though Sheppard won the most recent feature held at Canada’s Brockville Ontario Speedway in October.
“We came right back after Oswego and we won Brockville and we drove by him,” Sheppard said. “We’re just going to go out and run hard. I’m sure he’s going to do the same thing. We’ve got a pretty fast hotrod ourselves.”
No matter what happens this weekend, Williamson says he’s thankful for everything the Buzz Chew crew have done for him this year and he’s excited to see what next season has to offer.
“We just got together in the trailer and kind of just said to each other no matter what happens, we’ve done more than what we thought we would,” Williamson said. “We’ve got some good notes to build on for next year. We’re really looking forward to it.”