2022

REED AND HIRSCHMAN ARE WALL 2022 TURKEY DERBY PAVED MOD WINNERS

WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. ~ Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. and Jackson's Steven Reed were big winners Saturday taking pavement Modified stock car wins in the 49th annual Turkey Derby classic at Wall Stadium Speedway. Hirschman's Tour Mofieid 150 lap victory earned him $10,000, while Reed's Wall Modified 100 lap triumph was worth $6,000.  In the Tour Modified race Hirschman, Jimmy Blewett, Timmy Solomito and Andrew Krause were in contention most of the way. Blewett pitted for tires near halfway and then began to climb through the field, while Hirschman and the others pitted late in the contest. With less than 18 laps remaining Hirschman tracked down then leader Blewett before making the winning pass on the inside lane on lap 138.  Solomito, Krause, Blewett and Dave Sapienza wrapped up the top five.

Reed was the leader for much of the Wall Mod 100 before Jackson's Blake Barney slipped into the lead on lap 79. Reed then shadowed Barney the rest of the way before slipping into the lead for the win in the final turn. Hirschman and Krause were also able to get by the fourth place finishing Barney while Blewett crossed the finish line fifth.

TOUR MODIFIED FEATURE – 150 Laps – 1. MATT HIRSCHMAN, NORTHAMPTON, PA., 2. Timy Solomito, 3. Andrew Krause, 4. Jimmy Blewett, 5. Dave Sapienza, 6. Stephen Kopcik, 7. Danny Bohn, 8. Ron Frees, 9. Max Zachem, 10. Jonathan Mandato, 11. Allen Pederson, 12. Matt Swanson, 13. Jacob Perry, 14. Anthony Sesely, 15. Craig Lutz, 16. Eddie McCarthy, 17. Blake Barney, 18. Joey Merlino, 19. Mike Brennan, 20. Tyler Truex, 21. Tom Martino, Jr., 22. Dillon Steuer, 23. John Beatty

WALL MODIFIED FEATURE – 100 Laps – 1. STEVEN REED, JACKSON, 2. Hirschman, 3. Krause, 4. Barney, 5. Blewett, 6. McCarthy, 7. Truex, 8. Sesely, 9. Shanon Mongeau, 10. Martino, 11. Ricky Collins, 12. Carsten DiGiantomasso, 13. James Pritchard, Jr., 14. Jake Nelke, 15. Adam LaCicero, 16. Marc Rogers, 17. Joe Mongeau, 18. Derek Hopkinson, 19. Shaun Carrig, 20. Kyle Scisco, 21. Vinnie Marone
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Matt Hirschman Triumphs at Turkey Derby XLIX - By DINO OBERTO
Turkey Derby XLIX saw several drivers battling all race long with opportunities at capturing the $10,000 for the 150-lap run within their grasp but when it was all said and done a very familiar name graced Victory Lane as Northampton’s Matt Hirschman roared to his seventh win in the annual season ending classic for northeast pavement racers.Tommy Solomito was a constant threat, ran in the top three virtually the whole race, led some laps early on and then had to withstand 2022 Wall Stadium track champion Andrew Krause at the finish. Krause was coming on strong in the final circuits and just fell short of passing Solomito at the finish for the runner-up spot. Then there was Jimmy Blewett who was looking to repeat as the Turkey Derby Tour Mod champion. Right from the get-go Blewett wasted little time in showing his hand, taking his Tommy Baldwin No. 7NY to the front and holding a steady pace until pitting under a lap 69 caution which he hoped would play as a strategy move and it almost payed off too.   Past Turkey Derby winner Dave Sapienza was another who was nipping at the heels of the front runners throughout the contest. Eddie McCarthy, Max Zachem and Stephen Kopcik also showed their skill to challenge with the lead pack.  But when it came down to it Hirschman proved yet again why he is one of the best in current day asphalt Modified racing and short track racing in general. He started fourth and settled into the top five while letting the race come to him. His first bid at the lead came when he attempted to snag the top spot from Solomito on a lap 79 restart but was it was negated as officials called back the start, claiming the 60 car jumped.   On the ensuing re-go Hirschman timed it much better and after going a lap side-by-side he was showing the way with Sapienza, Krause and Zachem hovering close behind. Then came what would be a defining moment of the race. Under a lap 132 caution he and most of the entire field pitted for fresh rubber. Just prior to that many eyes were on Blewett who had been making a charge up through the field and bringing McCarthy with him. Blewett had just entered the top five and two spots back was McCarthy. While most of the field was pit-side, Blewett and McCarthy took over positons one and two. However, under the yellow McCarthy’s dropped out when he was hit with a mechanical woe. Then when cars returned the track Hirschman lined up behind Blewett with Solomito, Krause and Zachem filling out the top five. Within four laps back under green Hirschman was turning up the pressure on Blewett and would make his race winning move by slipping underneath him between Turns 3 & 4. The rest of the way it was smooth sailing as he drove to his 28th overall win of the year. “It’s just a great way to end the season like this. It’s been full of so many highs and so many wins and this was a great way to go out and cap all off. I’m really happy for my team and all our great sponsors and a lot of good people to have behind us who all work hard,” said Hirschman, who topped off his day after an oh-so-close win in the Wall Modified 100 prior to the 150. Hirschman admitted how the caution’s played into his winning hand. Blewett’s decision to pit when he did was on the verge of paying off until that the lap 132 caution came out when Anthony Sesely spun.  “It all depends on the timing of the cautions to follow. If we would have run say 10 or 15 laps and the caution would have come out I think a lot more people would have pitted and I may would have had to as well. So it worked out real well to have a long green run and then still leave a enough laps at the end so really it was just perfect timing of the caution,” deduced Hirschman.“It was certainly an advantage at that point. It would have been hard or probably next to impossible to hold him (Blewett) off if he had had that same advantage on me. It was a heck of a Turkey Derby and this race is such an event.” Two laps after taking the lead Solomito and Krause also got by Blewett and they raced intensely to the end. Solomito was able to barley hold on for the runner-up honors. Blewett settled for a fourth while Sapienza competed the top five. “He (Hirschman) is so calculated and so good. I don’t know if we really challenged him but I like to think we kept him on his toes and that says a lot because most people can’t even do that and I’m happy with it,” offered Solomito.“My guys did a really good job and gave me a really good car. We were fast hear last year and then faded to fourth and to come out here with a good second place finish, we’ll take it,” he continued.“It’s awesome running with those guys up front and you learn a lot racing with them and I was just trying to race them hard but race them with respect. We learned some good things today to put in the notebook and come back with it next year.” Blewett had many of the full house of fans thinking he was poised to get the win, especially as he was working towards the front with less than 20 laps to go. But that fateful lap 132 caution changed all that. “We pitted too soon but we weren’t sure, we made the call together and we win as a team and lose as a team,” he explained.“If the caution didn’t come out we won as heroes so it could have went one way or the other. I knew how much car I had and didn’t want to over drive it. We won a lot of these and you can’t win them all. They gave me a great car and I tried my best.”Kopcik, in his first Wall appearance, ran steady and garnered sixth. Danny Bohn was in the top 10 for a good portion of the event and took seventh. Pole sitter Ron Frees, Zachem and Jonathan Mandato rounded out the top 10.


Slipped In: Anthony Nocella Wins In Dramatic Style In Islip 300 Marathon At Riverhead Raceway on November 12 
 by Shawn Courchesne 


It’s been a season of fabulous firsts behind the wheel of a Modified for Anthony Nocella. 
On July 16 the Woburn, Mass. veteran scored his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory after a wild finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. On Oct. 22 he recorded his first career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victory in the Haunted Hundred at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway. Saturday at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway it was another first for the Woburn, Mass. Modified racing veteran. Nocella used some late race dramatics to pass Matt Hirschman and win the caution-marred marathon Islip 300 Saturday at Riverhead.  It was the first career victory at the legendary facility for Nocella, who took home a $7,000 paycheck for the win.  “The whole second half of this year – we had troubles in the beginning of the year with a lot of motor problems, we didn’t run good – but the second half of the year we started going strong and I’m just glad to keep it going.  “I just want to thank all my guys for working hard. I really make them work for it. I kind of throw a lot of changes at to make me happy and that seemed work out today.”  Riverhead regular John Beatty Jr. of Merrick, N.Y. was second and Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., third.  Nocella seemed to take the lead from Hirschman at about lap 291 but caution flew and Hirschman put back to the spot. Following the restart Nocella nearly lost second place to Beatty before battling back to Hirschman’s bumper. On the next lap Nocella got under Hirschman off of turn two. Contact in going into turn three between the two got Hirschman sliding through the corner and Nocella took advantage of the open door. Beatty followed Nocella on the low lane to second and Hirschman straightened out getting back on the frontstretch. Nocella went unchallenged the rest of the way to the checkered. “Obviously I didn’t want to get into him like that, but my guys worked that hard all day,” Nocella said. “… We kept getting a run on him. He did what he had to do. He tried to put it on the apron and that time I felt like I was there enough to give it a shot.”  Said Hirschman: “I would have liked to have won it. So close there leading quite a bit there at the end. [Nocella] had so much more speed at the end. Obviously some of that is that he pitted a little bit later for tires. But really, no excuses, we just got beat by a faster car.”  Beatty carried the torch for the track regulars.  “I had a really good car tonight, it just didn’t play out the way I thought,” Beatty said. “With 20 [laps] to go when [Hirschman] was in the lead, I thought I was a little bit better than him, I had a chance and the caution came. A lot of cautions tonight. That wasn’t how I wanted to race it but all in all a pretty good night.” 

Islip 300 Results
1. Anthony Nocella 2. John Beatty Jr. 3. Matt Hirschamn 4. Matt Brode 5. Justin Brown 6. Kyle Bonsignore 7. Brett Meservey 8. Jeff Goodale 9. JB Fortin 10. Mike Christopher Jr. 11. Chris Turbush 12. Dylan Slepian 13. Jack Handley Jr. 14. Walter Sutcliffe 15. Roger Turbush 16. Jason Agugliaro 17. Andrew Krause 18. Michael Rutkoski 19. Timmy Solomito 20. Kyle Soper 21. JR Bertuccio 22. Anthony Bello 23. Artie Pedersen III 24. Allan Pedersen 25. Chuck Hossfeld 26. Ken Heagy 27. Dillon Steuer 28. Jimmy Blewett



MATT HIRSCHMAN ROLLS THE 8-BALL WITH ANOTHER NORTH-SOUTH SHOOTOUT WIN NOVEMBER 5

(Sophia, NC):  The 20th Annual John Blewett III Memorial “North-South Shootout” presented by Puryear Tank Lines in Memory of Charles Kepley is in the record books and Matt Hirschman extended his record win total in the event to eight with a convincing win over Burt Myers and Patrick Emerling.Emerling set fast time in a Friday evening qualifying session with a time of 15.919 seconds at a speed of 102.896.  His time bested Hirschman, Kyle Scisco, Caleb Heady and Brian Loftin setting up a Saturday prerace choose session between the top four qualifiers.  Those drivers had the option to start where they qualified or go to the rear of the starting lineup with a chance to cash in on a $2,500.00 bonus posted by an anonymous fan of Modified racing. Emerling and Scisco chose to start up front while” Money” Matt and “young-gun”, Caleb Heady took the “challenge”.  That left Emerling and Burt Myers on the front row for the start of the 125 lapper.  Jimmy Blewett muscled past to lead the first lap before Myers took over the point on lap four for the next 43 laps.  Caution flew on lap 46 for oil on the track from the car of Jeremy Gerstner.  Gerstner ran over an exhaust tip that fell off another car.  The tip ruptured the oil tank on Gerstner’s #55 ending his night and creating a huge mess for the Caraway Speedway clean-up crew.  All cars were allowed to take on some SUNOCO Race Fuel during the cleanup period under a “controlled” pit stop.  When the track went back under caution, several cars took the opportunity to make adjustments and change tires.  That left Spencer Davis on the point for the restart.  Hirschman made quick work of Davis by lap 50 and while Davis, Myers and Heady were racing hard for position, old “Big Money” drove away.The field settled down with Myers and Blewett chasing Hirschman till caution flew on lap 96 allowing most of the field to stop for their remaining tires.   Hirschman came out of the pits first picking up where he left off with Ronnie Williams driving the Jamie Tomaino #99 restarting in second, Jimmy Blewett third and Kyle Scisco fourth Another caution on lap 98 for a crash involving 9 cars slowed the action for the third time.  The crash eliminated John Smith, Brian Loftin, Tim Connolly, Johnny Keiveman, Jeff Fultz and Junior Snow and wounded the cars of Gary Putnam, Joey Pane and Paulie Hartwig, III.  Those drivers returned to finish the race. On the restart Jimmy Blewett was the next competitor to put pressure on Hirschman but Hirschman withstood the assault and hung on to the lead while Patrick Emerling worked his way into the runner up spot. By lap115 Myers had charged past Emerling and took a run at Hirschman getting to the inside of him on lap116 but Hirschman prevailed and pulled away to claim the win.  Myers held off Emerling for second while Heady and Williams rounded out the top five.  Jimmy Blewett was sixth followed by Davis, Coby, Putnam, Jason Myers and Payne.  Eleven cars finished on the lead lap.  Hartwig finished 12th followed by Connolly, Dennis Holdren, James Civali, Scisco, Brian Loftin, Keiveman, Carson Loftin, Fultz, Smith, Snow, Michael Ritch, Gerstner and Caden Lapcevich completed the rundown.Hirschman took hope the top prize of $7,500.00 plus the “Fan of Modified Racing Challenge” of $2,500.00 and $900.00 in lap money to bring his total to $10,900.00.  Myers picked up $1,460,00 in lap money to boost his take to almost 5k.  A total of $3,900.00 in lap money was posted.  Drivers earned $50.00 for leading, $30.00 for second and $20.00 for third in the running order on most sponsored laps.  Friends of racing posted $200.00 for laps 6 and 17 to honor the memory of longtime race supporter, Ollie “Josh” Jenkins and lap 76 to honor John Blewett III.  Blewett won the first and third North-South Shoot events.  Gary Putnam Racing posted an additional $100.00 for the driver in 7th spot on lap 75.  #75 was the car number of Carl Pasteryak, a long-time Modified driver who passed away earlier this year.  Ronnie Williams earned that bonus.



