UpComing Events:


Sept 7 - Thompson Speedway - WMT
Sept 7 - Thompson Speedway - RoC
Sept 13 - New Hampshire - WMT
Sept 20 - Martinsville Speedway - WMT
Sept 28 - Stafford Speedway - WMT
Oct 4 - Chemung Speedrome - WMT

Hot News and Results:

Aug 31 - Mountain Speedway - PA Series - 4th

Mountain Speedway closed out the month of August on Sunday with round #5 of the PA Asphalt Modified Championship Series. With three laps remaining, Rusty Smith of Oxford, NY bumped Berwick’s Brian DeFebo and went on to take the win in the 75-lap main event. Chip Wanamaker notched his fourth street stock win of the season and Scott Adams grabbed his seventh thriller win of the year. Ken Kleppinger held off Robert Fink to score the 4 cyl. FWD victory.

Seventeen-year-old Kyle Ebersole started on the pole and took the early lead in round #5 of the Pennsylvania Modified Championship Series. With a trio of laps complete, Larry Fisher held second, followed by Brian DeFebo, Barry Callavini and Lew Hallock.

Matt Hirschman grabbed fifth from Hallock, but then appeared to be tagged from behind in turn two. A spinning Hirschman brought out the lap five caution.

With a terrific restart, DeFebo powered by Fisher and took second. Two laps later he grabbed the race lead from Ebersole. Several yellow flag periods slowed the action early on, but it didn’t seem to affect DeFebo, who was up on the wheel for each restart.

After running the heat race in his back up car, Rusty Smith started dead last in the feature with his primary car. He challenged Hallock for fifth and took the position on lap twenty-one.

DeFebo continued to lead at halfway and Ebersole held second. Fisher ran third, followed by John Fortin and Smith. Hirschman ran sixth and relinquished that position when he headed pit side just past halfway into the event. As the handling on his car began to fade, Ebersole started to slide backward.

Smith moved even further toward the front as the laps ticked off. First, he shot by Fortin to take third on lap forty-two. Fifteen laps later he overtook Fisher for second and began to chase down DeFebo.

With only three laps remaining and while racing hard for the lead, Smith made contact with DeFebo in turn four. Smith allowed DeFebo to straighten out his ride, then shot underneath him and into the lead.

Smith led the final laps and went on to take the win over DeFebo and Fortin. After pitting numerous times throughout the afternoon, Hirschman rebounded to finish fourth and Fisher was fifth in his first outing of the season.

Lew Hallock, Matt Hirschman and Billy Weichert were heat race winners

Modified (75-laps) 1. RUSTY SMITH 2. Brian Defebo 3. John Fortin 4. Matt Hirshman 5. Larry Fisher 6. Kyle Ebersole 7. Johnny Bush 8. Amber Levandowski 9. Andy Walko 10. Eric Kocher 11. Billy Weichert 12. Steve Tooker 13. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 14. Harry Buchman 15. Lewis Hallock 16. Todd Baer 17.Barry Callavini DNS: Wayne Szerencsits

Aug 30 - Oswego Speedway - RoC - Win

MUD LANE NEIGHBORS BATTLE FOR OSWEGO LAURELS
- Matt Hirschman scores fourth consecutive victory at Oswego –
- Tune up for Sunoco Race of Champion Produces Two Guys on Top Who Might Not Make It –

Oswego, N.Y. – (August 31, 2008) – Matt Hirschman and Eric Beers are neighbors on Mud Lane in Northampton, Pennsylvania and although they are good friends and softball teammates off the track, on the track it’s ‘Game On’. We’ve told the story several times but once again the duo took home the lion’s share of the prize money and prestige from Saturday the DART Asphalt Race of Champions Modified Tour Parts Plus 125. Two strategies played out for the race to get to that point. Hirschman chose not to pit and went the distance, while Beers pitted, put on a fresh right rear tire and made some chassis adjustments. At the checkers the duo was separated by just a car length as Hirschman nearly slipped up at the checkered flag.
“This was a big night for us,” stated Hirschman who scored his fourth consecutive Oswego Modified victory. “I wanted to get some spots earlier in the race, but it didn’t work out that way, so just chose not to pit and tried not to beat the car up at all. It played out well for us tonight and we were able to come home with another win.”
Rusty Smith and Rick Zacharias led the field to the green, but after leading early, Smith relinquished the lead to Jan Leaty who led a lengthy green flag stretch where the field was sorted out. The front running pack of Leaty, his son Mike, Eric Beers and Rusty Smith lapped several machines as well as stretched out a lead that was well over a straightaway on the rest of the field. A caution just past the midway point of the race setup a frenzy of pitstops.
Jan Leaty led everyone down pit road with the exception of Matt Hirschman and Earl Paules. Paules, a former winner at Oswego struggled throughout the event and stated that the car didn’t have “any nose on it and wouldn’t turn all day and night”.
After the pitstops in which most competitors took fresh right rear tires, Hirschman took over the top spot as Jan Leaty, Mike Leaty, Erick Rudolph and Eric Beers gave chase working through traffic. An intense race changing moment occurred on the backstretch when Rick Zacharias spun and slammed the outside wall while Jan Leaty came to a sudden stop on the inside of the backstretch with ignition troubles that removed him from contention.
This incident setup the run to the finish as Beers slipped by Mike Leaty on the outside for third with Rudolph applying heavy pressure to Hirschman in an effort to get by. With less then 40 laps remaining Rudolph tried the high side but Beers filled the gap and slipped to second.
“I knew with the new tire we’d have to get by Matt rather quickly,” stated Rudolph after the event. “I was getting tighter and tighter and I knew had to go and we tried. When we did Eric (Beers) filled the hole and we finished third.”
Beers got loose once with about 25-to-go which gave Hirschman a bit of a breather from Beers, but coming to the checkers Hirschman slipped off of turn four and Beers shot to the inside and the duo dragged race to the line with Hirschman earning the top spot.
Rudolph hung on for third with Mike Leaty fourth. Billy Putney recovered a time trial crash to finish 5th.
Lee Sherwood won the pole in time trials while Mark Tychoniewicz captured the qualifying event.
The next event for the DART Asphalt Race of Champions Modified Tour is this coming Sunday (September 7th) at the Thompson International Speedway with a 75-lap event as part of the Modified Mania weekend.

NEW TROYER MACHINE LOOKS SSSAAAHHHWWWEEETTT…

Central New York dirt Modified fans were probably doing a double-take at Oswego on Saturday afternoon when Chuck Hossfeld rolled out the brand new H&H Motorsports Troyer Asphalt Modified. It was the first time for the car in competition, which has been intended to make its debut for a couple of months now. Billy Colton and company have partnered with John Holland and Al Henke to create an asphalt team to develop the new mount, much similar to the H&H effort with Jimmy Phelps driving. The car was a New England Race Fuels entry with a 98h adorning the door and a beautiful paint scheme. Troyer employee and driver of Bob Garbarino’s Mystic Missile, Chuck Hossfeld was the driver of choice, while some late night hours spent in the shop this week finished up the assembly of the brand new design. Don Ryersee (one of Hossfeld’s former owners), Greg Aumann (Hossfeld’s spotter), Hossfeld himself and Bob Mueller burned the midnight oil to get the car ready.
Throughout the day the car was a focal point of the Modified faithful and in the race Hossfeld put the car through its paces beginning to develop a note book on the new piece.
The good news is that the rolling stock that exists on current Troyer cars will be transferrable to the new frame once it becomes available, but there were several new improvements to the car that will assist in several aspects of the car, including driver comfort, ease of entrance and exit from the cockpit and some of the new NASCAR rules that have been put into place.
“It was a learning experience here tonight,” stated Hossfeld, who finished 11th. “We worked hard and wanted to try some different things, but like anything else that’s new, it was and R & D night. Sure, whenever you race, you want to win, but that’s tough when everything is so new. The car will be good, we just need some time and we’ll get the changes right.”

Other Notes;

Jan Leaty was fast – plain and simple. After the pitstop he was certainly amongst those who would have been thought to be racing for the win until… “We had a ground go bad,” quipped Leaty from a chair following the race. “I could see it arching while I was in the car. It was just one of those things.”
Mike Leaty had a great run in his US Army Troyer machine. The younger Leaty finished fourth but was a little too tight at the end to go for the victory.
Billy Putney had a left rear tire come off in qualifying and he made some serious contact with the outside retaining wall in the turn three and four area of the track. Putney rebounded to come home fifth at the checkers.
“We definitely had a good car,” stated Putney. “We just missed in time trials and it cost us. Then we had to work our way through traffic and got held up a little. Still, for the way the day started, to come home fifth, that’s a pretty good night for us.”
Much of the race was run under green flag conditions on the fast 5/8-mile with a feel of years ago with the Modifieds running on Saturday night before the International Classic at Oswego. Kudos to Pat Furlong, Steve Gioia and the entire Oswego staff for having the Modifieds run on Saturday night and giving the division their rightful home on Classic Weekend.
The Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour is sponsored by; Dart Machinery, Gater Racing News, Hoosier Racing Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, PBM Performance Products, Total Seal Piston Rings, Dura – Bond, Competition Engineering by Moroso, Dynatech, Xceldyne, Afco, CV Products, and LA Sleeve.

