4/26/2018
Wisconsin wingLESS Sprints
Jordan Mattson begins Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series title defense this weekend
Jordan Mattson begins Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series title defense this weekend
BEAVER DAM, Wisc. — April 26, 2018 — The way Jordan Mattson sees it, there is no pressure entering the 2018 season as the defending champion of the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series presented by AutoMeter. He is treating the opening pair of races this weekend the same way he treats every other race, whether it’s the first, last or any other over the course of the season.
Mattson will begin his Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series title defense on Saturday, April 28 at Wilmot Raceway. He will then head to Beaver Dam Raceway on Sunday, April 29 for the Wipperfurth Memorial Open Wheel Triple Crown. That event was scheduled to be the season opener, but was postponed by inclement weather on April 21. Also on the card at Beaver Dam will be the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Car Series and the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA). The event will mark the first time ever that all three series have raced at the same track on the same night.
“I’m definitely ready to get back in the car,” said Mattson, after the long off-season. “Hans Lien has given me a new car this year and I can’t wait to get some laps on it and see what we can do this season. We’ll be back up to speed by about lap-two of hot laps and should be fine.”
The 26-year-old raced twice with the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series at Beaver Dam Raceway in 2017 and finished second in each of those races. In his first visit to the high-banked third-mile last April, Mattson was second-fastest in time trials. He followed that up with a heat race win. In the main event, he started seventh and worked his way to a runner-up finish. When the series returned in September, Mattson was third-fastest in time trials and finished second in a heat race. He then lined up sixth in the 20-lap main event on his way to another runner-up performance.
“Beaver Dam is a really fun track,” shared Mattson. “The surfaces changes a lot there. It was two totally different races both times we were there last year. It takes a good driver to figure the track out there. We have to get a little bit better starting position. We are going to have a lot of competition out there this year. There will be a lot of new guys coming in and a lot of good guys coming back from last year. You’ll have to start toward the front to win this year."
During his title winning campaign in 2017, Mattson finished among the top-10 in 16 of the 17 main events he started, with 12 of those being top-five showings. The only time he finished outside the top-10 all season, was an 11th-place run. Mattson won at Wilmot Raceway and at the historic Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, during the famed Pepsi Nationals.
“A lot of work in the shop and at home goes into,” explained Mattson, when asked about his consistency last year. “You also have to make sure you finish all of the races. That’s the only way to win. To finish first, first you must finish.”
Mattson, who was born in Wisconsin, and then lived in New Mexico for over 20 years, before returning to the Badger State, where he now calls Milwaukee home, has run non-wing-type open wheel cars for over a decade. Early in his career he raced with the ASCS Southwest Series, which at the time featured non-wing sprint cars.
“There is a lot of close quarters racing in a non-wing sprint car, since you don’t have the wing to hold you down,” he shared. “There are a lot of slide jobs. I think that slide jobs are the coolest part of sprint car racing. You tend to see them a lot in non-wing racing. It’s a blast driving those cars.”
The Wipperfurth Memorial Triple Crown at Beaver Dam Raceway will be the second event on the 28-race (including six non-points events) schedule that comprises the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series 2018 calendar. The series will visit seven tracks across all of Wisconsin.
“I like that we are starting to travel more,” noted Mattson. “It's good for the series. Hopefully, we can get a lot of cars to travel with us. I started driving for Hans in 2016 and there were 15 of us. I work for Behling Racing Equipment and I see a lot of new guys coming in. I think we are going to see a lot of cars this year. It’s a good class of cars and the series does a great job. It’s pretty awesome to have a series like this.”
Pit gates will open at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29 for the Wipperfurth Memorial Open Wheel Triple Crown at Beaver Dam Raceway. Grandstand gates will open at 2:30 p.m., with qualifying at 3:30 p.m. and racing at 4:30 p.m.
For more information, visit http://www.wismotorsports.net.
For more information on the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Series, visit http://www.wisconsinwingless.com.
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Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