Clocking The Competition: Corey LaJoie Wins Whelen Mod Tour Season Finale At Martinsville Speedway on October 26 -Matt has a hard fought 2nd place
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by Shawn Courchesne 

Corey LaJoie spelled out his mission Thursday at Martinsville Speedway in six simple words. “I came here for a clock,” LaJoie said. And when the dust settled on a wild late race battle for victory it was LaJoie celebrating next to a Martinsville grandfather clock trophy as the winner of the Whelen Modified Tour season ending Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 Thursday at Martinsville Speedway. “I told my wife I’ve got a room picked out for the grandfather clock,” LaJoie said while celebrating his first career Whelen Modified Tour victory. Matt Hirschman was second and Ryan Newman third. LaJoie was making his fifth career Whelen Modified Tour start Thursday and second this season. He was ninth on July 16 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. LaJoie became the fourth first-time series winner over 16 Whelen Modified Tour events in 2022, joining other first-time winners Mike Christopher Jr. (May 28 at Jennerstown Speedway), Kyle Soper (June 25 at Riverhead Raceway) and Anthony Nocella (July 16 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway). It was hardly a night devoid of drama for LaJoie, who started fifth and ran with the leaders most of the event. LaJoie used lapped traffic to get around Hirschman for the lead on lap 32 and held the top spot until caution flew on lap 130. A slow pit stop dropped LaJoie to 14th. But with the initial slow stop for tires, it clinched the team’s decision to make a second stop for fuel. LaJoie was up to fifth by the time caution flew on lap 186, and it was clear at that point that he and fourth place running Max McLaughlin had the fastest cars on the track. But under caution McLaughlin ran out of fuel. “It actually worked out to be a blessing,” LaJoie said of the bad initial pit stop to change tires. “The stop was so bad we couldn’t lose any more spots if we came down and put gas in it. It was a blessing. [McLaughlin] stayed out and tried to make it and ran out of gas. The fact that [my crew] … had the slowest Modified pit stop of all time, that actually won us the race.” The race restarted on lap 192 with Jon McKennedy leading, Jimmy Blewett in second, Kyle Bonsignore in third and LaJoie in fourth. Going down the backstretch chaos ensued among the top four cars, sending McKennedy and Blewett spinning and Bonsignore over the top of McKennedy’s car. LaJoie emerged from the fray as the leader. McKennedy was able to limp to a 12th place finish to secure his first Whelen Modified Tour driver’s championship. “I thought I screwed up his championship hopes there for a minute,” LaJoie said. “He pinched me in the fence. We can talk about that later. “I’m sure I’d be pissed too if I got dumped for the lead. It was just tight and Jon pinched me in the fence out of [turn] two and my left front caught his right rear and turned him into [Blewett].” 

1    53    Corey LaJoie    Curb Records    200    
2    60    Matt Hirschman    PeeDee Motorsports    200    0.601
3    39    Ryan Newman    Pacematic/PSR Products    200    0.861
4    44    Bobby Santos III    Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market    200    1.401
5    92    Anthony Nocella    Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas    200    1.741
6    24    Andrew Krause    Supreme Mfg. Co.    200    1.776
7    58    Eric Goodale    GAF Roofing    200    1.893
8    64    Austin Beers*    Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical    200    2.237
9    54    Tommy Catalano    FX Caprara    200    2.672
10    34    J.B. Fortin    Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal    200    3.003
11    16    Ron Silk    Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes    200    3.178
12    79    Jon McKennedy    Middlesex Interiors    200    3.408
13    99    Jamie Tomaino    Dunleavy’s    200    3.722
14    20    Ed McCarthy*    McCarthy Marine Sales    200    3.748
15    02    Joey Coulter IV    SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Run/Molecule    200    3.796
16    22    Kyle Bonsignore    Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto    200    5.159
17    7    Jimmy Blewett    John Blewett, Inc.    200    11.265
18    2    Chuck Hossfeld    Gershow Recycling    199    1 Lap
19    50    Ronnie Williams    Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises    199    1 Lap
20    36    Dave Sapienza    Sapienza Enterprises    199    1 Lap
21    29    Spencer Davis    Max Industrial    199    1 Lap
22    32    Tyler Rypkema    Northeast Drilling/MUSCO    199    1 Lap
23    82    Craig Lutz    Horton Avenue Materials    198    2 Laps
24    55    Jeremy Gerstner    Jerry Hunt SuperCenter/GMR Complete Lawn Care    194    6 Laps
25    26    Gary McDonald    Lakeland Landscape Supply    194    6 Laps
26    77    Max McLaughlin    CURB Records    190    10 Laps
27    18    Ken Heagy    Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant    178    22 Laps
28    01    Melissa Fifield    Pine Knoll Auto Sales    175    25 Laps
29    51    Justin Bonsignore    Phoenix Communication Inc.    153    47 Laps
30    10    Doug Coby    Mayhew Tools    147    53 Laps
31    3    Ryan Preece    Propane Plus/ACG/Island International    111    89 Laps
32    97    Bryan Dauzat    Brother in Law Motorsports    82    118 Laps
33    17    Bobby Labonte    Pace-O-Matic    63    137 Laps
34    07    Patrick Emerling    Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway    55    145 Laps
35    78    Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.    Last Minute Racing    3    197 Laps


Anthony Nocella Gets Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Haunted Hundred Win At Seekonk on October 22; Matt Hirschman Takes Series Title 

SEEKONK, Mass. – When it comes to the rising growth and continued development of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series over the last three seasons one of the calling cards that has come to light is a deep depth of talent in fields and parity among frontrunners. And in 2022 that parity has shown like never before. The trend of varied frontrunners for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series ran right through to the final event of the season on Saturday. Anthony Nocella used a dominant car late to run away with victory in the season ending Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Haunted Hundred at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway. It was a long awaited first series victory for Nocella, of Woburn, Mass. He came into Saturday’s event having finished in the top-five in nine of his 29 series starts all-time. He jumped that percentage to a clean 33 percent top-five finishes in 30 starts with Saturday’s victory. Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y. was second and Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. used a third place finish to clinch his seventh series championship in the last eight seasons. And in a testament to series parity, Nocella became the sixth different winner in seven Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series events in 2022, and the third first time series winner this season. Hirschman, with victories at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester N.H. (April 30) and Seekonk (June 29), was the only multi-time winner in series action in 2022. Other winner this year includes Chase Dowling at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt. on May 29, Jake Johnson at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. on July 23, Dana DiMatteo at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Aug. 6 and Ron Silk at Stafford Speedway on Sept. 24. Johnson and DiMatteo were also first-time series winners. Nocella was 16th in practice Saturday and decided wholesale changes needed to be made. “After practice, we struggled, we were mid-pack,” said Nocella, who earned $7,500 for the victory. “I didn’t think we were going to race very good. I couldn’t pass a car. We just took a gamble on it and threw everything at it. We were [second in the scuff session] and just kept rolling after that. … We made a call to change all four shocks, springs, the whole setup. It really made the car come to life. I’ve really got to thank my guys for not quitting.” Nocella, who finished third in the first Seekonk event in June, went by Hossfeld for the lead on lap 69 and went unchallenged the rest of the way. “Seconds, thirds, a third earlier this year here, I always just came up a little short,” Nocella said of his history in Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series events at Seekonk. “We struggled a little bit in the middle of the race. I didn’t really want to run the pace they were running. I knew my car might give up. We got a little tight at the end, but we were so close again we weren’t giving this one up.” Since 2015, the only year Hirschman has not won the series title was 2019 when Ronnie Williams scored the championship. Hirschman has now won all but two series championship in the division’s existence. Jon McKennedy won the first series title in 2014. “We weren’t good enough,” Hirschman said of Sunday’s race. “I knew I had nothing for [Nocella]. … We missed a little bit and that’s what happens. When you miss by a little bit you finish second, third or fourth or whatever. It wasn’t our day for a win, but glad to get the championship. It’s always a good accomplishment for the team. We started off the season strong and we kind of had some mediocre finishes of late and nobody else capitalized and we were able to win another championship.”Forty-three cars attempted to make the 29-car starting field. Hossfeld started on the pole and had the dominant car for most of the event. 
The first caution flew on lap 15 when Max Zachem was black flagged for leaking fluid. Instead of going to the pits Zachem stopped on the track at the entry to the pits in turn four necessitating the caution. After going to the pits it was determined Zachem started the event without a gas cap. The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series rules deem that a driver who purposefully brings out a caution is ineligible for the free pass (lucky dog) for the remainder of the event. After returning to the track with a secured gas cap, Zachem then returned to the pits and left the race. The second caution of the event flew on lap 22 for a Matt Galko spin on the backstretch. A Kyle Bonsignore spin on lap 42 brought out the third caution of the day. The race restarted with Hossfeld leading Johnson and Nocella in third. Caution flew again on lap 48 after a Carl Medeiros frontstretch spin. On the ensuing restart a chain reaction wreck in turn ones and two sent Chris Pasteryak up the wall. Les Hinckley III left the track surface in an ambulance after the wreck due to a hand injury. After an extensive red flag for cleanup, the race restarted with Hossfeld continuing to set the pace out front. 
On lap 50 Hirschman was able to edge Nocella for third place, but Nocella fought back on lap 53 to regain the spot. The sixth caution of the race flew when Galko spun again on lap 56. On the ensuing restart it was Nocella quickly challenging Johnson for second place. Nocella took over second place on lap 58, with Hirschman moving to third on lap 60. By lap 66 Nocella was stalking all over Hossfeld. On lap 69 Nocella found the way under Hossfeld through turns three and four to take over the top spot. 
The seventh caution flew on lap 80 when Derek Robbie, running at the rear of the field, spun just as Nocella was about to go past him. Following the restart, Hirschman went by Hossfeld for second on lap 81 before caution No. 8 on the day flew for Galko spinning on the backstretch. The final caution of the day flew for a Robbie spin on lap 85. On the ensuing restart Hossfeld was able to get by Hirschman for second

Evergreen Raceway King of the Green Tom Wanick Jr., Memorial nets Matt Hirschman over $10,000 on October 15, 2022. Comes from last place to win 200-lapper

By DINO OBERTO

There is no denying the superiority of Matt Hirschman who yet again showcased his incomparable driving skills in winning the King of the Green (KOTG) Tom Wanick Jr., Memorial at Evergreen Raceway on Saturday and duplicating his win in the same event earlier this year at Mahoning Valley Speedway. The race was both a track record payout with $8000-to-win plus the longest Modified feature distance ever run and despite an extremely talent filled field, Hirschman rose to the occasion with a performance that will long be remembered as he started dead last on the 24 car grid, was a one point in jeopardy of going on lap down, then systematically began picking off car after car and eventually motored his way into the top five just past the halfway mark.  Soon thereafter he was battling with front runners Austin Beers and Ron Silk while at the same time having to negotiate their way through traffic. For most of that spell Hirschman and Silk ran side-by-side while glued to the back of Beers. The defining moment came during a lap 132 caution period which at that time the entire field used to make tire changing pit stops. Hirschman came in second behind Beers but thanks to hasty work by his crew returned first out. From then on it was a battle between him and Silk but during the waning laps there was no denying this was his race as he went on the claim his ninth KOTG dating back to 2001. There was also a $2000 Gamblers Bonus offered to the top four from time trials with the money to be shared if any of those drivers chose to start from the rear and then finish in the top four. Hirschman was the only one who took the dare and in doing so collected a record Evergreen payout when all was said and done. With additional bonuses his day’s work netted the Northampton star $10,750. “We had to go for it (Gamblers Bonus) because 10 (thousand) just sounds so much better than eight and I really appreciate all the money that was put into it by the Wanick family,” said Hirschman after his 52nd career Evergreen victory and 26th overall this season. “We had the biggest paying race ever at Mahoning Valley and we won that and now the same here at Evergreen and it’s been a great season for us locally as well as on the road but it’s great to win at home especially when it’s this big,” he continued. 
“I’ve come from the back to win here in much shorter races 50, 40, 30 lap so to give me 200 laps is plenty of time but you still have to execute all race and a race that involved pit stops and we had a good one.” When the action began Bobby Jones jumped into the early lead over Tim Connolly and Anthony Sesely. However, Silk would be the man on the move as he wasted little time in getting up to second from his fifth starting spot and on lap 28 he went to the outside of Jones for the lead.
Silk then set sail with a steady and quick pace and before 40 laps where complete he caught the tail end of the field which at that point included the likes of Hirschman. He began lapping cars with ease and was within a few car lengths striking distance on Hirschman near the lap 60 mark before a few cautions thwarted his efforts. At that point Hirschman wasn’t holding back any longer and began his march towards the front. While Silk continued to lead and Hirschman was doing his thing, Beers was battling hard with Sesely for second and secured the spot by lap 77. He then charged his was up to Silk and was putting continuous pressure on him which paid off when he seized an opening in Turn 4 during a lap 96 restart. Within the next six laps of Beers taking control Hirschman was now in the top five and moving fast towards the front. At lap 110 he joined the fray with Beers and Silk and the trio then raced under a blanket while meticulously working by heavy traffic.On lap 133 Connolly’s day came to an abrupt end when he smacked the front straight wall. Under the caution Beers led the entire field into the pits but not back out as that distinction went to Hirschman who changed right side tires and rose back into action as the new leader. Beers and Silk would realign second and third.Once back underway the top three battle remained closely contested, that was until a lap 151 restart. As the field was taking the green to restart the race Beers was pinched from behind and went into a spin that send a number of cars scattering. He then pitied for service but was no longer a factor. The rest of the way it would be Silk chasing Hirschman but to no avail as the undisputed current day kingpin of asphalt Modifieds went on to another satisfying verdict. “I don’t think the strategy helped us win today and to be honest I think it made it a little bit harder but we were able to get up to second behind Austin (Beers) and then my guys had a great pit stop and got me that on spot I couldn’t get on the track,” said Hirschman. “I’m thankful to have such a big night so close to home and there was a great purse throughout the field.”  2022 Evergreen champion Roger Coss was a solid third. He qualified through the consi and made a late race charge at the end en garnering a top three. Justin Brown and Chris Turbush competed the top five. Brown started 21st and although he was caught up in a few minor incidents, raced well all the while. Turbush was consistently steady all race long, was never outside the top 10 and at one point ran as high as third until the late going. Jack Handley Jr., Andrew Krause, Stephen Kopcik, Tom Rogers Jr., and Daren Scherer rounded out the top 10. Silk takes in as many Evergreen races as his busy schedule allows and each time is always in contention for a win and usually in the same scenario with Hirschman. “Matt Hirschman is really tough to beat and he’s especially really tough to beat here. I think that we make little improvements every time we come and we always run pretty good but you have to be on top of your game to beat him” reflected Silk. “We were good and second best but the car just got too tight on that last run. I could kind of run the same pace as him but when he decided he wanted to go he could go and that was about all I had” he went on to explain. “After the caution when we got our tires I was driving pretty hard and think both of us were going that way but he was just a tick better and as that last longer run went on he was just got far enough ahead of me and I just kind of cruised around those last few laps.”