BOX SCORE – OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – DART Asphalt Race of Champions Modified Tour Championship Event #2

Feature Finish:

1.) Matt Hirschman
2.) Eric Beers
3.) Erick Rudolph
4.) Mike Leaty
5.) Bill Putney
6.) Pete Brittain
7.) Jim Storace
8.) Rusty Smith
9.) Darren Scherer
10.) Rick Kluth
11.) Chuck Hossfeld
12.) Doug Reaume
13.) Dave Wollaber
14.) John Markovic
15.) Earl Paules
16.) Jimmy Zacharias
17.) Jan Leaty
18.) Rick Zacharias
19.) Mark Tychoniewicz
20.) Lee Sherwood
21.) Donnie Stevens
22.) Matt Clemens

Did Not Start: Ken Canestrari, Dean Ryonkema, Dave Bellis

By JR Kennerup

Conventional thinking by everyone the past few years has said that you needed to pit for at least a fresh right rear tire at the Oswego Speedway for the 125 lap Parts Plus sponsored Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour event.
On Saturday night that conventional thinking can now be tossed out the window as Matt Hirschman proved you could go 125 laps on the same set of tires and have your car be strong at the end of the race.
During a lap 68 caution flag period Hirschman was one of only four cars who elected not to pit for a fresh right rear tire. Hirschman was fourth on the track with leader Rick Zacharias in front of him and two cars that were on the tail end of the lead lap in front of the leading duo.
Hirschman wasted no time in getting the lead as one lap after the restart Hirschman powered by Zacharias to gain the lead he would never give back en route to a $5,000 win and his third feature win in a row at Oswego in 2008.
By no means was it an easy win for the Northampton, Pa. racer as the final laps saw him mired in heavy lap traffic. This enabled fellow Northampton, Pa. driver Eric Beers to close in and Beers actually pulled under Hirschman in turns three and four on the final lap. But with lap traffic hugging the inside rail Hirschman was able to keep the lead and take the feature win by less than a car length.
Third generation driver Erick Rudolph garnered his best career Oswego Modified finish with an impressive third with second generation driver Mike Leaty coming home fourth using a DART spec steel headed engine that cost only $13,000. Billy Putney started 22nd and ended up fifth salvaging a day where he had to repair the car following a crash in time trials.
“ I guess ( I defied the odds ), I don’t know “ said race very happy race winner Matt Hirschman. “ I made a 100 laps here this year, tonight when the time came to pit I didn’t think pitting or not pitting was going to be the winning move. I didn’t have enough confidence at putting on a new tire was going to increase my chances at winning. I just decided to stay with what I had and run hard until the end of the race and that is what we did. I’ve won some races doing it this way and I’ve won some races doing it the other way. The timing has to be right when you pit and tonight everything timed out really well. “
Starting ninth Matt settled into seventh after the first few laps and most thought that was part of the game plan for the race. As by not racing hard he was not only saving his equipment but more importantly saving his tires. “ At the start I was going to try and get as many spots as I could “ explained Matt on his strategy. “ Remember last time here I went from sixth to second in a lap and then went for the lead right off the bat. This time I started ninth and just didn’t get the breaks and I only gained one or two spots and that was pretty much it. I would have had to chase cars if I wanted to pass somebody to gain a position. So I decided at that point I decided to ride and I didn’t know at that point whether I was going to pit or not going to pit. It was too early in the race for me to chase cars just to get a position. “
Then came the pivotal point of the race on lap 65 when the yellow came out and when the pits were opened for pit stops on lap 68 it was decision time. “ When that caution came out and everyone started pulling into the pits that is when I made my decision to stay on the track. Pretty much it was a spur of the moment decision as I didn’t have a set plan. I try to keep my options open and I try to take care of the car as much as I can just in case I don’t pit. “
When the race resumed Matt followed leader Rick Zacharias for one lap before motoring by him and into the lead. Once in front Matt started to open up his lead as he knew a majority of the contenders all pitted for a new tire. “ When I got the lead, it was go time “ recalled Matt. “ The car had a lot left and there is no sense leaving it on the table when the end of the race rolls around. “
Matt it appeared to have the race in his back pocket until the final five laps when he entered heavy lap traffic. “ Catching lap traffic at the end allowed Eric to catch me, he got under me on the last lap but I stayed in my groove and got a run off the top of the corner like I normally do here and I didn’t care if he was inside me or not coming off the corner. I knew I was going to beat him to the line. “
There is an old saying in racing that when a driver is dialed in at a race track like Matt Hirschman currently is at Oswego. You know when you have a fast lap and during time trials, that was proved as Matt only took one lap and it was good enough for the pole. But the most amazing part of this was Matt had no idea that he set quick time until he was on the scales. “ I know what I got, especially here as I have such a good feel “ said Matt. “ In time trials I knew that first lap was really good, I didn’t know it was quick time, but I knew if I took a second lap it wasn’t going to be quicker just by the way the car felt on the first lap. So why run the second lap, I don’t need any extra laps here as I got plenty of laps here. “
The win by Matt, his third win at Oswego this year allowed him to tie his father Tony who also had three wins in a year at Oswego. “ I knew that you ( Matt talking to his dad ) won three in a row here one year and would have won the fourth except the air cleaner flew off and I remember that. I would love to have the opportunity to win four out four here at Oswego this year, but it doesn’t look like I’ll have the opportunity to do that. We’ll see as you never know and if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be, if it’s not next year is another year. “
Matt who has watched his dad win many races and championships through his storied racing career also knows the importance of winning on big racing weekends at certain tracks. With this win taking place on Budweiser International Classic Weekend at Oswego it takes a special place in the racing career of Matt Hirschman.
“ It’s extra special to win at Oswego on Budweiser International Classic Weekend “ said Matt. “ I won the Richie Evans Memorial this year and that is one of the top races I’ve won this year. If you’re a racer and you race here you want to win on Classic Weekend, that’s the way I feel about it. The Race of Champions is our biggest race in general and they could hold that race anywhere. If you were going to win a race at Oswego you would pick Classic Weekend as that is Oswego’s weekend. It’s extra special to win here on this weekend and I remember my dad winning the Bud 200 here. To take the ride in the pace car is just an unbelievable feeling. “
“ I’m not really surprised that Matt went 125 laps without stopping “ said second place finisher Eric Beers. “ Our car was good enough that we might have been able to do that. I was just a hair free and that is why I slowed down at the beginning of the race. I made the call myself to pit and put a tire on to tighten up the stagger a little bit. I knew that I was going to abuse the right rear coming back up through the field so I told the crew to let a pound or two of air out of the tire and that was too much as it made the car too tight. Matt’s car was pretty decent there at the end and we were running the same speeds, just one of those deals. “
After getting into second on lap 88 Beers closed right in on leader Hirschman setting up a battle for the lead. But a few laps later Beers backed off the pressure and many thought that he was cooling his tires off in an attempt to make a final charge for the win.
“ Due to the tightness of the car I was playing around with the brake adjustments in the car “ recalled Eric. “ I was adjusting rear brake into the car and one lap I freed the brake up too much and I went sailing into turn three and almost walled it so it took me a few laps to straighten everything out. Then I got a nice even pace going and we really had something for him there at the end. I never had a caution as I had to run him down all by myself. I think my car would have been better on a restart because I would have fresher tires than his. “
The nice even pace by Beers coupled with heavy lap traffic in front of Hirschman allowed Beers a shot at stealing the five grand from his neighbor on the last lap of the race. “ The lap cars helped me and on that last lap I was under him in three and four but I was all the way down in the dirt ( next to the inside steel wall ) and I couldn’t get a run off four to get alongside of Matt for a chance at passing him for the win. You never want to see lap cars at the end of the race whether you’re first or second because they could end up taking you out. But in this case it helped me close in the last two car lengths I needed and to get next to him at the end, I just didn’t have enough to get up and off the corner. “
Beers who has always had good Oswego luck started out this year with two bad outings. “ After our first two races here this year where we blew a motor in practice and breaking and dropping out of the other one, this is really good. “
“ We knew we had to tighten the car up on the pit stop “ said third place finisher Erick Rudolph. “ But we tightened it up too much; I would have loved to see if we had anything for Matt if we had the car dialed in. Matt was awful fast tonight but we‘ll take a third. “

A 5 CENT PART COST A SHOT AT THE WIN

Jan Leaty had won this race the past two years and he was the favorite going into this year’s event. Jan quickly moved from his sixth place starting spot to the lead in just ten laps on Saturday night. With everything going according to plan Jan pitted on lap 68 coming into the pits first and leaving the pits first and when all of the pit stop juggling ended Jan was third on the race track and in an excellent position to go for the win. Leaty quickly settled into second behind leader Matt Hirschman on lap 75 but coming out of turn two on lap 77 Leaty’s night changed dramatically as the car lost all power. Being pushed into the pits the crew went under the hood to find the problem and repaired it and sent Jan back out without losing a lap. The leaders couldn’t catch Jan as he was racing in front of them until the same problem developed once again and he pitted on lap 83. Jan returned to the track a lap down this time around and retired from the event a few laps later. After the feature Jan said what the problem was. “ The ground for the distributor came apart “ said Jan. “ That’s the story of my year stupid stuff happening that costs us good finishes. Hopefully I can get all of this bad luck out of my system before the next race here. “

A GOOD WAY TO FINISH AFTER A TERRIBLE START

If there could been any driver happier than winner Matt Hirschman on Saturday night it had to be Billy Putney. Putney who is chasing Hirschman for the RoC Overall championship saw his day get off to a terrible start. As on the opening lap of his time trial warm up lap the left rear tire blew sending Putney hard drivers’ side into the outside turn four wall. The impact made the entire VIP Tower shake, Billy emerged uninjured but the same couldn’t be said for the car. After having the car hauled back into the pits via a flat bed truck the crew went immediately to work. Ninety minutes later the car was off the jack stands and Putney was driving the car around the pit area. The ten lap heat race helped Putney get the car dialed in more and by feature time Putney was able to race his way solidly from 22nd to fifth at the checkers.

