For the second straight night, Matt Sheppard proved that the road to a Super DIRTcar Series win at Autodrome Drummond goes through him.
The 10-time champion stormed past Mat Williamson with five laps to go and held on to win Tuesday’s King of the North Finale, his ninth Series triumph at the “F1 of Dirt.”
“I guess it was our week up here,” Sheppard said. “You come up here and win two big races that were $10,000-to-win each. That’s a nice couple of days for us.”
Alex Yankowski, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award Winner, and Williamson led the field to the green in the 75-lap Feature. Williamson, the defending Series champion, slid ahead of “Kid Rocket” as they exited Turn 1, taking the lead down the backstretch. Before the end of the first lap, Yankowski dropped another position, as Felix Roy dove underneath him to take over second in Turn 4.
Roy held his advantage for the next five laps before Yankowski switched lanes as they entered Turn 1 on Lap 7. Yankowski used that momentum to slide in front of Roy’s bumper at the apex of the corner, wrestling second away from “Hollywood.” That’s when Yankowski began his chase for the lead on Williamson.
The Covington Township, PA driver closed in on “Money Mat” when the Buzz Chew Racing No. 88 reached lap traffic on Lap 14. The two waged war for the lead, with Williamson holding off every challenge from the No. 84Y, who tried to pass him in the middle of the racetrack for 15 laps. One of Yankowski’s best chances came on Lap 31, when Williamson struggled to get by Steve Bernier, a lap car, who was running the outside.
Yankowski dove to the middle again, trying to sneak by Williamson in Turns 1 and 2, but didn’t have the momentum to pass him. Then, he went to the outside lane. But as he entered the corner, the right side of his car smacked the outside wall, allowing Williamson to drive away. He didn’t quit there, though, keeping pace with Williamson until the race’s first caution on Lap 40 for Sebastien Gougeon.
While Williamson and Yankowski battled, Sheppard started moving forward behind them, passing Alex Payne for third on Lap 31. That lined him up on the inside of row two, giving him a chance to take the runner-up spot away.
After failing to get second on the Lap 43 restart, Sheppard didn’t waste his chance during the next one on Lap 51. Using the inside lane, he stayed even with Yankowski down the backstretch and carried momentum through Turns 3 and 4, nosing ahead for second as they reached the start/finish line.
From there, the chase was on, as Sheppard started reeling Williamson in during the race’s closing laps. In the final 10 circuits, Williamson caught traffic again, allowing Sheppard to close on his back bumper with five laps to go.
Sheppard exited the corner on Lap 71 with a burst of speed, keeping the front bumper of his Bicknell Chassis within a car length of Williamson. Then, Sheppard switched lanes, diving to the bottom as they entered Turn 3. By the time they made it to Turn 4, Sheppard’s momentum allowed him to slide in front of Williamson, exiting the turn as the leader.
However, Williamson wasn’t done yet. The reigning Series champion crossed over to the bottom, pulling even with Sheppard for one last attempt to regain the lead as they raced down the frontstretch.
But it wasn’t enough as Sheppard pulled away in Turn 1 and led the final four laps to score his fourth Series win of 2025.
“Totally different scenario than last night,” Sheppard said. “Started on the pole and led 75 laps and felt like I was fading toward the end. But tonight, I started fifth, but it took me a long time to get up there. But once we got up there, I was pretty sure my only shot was in lap traffic.
“I felt like we were good enough and maneuverable enough. Maybe even better than [Williamson] was in traffic that if the opportunity arose, I thought I could get by him.”
Williamson settled for second, matching his best finish at Autodrome Drummond from last year’s King of the North opener. He said his tire choice was a factor in how the race played out.
“The cautions helped me,” Williamson said. “I was on a softer tire than the other three guys. And I know before the race started what tire they were on, and they knew what tire I was on. I knew I just needed a couple of more yellows in the race. If that last yellow falls five laps later, I think we’re ok.
“Second feels like a win to us because we haven’t been good up here.”
Williamson also extended his points lead to 10 points over Yankowski, who rounded out the podium.
The Keystone State driver said he was disappointed after the race, since he felt he had a car that could win the Feature.
“Williamson did a good job on that first lap taking control of the race,” Yankowski said. “I thought on that long run we had a better car before lap traffic. Then, once we restarted, our tires were just beat up.
“I was so close to him for so long I just wanted to squeak by him, and it just didn’t play out that way.”
Since Sheppard and Williamson were already locked into the Billy Whittaker Cars 200, Yankowski received the guaranteed starting spot at Super DIRT Week 53.
Tim Sears Jr. finished fourth, earning back-to-back top five finishes. Payne rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series finishes their three-night swing through Canada with a stop at Brockville Ontario Speedway on Wednesday, July 30, for the Canadian Classic.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
King Of The North (75 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson[2]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[1]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne[8]; 6. 54-Steve Bernard[10]; 7. 25-Erick Rudolph[25]; 8. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[6]; 9. 91-Felix Roy[3]; 10. 21A-Peter Britten[16]; 11. ONE-David Hebert[15]; 12. 2-Jack Lehner[11]; 13. 15X-Justin Stone[7]; 14. 35R-William Racine[20]; 15. 6-Matt Stangle[19]; 16. 25P-Michael Parent[14]; 17. 54R-Even Racine[18]; 18. 91JR-Jeremy Roy[26]; 19. 12-Darren Smith[13]; 20. 123-Yan Bilodeau[24]; 21. 35B-Steve Bernier[21]; 22. 35-Mike Mahaney[23]; 23. 4-Anthony Perrego[9]; 24. 1M-Mathieu Desjardins[22]; 25. 3P-Martin Pelletier[27]; 26. (DNF) 41-Samuel Charland[17]; 27. (DNF) 15B-Brianna Ladouceur[28]; 28. (DNF) 44G-Sebastien Gougeon[12]
