2022
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 happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day. I understand how everyone feels and see’s what happened. We don’t operate as a team like that. I don’t condone taking people out of races. We were running 13 second laps with split second decisions. Sorry for costing Matt a win not that it matters much at this point.”
Sam Rameau of Westinster, Mass. was fourth and Doug Coby of Milford fifth Sunday at Monadnock. Eric Goodale, Jake Johnson, Austin Beers, Tommy Catalano and Jacob Perry rouned out the top-10 respectively in the 25-car field.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 200 –
2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 200 0.776
3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 1.051
4 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants/Powells Stone & Gravel 200 1.946
5 7 Doug Coby Stuart’s Automotive 200 3.418
6 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 4.795
7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks 200 7.221
8 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 7.521
9 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 200 8.166
10 47 Jacob Perry* Jacks Competition Engines 200 8.325
11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn”s Auto 200 8.434
12 50 Ronnie Williams Jr. Empower Financial Advisory & RB Enterprise 200 10.233
13 1 Mike Christopher Jr.* John Blewett Inc. 200 13.436
14 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 199 1 lap
15 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 199 1 lap
16 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 198 2 laps
17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 195 5 laps
18 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 193 7 laps
19 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Last Minute Racing 192 8 laps
20 71 James Pritchard Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Lauren Landscaping 192 8 laps
21 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 192 8 laps
22 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 164 36 laps
23 25 Brian Roble* Maurice Enterprise/Gromando’s Market 149 51 laps
24 76 Matthew Kimball* Gomarlo’s Supermarket 37 163 laps
25 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 13 187 laps
RACE STATISTICS
Time of race: 53 mins, 55 seconds
Average speed: 55.641 mph
Margin of victory: 0.776 seconds
Caution flags: Laps 73-78 (Car #07 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #18); 126-131 (Car #78 spin turn 1 no contact, FP#82); 168-173 (Car #71 spin backstretch no contact, FP #34); 176-179 (Car #26 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #1). 4 for 22 laps.
Lap leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-17, Matt Hirschman 18-45, Ron Silk 46-155, Matt Hirschman 156-197, Justin Bonsignore 198-200.
Total laps led: Ron Silk 110, Matt Hirschman 70, Justin Bonsignore 20. 4 changes involving 3 drivers.
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock on June 18
Matt Hirschman is still angry over the ending of Sunday's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
Jun 20, 2022 by Rob Blount
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock
With five laps to go in Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour “Duel at the Dog 200” at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway, it looked as though Matt Hirchman had his second win of the season on lockdown. But with three laps to go, Hirschman had trouble putting JB Fortin a lap down and that handed the win over to Justin Bonsignore. When Hirschman came upon Fortin’s No. 34 machine, he tried to go to the outside in turn three, but Fortin came up off the bottom and ran Hirschman up another lane, opening the door for Bonsignore to squeak by underneath. Then, going into the next corner, Fortin went from the second lane abruptly to the bottom lane right in front of Hirschman, letting Bonsignore begin to drive away. Completed · Jun 19
2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway
Fortin took to Facebook after the race and apologized to Hirschman, saying that, “what happened was definitely not intentional.”FloRacing connected with Hirschman Monday morning over the phone, and he said he does not believe Fortin to be truthful.“It makes it worse, because I know that it was intentional,” said Hirschman. “It was basically telegraphed for weeks. You’re not going to fool me. And to be honest, you didn’t fool the top three finishers. It made it worse, because if that’s what he felt he needed to do, then he did it and he needs to own it.”Fortin’s explained in his Facebook post that he was struggling in turn three all race and was worried he’d make contact with Hirschman.
“I should have backed up the corner more,” Fortin wrote. “When we got down into 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 RF 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.” Fortin continued by saying, “I feel terrible for what happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day.” Hirschman explained that he believes the incident was payback for something that happened between them in the late stages of the May 21 event at Lee USA Speedway. Fortin was running in the top three on a restart when he and Hirschman made side-bar contact that sent Fortin into the marbles and took his chances of a win away. “After the race at Lee, he caught me by surprise because he came after me with his car after the finish, and I had no idea what he was mad about,” said Hirschman. “I went back and watched the video, and of course he can go back and watch the video, and I don’t see anything there where he should be mad at me. Did we maybe touch a little bit at the end of the straightaway on a restart? Yes, but it had nothing to do with the entire corner where he got wider than he maybe should have. But he was side-by-side with the car behind me and they made contact. So that’s between them two.