Feature finish (200 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Ron Silk, 3. Roger Coss, 4. Justin Brown, 5. Chris Turbush, 6. Jack Handley Jr., 7. Andrew Krause, 8. Stephen Kopcik, 9. Tom Rogers Jr., 10. Daren Scherer, 11. Blake Barney, 12. Lou Strohl, 13. Austin Beers, 14. Eddie McCarthy, 15. Jerry Hildebrand, 16. Bobby Jones, 17. Brian Sones, 18. Anthony Sesely, 19. Tom Connolly, 20. Brian DeFebo, 21. Artie Pederson III, 22. Jimmy Zacharias, 23. Earl Paules DQ: Jimmy Blewett DNQ: Austin Kochenash, Allen Pederson, Eric Zeh, Nick Baer, Don Wagner, Sean Verwys, Donny Hartzel, Randal Richards



BIG MONEY" MATT HIRSCHMAN WINS 34TH US OPEN FOR 6th TIME ON OCTOBER 1

LANCASTER, NY (October 1, 2022) … “Big Money” Matt Hirschman from Northampton, PA won the 34th edition of the US Open at Lancaster Motorplex on Saturday afternoon. For Hirschman, it was his sixth career triumph in the race, and 12th Lancaster Modified victory. 

2021 Series champion Austin Beers and 2022 Lancaster Motorplex Sportsman track champion George Skora III brought the Race of Champions Modified Series to the green flag for the 34th running of the US Open with Beers in the lead, with Jack Ely, Matt Hirschman, Skora, and Daren Scherer racing in the top five early on. Andy Jankowiak battled with Jake Lutz to take over sixth place on lap eight, just as Hirschman passed Ely to move into second place. “Big Money” would look for the lead and would take it away from Beers on lap 14. Jankowiak would continue to work his way into the top five on lap 16, after passing Daren Scherer. George Skora III would move back into third place after passing Jack Ely on lap 23, with Jankowiak, and Zane Zeiner racing in the top six. Jankowiak would battle with Jack Ely for fourth place on lap 32, and the two would battle for several laps. At the race’s halfway mark, Matt Hirschman would continue to lead Austin Beers, Skora, Ely, Jankowiak, Zeiner, Patrick Emerling, Tony Hanbury, Mike Leaty, and Daren Scherer. Andy Jankowiak would move into fourth, with Zeiner taking over fifth place on lap 45, as Ely got freight trained on the outside of the speedway. With 25 laps remaining, Hirschman continued to show the way ahead of Beers and Skora. The lead trio would pull away from Jankowiak, Zeiner, Emerling, and Hanbury. Patrick Emerling tried to get around Zane Zeiner to enter the top five on lap 59. Emerling started 14th on the grid of the 21-car field. The leaders would hit lap traffic on lap 61, just as Emerling passed Jankowiak to take over fourth place. Emerling would continue his hard charge to the front, as he passed Skora going into turn three to take over third place on lap 66. Emerling would then catch Austin Beers for second place with six laps remaining. Andy Jankowiak and Tony Hanbury got together on lap 70 in turn two to bring out the race’s first caution. The late-race restart would see Hirschman take off in the lead as Emerling applied pressure to Beers for second place. Mark Tychoniewicz spun going down the back straightaway to bring out the caution with three laps remaining. Hirschman would continue to lead off the lap 72 restart, and Emerling would take over second on lap 73. Hirschman would hold off Emerling, Beers, Skora, and Zeiner to win his sixth US Open, and first since 2018.

RACE RESULTS – 10-1-22 – 34th US OPEN WEEKEND
RoC Modifieds: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Patrick Emerling, Austin Beers, George Skora III, Zane Zeiner, Jack Ely, Mike Leaty, Timmy Catalano, Daren Scherer, Chuck Hossfeld, Trevor Catalano, Shawn Nye, Tony Hanbury, Tyler Catalano, Jake Lutz, Andy Jankowiak, Danny Knoll Jr, Sean Verwys, Alan Bookmiller, Mark Tychoniewicz, Daryl Lewis Jr
Qualifying Heats: Mike Leaty, Matt Hirschman, Tony Hanbury
Fast Time: Matt Hirschman (17.072 seconds) 


Ron Silk Wins Monaco Modified Tri-Track NAPA Fall Final At Stafford Speedway September 24, 2022

Matt's Fall Final Thoughts: Started 24th advanced into top 10 before solid pit stop by my crew. Got RF suspension bent when P3 & P4 tangle entering turn 3. From this point did the best I could to maintain position finishing 7th. Thanks to PeeDee Motorsports for allowing me use of the black 60 and equipment with the RoC event planned for Sunday with the red car. Too bad mother nature had other plans as that event has been postponed until 2023. Appreciate the effort by all of our team members and sponsors couldn't do it without your support! On to the next race

by Shawn Courchesne

The resume of Ron Silk when it comes to Modified racing is overflowing with highlight accomplishments. 

Now the 39-year old from Norwalk can add a statistic to his racing history that stands exclusive to only him. On Sept. 29, 2002 Silk won the SK Modified feature at the Fall Final at Stafford. On Sept. 26, 2020 he won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at the Fall Final.  And Saturday, the the 49th running of the Fall Final, Silk added one more notch to his Autumn accolades at the historic half-mile. 
Silk held on through three late race restarts to win the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series NAPA Fall Final 80 Saturday at Stafford. The victory made Silk the first driver to win Fall Final events with an SK Modified, a Whelen Modified Tour car and a Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series car. “I think I’m the only one that’s tried that yet,” Silk joked after the victory. It was the fourth career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victory for Silk. His last win with the series came on July 27, 2019 at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. Saturday’s race marked the second Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series event at Stafford. The series ran its first event at Stafford in October 2020.“Just a great job by my guys,” Silk said. “We’ve been so close to winning on the [Whelen Modified Tour] all year. Seconds, thirds. We just needed something to get us over the hump. It feels great to win this race. Happy to be back racing with [the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series] back at Stafford. Want to thank Monaco Ford for their support. And just my entire team.” For Silk, the hope is that the relief of Saturday’s victory will help carry the team to a Whelen Modified Tour victory in one of the final two events for that division this season. Silk has six podium finishes in 14 events this year on the Whelen Modified Tour, but is still looking for a win. “We’re so close,” Silk said. “I guess it is frustrating. We’re almost defying the law of averages to finish second and third that many times and not luck into a win. It feels really good to get the Fall Final win and the $15,000 payday. It’s what everyone on this team needs, to get charged up for our last two [Whelen Modified Tour] races.” Jake Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass. was second and Matt Galko of Moodus third. Johnson was making his second start at Stafford. He retired early from an Open Modified event earlier this season at Stafford. Johnson said he wasn’t intimidated by the Stafford layout, which historically frustrates newcomers. “I was just following the guys in front of me,” Johnson said. “If he can do it then I can do it, that’s kind of my mentality. As we go we just feel it out. I was trying to take care of the car in the beginning. The pit crew did a killer job. So we came out out up front and once we were there I was like “Alright, let’s get after it, it’s time to go.” 
Pole-sitter Ryan Preece controlled out front at the start, but it was a short-lived run in the lead early. Ronnie Williams moved past Preece to take over the top spot on lap three. The early dueling was feisty with Preece and Williams. Preece moved back out to the front past Williams on lap eight. Behind them Woody Pitkat was up to third from his sixth starting spot. Caution flew for the spinning car of Kyle Bonsignore on lap 16. On the ensuing restart Preece held the top spot with Pitkat moving past Williams for second. On lap 17 Pitkat used a diving move into turn one to wrangle the lead away from Preece. But Preece stayed in striking distance and on lap 20 it was Preece using the turn one move to get back by Pitkat and regain the lead. A long green flag run allowed Preece to open some distance over Pitkat in second, but that advantage was gone when caution flew for the stopped car of Buddy Charette on lap 64.  All the leaders headed to pit road with Preece winning the race back to the track under caution. Williams, who came in fifth, came off pit road in second. Craig Lutz went from seventh to third. Silk restarted fourth, Johnson fifth and Pitkat sixth. Under caution Mike Christopher Jr., running fourth at the time, went behind the wall. It was unclear what took place, but team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. vented angrily after the incident. “This pit road is a total piece of shit to be quite honest with you,” Baldwin said. “The Arute family spent all this money on fixing this place and they can’t fix pit road. It’s the most dangerous pit road we race on and they need to fix it.” On the lap 64 restart it was Preece holding the top spot with Silk going from fourth up to second past Williams. Behind them Pitkat went from sixth to fourth. On the next lap Pitkat tried to get under Williams into turn three for third place. Contact sent both cars hard into the turn three wall, collecting three other cars in the incident. “I think Woody got in the back of me down the backstretch,” Williams said. “Just kind of ripped the wheel out of my hands, hit the wall and just came back. I know it was a hard hit for him, it was a hard hit for me. Just sucks. I know it’s not the way either of wanted to end the Stafford Open shows. It is what it is.” On the lap 65 restart it was Preece and Silk battling side-by-side with Preece clearing Silk off of turn four. But two laps later Silk got under Preece into turn three and came off of turn four with the lead. Preece looked under Silk on laps 70 and 73, but Silk deftly defended the challenges. Caution flew on lap 74 for the stopped car of Anthony Flannery in turn three. On the ensuing restart Silk and Preece battled side-by-side for three quarters of the lap. But in turn four contact from Lutz sent Preece spinning through the corner. On the next restart it was Silk getting away out front with Lutz moving past Johnson for second place. Caution flew once again on lap 75 for the stopped car of George Bessette Jr. On the lap 75 restart Silk quickly checked out on the pack with Johnson going past Lutz for second place. “We had a really good piece,” Johnson said. “I’m just pumped to be here. I’ve got to thank [crew chief] Ryan Stone a lot and [the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series] and Stafford all working together to put on this awesome event. … The restarts at the end, it was a heart pumper for me but it was a lot of fun. Great group of guys out here to race against. It was a real experience.” 



Matt Hirschman sweeps his weekend of races with a win at Evergreen September 18
 Results to follow

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Matt Hirschman makes the most of a green white checkered finish at Dominion Speedway September 17

OLD DOMINION CLASSIC 99 - DOMINION SPEEDWAY (9/17/22)
1. 60 Matt Hirschman
2. 7NY Caleb Heady
3. 2 Brandon Ward
4. 25 Bobby Labonte
5. 1 Burt Myers
6. 02C Joey Coulter
7. 4 Jason Myers
8. 14 Bobby Measmer Jr.
9. 15CL Carson Loftin
10. 21 Jimmy Wallace
11. 07VA Dennis Holdren
​​​12. 79 Jeremy Gerstner
13. 6A Greg Butcher
14. 8NY Wes Gilbert
15. 22 Jonathan Brown
16. 15 Brian Loftin
17. 77 Gary Putnam
18. 8F Chris Finocchario
19. 65 Danny Bohn
20. 5B Tom Buzze
21. 3 Craig Young
22. 02Y Troy Young DNS


Matt Hirschman / Brian DeFebo split Mike Muffley Tribute Modified mains at Mahoning Valley Speedway on September 10

By DINO OBERTO

(Lehighton, PA 9-10-22) The final installment of the 2022 Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series (MVSHoFS) was an amazing finale for the unique five race series that honors past greats inducted into the Dorney Park Speedway/Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame.  It was the Mike Muffley Tribute with the Modifieds running twin features of 40 and 39 laps and a pair of future Hall of Famer’s collecting respective wins as Matt Hirschman of Northampton and Brian DeFebo of Berwick chalked up victories.

In the companion events three first time winners emerged as Matt Kocher of Nazareth, Dave Imler Jr., of Lehighton and Ryan Petro of Tamaqua scored the outcomes in the Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Futures respectively.