THE TROYER ASPHALT HOUSE CAR MAKES IT DEBUT

If there was a best appearing car award handed out on Saturday the winner no doubt was the absolutely beautiful all brand new Troyer chassis creation built by Billy Colton, driven by Chuck Hossfeld, and owned by John Holland of New England Race Fuels. The car looked exactly like the current dirt surfaced Troyer House Car that is driven by Jimmy Phelps. Even a few members of the dirt crew came over to help on the car for this night as Randy Kisacky and Jamie Beachy were both turning wrenches on the latest Colton / Troyer creation. Other notables in the pit area with the car were Kenny Troyer and crew members of his now defunct Drunken’ Monkeys racing team. The car experienced the first race bugaboo’s but with plenty of new experimental ideas on the car, a veteran driver in Hossfeld, and experienced racing minds like Colton and Kisacky all combining forces on this project. Look for success from this combination in the future and quite possibly before the end of this racing season. The next race for the car will be at New Hampshire in two weeks.

Qualifying for the 25 car field saw Hirschman set fast time in time trials with a lap of 17. 681 while Mark Tychoniewicz won the heat race.
The top four times in time trials all received the five bonus points and the top 12 in time trials all advanced directly to the feature.
Dean Rypkema wrecked in hot laps ending his day while Dave Bellis lost an engine in hot laps and Ken Canestrari lost an engine in the heat race. Donnie Stevens who’s dad, Craig owns the Buck Catalano Modified drove the second Rick Kluth entry.

Hard Charger: Bill Putney Hard Luck Award: Rick Zacharias
GATER Bonus: Doug Reaume DART Head Winner: Mike Leaty

Aug 24 - Lancaster Speedway - RoC - start 11th - finish 4th

Lancaster, N.Y. – (August 24, 2008) – Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y., had a tough night on Saturday in Mansfield, Ohio, he broke an axle and lost the point lead in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour after finishing 28th. On Sunday afternoon he regrouped, alongside friends, family and well-wishers, Hossfeld dominated the second half of the 50th Anniversary race at Dunn Tire Raceway Park (formerly Lancaster Speedway) and ran to a much needed victory.
Hossfeld pitted for a right rear tire on lap 25 and worked his way back through the field to wrestle the lead away from Buck Catalano on lap 53. From there Hossfeld never looked back and drove to a very impressive victory.
“We needed to rebound from last night here today,” stated Hossfeld in victory lane. “And we did. The car was pretty good for the entire race and I just drove it to the front. We worked pretty hard on a setup to come here with and it’s paid off. We won the Tommy (Druar) – Tony (Jankowiak) Memorial a week ago and now we backed it up today and that was big.”
In victory lane, Public Address Announcer extraordinaire Mike Paz asked Hossfeld what made him so good at Lancaster.
“My handsome good looks I think,” laughed Hossfeld to the approval of the fans, but the truth is that Hossfeld in-fact developed skills at Lancaster that many veteran drivers still struggle to possess. He possesses all of the talents that make taming the tricky half-mile. Whether it’s being smooth when required, drive to the edge – but not over and handling the pressure that comes at such a challenging place.
“No two places on this race track are the same,” stated Hossfeld in a less than joking manner. “It’s a tough place because the car has to be setup well and you can’t overdrive it and you can’t under-drive it. You’ve got to be right and when you’re not, it can be a handful. Today we were fast and I thought we might be pitting a little early, but the cautions fell the right way and here we are in victory lane. I know it took the track a couple of tries to get this race in, but I’m happy we could run the fiftieth anniversary of the track.”
Hossfeld had many people to thank. He reflected on things from the track where his career started.
“Bill Colton, Sr., especially and we really miss him. A lot of folks have helped me out and it all started here,” explained Hossfeld. “Jerry Gradl Sr., and Jr., just a lot of different people. My parents, my family, my friends, my crew. It’s just neat to come back here and win with everyone around. That always make it special to come here and win.”
As the rain began to fall a little bit harder in victory lane, Hossfeld focused on the race.
“If we waited a little bit longer, who knows, it may have been raining like it is now,” offered Hossfeld. “But, it’s a combination of everything. The motor, our Troyer chassis and all of our guys pulling together to give me a great a racecar and then making a good call when to pit and then not using everything get back through the field. It all has to come together like it today.”
Following Hossfeld to the strip in the 100-lap event for the DART Race of Champions Asphalt Tour were Erick Rudolph, Sege Fidanza, Matt Hirschman and Bill Putney rounded out the top-five. Fidanza, Matt Hirschman and Tom McGrath won the heats that were held on August 9th, which was the second attempt at running the complete show.

SUPER SEGE RUNS OUT OF LAPS

Typically in any event run at Dunn Tire Raceway Park there are a few more cautions then Sunday’s RoC event. It was rare that the laps clicked up on the counter very quickly and for Middleport, N.Y.’s, Sege Fidanza the race finished up too quickly as he may have had the car to beat in the closing stages. A mid-race pit stop (lap 48) for a fresh right rear tire and once the green flag waved, Lancaster’s all-time leading winner, began to blast his way back through the field.
Ultimately, Fidanza finished third, but it was classic Lancaster watching him work through the field. He would sling his car deep to the outside of competitors or drive his nose to the bottom on his way back to the front, but when the checkered flag waved he ran out of laps and finished behind Erick Rudolph.
“I just needed more laps today,” offered Fidanza, who ran the race with a back panel on his car that highlighted nearly 70 different cars that raced at Lancaster through the years, including many of his own. “I thought we could get Erick (Rudolph) at the end, but we just couldn’t do it and one time I got into turn one and it was drizzling so the track may have been wet and I went up the track and almost hit the foam, so I came back around to finish third. It was a pretty good run for us, but we needed a few more cautions and we may have had a chance to win it.”

YOUNG RUDOLPH FINISHES OFF GOOD WEEKEND

Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, N.Y., is turning into quite a young racer. On Saturday night at Mansfield in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race he posted his best finish to date, with a solid 7th place finish. On Sunday he backed that up utilizing the same pit strategy as Hossfeld to come home 2nd.
“We had our best finish with the NASCAR Tour last night at Mansfield,” explained the young Rudolph. “And today, we just had a good run, but not enough to beat Chuck (Hossfeld). We’ll take it though because the car is one piece and we needed to finish a race. My Grandfather and Father and all of the guys did a great job this weekend. We’re doing our best for our car owners Dave and Laura DeLange they provide us with a great team and everything we need.”

Other Notes;

Each of the 28 starters that intended to start the race following qualifying on August 9th made it back for the 24th and competed in the event.
Ricky Kluth was having a good run as he ran behind Matt Hirschman in 4th for a great deal of the late stages of the race before he slipped back to 8th at the finish.
As luck would have it, a busy day of racing at DTRP was halted immediately after the Modified feature with several features left to go in the Sunday card. The 50th Anniversary event, which was originally scheduled for June 28th, moved to August 9th and was finally concluded on the 24th. Three attempts to run a show of that magnitude produces no real winners in the financial categories.

Aug 23 - Mansfield Speedway - WMT - 6th

Mansfield, Ohio – (August 23rd, 2008) – Plainville, Connecticut’s Ted Christopher is the epitome of what an ‘old school’ racer should be. TC races everywhere in every kind of car imaginable and typically he’s successful. He finds the limit of everything he drives and when you think the car is at its limit, Christopher finds a way to go beyond that limit, but just enough to reach a new corridor of speed. There have been many folks that have said that if they wanted to see just how fast something will go then all they need to do his hire Christopher, there is a lot of truth to that.
On Saturday morning, afternoon and eventually night, Christopher was amongst, if not the fastest of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour cars in attendance at the fast half-mile Mansfield Motorsports Park oval in Central Ohio.
After qualifying 6th, Christopher redrew the pole and pretty much dominated to gather his second victory of the season. It was TC’s first visit to victory lane since he won the Spring Sizzler at Stafford back in April.
“I like this race track because it’s a pretty fast place,” beamed Christopher following his win. His first win of the season came at Stafford in the ‘Spring Sizzler’. “The car has been very fast and I’ve got to thank all of the guys and car owner Eddie Whelan for a great night.”
Christopher jumped out and into the lead, but not too quickly.
“It’s been tighter on the Tour this year with penalties and stuff,” explained Christopher. “So, I didn’t want to jump the start. That was on my mind the entire time, but you are the leader and you want to get a little bit of an advantage. Ryan (Preece) was laying back on the start and I got a pretty good jump a couple of times, but a couple of others we raced side-by-side into turn one. I may have got into him a little, but nothing overly aggressive. Once I settled down and got my rhythm then I was good. The track never really seemed to change all day, even with the Camping World cars and the Goodyear rubber, the track never changed. It was just a fun night for me.”
Christopher also talked about his driving and how he has learned to cope with it.
“I overdrive a lot and everyone knows that,” Christopher laughed with his trademark smile. “It’s tough for me sometimes to calm down but I’ve learned how to do it. I’ve been driving like that for a long time and it’s hard, but I’ve worked on it. Like today, we should be on the pole here, but we’re not because I over drove the car. Brad (LaFontaine), my crew chief told me as soon as I got out of the car because I over drove the corner and he was right. I did that a couple of times in the race and once I settled down the car was pretty good.”
Christopher competed in the event in one of Whelan’s own cars, after to having to borrow a car to compete a week ago at Thompson.
“Between the borrowed car and the new motors it’s been a pretty good turn around for us in the points,” smiled Christopher following his win. We’ve had our share of challenges this season, we got wrecked in the closing laps at Spencer and then we had engine troubles. You can look back on stuff and it equals out”
Christopher continued. “Tonight we just had a fast racecar. We went out in time and went sixth but the car was really good. It’s our car and we definitely needed to night. We’re heading to tracks that I enjoy racing at, so the championship chase should really be interesting.”
Christopher led the field to the green flanked by Eric Beers, but Christopher quickly shot into the lead. One of Christopher’s biggest challenges of the night was holding off young Ryan Preece, who dogged Christopher for the majority of the event. Preece, who started fifth worked his way forward quickly and pressured Christopher. Christopher, Preece based their race strategy on not pitting.
Jimmy Blewett pitted early and worked his way through the field to a point and then just rode until making a late race charge, while Beers and Silk, who both finished in the top-five pitted just after halfway and worked their way back to the front near the end of the event. Beers, who won the Coors Light Pole Award, his second this season, didn’t have enough car to get up and chase the leaders, which held him to fourth at the checkers.
A late race crash involving Todd Szegedy sent the race into over-time and Blewett slipped to second applying heavy pressure to Christopher at the checkered flag, but it was to no avail as Christopher held on for the victory. Blewett came home second and Preece wound up third with Beers fourth and Silk fifth.
The victory propelled Christopher into the point lead on the Tour. Chuck Hossfeld held a 41-point advantage heading into the event, but with a broken axle and a 28th place finish, there was a 101-point swing, which gave Christopher a 60-point advantage leaving Mansfield.
“I’ve been through all of this point stuff before,” related TC following the event. “Usually I lead it for a long time and then slide backward, but this time we’re gaining momentum now. Some of the things we’ve been through really hasn’t been our fault. The engines, we’ve never had a problem there and this year we’ve had some. We’re not that far out in front and I realize that one bad day could change everything. I approach it from the standpoint of one race at a time. Our car is running well and even with the borrowed car from the Grigas team we’ve been running well. I think with more time we could have had a chance at winning at Thompson if we had more time with it.”
Christopher continued regarding his team and the always spreading rumors that surround it. “As a team, we’re still very good. Brad and all of the guys do a great job. There are some things happening that could make us even stronger and a much more solid team, but that’s all I can really say about it at this time, but we’re going to be fine. Even in the impound races we’ve done well and we had our challenges at those for a while, but it’s all been going well for us so far and tonight emphasizes that.”
Beers collected the Coors Light Pole Award for the event.
The next event for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the Modified Mania at the Thompson International Speedway on Septermber 6th and 7th with the Sunoco Modified Mania 150.