“And prior to that, he was in second and closing on the leader and had a real chance at winning that race, and the car that spun to bring the caution out is the car that he helped win the race yesterday. So that just shows you how smart he is. And in interviews he kept making reference to it, so he basically telegraphed it. You decided that was what you needed to do, then own it. So to put that out and try to make an excuse and lie about it, that just makes it worse in my opinion.” Hirschman explained that since he’s had time to reflect on what took place on Sunday, he has not cooled down at all, but instead is actually more upset about it than he was after it initially happened. But, he also added that he has no plans to seek out Fortin to discuss the incident. “When you wake up the day after, and you wake up probably earlier than you should have, and you lay there and think about it, it hurts a little bit more,” he said. “This is not how the outcome of races should be decided. It’s discouraging and disappointing. I know he’ll read this. I have nothing to say to him. I have no use for talking to him. But he owes me a win on the Whelen Tour. How is he going to repay me that? You get me the win back that you stole from me and my team yesterday and we’re good.”
Evergreen Raceway: 11th to 1st for Matt Hirschman at Evergreen on June 17th
Matt Hirschman is silky smooth no matter where he goes to race and Friday night at Evergreen proved, why he will be a threat for his 7th straight track championship.
Hirschman diced his way through the field like a fine chef dices his onions. Starting 11th and grabbing the lead from Roger Coss with more than 30 laps remaining. Coss and Cody Koehler shared the front row and Coss jumped out to an early lead with Koehler hot on his heels. Coss who was having his best run to date, was no match for Hirschman as he cruised to his second straight win in as many races. Chuck Hossfeld who started 10th ended up P2.
Modifieds 1. Hirschman 2. Hossfeld 3. Coss 4. Jerry Hildebrand 5. Austin Beers 6. Brian DeFebo 7. Ricky Collins 8. Earl Paules 9. Daren Scherer 10. Nick Baer 11. Bobby Jones 12. Carl Altemose 13. Cody Koehler 14. Austin Kochenash 15. Geary Reinhimer Jr.
SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY GOES BACK-TO-BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER ON THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES WITH LANCASTER MOTORPLEX VICTORY ON JUNE 11
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., earned his second straight victory in Race of Champions Modified Series competition this past Saturday night as he held off a star-studded field of competitors to reach victory lane at the newly named, Lancaster (N.Y.) Motorplex, formerly Lancaster National Speedway. Leaty was awarded $4,000 for his efforts driving his family-owned machine. “Tonight was intense, that was for sure,” stated Leaty following victory lane festivities. “Patrick (Emerling), was back there in the the Stearns-Putney car that I had the privilege to drive last week and then there’s Matt (Hirschman), we were all right there, those guys know how to race and they have respect. It was great to win last week, but it’s extra special to win in our family owned-car with my Dad and my family here. We can now focus on July 1 at Spencer.” Leaty came from the third starting position to inherit the lead when race leader, Andy Jankowiak of Buffalo, N.Y., who had led the early stages of the 59-lap affair spun, under caution, on the “one-to-go” lap while he was aggressively scuffing his tires. Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., started 8th and worked his way to finish second. Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., drew the 12th starting position for the second consecutive week and finished third.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 4 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 3
2 8 14 Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 6
3 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 9
4 2 73X Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -2
5 3 65 George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -2
6 11 1 Chuck Hossfeld Chuck Hossfeld Lockport, NY 5
7 6 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA -1
8 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -3
9 19 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 10
10 10 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -
11 7 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -4
12 1 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -11
13 16 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 3
14 15 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 1
15 13 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY -2
16 14 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard -2
17 23 21 Paul Townsond Paul Townsond Guelph, ON 6
18 17 40 Alan Bookmiller Alan Bookmiller Castile, NY -1
19 9 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY -10
20 18 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA -2
21 22 01 John Barber John Barber Bliss, NY 1
22 20 62 Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Lancaster, NY -2
23 21 88 Tim Garlock Tim Garlock Kenmore, NY -2
24 24 65L Andy Lewis Andy Lewis Ontario, NY
“SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY MAKES HIS WAY TO VICTORY LANE IN “FAST 40” 67TH ANNUAL SPENCER SPEEDWAY OPENER on June 3
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane. This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts. “This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.” Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd.
Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY -
2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10
3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1
4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2
5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4
6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7
7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1
8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3
9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5
10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5
11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6
12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11
13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6
14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10
15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1
16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9
17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5
18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3
19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16
20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2
21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1
22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7
23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13
24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Claremont postponed due to weather allows Matt to attend RoC opener at Spencer June 3 where he comes from 12th to 2nd
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane.
This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts.
“This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.”
Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd.
Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY -
2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10
3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1
4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2
5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4
6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7
7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1
8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3
9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5
10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5
11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6
12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11
13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6
14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10
15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1
16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9
17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5
18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3
19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16
20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2
21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1
22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7
23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13
24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Chase Dowling Wins Inaugural Monaco Modified Tri-Track Stop at Thunder Road on May 29
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series visited Barre, Vermont for the first time in history and Chase Dowling wasn’t going to be denied. The Roxbury, Connecticut, native captured the $10,000 winning prize in the Granite City 100 – passing for the lead with 48 laps to go and leading the remainder of the distance en route to Victory Lane. Dowling bested Anthony Nocella and six-time Tri-Track champion Matt Hirschman in the 25-car starting field.“First off, I want to stop and say to all of you guys here and the fans, this is badass,” Dowling said in Victory Lane. “All of you guys coming out on Memorial Day, it’s great to see a great crowd, this is a great facility. The car was on rails today – the crew did a great job. Can’t do it without all of the sponsors.”Dowling’s victory was his sixth in Tri-Track competition in 17 starts, only trailing Hirschman, who has 14. Nocella, who had speed in his No. 92 all day, finished a solid second in a field that had a total purse rising over $40,000.“All in all a decent run today,” Nocella said. “I have to thank Tri-Track for coming here and Thunder Road for having us, it’s a great facility with great racing.”Hirschman’s goal is always to get to the front, and the Pennsylvania native made it there late in the race, but couldn’t capture the checkered flag. It was Hirschman’s 29th top-five finish in 36 career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series races.“Track position was important,” Hirschman said. “We had some speed at the end. I’m happy we were able to get to third. Thunder Road has a great thing going here on Memorial Day weekend as we remember those who were lost fighting for our freedom. I like to win, but we moved forward, got third and we will see if we can be better next time.”Ronnie Williams and Kirk Alexander finished the top-five. Woody Pitkat and Stan Mertz Racing made the late decision to visit Thunder Road and finished sixth, while Matt Swanson was seventh, Jake Johnson eighth, Brian Robie ninth and Chris Pasteryak 10th.Earlier in the day, Nocella, Dowling and Alexander won qualifying heat races in the Pepsi Challenge, collecting $300 each for their triumph. Matt Kimball collected a $500 bonus in the Green Construction Management LLC Hard Charger award.
BARRE, Vt – When it comes to describing the Thunder Road International Speedbowl green is a word that certainly would come to mind quickly. Green dominates the color scheme and track logo and all the views of mountains beyond the picturesque historic bullring. Green also could describe much of the field for the first Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series field when it came to experience at the quarter-mile oval.Chase Dowling had never turned a lap at the track before Sunday, but he hardly looked like a rookie at the track.Dowling dominated out front over the second half of the event to win the 100-lap Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature Sunday, which was part of the 59th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic racing card.Dowling, of Roxbury, scored a $10,000 payday for the victory in front of a packed crowd at Thunder Road.“I just want to say, all you fans, this is badass,” Dowling said. “All you guys coming out on a Sunday for a Memorial Day, remember all the people that aren’t here. This is great to see a great crowd for Tri-Track. This facility is awesome. Hopefully we’re back next year.”
Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. was second and Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. third.Dowling got under Kirk Alexander off of turn four on lap 52 and went virtually unchallenged out front the rest of the way.“I just can’t thank everybody enough,” Dowling said. “This car was on rails. The crew guys did an awesome job all day.”Following a lap 80 restart Ronnie Williams got by Alexander for third with Hirschman following to fourth. Hirschman got by Williams for third on lap 96 but Dowling and Nocella were far checked out from him.“Track position is pretty important and we used the cone restart at the end to gain some of those spots,” Hirschman said. “It looked like we had some speed at the end. I’m happy we were able to get to there. Prior to that we weren’t even close to really sniffing the front.“You guys have got a great thing going here with this crowd up on the hill. … It’s a nice thing on Memorial Day weekend. Obviously remember those lost fighting for our freedom. Just a really nice thing here today. I’d like to win, but we move forward. Got third, got the wall a little bit, got some green paint to go home on the car. We’ll see if we come back we’ll see if we can do better next time.”
