CONCORD, N.C. — They’ve raced against each other many times before on their home track of Ransomville Speedway.
But Thursday night, when Mat Williamson and Erick Rudolph met each other on The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the World of Outlaws World Finals, it meant a little something more.
The two Ransomville Speedway regulars lined up behind each other on the grid to start off the Feature, with Rudolph starting on the outside of row one and Williamson starting on the inside of row two. Having competed at the four-tenths-mile oval several times in their careers, both competitors knew they needed to have a superior machine to take home the win.
Rudolph maneuvered around pole-starter Anthony Perrego after trailing him for the first seven laps. On his pass, Williamson was not far behind, passing Perrego as well, dropping him into third. It then became a tight battle between the two leaders, with the two cars riding neck and neck around the turns. Williamson eventually moved to the bottom coming into turn three and four, sneaking past No. 25 to take the lead.
That was all the No. 88 Buzzchew Racing driver needed to seal the deal. From then on, Williamson took advantage of the clean air to distance himself from the rest of the pack, bringing him closer and closer to victory as he pulled away.
“Once I got him, I could use the whole race track up,” Williamson said. “That was a big benefit. This place is a lot about momentum and once you get the lead you get momentum.”
Williamson crossed the finish line in first, capturing the $10,000 purse and giving himself additional cushion on his way to securing a second-place finish for the season. Rudolph stayed in the runner-up position for the final third of the race, keeping a steady hand to fend off a charging Matt Sheppard, the expected Series winner to be crowned on Saturday night.
“He [Williamson] just seemed like he had a really good car on the long runs,” Rudolph said. “He just had the superior machine tonight. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow, but we’re really proud of second place.”
Sheppard crossed the finish line in third, rounding out the podium. It was his season’s 13th top-five finish and 15th top-10 finish.
Perrego finished in fourth and Demetrios Drellos finished in fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. Mat Williamson; 2. Erick Rudolph; 3. Matt Sheppard; 4. Anthony Perrego; 5. Demetrios Drellos; 6. Jimmy Phelps; 7. Alex Yankowski; 8. Ryan Godown; 9. Peter Britten; 10. Billy Decker; 11. Max McLaughlin; 12. Tim Fuller; 13. Marc Johnson; 14. Mathieu Desjardins; 15. Larry Wight; 16. Justin Hares; 17. Jack Lehner; 18. Tim Sears Jr.; 19. Rocky Warner; 20. Adam Pierson; 21. Darren Smith; 22. Jeff Taylor; 23. Brett Hearn; 24. C.G. Morey; 25. Kevin Root; 26. Zachary Payne; 27. Marcus Dinkins; 28. Paul St. Sauveur; 29. Bob McGannon; 30. Alex Payne.