Hossfeld Struggles Through

Chuck Hossfeld and Bob Garbarino struggled through the Mansfield event. They heading into the event with the point lead and left with a broken axle in the racecar and without the point lead. The team also went through troubles when long-time Garbarino / Art Barry crew member, Jimmy Savage was transported to the hospital earlier in the day.
“Today and tonight was definitely what we wanted,” stated Hossfeld following the event. “Look for us to lift it up a notch at Thompson. Right now I just want Jimmy Savage to know that we’re thinking about him and hope he’s doing okay.”

Coors, Bud it doesn’t really matter, there’s still Beers on the Pole

Eric Beers is going to win an event before the year is out in the Bobby Katon, JR Precast, Reynold’s Auto Wrecking machine. He’s been close. Strong at the Sizzler at Stafford and a pole at Stafford before Mansfield. On Saturday he turned the fastest lap in practice and clicked off a lap good enough to win the Coors Light Pole Award (that just doesn’t flow). In the race he pitted for two right side tires after running with the top-five for most of the event, but in the end he came home fourth.
“We were decent, but not great tonight,” stated Beers. “The car would go away on the long run. We were quick on the short run and I thought I had a top three, but Jimmy (Blewett) came along and got us late in the race. We just didn’t have enough to hold him back and he got to second, so he was pretty good. We’ll take it after our tough night at Thompson a couple of weeks ago and we’ll go from there.”

Blewett rides to second

Jimmy Blewett is a heck of a young man. A young Father, a darn good racecar driver and a guy that’s always quick to flash a smile. After his run at Mansfield, Blewett had plenty to be happy with. After starting seventh Blewett rode it out, pitted for tires, patiently drove back through the field and finished a strong second.
“We had a pretty good car, but we couldn’t get past Teddy, even in over time,” smiled Blewett. “We gave it all we had, but we came up just short tonight. Still, second is good and we’ll take it. The car is one piece and we’ll just go from here. We’ve definitely got something to build on.”

Other Tour Information

31 cars started the Whelen 150 at Mansfield, but Todd Szegedy’s, Glenn Tyler’s and Ronnie Silk’s team all had backup cars in the field. So that has 28 teams towing to the event. Several teams this season have opted out of doing every event, obviously because of the lengthy and cost of travel. In addition to the car count one has to wonder why this event would be scheduled directly against Bristol’s night race, long one of the nights that weekly-type short tracks have struggled.
Race winner Ted Christopher had this to say on the state of the Tour.
“It is probably about the same as last year,” explained Christopher. “I getr along good with Chad Little and think he’s doing a good job. I didn’t really get along with the past management structure, so overall I’d have to say it’s better. It’s definitely better this year then it was last year.”

BOX SCORE – MANSFIELD MOTORSPORTS PARK, MANSFIELD, OHIO – AUGUST 23, 2008;
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Whelen 150 Results
Saturday August 23, 2008
At Mansfield Motorsports Park
Mansfield, Ohio
Lap length: 0.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 157 laps, 79.471 mph, $7,100.
2. (7) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 157, $3,200.
3. (5) Ryan Preece, Kensington, Conn., Chevrolet, 157, $2,650.
4. (2) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 157, $3,700.
5. (12) Ronnie Silk,Norwalk,Conn., Pontiac, 157, $2,300.
6. (6) Matt Hirschman,Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 157, $2,100.
7. (15) Erick Rudolph,Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 157, $1,800.
8. (20) Mike Stefanik,Coventry, R.I.,Pontiac, 157, $2,625.
9. (14) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 157, $1,625.
10. (21) Glen Reen, Wilbraham,Mass., Chevrolet, 157, $1,600.
11. (4) Billy Pauch, Jr., Frenchtown,N.J., Dodge, 157, $1,575.
12. (22) Woody Pitkat, Stafford,Conn., Chevrolet, 157, $1,525.
13. (8) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 157, $1,600.
14. (19) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 157, $1,095.
15. (25) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 156, $1,490.
16. (23) Ken Heagy, Calverton,N.Y., Ford, 156, $1,480.
17. (24) Joe Hartmann, Calverton,N.Y., Chevrolet, 156, $1,425.
18. (11) Danny Sammons,Hamilton, N.J., Chevrolet, 156, $1,400.
19. (18) Rick Fuller,Auburn,Mass., 155, $1,375.
20. (17) Glenn Tyler,Hampton Bays ,N.Y., Chevrolet, 155, $1,350.
21. (26) Jake Marosz, Middletown,Conn., Chevrolet, 154, $1,325.
22. (3) Bobby Grigas, III, Marshfield,Mass., Chevrolet, 151, suspension, $1,300.
23. (9) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield,Conn., Ford, 147, accident, $1,375.
24. (10) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington,Conn., Chevrolet, 95, $1,350.
25. (28) Tom Abele, Jr., Norwich, Conn. , Chevrolet, 83, ignition, $1,240.
26. (30) Darrel Krentz, Huntersville, N.C., Chevrolet, 72, head gasket, $800.
27. (27) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 59, clutch, $1,200.
28. (13) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Dodge, 57, axle, $1,300.
29. (16) Dion Ciccarelli, Crofton, Md., Chevrolet, 38, overheating, $800.
30. (29) Jeremy Stoltz, Walkertown,N.C., Pontiac, 9, suspension, $800.
31. (31) Jamie Tomaino, Jr., Howell,N.J., Ford, 7, vibration, $800.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 59 minutes 16 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.177 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: E.Beers (117.501 mph, 15.319 seconds)
Caution Flags: 7 for 40 laps.
Lead Changes: 0 among 1 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T.Christopher 1-157.
Standings: 1. T.Christopher, 1504; 2. C.Hossfeld, 1444; 3. M.Hirschman, 1418; 4. M.Stefanik, 1378; 5. R.Silk, 1338; 6. T.Szegedy, 1329; 7. E.Beers, 1313; 8. J.Blewett, 1269; 9. E.Flemke,Jr., 1229; 10. R.Pennink, 1224

AUGUST 19 2008

Matt Hirschman Tests For Gillett Evernham But Focus Remains On Whelen Mod Tour Ride
By Shawn Courchesne

Matt Hirschman isn't in any rush to get out of a Modified, but the son of the 5-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Tony Hirschman, will surely listen to suitors calling.

Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., tested Tuesday for Sprint Cup Series organization Gillett Evernham Motorsports in a Camping World East Series car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Hirschman said he will not run in the Camping World East event Saturday at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park, but he is still waiting to hear about the possibility of driving for the team in any of the three Camping World Series events remaining after Mansfield.

Kevin Swindell, who also tested with the team at New Hampshire, will run at Mansfield.

"Their intentions as a team is to get their development program going because they don't have the program and the feeder type system that some of the other types of teams like [Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing] have," said the 25-year old Hirschman, who is third in the Modified Tour standings. "This is basically just the start of it."

For Hirschman, who has driven Modifieds since he was 17, it was the first time driving a full-fendered stock car.

"I was happy with the test," Hirschman said. "The team was happy. The representative that ran the test for Evernham was pleased with both drivers. From a personal standpoint, going out there initially it was a little bit different, it took some getting used to, but I probably made about 50-60 laps and by the end of the day I felt comfortable and my speeds kept picking up each time I went out. In comparison to the other cars that were there, there was about 8 teams there, we were putting up some pretty good numbers. I think the team overall was pleased with what we did there."

Hirschman stresses though that he's not desperately searching for ways to move up the NASCAR chain.

"Growing up as a kid, my goal was to always race Modifieds," Hirschman said. "I reached that goal at a young age. You always look at what could be the next step. If that opportunity never comes I'll be happy to race Modifieds for the rest of my career. I don't have a problem with that. Anything beyond the Modifieds right now, at 25 years old, it would have to probably come now.

"This test that I did was a talent based test. That's what they told me coming into it. They're looking to evaluate talent. They told me they've got a marketing department that it's their job to go out and find sponsors. They were there to evaluate talent. I'm not concerned with the age thing."

The Camping World East has three events following Mansfield, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Sept. 12), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 19) and Stafford Motor Speedway (Sept. 28).