Matt Hirschman cashes in at Mahoning Valley Speedway Modified Spring Zing “Tom Wanick Jr., Memorial 150” … 11th win of season worth just over $10G in cash and awards on May 22
The Modified Spring Zing “Tom Wanick Memorial 150” paid big dividends for Northampton’s Matt Hirschman after a track record payout. Hirschman, who scored his 11th win of 2022, won $7000 for the victory and with additional bonuses finished off the day with just over $10,000 in total cash and awards. Hirschman started 10th and on lap 63 moved to the front for the first time with an inside pass on Blake Barney. Afterwards he withstood strong numerous challenges from Barney, Bobby Jones and Chuck Hossfeld. With 50 laps to go he opted to make a pit stop under a caution and change his right side tires. When he returned to the track he was ninth and over the next 17 laps put on a driving clinic as he passed one car after another until regaining the top spot from Hossfeld. The rest of the way he simply drove lap after lap in a consistent smooth fashion and took the checkers over Barney by a solid two car lengths. “It was a long race and glad to finish it up at the top. This is the highest paying race we ever had here and you don’t know when or if that will ever happen again and I appreciate doing this in honor of Tom Wanick Jr., and for what his family and the speedway did for all of us,” said Hirschman. “This is a special win for sure with Tommy (Wanick III) wanting to do this race for his dad.” The race got off to a great start with Don Wagner leading the first few laps before Barney, the previous night winner at Wall Stadium Speedway, took charge. Tagging in behind him was Rod Snyder Jr., and TJ Potrzebowski. That trio ran in that order until lap 40 when Hossfeld stepped up to third. Four laps later he had just got by Snyder when the first caution waved for a Josh Scherer spin. Unfortunately that would trigger a string of yellow flags which made the going exasperating to say the least plus there was a slow-up when a brief shower crossed over the track. “I had no problem navigating the traffic there was just way to many caution laps and I was kind of losing my mind because we kept stopping and I just wanted to get a rhythm going with some green flag laps,” admitted Hirschman. “Plus with the rain coming down it was kind of a frustrating race a little bit but wining makes up for all that.” In between the rash of cautions and as Hirschman was leading there was a great battle for second taking place. After giving up the lead to Hirschman Barney and Jones put on a spirited battle for second spot. Then Hossfeld came back onto the scene and used the inside lane to advance to second. When Hirschman pitted under a lap 100 caution it allowed Hossfeld to assume the lead. Earl Paules was now second after Barney and Jones had pitted a few laps prior to the century mark.VWith Hirschman out of the picture for the time being Hossfeld was setting a good pace while fending off Paules. But after reentering the track with fresh rubber Hirschman was putting on a rapid charge and passing at will. His race winning pass came with an inside move off Turn 4 over Hossfeld and once in front there was no denying his authority. Matt (Hirschman) is a great guy and I call him almost daily. His dad Tony was my dad’s favorite driver and Matt is a great a great racer,” offered Tom Wanick Jr., from Victory Lane. Hirschman picked up bonuses from Troyer Race Cars, Hirschman Speed, D & B Towing, Aqua Duck Water Transport, Pennsylvania Veterans Outdoor Veterans and the Wanick family. The later was an additional $1500 for his autographed roof. It was also 29th Mahoning win and ninth consecutive victory in as many starts here. Barney, the runner-up finisher had his best finish at Mahoning. He stayed in the hunt from the drop of the green and only fell back after pit stops. But each time he returned the car was quick and he came just one spot short of sweeping the weekend. “I really enjoy this place and I had a really good race car and was fortunate enough to have a good starting spot in second. I took the lead early and tried to do what he (Hirschman) does and pace the race,” said Barney. “I lost a little drive there at the end and I really wish I could have gave the 60 a run. I thought I had good pace and our car felt good. We went 100 laps on the same tires and when we came in that last time and it woke the thing up.” Paules was a solid third with Hossfeld fourth and Brian DeFebo fifth. Connecticut racer Anthony Bello was sixth and awarded an additional $1000 for being highest finishing crate car. Josh Scherer, Jones, Chris Ammon and Snyder Jr., competed the top 10.
