Mat Williamson’s third 358 Modified Malta Massive Weekend victory earned him a piece of history.
The St. Catharines, ON driver led every lap Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway to become the fourth driver in DIRTcar 358 Modified Series history to earn their 25th win, joining Danny Johnson, Brett Hearn, and Alan Johnson.
Williamson led the field to the green in the 50-lap Feature, beating Felix Roy into Turns 1 and 2. Unfortunately for Roy, a broken shock on his No. 91 brought out the race’s first caution.
When the race resumed, Williamson re-assumed control of the Feature, this time ahead of Anthony Perrego, who took over second. The green stayed out for another four laps before suspension damage on Kevin Stevens’ car slowed the field for the final time.
Williamson took the lead again on the restart, but a long green-flag run let Perrego close in when “Money Mat” reached lap traffic on Lap 17. Perrego ran the top, trying to get around the No. 6, but Williamson moved to the outside, letting him pull away from the “Ant-Man.”
The defending Series champion navigated traffic through the next 30 laps, but went unchallenged to earn his fifth Series win of 2026, one worth $4,000.
Despite leading every lap, he said he didn’t know the right line until he got into traffic.
“I didn’t see anybody, so I was trying to be conservative and not run into a lap car like I did last week (at Mohawk),” Williamson said. “The racetrack was very good. It had character tonight, but you could race all over it. You really couldn’t tell what was the preferred lane, and that’s all you can ask for as a driver and to put a good show on for the fans.”
With the win, Williamson extended his Series points lead to 92 points over Mike Mahaney, who finished second.
The Elizabethtown, NY driver battled Perrego in traffic for more than 20 laps before getting by him on the outside with two laps to go. “Smooth Shoe,” who started ninth, earned his second straight runner-up finish after a second-place run last week at Mohawk International Raceway.
“I didn’t get a great draw tonight,” Mahaney said. “But we capitalized on a good start. Got some cars really quick, and that last long green was really long. Through lap traffic, I made some good moves, and sometimes attacked it right and gained, and sometimes hit the holes wrong and bounced a different way.
“Almost got there. Just kind of ran out of time and just had to come from too far back, I guess.”
Perrego rounded out the podium, narrowly missing out on a second-place finish. The Montgomery, NY driver said he thought he had a shot to get by Williamson before they reached lap traffic.
“Right before I got to traffic, I thought we were better than Mat,” Perrego said. “Then he kind of found a line in down in (Turns) 3 and 4 that I could kind of cut down, and I was driving up to him. Once he got into traffic, he was a bit more maneuverable. I thought we were going to snooker him there because he wasn’t going to get off the bottom. But then he found the outside and was a lot better.”
Peter Britten finished fourth, and Matt Caprara rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series heads to Super DIRT Week 54 at Oswego Speedway on Friday, Oct. 9, for the Salute to the Troops 150 presented by the Air National Guard.
Where can you find event information and tickets for Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub? By visiting SuperDIRTWeek.com.
Where can you watch the Super DIRT Week? Watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
DIRTcar 358 Series Feature (50 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[9]; 3. 4-Anthony Perrego[6]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten[10]; 5. 11-Matt Caprara[13]; 6. 215-Adam Pierson[16]; 7. 31-Lance Willix[7]; 8. 98H-Walter Hammond Jr[3]; 9. 34-Rusty Smith[17]; 10. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 11. 91-Felix Roy[2]; 12. 75-AJ Munger[4]; 13. 12-Darren Smith[23]; 14. 4K-Elliot Gamache[22]; 15. 92-Andrew Buff[8]; 16. 3G-Brian Gleason[11]; 17. 25P-Michael Parent[25]; 18. 19-Jessey Mueller[15]; 19. 3-Cole Hentschel[21]; 20. 88H-Walt Hammond[12]; 21. 23-Brandon Loucks[26]; 22. 8-Dylan Zacharias[18]; 23. 5-Jack Butler[28]; 24. 14-CG Morey[29]; 25. 94-Joey Coppola[14]; 26. 97-Cody Higbie[19]; 27. B24-Brendan Gibbons[27]; 28. 38-Kevin Stevens[20]; 29. (DNF) 117-CJ Castelletti[31]; 30. (DNF) 3J-Marc Johnson[24]; 31. (DNF) 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[30]
This article was republished with permission from DIRTcar Northeast. The original article can be found here: https://dirtcar.com/dirtcar-ne/358-modifieds/dirtcar-358-modified-series/quarter-century-club-mat-williamson-earns-25th-career-dirtcar-358-modified-series-triumph-with-albany-saratoga-win/
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