Hirschman will wait for a phone call from Gillett Evernham to hear about any possible opportunities with the team, but his focus and concern will be on the Modified Tour, where he sits 97 points behind leader Chuck Hossfeld with six events remaining. The Modified Tour is in action Saturday at Mansfield with the Camping World East.

"With the Tour, we got off to a little bit of a slow start this year," Hirschman said. "We had a couple mediocre finishes of nobody's fault really. Chuck Hossfeld got off to a great start but now he's hit a stretch where he's had some mediocre finishes and it's allowed us to close it up. The points are going to take care of themselves if you can continue to run up front and we've been running up front the last few races. I like the fact that we've gained ground but with the amount of racing that's left, I haven't really been thinking about the points all that much."

Story from Speed 51 ont he Great Test at New Hampshire

Anyone who has seen the move Forest Gump can remember the character Bubba talk about all of the things that you can do with shrimp. That monotone list can be changed around slightly to also describe what Matt Hirschman has raced in his career to date. Tour Modifieds…RoC Modifieds…Open Show Modifieds…SK Modifieds…Weekly Track Modifieds...the list goes on.And while the young Pennsylvania driver has won in most of those racecars, he has gotten some heat for the fact that everything he has every raced - from day one of his career to the current day - has been a type Modifiedn Tuesday though, Hirschman sprouted fenders and got the chance to test a NASCAR Camping World East Series car for Gillette-Evernham Motorsports at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It could be a start to seeing Hirschman make the move to a racecar with fenders - and eventually towards one of NASCAR's big three series.“It's been awhile since someone came out of the Modifieds [into one of NASCAR's big three series],” said Hirschman. “But getting this test shows that there are people out there who pay attention to the Modifieds. Right now, it's just a test. But it could turn into something more.Hirschman is correct in the fact that while the Modifieds were once one of NASCAR's top talent factories - producing NASCAR Cup winners Geoff Bodine, Jimmy Spencer,ent trouble-free. It was a great opportunity and I really have to thank Gillette-Evernham Motorsports and Dave Davis for giving it to me.”The biggest difference between the Modifieds and the CW East cars was an obvious one. Just by looking at the cars“The view is much different and that took some getting used to. In the Modifieds, you are low to the ground and everything is open. You've got a great view of your surroundings. In these cars, you don't see as much.”Hirschman did get enough laps in to feel race-ready in case the opportunity presents itself.“At the end of the day, I felt comfortable enough in the car that I thought I could race one,” said Hirschman. “Our times that we were running, in comparison to the other cars that were there, were very competitive times. So I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be ready. So will Hirschman get a chance to race the car?“It came about at the last minute,” said Hirschman. “It just happened and I really learned the details as things progressed. The car was prepared by Dave Davis Motorsports and they were the ones who first contacted me. But basically, it was an Evernham test. Later, I was contacted by Ray and a representative from the team. They wanted to evaluate a couple of drivers and they had myself and Kevin Swindell there to test. Another Dave Davis car was also there with a new driver [ACT Late Model standout Joey Pole] as well.“Ray Evernham has Modified roots and raced with my father [five-time NASCAR Modified Tour champion Tony Hirschman] going back to the 80's. Despite being a new experience to Hirschman, the test went very well after a few laps to get acquainted with a new type of car.“The first time out was a little bit different,” admitted Hirschman. “But we made progress all day and by the end of the day, I felt pretty comfortable in the car. I made probably 60 laps and each time out, we made steady improvements. It was a good test and i “That's a possibility,” said Hirschman. “They do plan on racing a few events this year and three of them are combination events with the Modifieds. They were going to evaluate everything after the test to see what they learned and let us know who would be in the car. So I could be in it for one of the final races of the year, but that hasn't been determined yet.”While Matt's father Tony is best known for his five NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships and 35 victories on that Tour, he was also quite a racy competitor in what is now the CW East Series as well in the early 1990's. Driving the #1 Oldsmobiles owned by Tony Vecchio won the 1991 Busch North Series Rookie of the Year crown, a September 1992 race at Oxford Plains Speedway and placed in the top 10 of the standings for two seasons.“I remember very well when dad raced,” said Matt Hirschman. “I remember of all the place where we went.” And the Camping World East definitely isn't his Father's Series…“My Dad ran from 1991 through 1993 in Busch North and at that time, other than Loudon, they just went to short tracks. We'd go to Lee, All-Star, Holland and places like that. Those tracks are now gone from the schedule and it's quite a bit different now. It went from a short track series to a development series. They run bigger venues and it is a feeder series. Back then, the veterans, who were short track graduates from the New England area, dominated the series. It's changed a lot.

Aug 17 - Chemung Speedway - RoC - 17th

Everything was going according to plan at Chemung until lap 128. While having pitted and being the second car out of the pits after pitting just after halway, Matt made his way up to 3rd and as Eric Beers and Jan leaty went into turn 3 it looked as though Jan Lety tried to block Eric on the inside and then his spotter said "looking outside" not realizing that Matt made a move to the outside as Leaty and Beers slowed up because Leaty was blocking. So once Leaty heard "outside" he thought it was Beers and never saw Matt and the two of them went into the turn four wall with damage bad enough to end both their days. See the photo page for the sequence of events.

Story by J.R. Kennerup

Eric Beers of Northampton, Pa. has had a terrible start to his racing season and now that we’re in August Eric knew that he needed to get his act in gear. Beers certainly got his act in gear this past weekend as he won his second long distance event in less than 24 hours on Sunday afternoon at the Chemung Speedrome. Beers who started sixth pitted for a fresh right rear tire on lap 79 and was the first car to exit the pits and that became the key. Beers then raced his way back through the field to take the lead from Jan Leaty on lap 128 when Leaty and third place Matt Hirschman got together and ended up in the homestretch wall. After getting the lead Beers had to hold off TJ Potrzebowski over the final 28 laps to secure the $3,500 win. Early race leader Brian DeFebo came on strong to end up third with John Markovic in fourth and Lee Sherwood finishing fifth. "This was definitely a big win for us today as we’ve had some pretty terrible luck this year" said the happy race winner. "We’ve had no luck with this car after coming back from New Smyrna in February and it’s nice to get back on track with this car with two long distance feature wins this weekend." The win was Eric’s first career feature win at Chemung and he spoke about that accomplishment. "This was our first ever win here as we have been second here before and had some thirds too. But it feels real good to win at Chemung." The key point of the race for Eric was the pit stop on lap 79 where he came into the pit behind Matt Hirschman and ended up beating Hirschman off pit road to technically be the first car in line with a fresh right rear on the car. "Joe (Skotnicki) made a good call for us to come in at that time and the crew did a great job in getting me back out of the pits first. That was big as they had to tighten the car up too besides changing the right rear tire. We didn’t have to pass Matt on the track as then we could come up and race through the field at our pace." Eric spoke about what his strategy was coming back up through the field. "We passed when we had to and then rode a while because you had to have something for the end. After a yellow we would pick off a couple and then ride again until the next yellow came out. Everything went according to plan today." Eric was back up to fifth on lap 101 after pitting on lap 79. Then he moved into fourth on lap 105 and into third on lap 112 and finally into second on lap 123. All this time Matt Hirschman was glued to the back bumper of Beers as he was making his way to the front also. Then came the lap 127 turn four tangle that changed the entire complexion of the race. With Jan Leaty leading and on old rubber as he didn’t pit Beers and Hirschman were all over Leaty looking for a way around him. Coming out of turn four Beers got under Leaty while Hirschman attempted to go around him. Contact was made which saw heavy front end damage on the Leaty and Hirschman cars ending their day. Eric spoke on how he saw the accident happen. "Jan’s tires were at least 70 laps older than what me and Matt had on. It was inevitable that we were going to get by him but he was doing his best to block both of us. I got a run on the bottom and Jan blocked me at the same time Matt got beside me and Jan tried to keep both of us behind him. Unfortunately for all of us it didn’t work out as Jan and Matt got tangled up and crashed." With only caution flag laps counting from laps 50 to 100 a long period of yellow flag fever took place in the closing stages of the race. This caused some cars to run out of fuel and it caused a little problem for Eric too. "It started to sputter with five to go at the end of the straightaways and I was getting real worried. So I started to back off earlier getting into the corners ands getting back into the gas easier to save fuel. We only had about a gallon left at the end when we measured it." Eric won this weekend with a small motor and carburetor on the car. "It’s actually easier to drive the car when the tires wear off as you don’t have that big motor you have to deal with. I have to thank Scott Ritter at RPM as this is our small motor but it runs really well, just like a Timex." "It’s the middle of August as it’s time to get my ass in gear" said Eric about his successful weekend of racing. "It was an interesting race today" said second place finisher TJ Potrzebowski. "We planned on pitting somewhere around lap 75 and ended up pitting with Matt and Eric. We followed them up through the field, had no incidents, and we’re satisfied with a second today. We didn’t have the car to catch Eric today, but we were close."
TJ’s day didn’t start out too well as he drew 90 out of 100. "It was good to win the heat race after drawing 90. We’ve been struggling all year as the car been tight with everything we’ve been trying. Today finally we got the car too loose, but we made big gains today and happy where we’re going with our program." TJ debuted a retro wheel paint scheme on this day. "It was something different, it was the color I used when we started running Sport Mods back in 1995. We did today for the hometown crowd for memory sake, if it brings us good luck maybe we’ll keep the color." "Thinking of it now I should have pitted on the caution before (lap 79) instead of when we pitted (lap 98)" said third place finisher Brian DeFebo. "I could have been the first one in on lap 79 but it’s a damn if you do, damn if you don’t. I’m just happy to finish third." Qualifying for the 28 car field saw heat wins go to DeFebo, Tony Hanbury, Hirschman, and Potrzebowski. No B Main was run due to two cars that scratched for the day after the heat race.
DROME DROPPINGS: JR Kent debuted a new car for him which was a former Vic Hooker owned car that was bought at the auction earlier this year. Kent looked strong at times but had problems like the throttle linkage breaking in the heat race and getting into a couple of skirmishes in the feature. Dave Bellis made his first RoC appearance in the former George Swansbrough car. Dave had a front row heat race starting spot taken away due to an illegal carburetor. Pete Brittain was sporting a heavily taped right wrist due to and minor injury he suffered from racing the night before. Chris Whitenight was running in his last race of the season as he was heading back to school at UNC – Asheville on Monday. An oil leak sent Jim Storace to the pits ending another strong run. Daren Scherer lost a top three finish as his car was starving for fuel with less than 5 laps to go.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RACE #1 FINISH: Eric Beers, TJ Potrzebowski, Brian DeFebo, John Markovic, Lee Sherwood, Rick Kluth, Daren Scherer, Pete Brittain, Tony Hanbury, Earl Paules, Kyle Ebersole, Billy Putney, Todd Smith, Doug Reaume, Jimmy Zacharias, JR Kent, Matt Hirschman, Jan Leaty, Jim Storace, Dave Bellis, Rusty Smith, Steven Reed, Tommy Farrell, III, Chris Whitenight, Kevin Lewis, Mike Leaty.
DNS: Matt Clemens, TJ Zacharias.
LAP LEADERS: Potrzebowski (1), DeFebo (2), Potrzebowski (3 – 15), DeFebo (16 – 49) Hanbury (50 – 116), J. Leaty (117 – 127), Beers (128 – 150).
DART MACHINERY AWARD $1,200 SET OF HEADS: Farrell.
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500:Whitenight.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD: T. Smith (24th to 13th).
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD: R. Smith ( 6th to 21st ).