In the Modified opener Hirschman drew the pole position and admitted that despite the best starting spot it should not be taken lightly and he was correct. When the race got underway as expected he jumped into the lead but would have Kyle Strohl hot on his heels.Throughout the contest Hirschman never was able to separate himself by much as Strohl stayed within striking distance lap after lap. A few cautions also afforded Strohl opportunities to advance but each time Hirschman was just a bit quicker on restarts.Nonetheless they continued to run within a car length of each other as Hirschman held on for his fifth consecutive Mahoning win in as many starts this season. “I didn’t know just how close he (Strohl) was and I wasn’t happy with my handling on the car so I was just trying to keep it on the bottom and only allow him to go to the outside,” said Hirschman after notching his 33rd Mahoning victory.“We definitely have to improve on this if we’re going to win again tonight. This was probably the most unhappy I’ve been with his car in years here but this track is tough and to do what we’ve been doing is quite remarkable because this place changes a lot with weather and things like that. We’ll go back and adjust on it and see what we have for the next race.” For Strohl if would be his seventh runner-up of the season including the past four races. Hirschman picked an eight pill for the invert of the second feature which put DeFebo on the pole. This race became quite the contrast from the first as all the while there was intense action at the front of the pack. DeFebo led from the outset but was contending with Bobby Jones over the first dozen circuits which at that juncture Strohl and Hirschman came into play and the four titans then raced under a blanket. The first of only two cautions waved whe n Rod Snyder Jr., spun in Turn 2 on lap 23. That put Strohl alongside DeFebo for the restart with Hirschman lined up behind the leader. When the action resumed DeFebo was able to uphold his spot albeit under the same intense hassling from Strohl and Hirschman. On lap 33 the final caution slowed the pace when Terry Markovic spun in the first corner. As they set up for the restart once again there was high expectations from the front trio as to who could hold off the other. DeFebo swiftly showed he wasn’t about to give in to the persistence and went into a major defensive role in safeguarding his lead. Behind him Strohl and Hirschman ran side-by-side, each trying every way to get the top spot.At one point Hirschman, who was running on the inside and attempting to assert his way by DeFebo, was called out for crossing the lower yellow line on the track which is a no passing zone and had to back down.  That would become the saving grace for DeFebo as only two laps remained by then and he held on for very narrow margin of victory, his first of the season. “The best car doesn’t always win and we were just a little bit off. I just had to keep my line and make them try and go around me and it’s nice to see somebody else win a race down here besides Matt (Hirschman),” admitted DeFebo, who picked up his 108th career win. “We started out front, played defense and I’m just glad to win a race. I was trying to slow the car down as much as I could and he (Hirschman) knows were yellow line is and I do too and obviously he went down a little bit much.”Hirschman and Strohl went nip and tuck over the final two laps with the 60 just edging the 44 for the runner-up spot. Hirschman would be named the overall champ of the Muffley race while Strohl took the MVSHoFS title. “For Kyle and I it felt like the whole race went side-by-side and it was good racing. Each of us where looking for lane to get,” explained Hirschman. “The one time I got inside (DeFebo) and the last thing I wanted to do was spin him out. I went real low to make sure that didn’t happen and they (officials) let me know it. I’m glad it finished clean between the top three because this was a good race for the fans and that’s what we’re here to do.”

1st Modified feature finish (40 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Austin Kochenash, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Jaden Brown, 8. Brian DeFebo, 9. Nick Baer, 10. Cody Kohler, 11. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 12. Rod Snyder Jr., 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Brody George

2nd Modified feature finish (39 laps): 1. DeFebo, 2. Hirschman, 3. K. Strohl, 4. Kochenash, 5. Wagner, 6. Jones, 7. L. Strohl, 8. Snyder Jr., 9. Brown, 10. George, 11. Markovic, 12. Kohler, 13. Baer, 14. Rinehimer Jr.


Bud Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway on September is an odd race with interesting results

There’s few around the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour that would question the driving skills of three-time series champion Justin Bonsignore. 
But Saturday at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway it might have been Bonsignore’s acting prowess more than his skill turning the wheel that helped him more in scoring his 34th career Whelen Modified Tour victory. 
Bonsignore faked a move to pit road under caution with 28 laps to go, inherited the lead and then held off the charges of Chuck Hossfeld over the closing laps to win the Whelen Modified Tour Bud Mod Classic 150 at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway. 
“We’ve been struggling with where we feel we should be running this year,” said Bonsignore, of Holtsville, N.Y. “That’s not to be whiney or anything like that, we just hold ourselves to a high standard. It’s been an up and down summer. We had a few issues that put us behind and we just haven’t had the speed or the consistency week in and week out. Just from run to run we’re chasing the car. We got it good tonight. I wasn’t too happy with it after qualifying but I just stuck with it.” 

It was the third win of the season for Bonsignore, the reigning series champion who came into the event sitting fourth in the series standings. 
“We’ve kind of been like a bunch of brothers that have been on each other and giving each other a lot of crap lately,” Bonsignore said. “This is good medicine to solve that I think. … I guess we’re not out of it on the points. We’ll go on to Riverhead and see what happens.” 
Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y. was second and Craig Lutz of Miller Place, N.Y. third. 
Doug Coby looked to have a fourth victory of 2022 in hand before caution flew with 29 laps remaining after Andrew Krause spun out of sixth place. Coby headed to the pits along with third place McKennedy, fifth place Ron Silk and seventh place Matt Hirschman. The move to the pits handed Bonsignore the lead. 
“I don’t know if Doug just got tired of winning or I faked him out,” Bonsignore said. “I faked like I was coming to pit road, but we weren’t coming.”
Coby said he wasn’t faked by Bonsignore’s move. 
Coby got stuck in traffic on the ensuing restart and couldn’t claw his way back to the front. He ended up seventh.
Hossfeld got by Kyle Bonsignore for third with 10 laps to go and went by Lutz for second with five to go, but couldn’t find a way by Justin Bonsignore at the front. 
“All these guys did a great job,” Hossfeld said. “Joe [Bertuccio], our car owner, didn’t even come today. My buddy Mike said ‘Who gives the checkbook and car and all their tools and stuff and goes to a wedding and says have fun?’ What a great team and what a great owner.”
Hossfeld was making his second series start of the season. He was third at Richmond Raceway on April 1. 
It was the second podium finish in the last three races for Lutz, who won at Thompson Speedway on Aug. 18. 
“It was pretty eventful but luckily we had a pretty good car and we were able to stay in the top-five most of the night,” Lutz said. “Those late race restarts, Justin was making it as wide as possible to make everyone else’s job that much harder, and he did. But my guys gave me an awesome car again tonight. The last three races we’ve really been building some momentum.” 
Kyle Bonsignore ended up fourth and Hirschman fifth.
Jon McKennedy, who came into the event leading the driver’s championship standings, was sixth. Ron Silk, who came into the event three points behind McKennedy in second place in the driver standings, was 13th. After the race the standings had McKennedy remaining on top and extending his lead over second place Silk to 10 points. Justin Bonsignore moved past Eric Goodale into third place in the standings, 17 points behind McKennedy. Goodale, who was ninth, now sits 27 points off the lead in fourth after coming into the race 24 points behind. 
Kyle Bonsignore jumped from seventh to fifth in the standings. 
Tommy Baldwin Racing remained atop the owner’s championship standings, holding a 32-point lead over the Tim Lepine owned team with McKennedy. 
The first caution of the race flew on lap 28 for the smoking car of Tyler Rypkema. After a lap 33 restart the caution was flying again on lap 35 for a front stretch multi-car spin involving Bobby Santos III, JB Fortin and Ken Heagy. 
Pole sitter Hirschman held the top spot with Coby on his bumper after the lap 42 restart. Caution flew again on lap 70 for a Gary McDonald spin. The caution period sent all the leaders to the pits. 
On pit road it was Coby’s Tommy Baldwin Racing team getting him out on top with Justin Bonsignore coming out second. Behind him a slow pit stop from the Hirschman team dropped him back to ninth for the restart. 


Pos.    Car No.    Driver    Sponsor    Laps    Diff.
1    51    Justin Bonsignore    Phoenix Communication Inc.    150    --
2    2    Chuck Hossfeld    Gershow Recycling    150    0.129
3    82    Craig Lutz    Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service    150    0.483
4    22    Kyle Bonsignore    Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto    150    0.591
5    60    Matt Hirschman    PeeDee Motorsports    150    0.791
6    79    Jon McKennedy    Middlesex Interiors    150    1.047
7    7    Doug Coby    John Blewett Inc.    150    1.487
8    44    Bobby Santos    Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market    150    2.009
9    58    Eric Goodale    GAF Roofing    150    2.294
10    24    Andrew Krause    Supreme Mfg. Co.    150    2.69
11    3    Donny Lia    Propane Plus/Huntington Honda    150    2.783
12    64    Austin Beers*    Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical    150    2.803
13    16    Ron Silk    Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes    150    3.159
14    14    Mike Leaty*    AdvantageTrucks.com LLC    150    3.385
15    25    Brian Robie*    Maurice Enterprises    150    3.615
16    5    Kyle Ebersole    Ebersole Excavating Technique Chassis Ford    149    1 Lap
17    54    Tommy Catalano    FX Caprara    148    2 Laps
18    18    Ken Heagy    Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant    148    2 Laps
19    19    Anthony Sesely    Wanick Construction Inc.    147    3 Laps
20    78    Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.    Last Minute Racing    143    7 Laps
21    26    Gary McDonald    Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict    137    13 Laps
22    34    J.B. Fortin    Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal    117    33 Laps
23    07    Patrick Emerling    Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway    106    44 Laps
24    32    Tyler Rypkema    Northeast Drilling/MUSCO    27    123 Laps
25    01    Melissa Fifield    Pine Knoll Auto Sales    19    131 Laps


“BIG MONEY” MATT HIRSCHMAN DRIVES TO SECOND STRAIGHT MAYNARD TROYER CLASSIC WIN AT SPENCER SEPTEMBER 2 - AUSTIN WAS TIGHT BUT STILL FINISHES 4th

Williamson, N.Y. (September 3, 2022) – “Big Money” Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., lived up to his nickname this past Friday night at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., in the Maynard Troyer Classic III. It was Hirschman’s second consecutive victory in what has become the marquee event at Spencer Speedway. Hirschman took the lead from Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., on a restart after Emerling encountered mechanical issues.
“We had a great car tonight,” stated Hirschman from victory lane. “This is a big race for us because of our family’s history with Maynard Troyer and representing his brand through the Troyer Manufacturing brand. This is a big win and one that you don’t  forget any time soon.”
Hirschman held off Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., who is the only other driver to win the Maynard Troyer Classic. Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., finished third. Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., finished fourth and Jack Ely of Wall Township, Pa., rounded out the top-five.


Finish    Start    #    Competitor    Hometown    +/-
1    4    60    Matt Hirschman    Matt Hirschman     Northampton, PA    3
2    5    25    Mike Leaty    Mike Leaty     Williamson, NY    3
3    6    22    Zane Zeiner    Zane Zeiner     Bath, PA    3
4    8    45    Austin Beers    Austin Beers     Northampton, PA    4
5    11    81    Jack Ely    Jack Ely     Northampton, PA    6
6    3    10    Daryl Lewis Jr.    Daryl Lewis Jr.     Ontario, NY    -3
7    7    56    Tommy Catalano    Tommy Catalano     Ontario, NY    -
8    13    17C    Roger Coss    Roger Coss     Lafayette, NJ    5
9    17    17K    Danny Knoll Jr    Danny Knoll Jr     Amherst, NY    8
10    18    66    Austin Kochenash    Austin Kochenash     Danielsville, PA    8
11    21    0    Randall Richard    Randall Richard         10
12    15    3    Daren Scherer    Daren Scherer     Binghamton, NY    3
13    22    88    Sean Verwys    Sean Verwys     East Stroudsburg, PA    9
14    9    8    Chris Finocchario    Chris Finocchario     Macedon, NY    -5
15    1    73X    Andy Jankowiak    Andy Jankowiak     Tonawanda, NY    -14
16    12    2    Tony Hanbury    Tony Hanbury     Owego, NY    -4
17    10    45PJ    Timmy Catalano    Timmy Catalano     Ontario, NY    -7
18    20    64PJ    Tyler Catalano    Tyler Catalano     Ontario, NY    2
19    2    14    Patrick Emerling    Patrick Emerling     Orchard Park, NY    -17
20    14    17T    Kevin Timmerman    Kevin Timmerman     Ontario, NY    -6
21    19    11    Ricky Knapp Jr.    Ricky Knapp Jr.     Buffalo, NY    -2
22    16    71    Jimmy Zacharias    Jimmy Zacharias     Candor, NY    -6
23    23    40    Tommy Rought    Tommy Rought     Rome, PA    -



Austin Kochenash holds off Matt Hirschman and Austin Beers to score his first Race of Champions Modified Series win on August 20 at Chemung.

The Rod Spalding Classic "The Night Before the Glen" at the Chemung Speedrome had one caution flag in the 75 lap feature and produced a finish that had the fans on their feet.