Modified Feature finish (150 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Blake Barney, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Chuck Hossfeld, 5. Brian DeFebo, 6. Anthony Bello, 7. Josh Scherer, 8. Bobby Jones, 9. Chris Ammon, 10. Rod Snyder Jr., 11. Tom Wanick III, 12. Jaden Brown, 13. Brandon Oltra, 14. Sean Verwys, 15. Anthony Sesely, 16. Austin Kochenash, 17. Paulie Hartwig III, 18. Kyle Strohl, 19. Roger Coss, 20. TJ Potrzebowski, 21. Cody Kohler, 22. Ron Silk, 23. Zane Zeiner, 24. Nick Baer, 25. Don Wagner, 26. Mike Hosier, 27. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 28. Lou Strohl DNQ: Terry Markovic, Carl Altemose, Johnny Bennett, Chris Risdale, Jacob Kerstetter
Doug Coby gallops to victory in the Inaugural Granite State Derby at Lee USA Speedway on May 21 while Matt get 3rd
By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
LEE, N.H. – Unlike the Kentucky Derby a few weeks ago, there would be no upset winner in the inaugural Granite State Derby presented by USA Insulation. Doug Coby conquered Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway to earn his second Tour victory of the season in as many starts.The 175-lap event was the first Tour event held at the 0.375-mile paved oval since 1998. Coby, who was back in Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7NY for second straight race following a victory last weekend at New York’s Riverhead Raceway, spent the first half of the race conserving his equipment while Matt Hirschman led the way. “Tommy Baldwin gave me a good car for two races in a row,” Coby said. “Just setting my pace with Matt (Hirschman) out front and just kind of seeing what his car was doing and it was really good. (We) just stuck to our plan.” Coby moved into the lead for the first time following a restart on Lap 104, but he appeared to be in trouble as J.B. Fortin began marching through the field with fresh tires.
Fortin had nearly caught Coby when the caution flag waved for a spin by Justin Bonsignore. That allowed the entire field to hit the pits for fresh tires, with Tommy Catalano beating Coby off pit road to take the lead.
Catalano’s stint at the front was brief, as Coby quickly returned to the lead during the restart with 19 laps left. Coby had the race under control at that point and looked well on his way to victory until contact between polesitter Jake Johnson and Eric Goodale brought the caution flag back out with two laps left. Coby held serve during the Overtime restart, fending off Jon McKennedy and pulling away to his 33rd NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.“This is a tough track, you can spin your tires real easy,” Coby explained. “Jon is a clean driver, Matt is a clean driver, but I didn’t want to worry too much about Jon and open the door for Matt to be the hero. They’re both so good.
“To be able to race with those guys is a great feat for this 7NY team and the Baldwin family.” McKennedy’s runner-up result was his best finish of the season in the No. 79 Modified. It was his seventh runner-up finish in Modified Tour competition since scoring his lone Tour win in 2018, ironically driving for Baldwin at the now-defunct Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. “Just needed to rotate a little bit better. We were a little bit too pushy,” McKennedy said about his race car. “I just had to wait that little bit right in the middle of the corner to get the car to turn, and ultimately that’s where we struggled all day. “Still a little bit off, but hey, I’ll take it. Hirschman dominated the opening 100 laps of the race but struggled to race his way back through the field following his first pit stop. He eventually recovered to finish third, but he admitted there were some decisions he would like to have back after he dominated the opening portion of the event. “Good start, just ended up a little bit off on strategy,” Hirschman said. “Sometimes you live or die by some of the decisions you make, and some of them start earlier in the day. What you do with your tires and how you plan on using them. I think we just ended up a little bit off. I’d like to re-do a couple things, but still a good run.” Ron Silk finished fourth for his second top-five of the season, while Johnson was fifth in his second career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start. Kyle Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Fortin, Goodale and Justin Bonsignore completed the top 10. Saturday’s event was promoted by JDV Productions and was first in the three-race Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, a mini-series within the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule that features an additional purse structure and bonus money for competing teams.
