FULTON, N.Y. — Fulton Speedway’s Showdown at Sundown came down to two cowboys from the west.
Erick Rudolph dominated most of the 100-lap DIRTcar 358 Modified Series race, but Mat Williamson, in the black and red No. 6, spoiled Rudolph’s night with dramatic pass on a late-race restart.
Williamson was ecstatic to edge out rival Rudolph, who set the Billy Whittaker Cars Fast-Time Award for the second race in a row. Rounding out the podium was Danny Johnson, who started 10th.
Williamson took the victory after two third-place finishes earlier in the week.
“He [Rudolph] had a good car early,” Williamson said. “We got to lapped traffic and it was challenging for me. You gotta plan on cautions. I didn’t see anyone poking their nose for second, so I rode around on the bottom to save my tires for a late-race restart and that’s what we got. It was pretty awesome to get a win like that tonight.”
Rudolph was understandably disappointed to lose the lead so late in a race that he had dominated. Rudolph was pleased with his car and the race he put together but ultimately believed he should have won.
“Going into Ransomville tomorrow, we’ve had a good race car there,” Rudolph said. “We are running really consistent. I’m really proud of the car, the team, and all my sponsors and supporters. Hopefully, we can keep that consistency going.”
Danny Johnson found himself back on the podium with the No. 83.
“We had a good race car, there’s no doubting it. We had troubles last night where it jumped out of gear. We thought we had it fixed but it still jumped out of gear about five times. I held it in gear with one hand and kept my other hand on the wheel,” said Johnson.
Kyle Inman and A.J. Miller won twin 25-lap sportsman features.
The finish:
Feature (100 laps): 1. Mat Williamson 2. Erick Rudolph 3. Danny Johnson 4. Dave Marcuccilli 5. Mike Mahaney 6. Chad Brachmann 7. Todd Root 8. Bobby Harrington 9. Tim Sears 10. Chris Raabe 11. Corey Wheeler 12. Justin Haers 13. Chris Hile 14. Larry Wight 15. Steve Bernier 16. Tyler Meeks 17. Ronnie Davis 18. Yan Bussiere 19. Lance Willix 20. Kyle Dingwall 21. Michael Parent 22. Pat Ward 23. Jordan McCreadie 24. Jeff Sykes 25. Mark Dilario 26. Ryan Arbuthnot 27. Tyler Thompson 28. Tyler Trump 29. Tim Fuller 30. Dale Planck