Finish    Start    #    Competitor    Hometown    +/-
1    2    66    Austin Kochenash    Austin Kochenash     Danielsville, PA    1
2    4    60    Matt Hirschman    Matt Hirschman     Northampton, PA    2
3    6    45    Austin Beers    Austin Beers     Northampton, PA    3
4    11    14    Patrick Emerling    Patrick Emerling     Orchard Park, NY    7
5    8    81    Jack Ely    Jack Ely     Northampton, PA    3
6    1    10    Daryl Lewis Jr.    Daryl Lewis Jr.     Ontario, NY    -5
7    5    17C    Roger Coss    Roger Coss     Lafayette, NJ    -2
8    20    73X    Andy Jankowiak    Andy Jankowiak     Tonawanda, NY    12
9    7    45PJ    Timmy Catalano    Timmy Catalano     Ontario, NY    -2
10    12    3    Daren Scherer    Daren Scherer     Binghamton, NY    2
11    15    25    Mike Leaty    Mike Leaty     Williamson, NY    4
12    16    64PJ    Tyler Catalano    Tyler Catalano     Ontario, NY    4
13    9    72    T.J. Potrzebowski    T.J. Potrzebowski     Elmira, NY    -4
14    10    0    Zane Zeiner    Zane Zeiner     Bath, PA    -4
15    3    71    Bryce Bailey    Bryce Bailey     Waverly, NY    -12
16    19    56PJ    Trevor Catalano    Trevor Catalano     Ontario, NY    3
17    14    39    Geary Rinehimer    Geary Rinehimer     Moosic, PA    -3
18    17    40    Tommy Rought    Tommy Rought     Rome, PA    -1
19    18    27    Donny Hartzell    Donny Hartzell     Sweet Valley, PA    -1
20    13    17K    Danny Knoll Jr    Danny Knoll Jr     Amherst, NY    -7
21    21    21    Paul Townsend    Paul Townsend     Guelph, ON    -
22    22    88    Sean Verwys    Sean Verwys     East Stroudsburg, PA    -

HIRSCHMAN CASHES IN AT CLAREMONT ON AUGUST 12

CLAREMONT, N.H. – Matt “Money” Hirschman took home the big money – again Hirschman, who’d set a track Modified record earlier in time trials with a blistering lap of 13.211 seconds, sat on the front row of the 22-car field as the $15,000-to-win Racers Honoring Racers Open Modified 100 went green. Firing alongside him was Max Zachem. But if the large crowd thought the man known as Money would dash off and lead all the way, they were quickly surprised. It was Zachem who blasted into the opening lead and then sat at the point – sometimes leading by 20 lengths – for the first 79 laps. When the event’s only caution, for a minor spin, came out, everyone but Sammy Rameau, Joey Jarvis, and Todd Alexander went pitside, with Ronnie Silk back to claim fourth, Hirschman fifth, and Zachem refiring sixth, as 18 of the 22 starters remained in the mix.  Rameau’s strategy paid off for 11 laps, as he led first Alexander and then Hirschman until lap 90, but then Money Matt, with a fresh right rear, was just too much, taking control when it counted most and blasting off to a dozen-length victory and the night’s big payday.

CLAREMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK AUGUST 12 TOP PERFORMERS
RACERS HONORING RACERS MODIFIED 100: Matt Hirschman, Ronnie Silk, Max Zachem, Sammy Rameau, Kirk Alexander, Joey Jarvis, Todd Patnode, Woody Pitkat, Jake Johnson, Andy Jankowiak.

D’Lightful: Dana DiMatteo On Top In Dazzling Monaco Modified Tri-Track Return To Speedbowl on August 6 - Matt gets 8th

By Shawn Courchesne 
WATERFORD – It was a night of celebration on multiple facets Saturday in Waterford. There was celebration for the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in hosting a packed crowd for a dazzling Tour Type Modified event for the first time since 2016. There was celebration for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series in being the vehicle to help bring a major stage type Tour Type Modified event back to the historic shoreline oval. And there was celebration for Dana DiMatteo, the lucky one who stood in victory lane after all the buildup and competition of the triumphant event. DiMatteo held off Mike Christopher Jr. and Kyle Bonsignore on a green-white-checkered finish to win the Belltown Motors/Fowler’s Auto Wrecking 100 presented by CBYD 811. It was the first career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victory for DiMatteo, of Farmington. “We had a really good weekend,” DiMatteo said. “[In the SK Modified feature] we finished third. The Open car was top-five all day long on speed. We knew we had a really good car. Won the heat race. Just rode around behind Matt [Hirschman] for a while and we started losing forward drive about lap 40. Waited for the yellow, finally got the yellow. Came out and put the tire on tire. Saved a little more once we went back green. I think that made the difference between [Christopher] and [Bonsignore]. I just had a little more tire than everybody else at the end. That was the name of the game.” Christopher, of Wolcott, was second and Bonsignore, of Bay Shore, N.Y., was third. The race played in front of a packed house at the Speedbowl. Forty-four cars were on hand attempting to make the 30-car starting field for the feature. It marked the largest car count for a Tour Type Modified event in the Northeast in 2022. “I think [the Monaco Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series] did an amazing job putting this show on,” Christopher said. “This is something that I haven’t seen at the Bowl in many years. To see the crowd and all the people and all the hustle and bustle and race day. It was just incredible. Reminded me of the last time the [NASCAR Whelen Modified] Tour was here in years past. Shout out to them.” The drama of the entire day came to a crescendo on the track when caution flew with DiMatteo leading on lap 99 of the event, setting up the green-white-checkered finish. “Immediately I was upset,” DiMatteo said. “I was mad. I was. What are you going to do? We had to capitalize on the opportunity that was still in front of us and we ended up taking it home.” Said Bonsignore: “I thought it was a really good race for this team. First time I’ve ever been here, first time they’ve been here with this car. We got faster and improved all day. We had a really solid car for the beginning of the race. We were in the top-three basically the whole race. Great pit stop. I thought we had the perfect car after the green flag came back out. We were able to get to the lead and start stretching it out. But we started to get a little bit loose and loose some drive off the [corners] and it was enough for [DiMatteo] to get us.” Ryan Preece of Berlin was fourth and Woody Pitkat fifth. 


Big Win for Big Money Matt Hirschman at North Wilkesboro on August 3

Only Richie Evans (38) has won at more tracks than (34) Matt Hirschman in Modified competition.
Matt Weaver on Aug 4, 2022

"It's like we crashed an episode of Dale Jr.'s Lost Speedways and had a race." That’s how Matt Hirschman described the first two nights of Racetrack Revival after winning the Tour Type Modified finale at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Wednesday night. The victory was the 34th different track ‘Big Money Matt’ has driven a car to Victory Lane on but this one was especially rewarding due to how unlikely it seemed over the past decade. "It's a cool moment for sure," Hirschman said. "The Revival and being a part of it is a really neat thing, but to add to that number -- and I don't even know what it is -- that's a track you'd never think you could add to a list. "There are a few others I wish I could have added but they're gone for good so hopefully after it's come back this week, that the future is bright." Hirschman contended in the debut event on Tuesday but ultimately came up short to both Ryan Newman and Spencer Davis -- citing how little data everyone had on the extremely abrasive short track. Thus, Hirschman and the No. 60 PeeDee Motorsports team went to work overnight."I think about it a lot," Hirschman said. "It’s something everyone had the opportunity to do. I’m sure got better and others overadjusted and got worse, but it was something I went to sleep on, woke up and had an idea and it worked."Hirschman led the most laps from the pole, briefly losing the top spot to Spencer Davis on Lap 6 before regaining it on Lap 10. The pace was up front Tuesday night and that allowed Hirschman to create separation whenever he needed it. "We were stuck in a pack last night," Hirschman said. "We were boxed in. Spencer got us for a couple of laps, but I had enough space to race and was never boxed in like we were then."Bobby Labonte ran second to Hirschman for much of the race before getting passed by a hard charging Brian Loftin. After a frustrating debut event finish, Labonte was proud to have a competitive showing at a track where he’s enjoyed NASCAR success. "It’s really cool to be here at North Wilkesboro and to be the first race last night, we had some things to learn and figure out," Labonte said. "We came back tonight and had a much better run, already thinking of some things we could have done to have less falloff, but a really good job for our guys."Ryan Preece posted fourth place finishes on both nights and believes he was much better on Wednesday than Tuesday if not for a flat right rear dropping him from the mix in the closing laps.
"I’m really happy with what we did and the promise it showed," Preece said.
Preece debriefed with Hirschman after the race on Tuesday, citing him as the master at this kind of racing but says ‘Big Money’ doesn’t offer up advice or tips to help the competition."If you listen to enough of his interviews, you can kind of figure out what he’s thinking," Preece said. "But Matt has always been very methodical, good and I would say I’ve matured as a driver the past few months learning how to go fast with a little less effort." Racetrack Revival continues August 12-13 with a Super Late Model twinbill promoted by the Southern Super Series and CRA Super Series.

Racetrack Revival Tour Type Modifieds
North Wilkesboro Speedway
August 3 2022

Matt Hirschman
Brian Loftin
Bobby Labonte
Ryan Preece
Burt Myers
Spencer Davis
Max Zachem
Max McLaughlin
Jimmy Blewett
Jonathan Brown
Anthony Bello
Caleb Heady
Brandon Ward
Tim Connolly
Kevin Timmerman
Bobby Measmer
Chris Finocchario
Devin O'Connell
Jamie Tomaino
Jeremy Gerstner
Cody Kohler
Danny Propst
Wes Gilert
Brian Weber
Chase Cook
Joey Coulter
Tom Buzze
Andy Jankowiak
Jason Myers

​
Ryan Newman Claims Tour Type Modified Win at North Wilkesboro - Matt gets 3rd

By Matt Weaver

Ryan Newman has driven by Historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for over two decades but never imagined actually having the chance to race on it. On Tuesday night, he drove a Tour Type Modified owned by Hermie Sadler to Victory Lane. To be more literal, he rode to Victory Lane.That’s because the debut Racetrack Revival event was able to operate the iconic lift that transports the winner from the infield to the rooftop Victory Lane. There, he was greeted by a large crowd that included Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcus Smith of Speedway Motorsports and promoter Barry Braun of XR Events.It was a celebration that Newman dedicated to the Parsons family who had never stopped believing that the legendary short track could still host marquee racing events."This is really special," Newman said. "I drove by this place for years watching the trees grow up. I didn't know if it would ever be open again. It's a special place. It holds so much history with NASCAR and the Cup Series. "I dedicated the win to the Parsons family because it meant so much to Benny Parsons to get this place back, to try to get this place back open. It means so much to Terri Parsons and when it's from someone who has become family to you, it becomes personal to you too. To be a part of this, with all the sponsors and people that made it happen, it's a special feeling."The extremely abrasive surface at North Wilkesboro produced a de facto pack race with everyone racing two-by-two in the pursuit of making their tires last through lap 50. The exception was Spencer Davis, who was penalized for pouring ice water on their right rear after time trials, a misunderstanding from NASCAR rules to what is allowed in the SMART Tour. The Uncatchable Moonshine 50 was contested under SMART rules. As a result of the penalty, Davis had to immediately drive through the 33-car field but was leading by Lap 8. He led the most laps until he was overtaken by Ryan Preece on lap 35. But Preece couldn’t hold it and was back to fourth two laps later.Davis would again hold the lead through Lap 44 when he was passed by Newman, who would lead the final six laps to score the first win at North Wilkesboro in a decade."I let the rabbits do their thing and I had no idea it would be that slow to start," Newman said. "It worked, so it paid off, I guess. But I’ve never seen that slow a pace for a race with so few laps in my career."We had that caution and red flag and coming out of that, everyone hit the green light switch. I was using Hirschman as a gauge because he’s so good in these Modifieds. When he started coming, it was time to go, he got ahead of me, so I had to get him back. He’s a hard guy to pass but I’d rather pass the hard guy to pass when I’m usually the hard guy to pass."  Davis chalked up his penalty to a misunderstanding and wished he had been a little more aggressive working lapped traffic."We got to the lead and was just playing the game with Preece and Newman," Davis said. "I thought we had it figured out. I grabbed the lead when I wanted to and some lapped cars happened. Four wide in front of me and I was scared to get blasted because we were all out of tires."If Newman would have touched me, which you're supposed to do, I would have just slid up the track anyway. I hate it, falling back to third, got a run to get back by the 60 car so any time you can beat Hirschman, it's really cool." As for Hirschman, the driver of the PeeDee Motorsports No. 60 ultimately wasn’t sure what pace to set in his first race in the foothills of the North Carolina High Country. "It was always going to be tough tonight because no one had anything to go by," Hirschman said. "Now, tomorrow, everyone will have an opportunity to improve themselves. We redrew eighth and I thought that would be a blessing, but in hindsight, it hurt us because I was boxed in at times and couldn’t use the whole track."That hurt a little bit but overall, no excuses at the end because we weren’t just good enough."Preece, who led a handful of laps said he’s got some work to do on these super abrasive southern short tracks after finishing fourth."I mean, I was saving the whole race," Preece said. "It was time to go, I don’t know, thought we saved enough but we need to go to work. We got to even out the rear tires a little better. This place is fun but this style of racing is so different than what we’re used to."I’m sure dirt racers get to go to different parts of the country and some of those tracks hold moisture better than others. Similar, any time you come south, the asphalt, whatever they put in the pavement rips tires apart. "What I do up north works really well up there but when I bring it down here, I can’t get it off without hurting the tires too much. Matt, Newman won, but Matt is the bar when it comes to getting his tires to stay long and we’re working in that direction."Preece would visit with Hirschman after the race to pick his brain about their tire conservation approach. Meanwhile, there will for sure be a new winner in the second half of the Tour Type Modified Racetrack Revival on Wednesday as Newman has set sail for Indianapolis to compete in the BC39 USAC Midget Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

Racetrack Revival Tour Type Modified Race 1
North Wilkesboro Speedway
August 2 2022