1 3 7 Doug Coby John Blewett, Inc. (Tommy Baldwin) – 181 running 78 47
2 5 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors (Dale Hedquist) – 181 running 0 42
3 2 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports (Matt Hirschman) – 181 running 100 43
4 9 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes (Philip Moran) – 181 running 0 40
5 1 3 Jake Johnson * Propane Plus / LIN's Propane Trucks (Greg Fournier) – 181 running 3 40
6 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance / MIT / Munn's Auto (Cam McDermott) – 181 running 0 38
7 6 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect / Lumierre Elect / Andrew James In (Ron Yuhas, Jr.) – 181 running 0 37
8 13 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing / Johns Fuel / John Tree Rem (Kenneth Lechner) – 181 running 0 36
9 7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing (Jason Shephard) – 181 running 0 35
10 10 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. (Ryan Stone) – 181 running 0 34
11 14 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara (David Catalano) – 181 running 0 33
12 11 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants / Powells Stone & Gravel (Russ Hersey, Jr.) – 180 running 0 32
13 12 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise (Tommy Grasso) – 180 running 0 31
14 8 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials / Riverhead Building Sup (TBA) – 180 running 0 30
15 15 47 Jacob Perry * Jacks Competition Engines (TBA) – 178 running 0 29
16 17 98 Steve Dickey,, Jr. * USA Insulation – 176 running 0 28
17 18 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing (Kevin Anderson) – 175 running 0 27
18 16 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape / TRC Electric (Chad McDonald) – 166 running 0 26
19 19 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales – 108 power steering 0 25
Hirschman takes Mod Main on May 15 at Evergreen Raceway
By Ted Grow
(St, John’s, PA) What's the saying? “You win some, you lose some”? Well, Evergreen Raceway finally snatched a win! Completing all racing events, in three and a half hours, and across seven different division's. Kuddos to all the driver's and track crew! Especially Jason, he rolled the dice and prevailed!
A 75 lap held over modified main from May 1st, proved to only delay the inevitable; a Matt Hirschman win. It, however, did not come easy starting 15th. Hirschman would have to work through some heavy hitters in front. Things got a little interesting on lap 11, as numerous cars headed pit side for an adjustment on an extremely slick race track, including Hirschman, had climb to the top 10. Kyle Strohl, Blake Barney, and Austin Beers all took shots at the 41 machine of Nick Baer. Each time, Baer was able to fend them off. As Baer lead the field, Hirschman mounted the charge moving to the outside. As Beers and Hirschman ran side by side, Baer using every inch of race track, thwarted the attempts of Beers and couldn't hold off Hirschman.
Earl Paules has not been to victory lane at Evergreen Raceway since the.
Results:
Tour Mods: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Austin Kochenash, Earl Paules, Austin Beers, Daren Scherer, Brian Defebo, Blake Barney, Kyle Strohl, Nick Baer, Carl Altemose, Bobby Jones, Cody Kohler, Chris Ridsdale, Roger Coss, Lou Strohl. DNS: Geary Rinehimer
Matt Hirschman Charges Late To Win Monaco Ford Modified Tri-Track Opener at Monadnock Speedway on April 30
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Matt Hirschman waited until the moment was right, pounced, and rocketed to another Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series win on Saturday night, April 30. Hirschman tamed the high-banks of Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire – scoring a $10,000 prize and once again living up to his “Big Money” name.
Hirschman passed Monadnock NHSTRA Modified regular Matthew Kimball and held off some of the top Modified contenders on multiple final restarts to capture the checkered flag. Sam Rameau, a two-time Tri-Track winner at Monadnock, crossed the line second, while Brian Robie was third.
Rameau – who was at the front of the field for nearly the entire first half of the race – decided to play a different strategy than most and stay out while nearly everyone else pitted. Laps later, from the lead, when another caution flew, Rameau decided it was time to head down for fresh Hoosier racing rubber. He would restart outside the top-15, and charge through the field to finish second. The Westminster, Massachusetts, native was back on the podium at his home track.
Hirschman played the strategy of pitting with everyone else, after riding at the rear in typical Hirschman fashion early, saving his equipment for when it mattered most. When the time was right, he worked his way into the top-five, and eventually challenged and passed Kimball for the lead.
On a flurry of late restarts, Rameau charged to second, while Robie used both the top – and bottom – to grab third. Kimball settled for fourth, with Chase Dowling, who won the August of 2021 race at Monadnock, fifth. Ronnie Williams was sixth, followed by Todd Patnode, Chris Pasteryak, Kirk Alexander and Les Hinckley.
Hirschman’s $10,000 prize, followed by Rameau’s $6,000 check, was only part of a purse that was over $40,000 for the event. Hirschman’s win was his 15th career in 36 series starts – now 10 races above anyone else in history.