Aug 16 - Mahoning Speedway - Special 100 laps - 3rd

Matt had a good race to garner a podium finish at the track closest to home. It was a typical Mahoning 100 lap race where depending what lane you get in depends whether you are going forward or backwards because it is double wide for so long on these extra distance races. For example on the start Matt went from about fifth back to about 11th and then went back and forth until a great third place finish.

Story by Dino Oberto

With a busy scheduled that is centered around the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Eric Beers of Northampton doesn’t often get the time to come to his home track of Mahoning Valley Speedway to race. When those rare occasions do occur you can always bank on him doing well. With a Saturday night free and Beers wasn’t hesitant to come to Mahoning for the Hot Summer Night Modified 100 and the end result was a $3000 victory. Starting 12th after a redraw, Beers took the lead from John Bennett on lap 54 and never looked back as he scored his 24th career Mahoning win and for the fourth time in a 100-lapper. Chip Santee, who was never lower then second all race long and led from laps 7-17, was second with Matt Hirschman, Don Wagner and Bennett completing the top five. "I want to thank Adam Horwith and all the people at Horwith Freightliner for helping us out and also Sunoco Race Fuels. All the guys on the crew did a great job getting this car ready. We were a hair off in time trials," said Beers who was not only celebrating another Mahoning win but his 39th birthday as well. "I want to say thanks to Chip Santee, John Bennett and all the guys I raced with. Everybody ran a clean race. There was plenty of room and this is so much fun when we come back here."A few of those restarts we lost some spots but we ended up working our way to the front. Chip (Santee) and Johnny (Bennett) were tough. I can see why their names are in the paper every week getting first or second and with Donny (Wagner) in there as well." Time trials were held with the top-12 redrawing for starting spots with Santee setting fast time at 9.839-seconds. Jason Bair, celebrating his 23rd birthday, got a present as he drew the pole spot and then proceeded to lead his first laps with a Modified once the race commenced. Following in second was Santee and after the first caution on lap six, Santee made use of the restart to take the lead. He was then pursued by point leader Bennett that unfolded into a very hot duel. Another caution waved on lap 17 and when the action resumed Bennett pulled off the pass for the lead. With the ensuing 17 laps going nonstop, Bennett was pulling away with each passing lap. On lap 34 the yellow was waving erasing his then huge lead. On the restart Santee was able to keep in the same zone with Bennett while impressive running Stacey Brown maintained third. While Bennett and Santee continued to lock horns, Beers was creeping forward. With the aid of yellows as well as his finely honed driving skills of weaving through Mahoning traffic, he made his entry into the top five at lap 42. On the next circuit he advanced another spot and on lap 48 he drove to the top lane and blew past Santee and went wheel-to-wheel with Bennett. Beers was just about to grab the lead on lap 50 when the caution flew. Lined up two-wide for the restart, Bennett was on his toes and was able to turn back Beers’ challenged but not for long. With 54 laps in Beers went for and got the front spot. Five lap’s later Santee displaced Bennett for second. The remaining distance would be no contest as Beers was way too strong for Santee and everyone else. Even with a restart with 10 laps to go Santee could not face off against him. "We’ve been struggling for a little while this year so this will definitely help to turn our season around and hopefully we can get back here again because I love it here," said Beers."This is the place I started racing a Modified but the thing is no matter how good the car is or how bad the car is you can still race. There’s enough lanes that everybody can run clean. You can see it in every division they run double file and it’s great." Santee, who was trying for his second straight 100-lap win, knew that once Beers got the lead it was going to be hard catching him, thus he was content to come home second."I had gotten the lead in the early going but then the car tightened up and then (John) Bennett got along side me and I figured there was no sense in trying to run him at that point. This is a long race and I needed to save my tires," said Santee."Eric (Beers) got by us both and my car was good on restarts but it was still tight and pushing. That last restart I figured was my last shot and I gave it all I had."It took Hirschman 85 laps to get to third as he was given fits by Wagner and Bennett in gaining the spot.
RESULTS
Modifieds (100 Laps): 1.Eric Beers 2.Chip Santee 3.Matt Hirschman 4.Don Wagner 5.John Bennett 6.Earl Paules 7.Stacy Brown 8.Bup Dreher 9.Tom Flanagan 10.Jarred Nace 11.Paul Skodacek 12.Andy Szapacs 13.Matt Higgins 14.Don Holland 15.Jason Bair 16.Rick Kirkendall 17.Lou Strohl 18.Scott Lesher 19.Eric Kocher 20.Mike Quinn



Aug 14- Thompson Speedway - WMT - 2nd

SILK TAKES SECOND WIN OF SEASON AT THOMPSON
Both Wins in 2008 Have Come at Same Track
For the second time this season NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Ronnie Silk reached Victory Lane at Thompson International Speedway. Silk led 35 laps en route to the checkered flag Thursday night in the New England Dodge Dealers 150 presented by Budweiser. For Silk, the win brought his career total to three, all at Thompson. The Norwalk, Conn., driver was a winner at the northern Connecticut oval earlier this season on June 19. “Our car is just great here, that’s for sure,” Silk said. “We’ve had good cars other places as well. Spencer we were second, Riverhead we were second. The breaks go our way here.” With the win, Silk moved up to sixth in the season points standings, his highest ranking of the year. Matt Hirschman, who led nine laps on the evening, came home second for his best career finish at Thompson. Bobby Santos, Ted Christopher and Mike Stefanik rounded out the top five. Glen Reen came home sixth and was followed in the top 10 by Rowan Pennink, Danny Sammons, Jamie Tomaino and Bobby Grigas III. The starting grid for the race was set by the NASCAR rule book as rain washed out qualifying earlier in the evening.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-New England Dodge Dealers 150 Results
Thursday At Thompson International Speedway, Thompson, CT

Lap length: 0.625 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (9) Ronnie Silk, Norwalk , Conn. , Pontiac , 154 laps, 63.765 mph, $7,800.
2. (4) Matt Hirschman, Northampton , Pa. , Chevrolet, 154, $3,400.
3. (21) Bobby Santos, Franklin , Mass. , Chevrolet, 154, $3,150.
4. (2) Ted Christopher, Plainville , Conn. , Chevrolet, 154, $2,600.
5. (6) Mike Stefanik, Coventry , R.I. , Pontiac , 154, $2,300.
6. (18) Glen Reen, Wilbraham , Mass. , Chevrolet, 154, $2,250.
7. (11) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley , Pa. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,850.
8. (20) Danny Sammons, Hamilton , N.J. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,725.
9. (23) Jamie Tomaino, Howell , N.J. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,600.
10. (19) Bobby Grigas, III, Marshfield , Mass. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,550.
11. (27) Richard Savary, Canton , Mass. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,725.
12. (25) Tom Abele, Jr., Norwich , Conn. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,488.
13. (24) Anthony Sesely, Matawan , N.J. , Dodge, 154, $1,475.
14. (28) Billy Pauch, Jr., Frenchtown , N.J. , Dodge, 154, $1,450.
15. (31) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma , N.Y. , Chevrolet, 154, $1,036.
16. (1) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville , N.Y. , Dodge, 154, $1,500.
17. (15) Ken Heagy, Calverton , N.Y. , Ford, 148, $1,375.
18. (13) Woody Pitkat, Stafford , Conn. , Chevrolet, 145, accident, $1,350.
19. (16) Wade Cole, Riverton , Conn. , Chevrolet, 132, $1,325.
20. (3) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield , Conn. , Ford, 132, $1,400.
21. (33) Andy Seuss, Hampstead , N.H. , Chevrolet, 130, accident, $875.
22. (26) Jake Marosz, Middletown , Conn. , Chevrolet, 125, accident, $850.
23. (22) Rick Fuller, Auburn , Mass. , 117, $825.
24. (10) Ryan Preece, Kensington , Conn. , Chevrolet, 115, $1,300.
25. (8) Jimmy Blewett, Howell , N.J. , Chevrolet, 114, battery, $1,290.
26. (7) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington , Conn. , Chevrolet, 114, $1,250.
27. (14) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays , N.Y. , Chevrolet, 98, $1,150.
28. (30) Renee Dupuis, Glastonbury , Conn. , Chevrolet, 87, accident, $750.
29. (17) Joe Hartmann, Calverton , N.Y. , Chevrolet, 87, accident, $1,150.
30. (29) Reggie Ruggiero, Rocky Hill , Conn. , Ford, 81, accident, $750.
31. (32) Eric Berndt, Cromwell , Conn. , Chevrolet, 72, suspension, $750.
32. (5) Eric Beers, Northampton , Pa. , Chevrolet, 67, axle, $1,250.
33. (12) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 3, accident, $1,150.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 30 minutes 34 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.397 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: F.set per rule book, rain ( mph, seconds)
Caution Flags: 13 for 66 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C.Hossfeld 1; T.Szegedy 2-48; T.Christopher 49-79; B.Grigas,III 80-96;
M.Hirschman 97; B.Grigas,III 98-111; M.Hirschman 112-115; R.Silk 116-138; M.Hirschman
139-142; R.Silk 143-154. Standings: 1. C.Hossfeld, 1365; 2. T.Christopher, 1324; 3. M.Hirschman, 1268; 4.
M.Stefanik, 1236; 5. T.Szegedy, 1235; 6. R.Silk, 1183; 7. E.Beers, 1153; 8. E.Flemke,Jr.,
1138; 9. R.Pennink, 1100; 10. J.Blewett, 1099

