Peter Britten turned heads when he debuted a black No. 21A Sunday at Weedsport Speedway. However, he wasn’t done there.
The Brisbane, QLD, driver stormed past Matt Sheppard on a Lap 41 restart and led the final 35 laps to win the SummerFAST Kickoff, his first Feature win at the 3/8-mile oval.
“It’s bloody awesome,” Britten said. “The car is definitely badass looking. Everyone seems to like it. And to top it all off, we were quick all night and won the Feature.
“It’s amazing. At Weedsport, of all places. This has kind of been one of my worst tracks over the last few years, so to get it done here was amazing.”
Sheppard, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, grabbed the lead in the 75-lap Feature, driving away from Felix Roy in Turns 1 and 2. Behind the Waterloo, NY driver, Britten charged forward, moving from fifth to second in six laps.
From there, the chase was on, as the “Batman” tried keeping pace with Sheppard before a string of cautions slowed the race. “Super Matt” was able to keep Britten behind him on four occasions, but that changed when another caution came out on Lap 38.
When the race resumed on Lap 41, Britten had his best restart on the outside lane. As the two drivers battled through Turns 1 and 2, Britten powered to the outside of the No. 9S, staying even with him as they entered the backstretch.
The Aussie’s momentum continued through Turns 3 and 4, using the outside lane to drive around the top, narrowly beating Sheppard to the start/finish line. The two veteran Super DIRTcar Series drivers stayed even through Turns 1 and 2, but when they entered Turn 3 the next time around, Britten’s momentum was too much for Sheppard as he wrestled the lead away.
However, it wasn’t over just yet, as a caution for Dalton Slack on Lap 58 bunched the field up again, giving Sheppard another chance.
After using the outside lane to take the lead, Britten stayed on the bottom when the green flag came back out, while Sheppard went to the top. That allowed Sheppard to stay within Britten’s tracks, not allowing the leader to get away.
But just as it looked like Sheppard had a chance to retake the lead, the suspension broke on the right rear of his car with three laps remaining, knocking him out of contention for the win.
With Sheppard forced to go to the pits, defending Series champion Mat Williamson inherited second, looking for an opportunity to steal the win from Britten in the closing laps. That opportunity never came, though, as Britten drove away from the No. 88 and went on to the $7,500 prize and his fifth career Super DIRTcar Series victory.
“When you get the lead, you just want to run away into the distance with no yellow flags,” Britten said. “But it wasn’t a bad thing to restart to get the lap cars out of the way, too.
“I was able to get to second really quickly and then got behind Sheppard, and out front in the clean air, he seemed pretty content. I felt like I was as quick as he was, but I knew on a restart was when it was going to happen. We had some tight battles on restarts. There wasn’t much of an inch given out there, but I guess rubbing’s racing. It was awesome to be able to race hard and come out on top, too.”
Williamson settled for second, earning his fourth podium finish in the last five races. The St. Catharines, ON driver said he couldn’t make moves through the field as early as he wanted to.
“I felt like tonight was one of those races where some nights you catch a lot of breaks and some nights you don’t catch any,” Williamson said. “I don’t think we got shafted or anything, but we didn’t catch any breaks. Peter had a really good car early, and we caught a break at the end, but I should’ve gone to the top to try and roll around Peter. It was what it was.”
With his second-place finish, “Money Mat” extended his points lead to 81 points over Alex Yankowski, who crossed the line third.
The Covington Township, PA driver’s 12th top five of the season moved him back into second in the championship standings.
“I beat the wall down, rolled the middle, and used about every inch of the track,” Yankowski said. “I felt like we had a really good racecar tonight. We’ve made leaps and bounds from where we started here at Weedsport, so I’m really proud of that. And I hope we’re on the upswing here.”
Alex Payne charged to fourth in the race’s final laps, and Mike Mahaney rounded out the top five.
Sheppard made it back out for the final three laps and finished 17th.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series heads to the Brewerton Speedway in Central Square, NY, on Monday, Aug. 18, for night two of SummerFAST. Joining the Super DIRTcar Series are the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series and Mod Lites.
If you can’t make it to the Super DIRTcar Series race, watch all the action live on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
SummerFAST Kickoff (75 Laps): 1. 21A-Peter Britten[6]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson[5]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[7]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney[9]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph[3]; 7. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[11]; 8. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[15]; 9. 4-Anthony Perrego[17]; 10. 2-Jack Lehner[25]; 11. 99L-Larry Wight[23]; 12. 12-Darren Smith[13]; 13. 6-Matt Stangle[24]; 14. 15X-Justin Stone[21]; 15. 5H-Amy Holland[27]; 16. 28-Michael Trautschold[26]; 17. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 18. 91-Felix Roy[2]; 19. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[22]; 20. (DNF) 15-Todd Root[14]; 21. (DNF) 8-Max McLaughlin[12]; 22. (DNF) 3RS-Dalton Slack[10]; 23. (DNF) 14B-Brendan Darrah[20]; 24. (DNF) 4M-Logan Watt[4]; 25. (DNF) M1-Dave Marcuccilli[18]; 26. (DNF) 44-Chris Hulsizer[19]; 27. (DNF) 27J-Danny Johnson[16]
Contingency Awards:
JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap Award: Peter Britten ($100)
Billy Whittaker Cars Quick Time Award: Peter Britten ($100)
VP Racing Fuels Award: Tim Sears Jr. ($50)
ARP Bolts Award: Erick Rudolph ($50)
ASI Racewear Award: Larry Wight ($50)
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse Award: Peter Britten ($50)
Cometic Gasket Award: Darren Smith ($50)
Comp Cams Award: Jack Lehner ($50)
DIG Racing Products: Jimmy Phelps ($50)
Fox Factory Award: Alex Payne ($50)
MSD Award: Erick Rudolph ($50)
Swift Springs Award: Erick Rudolph ($50)
Weld Racing Wheels Award: Mat Williamson ($50)
Hoosier Racing Tire Award: Alex Yankowski (Free Tire)
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award: Matt Sheppard ($100)