The race also included the debut of the Call 811 Before You Dig “Cone” rule, where drivers must select their restart lane when they approach the orange cone. The addition of the cone rule allowed competitors to gain positions if they were brave enough to try a different lane.
Earlier in the day, Rameau, Dowling and Richard Savary won qualifying heats in the Pepsi Challenge, each earning a $300 bonus.
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series will return to competition for the second race of the season at Thunder Road Speedbowl on Sunday, May 29.
For more information on the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series, visit MonacoModifieds.com and follow the series on social media.
RESULTS:
Matt Hirschman
Sam Rameau
Brian Robie
Matt Kimball
Chase Dowling
Ronnie Williams
Todd Patnode
Chris Pasteryak
Kirk Alexander
Les Hinckley
Roger Turbush
Jake Johnson
Carl Medeiros Jr.
Richard Savary
Matt Swanson
Joey Jarvis
Max Zachem
Cory Plummer
Robert Bloxsom III
Dave Salzarulo
Dylan Izzo
Derek Robbie
Ben Byrne
Big Cash And Prizes: Matt Hirschman Hits Payday With Victory In 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler At Stafford on April 24
STAFFORD – Over the last two decades Matt Hirschman has established himself as one of the power players of his generation when it comes to Modified racing. But one of the big holes in the racing resume for the Northampton, Pa. driver was the lack of a victory at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Sunday Hirschman checked that box off in the hugest of ways and in the most dramatic style. “You wanted the best, you got the best right there,” Hirschman said. “… What a race. Ryan and me have had so many races like that and we don’t even race that often anymore. … Just another classic between us. Just two of us going for it, for everything. We ran each other clean.” Preece, of Berlin, was second and Ron Silk of Norwalk third. It was the first victory career victory at Stafford for Hirschman, who had previously made 22 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts and one Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series start at the historic half-mile. Hirschman earned $15,000 for the victory. He also made $4,000 in contingency bonuses and $6,450 in lap money for leading 43 laps for a total of $25,450 for the event. He also earned $1,150 for his third place finish in his qualifying race Saturday to kick his weekend total to $26,600.
He also earned a starting spot with the SRX Series when the division runs its second event at Stafford on July 2.
“Just incredible,” Hirschman said. “Unbelievable job by Stafford Speedway with what they did. I’m here because of what they did. The win and you’re in thing for the SRX [Series] is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I just couldn’t pass up this chance. To be a Sizzler winner now, me and my dad are the first father-son combo to ever do that. … I’m just so glad to be a part of this and for Stafford to do what they did.” The SRX Series ran the first event in its history on June 12, 2021 at Stafford. Former Stafford Speedway regular and six-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby won the event. “I don’t know if I’m going to sleep until then. It’s going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of that. The short track racer being included in the SRX was what drew me in as a viewer [in 2021]. I watched every one of them. [Doug Coby] represented the Modifieds well by winning. … To think about guys that won Daytona 500’s, Indy 500’s, [NASCAR Cup Series] championships, IndyCar championships, to be able to share the track with them will be an absolute honor and something I greatly look forward to. I’m going to have a lot of sleepless nights just thinking about it.” On a lap 58 restart it was Preece getting by Doug Coby for second with Hirschman following to third. Preece went by Jimmy Blewett for the lead on lap 59 with the caution flying a lap later. On the ensuing restart Hirschman was able to get by Blewett for second. By lap 65 Hirschman was stalking all over the bumper of Preece as the pair checked out from third place Blewett. Hirschman pestered Preece until getting under him in turn one on lap 77. The pair came off turn four side-by-side to complete the lap, with Preece leading at the line. But Hirschman was able to clear Preece for the lead off of turn two on lap 78. With Hirschman driving away from the field, caution came out on lap 95 for the spinning cars of Buddy Charette and Jack Ely. On the restart Preece stayed in line with Hirschman on the outside. The two came to the line to complete the lap with Preece edging Hirschman for the lead. A multi-car wreck on the frontstretch brought the caution out again on lap 97. On the restart it was Preece initially getting the jump on Hirschman, but Hirschman came back on the outside and powered by Preece to retake the lead off of turn two. The 12th caution flew on lap 98 setting up another showdown between Hirschman and Preece. On the final restart Preece was able to stay to the outside of Hirschman for most of lap 98, but Hirschman was able clear Preece off of turn four. Hirschman completed the last two laps unchallenged to take the checkered. “We left it all on the track tonight,” Preece said. “We gave it our best. … We had a really fast race car, just not fast enough. Matt’s got his program – him [and his father] do a really good job with it. … It was good to be back in Ole Blue. Great to be back at the Sizzler. Congratulations to that whole 60 team.” Silk led the opening lap, but the first caution of the event came quickly with a pileup at the rear of the field in turn one on lap two.