Aug 9 - Lancaster Speedway - Rained out to August 24 - Heat win - Start 11th

Violent thunderstorms that featured dangerous lightning, damaging winds, and heavy rains hit the Dunn Tire Raceway Park on Saturday night as the Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour was lining up their 100 lap feature.
After looking over potential rain dates Dunn Tire management along with Race of Champions officials settled on a Sunday afternoon August 24th rain date. Pit gates will open at 10 a. m. with hot laps beginning at 11 a. m., grandstand gates will open at Noon with the first race starting at 2 p.m. Rain checks from the grandstands will be honored on that day just by showing them and for people in the pits they will need to give their name at the pit sign in window to receive admittance to the pit area on this afternoon.
Twenty – eight RoC Dart Modifieds came to race in Dunn Tire’s 50Th Anniversary show on Saturday under threatening weather conditions. Sege Fidanza, Matt Hirschman, and Tom McGrath won the three heat races and no consi was run. That was in part to Dunn Tire management wanting to get the show so they added the additional two cars at their expense.
On Sunday August 24th the 100 lap 50th Anniversary feature will see Buck Catalano and Erick Rudolph leading the 28 car field to green. The field is set and no new drivers will be added to the field, all drivers will be allowed to start the race on four new tires.
Notes from Saturday saw another member of the Zacharias Racing Family taking to the track as 16 year old TJ Zacharias qualified easily as a backup driver. Chris Zacharias was slated to run the former Buck Catalano driven car but the driver’s seat was giving Chris problems so he backed out of the ride.
The rain was a blessing for Jim Storace and Dave Wollaber as separate heat race incidents found both drivers being towed into the pit area. Reports from the Wollaber camp said they were done for the evening while Storace was going to make the feature. Now both drivers will have their cars in good working order come August 24th.



Aug 8 - Stafford Speedway - 4th

by: Dave & Hazel Meredith / The Chrome Horn

Between the afternoon practice session and the scheduled qualifying time, the nasty New England weather continued with more rain showers following the deluges that hit the state yesterday.
Eric Beers, of Northampton, PA, in the #46 Reynold’s Auto Wrecking Chevrolet, captured his seventh career pole with a quick time of 18.298 seconds for a speed of 98.371 mph. He bested Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT, in the #2 Wisk-Snuggle Ford, who had a time of 18.371 for 97.981 mph. Third quick was Matt Hirschman, also of Northampton, in the #59 Ed Bennett Properties Chevrolet, with a time of 18.375 and 97.959 mph. Fourth fastest was Jimmy Blewett of Howell, NJ, in the Major motion Transport/TS Haulers Chevrolet, with a time of 18.387 and 97.895 mph. Fifth was Ted Christopher of Plainville, CT, in the #36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet, with a time of 18.397 for a speed of 97.842 mph. Rounding out the top ten were: 6) #4 Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, NY, Mystic Missile Dodge; 7) #3 Ryan Preece, Kensington, CT, Davidson Co./Reynold’s Auto Wrecking Chevrolet; 8) #79 Ronnie Silk, Norwalk, CT, Hill Enterprises/Coors Light/Sunoco Pontiac; 9) #21 Richard Savary, Canton, MA, Superior Oil/Pine Hill Service Chevrolet; 10) #09 Bobby Grigas III, Marshfield, MA, Triple-G Scaffold Services Chevrolet. Cars that did not qualify were: #32 Tom Abele, Jr., Norwich, CT; #9 Jake Marosz, Middletown, CT; #14 Reggie Ruggiero, Rocky Hill, CT; #90 Renee Dupuis, Glastonbury, CT; #26 Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, NY; and #00 Frank Ruocco, Cheshire, CT who attempted qualifying after crashing in practice earlier today. The top eight qualifiers redrew for starting positions. They will take the green as follows: #79 Ronnie Silk; #4 Chuck Hossfeld; #59 Matt Hirschman; #2 Todd Szegedy; #36 Ted Christopher; #3 Ryan Preece; #19 Jimmy Blewett; #46 Eric Beers.
Prior to the running of the WMT main event, the Stafford SK modifieds took to the track for a 40 lap feature. This event was a qualifying race for the North-South Shootout to be held in Concord, NC, on November 8th. Doug Coby took the checkers and is now guaranteed a starting spot in the Shootout.
We finally got to the green flag at 10:15 p.m., an hour after the scheduled start. Hossfeld jumped to the point on the start and led the first lap. The yellow was quick to fly on lap two for Charlie Pasteryak in the #5 Dawley’s auto Center/Sunoco Chevrolet who spun on the backstretch.
Cautions laps do count in this 150-lap event. Back to green on lap 5 with Hossfeld leading Szegedy, Silk and Preece.
Szegedy get around Hossfeld as they head into turn one and Preece tucks in behind Hossfeld. The field starts to stretch out in the next few circuits. By lap 10 almost the whole field is single file. Szegedy starts to open up the lead on the straights by lap 17, but Hossfeld stays within striking distance as they hit the turns.
By lap 25 the top 7 cars have broken away from the field by at least 20 car lengths. Szegedy still holds the point followed by Hossfeld, Preece, Silk, Christopher, Beers and Savary. The #93 of Rowan Pennink is black flagged for smoke coming out of it – he must pit to get it checked out.
The #11 of Anthony Sesely is the next car to get the black flag on lap 31. The #64 of Eric Berndt also hits the pits for adjustments. The #1 of Rob Summers pits and gets pushed behind the wall on lap 35 and is out for a power steering problem.
Still green at lap 40 – leaders haven’t changed much except that Christopher has passed Silk for fourth. Szegedy gets caught behind lapped traffic and Hossfeld is able to close up to his bumper. The top three (Szegedy, Hossfeld and Preece) get by the lapped cars, and Christopher and the rest of the field get caught behind them.
Its 10:35 and we’re already at lap 50, a third of the way through the race. The top three are a quarter of a track ahead of Christopher and the rest of the field. Lap 53 – looks like Christopher blew up in a puff of smoke.
Lap 55 the #17 of Glen Reen slides through the front stretch grass bringing out just the second caution of the night. The leaders all head to the pits when they open on lap 57. They all take two right side tires and make whatever adjustments are needed. The #45 of Eric Rudolph gets out first, with Hossfeld second, Preece third and Szegedy fourth. Fifth is Savary then Matt Hirschman, Ed Flemke Jr. and Jimmy Blewett.
We go back to green on lap 66 and Rudolph pulls ahead of Hossfeld going into turn one. Quickly back to yellow on lap 67 as Savary spins in turn four. Rudolph gives up the lead and heads to the pits, giving the point to Preece followed by Hossfeld and Szegedy.
Back to green once again on lap 71 with Preece getting a push by Szegedy to get them both ahead of Hossfeld. Unfortunately, the cautions are now flying heavy as the #05 of Joe Hartmann spins in turn three (cautions breed cautions!). The #79 of Silk heads to the pits with rocker arm problems on lap 73.
Lap 76 Savary and Hartmann both head off pit road. We try again to get going on lap 77, just past the half-way point. Preece leads Szegedy, Hossfeld and Flemke. Preece and Szegedy stay side-by-side through the first lap, while the #99 of Jaime Tomaino spins into the grass on the front stretch. Szegedy took the lead just before the caution came out.
Another try to return to racing lap 85. Preece gets the jump on Szegedy and pulls quickly to the front. They are followed by Flemke and Hossfeld, though Hossfeld makes the pass on lap 87 to move into third. The two leaders are opening up a 10 car lead on Hossfeld and Flemke, who are 10 cars ahead of Blewett and Coby.
The leaders continue to pull away and now there’s a big gap between third and fourth – Hossfeld and Flemke respectively, on lap 95. Szegedy continues to ride the bumper of Preece.
Caution lap 102 as Bobby Grigas spins into the turn three wall – possibly something broke on the car. While trying to avoid the field, Kenny Horton in the #29 also spins.
The young Ryan Preece is running a skilled race against veteran champion Todd Szegedy. Green lap 109 and Preece again leads Szegedy through the first two turns. The stay side-by-side however through the rest of the circuit until Preece clears him in turn two. Blewett is third and Hossfeld is fourth. The two leaders are much faster than the field and again open up more than a ten-car length lead by lap 120. With 25 laps to go, the field remains the same up front. Preece is driving a great race with Szegedy staying right on his bumper. Lap 137 Flemke passes Heagy for fifth. Lap 139 the #06 of Billy Pauch Jr., and #21 Richard Savary tangle coming off turn four and spin down the frontstretch. It will be a single file restart as there will be less than ten laps to go. Leaders are Preece, Szegedy, Blewett, Hossfeld, Flemke and Coby. Green on lap 145 and Szegedy gets the jump on Preece. Hossfeld spins between turns one and two. However, Preece goes back to the lead for the restart. It will be a green-white-checker finish with two laps to go at the green on lap 148. Single file are Preece, Szegedy, Blewett and Flemke.
Preece gets a clean start and the 3 leaders are nose to tail. Todd gets under him going into turn 3 and gets bumped by Preece coming off turn one – Preece crosses the line first, but gets put to the end of the lead lap by NASCAR and Blewett inherits the win.
The top ten are Blewett, Flemke, Coby, Hirschman, Beers, Goodale, Stefanik, Sammons, Carl Pasteryak and Charlie Pasteryak. This would have been the first WMT win for Ryan Preece, who is just 17 years old. In Victory lane Jimmy Blewett was jubilant, but disappointed for Preece. “He showed us how to get around here tonight. It’s unfortunate for him, but I’ll take a win any way I can get it!” Later in the press box interview Blewett said when asked where you expecting the call in regards to Preece being put back to last car on the lead lap? “No, honestly I wasn’t. Ryan was just driving his heart out; I probably would have tried what ever I had to do to go around on the last lap myself. He sent it in there and got the call.” Blewett continued, “Like I said before, I hate to win that way, but I’ll take a win anyway I can get it.” Do you think it should have been no call? “No, not really. I’ve been reprimanded for racing incidents. This series is getting strict -- zero tolerance with anything. I think it’s good for the series and bad for the series. I feel for Preece, but they (NASCAR) are cutting back on the stuff people used to get away with. With the people who are here now [officials] they are making changes. Some for the better. Some are really not well received,” he concluded. Personally, Hazel thinks this was a totally unwarranted call by NASCAR and inconsistent with anything that has come before. “There have been many occasions when a car is spun both during a race and on the last lap, and no action has been taken. Maybe we’ll learn more about why in the ‘official’ press release.” Dave’s opinion – “While I saw a young driver Preece get set up by bumper tag from Szegedy in the waning laps, Preece’s slight contact with Szegedy coming out of turn one spun Szegedy out. Last season no call would have been made to affect the outcome of the race. This season it seems director Chad Little and his crew are tightening the screws on the competitors, to be more professional. I think the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has had many changes including the Flash races, reduced prize money and exorbitant cost increases to compete in this series. Most of the changes have been received poorly. The professional behavior may have a chance with the racers if applied uniformly.” Little’s quest to make the Whelen Modified Tour a more professional organization is a good idea. But if they are going to enforce rules with bumping, then Todd Szegedy should have been put to the rear for rough riding over the last 10 laps as he applied the chrome horn quite a few times. The use of the chrome horn has been an iconic part of the modified racing in general since its inception, and is just part of the racing.