Night one North Wilkes

1. (5) 39 Ryan Newman – South Bend, IN
2. (31) 29 Spencer Davis – Dawsonville, GA
3. (8) 60 Matt Hirschman – Northampton, PA
4. (2) 40 Ryan Preece – Berlin, CT
5. (7) 1 Burt Myers – Walnut Cove, NC
6. (17) 5 Tom Buzze – Statesville, NC
7. (4) 7NYB Jimmy Blewett – Howell, NJ
8. (1) 2 Brandon Ward – Winston-Salem, NC
9. (18) 15 Brian Loftin – Clemmons, NC
10. (11) 20 Max Zachem – Preston, CT
11. (10) 7NYH Caleb Heady – Shelbyville, KY
12. (23) 2PA Anthony Bello – Newtown, CT
13. (21) 4 Jason Myers – Walnut Cove, NC
14. (9) 02C Joey Coulter – Concord, NC
15. (32) 73 Andy Jankowiak – Tonawanda, NY
16. (34) 02Y Troy Young – Boones Mill, VA
17. (6) 25 Bobby Labonte – Corpus Christi, TX
18. (13) 20CT Chase Cook – Norwich, CT
19. (26) 99 Jamie Tomaino – Midland, NC
20. (19) 14NC Bobby Measmer Jr – Concord, NC
21. (20) 17 Kevin Timmerman – Ontario, NY
22. (24) 95M Cody Kohler – Schnecksville, PA
23. (33) 3 Craig Young – Boones Mill, VA
24. (15) V4 Tim Connolly – Endicott, NY
25. (28) 3P Danny Propst – Monroe, NC
26. (25) 29P Doug Patton – Greensboro, NC
27 DNF. (16) 79 Jeremy Gerstner – Wesley Chapel, FL
28 DNF. (29) 8NY Wes Gilbert – Preston, MD
29 DNF. (3) 77 Max McLaughlin – Mooresville, NC
30 DNF. (12) 43 Devin O’Connell – Madison, CT
31 DNF. (22) 12 Brian Sones – Sandy Valley, PA
32 DNF. (30) 8F Chris Finocchario – Macedon, NY
33 DNF. (27) 01 Brian Weber – Long Island, NY
DNS. (14) 45 Gary Young Jr. – Burlington, NC

Clash at Claremont 150 at Claremont Motorsports Park- July 29
​
The Clash at Claremont 150 was a relatively peaceful outing for McKennedy. Once he passed rookie Jake Johnson for the lead in the opening laps, McKennedy set the pace and finished the night uncontested ahead of the rest of his competition.  Despite breaking his long dry spell, McKennedy was unable to bring home the $5,000 paycheck that came with winning the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup.That honor belonged to veteran Matt Hirschman, whose fourth-place finish in the Clash at Claremont 150 allowed him to edge out NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship leader Ron Silk by two points to claim the honor.
Hirschman, who has been a part-time Whelen Modified Tour competitor since 2016, was honored to bring home the inaugural Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup and said the initiative highlights the need for fans and competitors to support Modified racing in the Northeast.“I probably wouldn’t have gone to all three races had they not been tied together with a bonus,” Hirschman said. “I remember going to Beech Ridge last year and they thanked me for coming. Stuff like that is appreciated, and I talked to my car owner [Roy Hall] about [the Granite State Short Track Cup] and he said this is something we should support.”The Granite State Short Track Cup was far from a smooth experience for Hirschman, who saw a win in the series’ second race at Monadnock Speedway slip away late after contact with the lapped car of J.B. Fortin.Hirschman still thinks about that near miss at Monadnock, but considers himself fortunate the outcome did not significantly hinder his chances of winning the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. He also expressed his gratitude to JDV Productions and the full-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers for mostly racing him clean during the three-race series. “I don’t think I’ve ever won a three-race series that paid that much to the champion,” Hirschman said. “This is certainly appreciated. The guys that we were contending with are in for the big prize during the whole season. Hopefully they have a good race up until the end, but we’ll join them a couple of more times.” One of those drivers expected to contend for the championship is McKennedy, who trailed Silk by 10 points entering the Clash at Claremont 150 and is expected to trim that deficit slightly as the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion finished right behind him in second. Now that he has a win during the 2022 season, McKennedy feels confident heading into the final six races on the schedule and believes that he can overtake Silk in the standings and add a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship to his resume. “This gives us some momentum heading into the last handful of races,” McKennedy said. “We’re heading to Thompson next, which is a really great track for me. I feel really good, and we’ll be going to Thompson with a brand new car, so hopefully that’ll give us a little extra.” Johnson followed McKennedy and Silk in the running order with a third-place finish. Kyle Bonsignore finished behind Hirschman to complete the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 were Justin Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Brian Robie, Doug Coby and Matthew Kimball.


Jon McKennedy Scores Whelen Mod Tour Clash At Claremont Victory; Matt Hirschman Takes Granite State Bonus 
July 30, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne 


It was a second and a first Friday at Claremont Motorsports Park for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Jon McKennedy. The Chelmsford, Mass. driver dominated on the way to victory in the Whelen Modified Tour Clash at Claremont 150 Friday at Claremont (N.H.) Speedway.It was the second series victory for McKennedy, but his first driving for first year team owners Tim and Cheryl Lepine. McKennedy got his first career series victory on March 17, 2018 at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway in his first start for team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. McKennedy drove for Baldwin through the 2021 season. The pair parted ways after last season and McKennedy began work building the a new team for the Lepine’s. 
“This was way overdue,” McKennedy said. “My last few years I had a real good deal with Tommy Baldwin and the 7NY group. It’s a been few years since we won. We had so many seconds with Tommy … I think we had eight or nine seconds. We were always in contention. Just couldn’t get that W the last years. But we’re back here. We won tonight. This is awesome. We’ve got a great group of guys. They worked really hard today. The last few months really switching cars back and forth. It’s a team effort. Big thanks to them. My car owners Tim and Cheryl Lepine, it’s the whole package.” McKennedy came into the night sitting second in the standings, 10 points behind Ron Silk. “This gives us some momentum going into the last few Tour races,” McKennedy said. “We’re in a point hunt here. We’re only a few points out of the lead so this was really big. We’re heading to Thompson [Speedway on Aug. 17] which is a really great track for me.”  Silk, of Norwalk, was second. Nineteen year old rookie Jake Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass., coming off a win last Saturday in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., was third. It was a career best Whelen Modified Tour finish for Johnson, who was making his fifth series start. Johnson won the pole for the event, his second pole of the season.
McKennedy became only the second full-time series driver to win this year over the first 10 races of the season. Reigning series champion Justin Bonsignore (two wins) is the only other full-time driver to win in 2022. Other series winners this year include Doug Coby (two wins), Hirschman, Mike Christopher Jr., Kyle Soper, Jimmy Blewett and Anthony Nocella.  Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. used a fourth place finish to clinch the inaugural Granite State Cup. The Granite State Cup was comprised of the JDV Productions series events held at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. (May 21), Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. (June 19) and Claremont. Hirschman edged Silk to capture the $5,000 bonus. Hirschman was third at Lee and second at second at Monadnock. Silk was fourth at Lee and third at Monadnock. “I’m glad they tied them all together, JDV Productions and Josh Vanada,” Hirschman said. “Probably would not have gone to all three races had it been tied together with a bonus that we were eligible for. I appreciate that.”  Friday’s event marked just the third Whelen Modified Tour event at Claremont and first since James Civali won at the track in 2007. Richie Evans won the only other series event at Claremont in 1985. Kyle Bonsignore of Bay Shore, N.Y. was fifth Friday. Justin Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Brian Robie, Doug Coby and Matthew Kimball rounded the top respectively at Claremont. 

1    79    Jon McKennedy    Middlesex Interiors    150    
2    16    Ron Silk    Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes    150    1.885
3    3    Jake Johnson*    Propane Plus/Huntington Honda    150    3.725
4    60    Matt Hirschman    PeeDee Motorsports    150    4.081
5    22    Kyle Bonsignore    Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto    150    4.538
6    51    Justin Bonsignore    Phoenix Communication Inc.    150    5.908
7    54    Tommy Catalano    FX Caprara    150    7.366
8    25    Brian Robie*    Maurice Enterprises    150    7.851
9    7    Doug Coby    Mayhew Tools    150    8.242
10    76    Matthew Kimball*    Kimball Trucking & Firewood/Gomarlos Supermarket    150    8.956
11    64    Austin Beers*    Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical    150    9.867
12    58    Eric Goodale    GAF Roofing    150    10.682
13    82    Craig Lutz    Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service    150    11.399
14    19    Anthony Sesely    Wanick Construction Inc.    150    11.631
15    36    Dave Sapienza    Sapienza Enterprises    149    1 Lap
16    34    J.B. Fortin    Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal    149    1 Lap
17    18    Ken Heagy    Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant    148    2 Laps
18    26    Gary McDonald    Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict    148    2 Laps
19    92    Anthony Nocella    Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas    148    2 Laps
20    01    Melissa Fifield    Pine Knoll Auto Sales    112    38 Laps
21    78    Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.    Last Minute Racing    110    40 Laps
22    06    Sam Rameau    Dennison Lubricants/Powdis Stone & Gravel    95    55 Laps
23    12    Todd Patnode*    APEX Racing/Swanzey Oil    62    88 Laps
RACE STATISTICS

Time of Race: 0 hrs., 45 mins, 13 secs

Average Speed: 65.684 mph

Margin of Victory: 1.885 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 64-69 (Car #12 turn 1 lost power, no FP); 81-86 (Car #36 & #82 turn 4 contact, no FP); 97-101 (Car #06 & #36 turn 3 & 4 contact, FP #01); 111-116 (Car #92 turn 1 lost power, FP #36). 4 for 23 laps.

Lap Leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-11, Jake Johnson * 12-13, Jon McKennedy 14-150.

Total Laps Led: Jon McKennedy 137, Justin Bonsignore 11, Jake Johnson * 2. 2 changes involving 3 drivers.




Fast Learner: Jake Johnson Wins Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 At Star on July 23

EPPING, N.H. – Last October in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season finale at Seekonk Speedway, Jake Johnson turned plenty of heads by scoring a third place finish in his series debut.  Saturday at Star Speedway the 19-year old from Rehoboth, Mass. made sure the world of Modified races knows his name. Johnson was a dominant force in cruising to victory in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 Saturday at Star Speedway.  Johnson was making his fifth Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series start Saturday at Star. 
“It really is just a dream come true,” said Johnson, who has also made four starts this season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “It couldn’t have worked out any better.” Before Saturday’s event at Star Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series managing partner Wayne Darling had to leave the track due to a medical issue. For Johnson, the celebration of victory couldn’t begin until he had a chance to speak with Darling. After climbing from his car in victory lane Johnson was handed a phone with Darling on the line. “Wayne is the reason I’m running with this series,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to thank him for everything he’s done for us. I was glad that I was able to do that.” Woody Pitkat of Stafford was second and Max Zachem of Preston third. 
Johnson was able to easily hold off the field on seven restarts over the final 44 laps. He said he didn’t mind the rash of cautions late in the event. “It felt good when your spotter is talking to you and telling you you’ve got a gap,” Johnson said of being able to pull away from his pursuers on each restart. “The fans like to see a lot of restarts at the end. It keeps the interest up. I knew we had a good car. The fans love to see the action. It made it more fun for me, it made it more meaningful. You’ve got to put your elbows up and drive for it.”  Despite finishing second, Pitkat was one of those celebrating Johnson’s victory. Before starting in a Modified last year, Johnson had spent a number of years competing in Late Models. “It’s cool to see.” Pitkat said. “I feel like a lot people can’t jump from a Late Model to a Modified. It’s a lot. Thankfully I’ve been able to accomplish that. But to see a guy like that adapt so quickly, and win one of the biggest races out there is really cool. It’s nice to see somebody different. If you can’t win it’s nice to see somebody different win.”  ohnson started on the pole. Chase Dowling went by him for the top spot on lap four. On lap 52 two cars at the tail of the end the lead lap got together forcing Dowling to slow in turn four and allowing Johnson to get by him for the lead. The first caution flew on lap 74, sending everybody to the pits. Matt Galko won the race out of the pits with Pitkat in second and Johnson third for the ensuing restart.  Johnson went to second on the restart, but caution flew once again on lap 75. Following the next restart Galko drifted up the track in turn three, allowing Johnson to assume the lead once again. Johnson was never challenged again at the front. 


Heated: Long Day At Star Speedway Leaves Matt Hirschman Perturbed With Officiating At SBM 125
July 24, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne

EPPING, N.H. –  When it comes to the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 at Star Speedway, it’s fair to say Matt Hirschman is typically the odds-on favorite to win before teams even arrive for the event.  Hirschman has long shined at the tight Epping, N.H. bullring. In the last five SBM 125 events at Star before Saturday’s event Hirschman had three wins, a third place and a fourth place. 
It’s clear Hirschman knows his way around the Star quarter-mile. Unfortunately for Hirschman in Saturday’s SBM 125 it wasn’t getting around the track that hurt him, but getting around the tight confines of the Star pitting area that was his demise.
Frustrations building up through the steamy afternoon and into feature time Saturday for Hirschman reached a crescendo when he was penalized for speeding in the pits under caution during the feature.The penalty put him Hirschman, a six-time Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series champion, down one lap and removed him from eligibility for the lucky dog free pass for the remainder of the event. Hirschman ended up 21st in the 29-car field at Star. After the event Hirschman insisted he wasn’t speeding. Hirschman said he feels like series officials have been searching for reasons to penalize him through the first four events of the 2022 season. “I kind of feel since the beginning of the season there’s been things that have happened and I feel like they’ve been trying to get me on something,” Hirschman said. “It’s a judgment call, so anytime you have a judgment call you can get somebody.” Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series rules state that the times from tire scrub set the lineup for heat races. Because of a timing issue with the track on Saturday the heat lineups were set by practice times. Hirschman was fastest in practice which put him starting fourth in the third heat race. Hirschman said he thinks the rule is unfair and ultimately was what set his issues in motion on Saturday. Early in the the third heat Hirschman got driven high up the track by Sam Rameau. After getting out of the groove Hirschman fell back and finished last in the 9-car heat. 
“I’m not complaining about the series or anything. but the format they have now puts the fastest car in fourth place,” Hirschman said. “Which, you’re already out of the potential invert. To me that’s too severe of a handicap. But, A, there was an issue with the [timing], and that might be a track issue and not the series. That’s legit, whatever, it’s fine. Then when they realized that the scoring wasn’t going to work, then they went by practice speed, which I was first. So I got that fourth place penalty, and so didn’t the second and third place [in practice]. We all started fourth in our heats and ended up getting washed out and sent backwards. To me that wasn’t fair to the racer. You penalized those cars for going fast in practice? What are you supposed to do? Because of the scoring issue, if they wanted to go heads up, fine. Even if they had inverted three and put the fastest three cars in [starting position] three in each heat, then you’re already in the invert and you’ve still go to maintain or move forward. To me that would have been fair. But I don’t see what happened as fair.” 
It left Hirschman starting 28th in the feature. From the start it was clear Hirschman’s plan was to back off and save tire from the start. Hirschman rode around at or near the back of the field for most of the early going.By l ap 40 then race leader Chase Dowling was closing quickly on Hirschman at the rear of the field and at that point Hirschman started passing cars. Eventual race winner Jake Johnson went to the lead on lap 52 and quickly began working traffic at the tail end of the lead lap. In front of him Hirschman was frantically trying to pick up spots.  The first caution of the race flew on lap 74 with Hirschman running 19th. The majority of the field went to the pits. When the cars arrived back out on the track Hirschman was 10th in the running order, having picked up nine spots during the pit stop.  Under caution though Hirschman was deemed to have violated the speeding in the pits rule and was assessed a one-lap penalty. Monaco Modified rules state that along with the one-lap penalty for speeding, offenders are not eligible for the Lucky Dog free pass for the remainder of the event. Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series managing partner Ed Bennett said series official Greg Felton made the definitive judgment to call Hirschman for speeding. Bennett said the speeding rule is not judged simply by speed, but also by the effort to not put other drivers, crew members or officials in danger in the tight confines of the pit area. Hirschman was seen by multiple officials making what were deemed unsafe maneuvers to get around other cars and crews to get back to the track. He also hit the car of Dylan Izzo in the pit area.  “I don’t feel I was speeding,” Hirschman said. “I did weave my way through. Meaning, if a car pulled out or tried to pull out or stalled, I didn’t break my momentum. I just weaved my way through. I don’t feel I was speeding.”  Said Bennett: “Greg [Felton] made the call. I mean, he jumped wheels with Izzo’s car. I witnessed that. He blew by me and I was waving for him to slow down.”  After the penalty Hirschman rode near the rear of the field for the remainder of the event. There were seven cautions following the penalty.  “The penalty is so severe you basically can’t get [your lap] back,” Hirschman said. “Obviously in today’s racing lead lap cars go to the front so anytime a caution comes out you’re automatically going to go backwards. So you’re never going to get there. It’s such a severe penalty that if you want to get somebody on it, they got me.”  Ultimately, Hirschman seemed to regret pushing the limit and putting himself in a position to be called for speeding.  “If I would have stopped – whatever – and just let people go – even if five cars got out ahead of me – I just needed to go beat them on the track,” Hirschman said. “I guess I allowed myself to be subject for a judgment call. … Basically, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.” 


St.John’s, PA 7-22-22) Friday night at Evergreen Raceway, Matt Hirschman diced his way to his third victory of the year at the track over Roger Coss. It would be Hirschman’s 50th feature win at the track. 

Geary Rinehimer Jr. started on the pole for the 50 lap main but the caution flew with only one lap recorded after Steve Shultz suffered a right rear flat. On the ensuing restart, Cody Kohler would clear Rinehimer for the lead. It would be short lived as Roger Coss would overtake Kohler by lap 4. Several cautions slowed the event, but Coss proved he had a strong car early as he and Lou Stohl pulled away from the field. On a lap 27 restart, Earl Paules would find the wall coming off of turn two after touching wheels with Chuck Hossfeld. Coss would stay in command through three more cautions, but on lap 39, Hirschman used the inside line off on turn four to take the lead. There was no looking back and the fans once again saw the red number 60 in victory lane. Coss held on for second, followed by Hossfeld, Austin Kochenash and Austin Beers.
 

Tour Modifieds: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Roger Coss, Chuck Hossfeld, Austin Kochenash, Austin Beers, Lou Strohl, Bobby Jones, Darren Scherer, Nick Baer, Jerry Hildebrand, Artie Perdersen III, Carl Altemose, Jason Harman, Geary Rinehimer Jr, Cody Kohler, Steve Shultz, Earl Paules, Brian Defebo, Tom Rought
​

Matt Hirschman adds Earl Keinert Tribute to his list of Mahoning Valley Speedway successes on Saturday, July 16
​
By DINO OBERTO

(Lehighton, PA 7-16-22) Matt Hirschman of Northampton claims that Mahoning Valley Speedway is one of his best tracks and unquestionably he proved it yet again on Saturday evening when he won the Earl Keinert Tribute Hall of Fame Series 50 lap race. It was Hirschman’s fourth straight win in as many 2022 starts. Considering he only checks in a few times a year and dating back to his first victory here in 2009 this was his 32nd Mahoning victory in the past 78 starts and to boot has led over 1200 laps in doing so. Following warmups a rain shower crossed over the area and put a delay on the show. However, after a yeoman effort by a significant number of drivers who then helped dry the track, the racing went as planned. “I really appreciate Jack and Rebecca (Carlino, track owners) for not pulling the plug on it because we were all here,” said Hirschman. “If they would have cancelled early in the day I wouldn’t have had any problem with it. Once we were all here they waited it out and dried the track and we got to race. I know that may have hurt the crowd a bit but there was still a good amount of fans here tonight and the show ran off pretty well,” he continued. “The track conditions where fine for racing and the racing was quite tight and pretty good up front and the car tightened up late with almost too much grip.” By luck of the draw Josh Scherer was the pole sitter with Bobby Jones to his outside for the start. And no sooner did the action get underway Jones jumped out front over Kyle Strohl and Lou Strohl with all three contending under tight quarters. By lap 11 eighth starting Hirschman joined the battle in what then became a closely bunched group providing some very intense racing.  On lap 16 K. Strohl went to the outside of Jones and took the lead. Unfortunately for Jones he spun on the next circuit and brought out the caution. That put L. Strohl second and when racing resumed he and Hirschman ran a thrilling side-by-side duel until lap 22 when L. Strohl would spin coming out of Turn 4.  It would be on that restart that Hirschman was able to overtake K. Strohl. From there he would never look back as he reached the checkers by two car lengths over K. Strohl. Brian DeFebo was third, Jones fourth and a very impressive Geary Rinehimer Jr., got fifth.  “It was some intense racing there and at times a little bit of contact but it was just a tight pack and you’re going to have that,” said Hirschman.  “We’ve had an incredible success rate here and Mahoning has been my best track over the last few years. But you still have to run the race and to be honest at the end I felt we were a little bit more vulnerable but I guess we had enough of a gap. I felt I didn’t have as good a car as other times here. Sure it’s been a repeatable thing but I feel we had to work for this one.”

Modified feature finish (50 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Brian DeFebo, 4. Bobby Jones, 5. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 6. Jacob Kerstetter, 7. Nevin George, 8. Jaden Brown, 9. Nick Bear, 10. Josh Scherer, 11. Gen Bowers, 12. Lou Strohl, 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Avery Arthofer, 15. Austin Kochenash, 16. Wes Gilbert, 17. Peyton Arthofer, 18. Rod Snyder Jr.

Jimmy Blewett scores one for the hometown crowd at Wall Stadium Speedway on July 9- Matt finishes runner up
 
By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com 
WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Jimmy Blewett is one of the best to ever race at Wall Stadium Speedway. He reminded everyone of that by topping the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour field in the Jersey Shore 150 on Saturday night at the popular third-mile high-banked oval.
The victory, Blewett’s seventh with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and first since 2016, was his 81st victory overall at Wall Stadium Speedway. He ranks second on the all-time win list at the track. “Tommy and these guys just prepare such a good car. He makes all the drivers who drive this thing look so good,” said Blewett, who was piloting the No. 7NY for team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. “Just riding, biding our time watching these guys burn it up so we had some stuff there at the end.” Blewett spent much of the race riding in the top five, content to let pole-sitter Ron Silk and defending track Modified champion Andrew Krause take turns at the front of the field. A caution for a spin by Eric Goodale with 17 circuits left in the 150-lap event presented Blewett the perfect opportunity to take control of the race. Restarting second with 13 laps left, Blewett rocketed under Krause to take the lead by the time the field got back to the start/finish line. Once in front, Blewett inched away from the battle for second, ultimately crossing the finish line nearly two seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Matt Hirschman. “I want to dedicate this win to my grandfather,” said Blewett, who also won a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Wall Stadium Speedway in 2007. “He always is my biggest supporter and he never, ever doubts me. He just knows I need the right opportunity to get it done. Thanks, Grandpa.” The victory by Blewett gave team owner Baldwin his fourth victory of the season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Doug Coby drove Baldwin’s No. 7NY to victory at New York’s Riverhead Raceway and New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway, and Mike Christopher Jr. earned a victory for Baldwin at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway. Hirschman, a multi-time winner of the annual Turkey Derby event at Wall Stadium Speedway who added Saturday’s race to his schedule at the last minute, snuck past both Krause and Silk to finish second. “This wasn’t on our schedule, I just knew there was going to be a great crowd here tonight,” Hirschman said. “Glad to come race in front of them tonight. A good run. It’s no surprise there at the end, Jimmy’s first and I’m second. Congrats to them.” Patrick Emerling also managed to make his way past Krause and Silk in the final laps to complete the podium. It was his second top-five finish this season. “It was a little rough out there, but had a lot of fun tonight,” Emerling said. “We had a pretty good race car for only running here once before.” Krause settled for fourth after leading prior to the final restart. Silk faded to fifth after starting from the Mayhew Tools Pole and leading a majority of the race. Justin Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Jon McKennedy, Blake Barney and Kyle Bonsignore completed the top 10.

1    7    Jimmy Blewett    John Blewett, Inc.    150    
2    60    Matt Hirschmann    PeeDee Motorsports    150    1.91
3    07    Patrick Emerling    Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway    150    3.037
4    24    Andrew Krause    Supreme Mtg    150    3.603
5    16    Ron Silk    Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes    150    4.422
6    51    Justin Bonsignore    Phoenix Communication Inc.    150    5.418
7    64    Austin Beers*    Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical    150    5.566
8    79    Jon McKennedy    Middlesex Interiors    150    5.906
9    14    Blake Barney    Atlantic Sprinkler    150    6.575
10    22    Kyle Bonsignore    Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto    150    7.05
11    82    Craig Lutz    Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service    150    7.561
12    54    Tommy Catalano    FX Caprara    150    8.189
13    71    James Pritchard, Jr.*    Freeway Tire & Tire Pros    150    9.871
14    20    Ed McCarthy*    McCarthy Marine Sales    150    13.527
15    58    Eric Goodale    GAF Roofing    149    1 Lap
16    81    Jack Ely*    J.C. Smith Landscaping    147    3 Laps
17    76    Matthew Kimball*    Gomarlo’s Supermarket    147    3 Laps
18    36    Dave Sapienza    Sapienza Enterprises    145    5 Laps
19    78    Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.    Last Minute Racing    144    6 Laps
20    26    Gary McDonald    Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict    143    7 Laps
21    19    Anthony Sesely    Wanick Construction, Inc.    97    53 Laps
22    34    J.B. Fortin    Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 54 Laps
23    66    Timmy  Solomito    Natural Designs/Highmark    80    70 Laps
24    65    Danny Bohn    North American Construction    76    74 Laps
25    03    Tom Rogers, Jr.    Licensed to Chill/Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm    66    84 Laps
26    3    Jake Johnson*    Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks    49    101 Laps
27    01    Melissa Fifield    Pine Knoll Auto Sales    48    102 Laps
RACE STATISTICS

Time of race: 43 mins, 12 seconds
Average speed: 68.750
Margin of victory: 1.910 seconds
Caution flags: Laps 63-68 (Car #76 turn 2 no contact, FP #78); 70-78 (Car #34, #81, #76, #22, #14, #26, #19, #71, #66, #36 turns 1 & 2 contact, no FP.); 124-130 (Car #14 & #20 turn 2 contact, FP #71); 133-136 (Car #58 turn 1 spin no contact, FP #20). 4 for 26 laps.
Lap leaders: Ron Silk 1-37, Andrew Krause 38-68, Ron Silk 69-98, Andrew Krause 99-137, Jimmy Blewett 138-150.
Total laps led: Andrew Krause 70, Ron Silk 67, Jimmy Blewett 13. 4 changes involving 3 drivers.