1. (7) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 150 laps, 62.937 mph, $6,900.
2. (18) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 150, $4,200.
3. (16) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 150, $2,700.
4. (3) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150, $2,800.
5. (8) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150, $3,000.
6. (14) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150, $1,950.
7. (26) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 150, $2,700.
8. (12) Danny Sammons, Hamilton, N.J., Chevrolet, 150, $1,750.
9. (17) Carl Pasteryak, Lisbon, Conn., Pontiac, 150, $1,300.
10. (20) Charles Pasteryak, Lisbon, Conn., Chevrolet, 150, $1,250.
11. (21) Rick Fuller, Auburn, Mass., 150, $1,225.
12. (15) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150, $1,600.
13. (24) Billy Pauch, Jr., Frenchtown, N.J., Dodge, 150, $1,525.
14. (9) Richard Savary, Canton, Mass., Chevrolet, 150, $1,700.
15. (2) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Dodge, 150, $1,575.
16. (4) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 150, $1,550.
17. (11) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150, $1,325.
18. (6) Ryan Preece, Kensington, Conn., Chevrolet, 150, $1,500.
19. (30) Joe Hartmann, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 149, $1,375.
20. (29) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 149, $1,325.
21. (28) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 148, $1,300.
22. (25) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 146, $1,275.
23. (10) Bobby Grigas, III, Marshfield, Mass., Chevrolet, 145, $1,250.
24. (19) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 140, $1,225.
25. (27) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 138, $1,318.
26. (23) Ken Horton, Guilford, Conn., Chevrolet, 102, suspension, $800.
27. (1) Ronnie Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Pontiac, 77, vibration, $1,300.
28. (5) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, ignition, $1,300.
29. (13) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 32, distributor, $800.
30. (31) Anthony Sesely, Matawan, N.J., Dodge, 30, engine, $1,200.
31. (22) Rob Summers, Vernon, Conn., Chevrolet, 28, steering, $800.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 11 minutes 30 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.982 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: E.Beers (98.371 mph, 18.298 seconds)
Caution Flags: 8 for 46 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C.Hossfeld 1-4; T.Szegedy 5-58; E.Rudolph 59-70; R.Preece 71-77; T.Szegedy
78-84; R.Preece 85-148; T.Szegedy 149; J.Blewett 150.
Standings: 1. C.Hossfeld, 1250; 2. T.Christopher, 1164; 3. T.Szegedy, 1132; 4.
M.Hirschman, 1098; 5. E.Beers, 1086; 6. M.Stefanik, 1081; 7. E.Flemke,Jr., 1053; 8. J.Blewett, 1011; 9. R.Silk, 1003; 10. R.Preece, 956.


Aug 2 - Riverhead Raceway - 16th

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Aug. 2, 2008) – Jimmy Blewett registered his third career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night when he took the checkered flag in the Miller Lite 140 at Riverhead Raceway. Blewett, ofHowell, N.J., was strong throughout the evening as he led three times for 80 laps, including the final 46. After qualifying fourth-fastest, Blewett took the win in the second of two 25-lap heat races that preceded the 140-lap main. He was then able to parlay his qualifying success into front-running in the feature. After staring on the outside pole, Blewett led the first 10 circuits and swapped the lead with pole-sitter Bill Park twice in the early going. He would take his third and final lead of the night on a restart on lap 102. The win was the third of Blewett’s career and his first at Riverhead. He had previously won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Wall Township (N.J.) Speedway. For the second race in a row, Ronnie Silk finished as the runner-up. With four top-10s in a row, including a win, Silk has moved up to seventh in the season points standings after a slow start. Making his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start of the year after he captured the series title a year ago, Donny Lia finished third and was followed in the top five by Ted Christopher and Ryan Preece. The fifth place finish was the best of Preece’s young career.
Ken Heagy, Mike Stefanik, Dan Jivanelli, Glenn Tyler and Eric Beers filled out the top 10

1. (2) Jimmy Blewett,Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 147 laps, 33.418 mph, $3,300.
2. (10) Ronnie Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Pontiac, 147, $2,100.
3. (15) Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $1,400.
4. (3) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 147, $1,600.
5. (7) Ryan Preece, Kensington, Conn., Chevrolet, 147, $2,000.
6. (21) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 147, $2,150.
7. (9) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 147, $1,250.
8. (23) Dan Jivanelli, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $1,000.
9. (4) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $1,175.
10. (20) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 147, $1,150.
11. (11) Tony Ferrante, Jr., New Hyde Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $925.
12. (27) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 147, $1,300.
13. (6) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $900.
14. (13) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 147, $850.
15. (1) Bill Park, Manorville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 147, $1,200.
16. (14) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 147, $775.
17. (12) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Dodge, 146, $725.
18. (26) Joe Hartmann, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 145, $700.
19. (24) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 140, $675.
20. (17) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 139, $625.
21. (25) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 134, $600.
22. (22) Anthony Sesely, Matawan, N.J., Chevrolet, 134, $550.
23. (19) Wayne Anderson, Yaphank, N.Y., Chevrolet, 96, accident, $327.
24. (8) Chuck Steuer, Bohemia, N.Y., Chevrolet, 83, accident, $300.
25. (5) Mike Andrews, Bohemia, Chevrolet, 81, suspension, $300.
26. (18) Bobby Grigas, III, Marshfield, Mass., Chevrolet, 55, engine, $500.
27. (16) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, accident, $500.
28. (28) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 14, accident, $300.

Time of Race: 1 hour 5 minutes 59 seconds Margin of Victory: 0.579 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: B.Park (75.462 mph, 11.926 seconds)
Caution Flags: 11 for 95 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Blewett 1-10; B.Park 11-12; J.Blewett 13-36; B.Park 37-58; T.Christopher 59-101; J.Blewett 102-147.
Standings: 1. C.Hossfeld, 1132; 2. T.Christopher, 1085; 3. T.Szegedy, 1017; 4. M.Hirschman, 938; 5. M.Stefanik, 935; 6. E.Beers, 931; 7. R.Silk, 921; 8. E.Flemke,Jr., 883; 9. R.Pennink, 866; 10. R.Preece, 847.

Aug 1 - Spencer Speedway - RoC - 5th

Anytime when there is a Modified race at the Spencer Speedway Jan Leaty is always considered the favorite at his home town track. Friday night was no different in the 100 lap Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour event.
Jan started eighth and made a pit stop under the caution on lap 32 for a fresh right rear tire. The tire was the difference as Jan rocketed back through the talented field to take the lead on lap 50 with an outside turn four pass of Buck Catalano.
Once in front Jan saved his equipment for the later stages of the race and over the final 15 laps Jan pulled away to a very popular and dominating $3,500 feature win. Billy Putney who started third, never pitted for tires and finished an impressive second with Jan’s son Mike ending up a strong third.
Current RoC point leader and defending champion Pete Brittain, who started 20th ran a smart race to end up in fourth with Matt Hirschman coming from 14th to fifth at the checkers.
“ Yea we ran good tonight “ said Jan. “ We’ve been having a little bit of a run of bad luck since we won the Race of Champions last September. Since that race until tonight there hasn’t been a race where I’ve been nicked up during the race. We’ve had some good finishes during that time but