The Ringer: Matt Hirschman Revels In Experience With SRX Series At Stafford; Disappointed With Finish

July 3, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne
STAFFORD – In June of 2021 the Camping World Series SRX Series ran its first event in its history at Stafford Speedway and former track regular and six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby immediately set the bar high for all the local ringers invited to events. Coby dominated on his way to victory in the first SRX Series. In the seven series events since then coming in Saturday’s event at Stafford, no local driver has been able to match Coby’s feature. Though many around the series thought the best chance of seeing it happen again since then would be Saturday at Stafford for the division’s return.
By virtue of winning the 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler in April, Matt Hirschman earned a starting spot in Saturday’s SRX Series event. With Stafford being a track known for it’s trickiness in understanding, many thought Hirschman was in a spot to match Coby’s feat. Unfortunately for Hirschman, luck was not on his side Saturday. The Northampton, Pa. driver ended up eighth in the 12-car SRX Series field. “The experience was great,” Hirschman said. “I enjoyed everything all day long. The least part I enjoyed was the race just because I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to have done. But the experience was great. The people were great. I’m just disappointed a little bit with the performance.” Series co-founder Tony Stewart, who finished fourth in Saturday’s event, said he felt lucky just to get the opportunity to race with Hirschman. “I was real excited when he won the Spring Sizzler and got the opportunity to run this deal,” Stewart said. “He probably thinks it’s cool to run with us and guys like me, I think it’s cool that I got to run with him. You don’t get opportunities like that anymore to get to run with a guy of his caliber.” Said Hirschman: “He knows what I’m doing and he respects that. Tony was a childhood hero of mine. When I was a kid … the Saturday Night Thunder show, when it came on and it said ‘These guys live for the sound of thunder’ I was glued to the TV. It didn’t matter if it was midnight, 1 am, I was watching Saturday Night Thunder or Thursday Night Thunder. And it was because of that show that Tony got recognized. Tony Stewart was my childhood. Besides my dad obviously … Tony was my hero on TV. That was pretty cool.” Hirschman hadn’t been behind the wheel of an SRX Series car on a track before Friday. “It was tough,” Hirschman said. “I don’t know the car so based off just a little bit of practice, I didn’t really tell them to do anything differently. We may have been a step behind right from that point because I could have done better in the first heat race. I ended up a losing a few spots instead of maintaining or gaining, but that was because of the handling. The car was just too tight. Maybe if in practice if I had said that it wasn’t what we needed we might have been a step ahead. But I don’t know the cars. Ten or 12 laps of practice, I was more like ‘They’re all the same, just drive it.’ But there’s a few things that you could do and I think we were a step behind there and I think that hurt.” Hirschman was able to use a lap 40 restart to go from ninth to sixth in the field. But five laps later eventual race winner Ryan Newman overtook him for sixth place. On a lap 51 restart fifth place running Ryan Hunter-Reay struggled to go at the green flag and Hirschman ended up driving into the back of him, losing more ground. “I got to mid-pack and then from that point I had a couple breaks that didn’t go my way. The last restart I think Hunter-Reay missed a shift or something and I got into the back of him. I feel like I could have done better than I did. I’m not saying that I would have ever gotten to the point of contending for the win or the top-three, but I think we could have been better than where we ended up.”

Matt Hirschman Wins Monaco Modified Tri-Track Open Wheel Wednesday At Seekonk on June 29, 20

by Shawn Courchesne

Last year Matt Hirschman set a new bar of success when it comes to the annual Open Wheel Wednesday event at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway. In 2021, Hirschman became the first four-time winner of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Open Wheel Wednesday race. Wednesday night, in the 17th annual running of the event, Hirschman went streaking to extend further the bar he had already set. Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., dominated the final two-thirds of the event to win the 100-lap Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature Wednesday at Seekonk Speedway for the second consecutive year and fifth time overall. Hirschman scored a $10,000 first place payoff for the event. “It’s one of the races you look forward to all year,” Hirschman said. “I know we’ve won the most of them, but I feel even as a fan of it you come into this, you really never know who’s going to win this race. It always seemed like starting position means something, the heat races mean something and strategy during the race. … This might be the first time we’ve won them back-to-back. They’ve all been really spread out for the most part. Great job the team.” Last year the event began on June 30 but ultimately was postponed to Aug. 25 after a power outage at the track forced a schedule change. This year the event played to flawless weather and for Hirschman it was a perfect buildup to the weekend. Hirschman will be in the starting field against some of the greats of motorsports Saturday in the SRX Series event at Stafford Speedway. Hirschman earned the spot to compete in the nationally televised race by winning the 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford in April. “We had the great weather this year,” Hirschman said. “Power stayed on all night. We were able to get it in. And now we’ve got a big race Saturday night at Stafford. If you’re not going hopefully you can catch us on CBS.” It was Hirschman’s second victory in three Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series events this season. He won the season opener on April 30 at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. He was third in the second event of the season on May 29 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt. Kyle Bonsignore of Bay Shore, N.Y. was second and Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. third. “We were waiting for a motor all year,” said Bonsignore, who started 14th in the 27-car field. “We finally got it last week. We had zero laps on this car. They went through the whole thing over the offseason. So practice today was more of like a giant test session. Through a lot of things at it, made it a lot better from practice to the scuss [session]. Made it even better from then to the race. We just had a really good pit stop. They nailed it on the tire change, we picked up a bunch of spots. And on top of that they got the setup really good so we were able to drive up through the field.”
Said Nocella: “I love come to this place. We’ve won a bunch here in different cars and always have pretty good success. Just came up a little short again in this race. We were running second, third. Haven’t won it yet. We were close. For ten grand you kind of have to keep going to the outside and give it all you’ve got to try to get by [Hirschman]. You’ve got to try something because he’s so good.” Hirschman started fifth. By lap 28 he was third and stalking second place Chase Dowling. After getting by Dowling for second following a lap 29 restart Hirschman hunted down leader Woody Pitkat and took over the top spot on lap 32. From there Hirschman went unchallenged at the front the rest of the way, easily pulling away from the field over five restarts over the final 47 laps. Matt Swanson of Acton, Mass. was fourth and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa. fifth

Matt Hirschman sweeps Freddy Hamm Tribute twin-45s at Mahoning Valley Speedway on June 25

Mahoning Valley Speedway celebrated the Freddy Hamm Tribute – which was race #2 of the Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series – with a pair of 45-lap Modified features and collecting both was Northampton’s Matt Hirschman. “Freddy was a class act, a real gentleman and respectful racer and that’s important to have that quality. It’s always great to win but to do it in the fashion that he did it was just a little bit better than most when you had the quality that he had,” offered Hirschman. “Our families have always been friends but you would think you were best friends for life the way he treated and talked to you and I appreciate winning tonight just a little bit more.” In the first race Hirschman passed Lou Strohl after six laps and then began to cruise until late in the going when Zane Zeiner was closing fast but time ran out just as things began getting interesting. In the nightcap Hirschman had to work a bit harder before going to the front, needing 20 laps to get by leader Earl Paules but once he did he went into cruise control and sailed off to the win. By luck of the draw Strohl had the pole for the first race with Carl Altemose alongside on the front row. As the race began Strohl dashed to the early lead while Hirschman was quick to move into second. On lap four the first and what would be the only caution waved when Don Wagner slowed and then stopped to close to the racing line. When the field realigned for the restart Strohl again got out front but now had Hirschman, who was using the outside lane, stick beside him and within two laps the lead would change hands. The pace from then on was energetic as the race went nonstop to the end. Early on during that span Hirschman was looking unstoppable as he was making haste over the pack. However, behind him the action was very heated as Strohl had to fend off Austin Kochenash with Zeiner riding closely in fourth. That trio stayed tight for a number of laps until reaching mid-race. It was then that Zeiner began a thrust as he made quick work of Kochenash and then a few laps later did the same to Strohl. By then Hirschman was showing a two-and-a-half second lead but Zeiner was continuing to cut that deficit with each passing lap. There was also the factor of traffic which Hirschman was having to negotiate and for Zeiner that helped in his efforts to keep zeroing in. “It was a big pack of cars and you weren’t going to pass just one and have clear sailing so I was cautious when I was catching the up on them,” said Hirschman. By the time the race was in the final laps Zeiner was a mere car length back but time ran out on his valiant effort and Hirschman held on for his second straight Mahoning win. “I was able to get the lead from the outside of Lou (Strohl) and I kind of assumed he was still in second but I see it was Zane (Zeiner). We had it kind of easy with the draw and we’ll just see how the second race plays out,” Hirschman said. After Zeiner it was Strohl, Kochenash and Kyle Strohl rounding out the top five. “I was really hoping for a caution and when I got to Lou (Strohl) he kind of used me up and I just couldn’t get by him quick enough and I felt that had I been able to I could have maybe made Matt make a decision and put a little pressure on him,” expressed Zeiner. For the second feature the top eight were inverted which gave the pole to Cody Kohler and Paules. After a false start Paules got the jump and led the early going over Kohler and K. Strohl. Six laps into the race K. Strohl had gained second spot. A few restarts afterwards and Paules and K. Strohl played cat and mouse when trying to resume, leading race director Randy Schlenker to issue warnings. They did heed his directive and both made a clean start with Paules showing the way. Kochenash was sitting third at the time and just as he did in the first race was showing a lot of strength. Behind him though was Hirschman who after a few side-by-side laps was able to get by. He then proceeded to do the same to K. Strohl but his quest was paused when a caution halted the action on lap 17. On that restart K. Strohl got out of shape and spun while cars from behind all scattered to get by. Once the field was regrouped Paules had to now deal with Hirschman and it didn’t take but two laps before the No. 60 was once again leading. Unlike the first feature this time there would be no cars closing in on him as he was all perfection, driving away to a good-sized distance over Paules. In third was a very impressive Carl Altemose who notched his best ever Modified finish. Kochenash and DeFebo, who both had to drive through the pack after making pit stops on lap 22 from a pile up on the front straight, rounded out the top five. “Once we got out front I figured we were safe and I knew some of the competition was knocked out (from lap 22 wreck). It was a good clean night for us and it’s been a good season and we hope to keep it going,” explained Hirschman.

1st Modified feature finish (45 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Zane Zeiner, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. Kyle Strohl, 6. Brian DeFebo, 7. Earl Paules, 8. Cody Kohler, 9. Jaden Brown, 10. Bobby Jones, 11. Josh Scherer, 12. Carl Altemose, 13. Sean Verwys, 14. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 15. Jacob Kerstetter, 16. Rod Snyder Jr., 17. Nick Bear, 18. Terry Markovic, 19. Don Wagner DNS: Wes Gilbert

2nd Modified feature (45-laps): 1. Hirschman, 2. Paules, 3. Altemose, 4. Kochenash, 5. DeFebo, 6. Baer, 7. K. Strohl, 8. Kohler, 9. Scherer, 10. L. Strohl, 11. Rinehimer Jr., 12. Kerstetter, 13. Verwys, 14. Jones, 15. Markovic, 16. Wagner, 17. Snyder, 18. Zeiner, 19. Brown DNS: Gilbert

Lucky Strike: Justin Bonsignore Gets Duel At The Dog Win At Monadnock After Late Fireworks
June 19, 2022

by Shawn Courchesne

A simmering feud between Matt Hirschman and JB Fortin proved fortuitous for Justin Bonsignore Sunday at Monadnock Speedway When Fortin decided to exact payback on Matt Hirschman with just over two laps remaining, it was Bonsignore who was in the right place to take advantage and win the Whelen Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200 Sunday in Winchester, N.H. “I guess you have to be more lucky than good any day,” Bonsignore said. “Matt had us beat there at the end. We were close. We were neck and neck. I don’t know what’s going on between [Hirschman and Fortin].”
It was the fourth victory in nine Whelen Modified Tour starts at Monadnock for Bonsignore, of Holtsville, N.Y. It was Bonsignore’s second win of the season. He also won at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on April 1.
Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., ended up second and series points leader Ron Silk of Norwalk was third. Hirschman went by Silk for the lead with 44 laps remaining and looked to have the car to beat out front. After getting to second, Bonsignore was able to close up Hirschman’s lead while the two navigated lapped traffic with about seven laps remaining. Then the drama began. On lap 197 Hirschman and Bonsignore came up on the car of Fortin, who was running at the tail end of the lead lap, in turn four. On lap 198 Hirschman went to the outside of Fortin through turns one and two. The pair went down the backstretch side-by-side. Through turns three and four Fortin pushed Hirschman up the track. In turn four Bonsignore went to the low lane under both cars to take over the lead from Hirschman. On lap 199 Hirschman tried to go low under Fortin into turn one but Fortin blocked him on that maneuver also, allowing Bonsignore to easily roll away out front. “I could kind of seeing it coming from a mile away,” Bonsignore said. “I just got into [turn] three, hooked the bottom and just stood on the throttle.” “We had a good run today either way. We were a second or third place car all day long. That’s what you’ve got to do to win these races, just keep yourself in position. Fortunate today to pull it off.”
Third place running Silk said the move by Fortin to cost Hirschman the win looked intentional. “Fortin just ran the [Hirschman] all over the track,” Silk said. “Looked like it was intentional.” It seemed Fortin was exacting payback for some late contact between himself and Hirschman during the Whelen Modified Tour Granite State Derby on May 21 at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. In that event Fortin was battling with eventual race winner Doug Coby for the lead with 28 laps remaining, but a spin by Bonsignore brought out the caution and sent the leaders to the pits. Hirschman was third and Fortin fourth on the ensuing restart. After the restart there was slight contact battling for position between Hirschman and Fortin. After the contact Fortin went up the track with an issue. Hirschman ended up third and Fortin eighth in that event. “He thinks I cost him that race when the car that spun to bring that caution out when he might have had a chance to win that race is the guy he just helped win the race,” Hirschman said Saturday at Monadnock. “It shows how smart he is.” Later Hirschman told RaceDayCT that he looked back on the Lee event and couldn’t understand the anger brewing from Fortin. “[After the race at Lee] he was so mad at me that he came after me after the checkered flag,” Hirschman said. “He swerved and tried to rip my front wheels off after the checkered flag. I had no idea, I wasn’t it expecting it. I didn’t know what had happened. I asked everyone on my team and nobody had seen anything that for any reason he should be mad at me. He was still cussing me out after he was out the car. I watched the replay of the race at Lee and I didn’t really see anything. There was nothing there.
“He’s mad at me for something when I didn’t do anything. And he can go and watch the video and see that and he’s still mad. Something ain’t right there with him. We got close and maybe touched but that did not put him out of the groove or anything like that. It’s unfortunate for my team because they don’t deserve that. … For that to happen is just unfortunate for my team to lose a race that way.”
Fortin posted a message on the JB Fortin Racing Facebook page following the event Sunday and denied intentionally blocking or running Hirschman up the track.
The message from Fortin read: “We were hanging on from lap 100 on. What happened was definitely not intentional. I should have backed the corner up more. I struggled the whole race down in that corner. When we got down into [turn three] I was afraid to take Matt out with the back of the car [or] else I would [have] turned down under the yellow. Unfortunately the [right front] bumped his bar and ripped the wheel out of my hand. By the time I got a hold of the wheel Justin was to my door spotter screaming inside.
“I feel terrible for what

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