Following the lap two restart it was Woody Pitkat getting by Silk to take over the lead on lap three. Caution flew again on lap seven. On the restart Hirschman got by Silk for second place. The yellow flew on lap 13. Pitkat held the lead on the restart. Hirschman was able to overtake Pitkat on lap 14 through turn one but the pass was negated by a wreck at the rear of the field. On lap 21 Matt Galko was able to get by Hirschman for second. After stalking Pitkat for a number of laps, Galko got by him to take over the top spot on lap 36. Caution flew on lap 38 for the spinning car of Mike Christopher Jr., who was running eighth. On the restart it was Hirschman getting under Galko for the lead off of turn two, with Pitkat following to second. Galko was able to retake second from Pitkat, but by lap 50 Hirschman had opened a whopping lead over the field. The yellow reappeared on lap 57 for the spun car of Marcello Rufrano off of turn two. The caution sent most of the leaders to the pits, with Blewett and Coby staying out.
NAPA Spring Sizzler 100: 1. Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa.; 2. Ryan Preece, Berlin; 3. Ron Silk, Norwalk; 4. Ronnie Williams, Tolland; 5. Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J.; 6. Matt Galko, Meriden; 7. Chase Dowling, Roxbury; 8. Michael Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 9. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass.; 10. Craig Lutz, Miller Place, N.Y.; 11. Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y.; 12. Matt Swanson, Acton, Mass.; 13. Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y.; 14. Todd Owen, Somers; 15. Stephen Kopcik, Newtown; 16. Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury; 17. Doug Coby, Milford; 18. Buddy Charette, Woodstock; 19. Brian Robie, Sunapee, N.H.; 20. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 21. Dave Etheridge, Portland; 22. Jack Ely, Wall, N.J.; 23. Jeffrey Gallup, Agawam, Mass.; 24. Woody Pitkat, Stafford; 25. Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon; 26. Noah Korner, Canton; 27. Bobby Labonte, High Point, N.C.; 28. Anthony Nocella, Woburn, Mass.; 29. Marcello Rufrano, North Haven; 30. Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y.; 31. Mikey Flynn, Hampden; 32. Anthony Flannery, East Hampton; 33. Anthony Bello, Newtown.
Big Money Looking To Sizzle: Matt Hirschman Files Entry For 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler At Stafford April 24
In the landscape of the top talent in Tour Type Modified racing in the Northeast, there are just a few name names not currently on the entry list for the 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler on April 24. Monday one of those names went from off the list to on it. Matt Hirschman confirmed to RaceDayCT Monday that he will be chasing the big money and more on Sizzler weekend at Stafford April 23-24. The allure of a big purse and loads of lap money had already made the event an attractive possibility for Hirschman. The addition of the winner of the event getting a starting spot in the SRX Series field at Stafford on July 2 was the final piece needed for drawing Hirschman. “It puts it over the top,” Hirschman told RaceDayCT Monday. “It’s just too hard to pass up with that in there. It’s going to be a competitive field and it’s going to be no easy race for whoever wins for sure with the level of competition with the opportunity that is there.” Hirschman is the 42nd driver on the entry list for the event. Hirschman, one of the most successful Tour Type Modified drivers in recent years adds to the significance of an entry list that already includes a former NASCAR Cup Series champion and four former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champions. Hirschman has 14 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victories and and has won the division’s championship in six of eight years. He also has five career Whelen Modified Tour victories, including a win this year’s season opening event at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Feb. 12. The Spring Sizzler will be contested as a Stafford track sanctioned Open Modified event with qualifying heat races scheduled for April 23 and the 100-lap feature scheduled for April 24. Before this year the Spring Sizzler weekend main event was a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour every year but one from 1985 to 2021. The Whelen Modified Tour did not compete at Stafford in 1988 and the Spring Sizzler main event was contested in SK Modifieds. Hirschman said returning the race back to an Open show raises the level of distinction for the event. “It was always known as ‘The Greatest Race in the History of Spring’ and I believe the potential is there for it to be that this year,” Hirschman said. “And not to say that it wasn’t special when it was a part of the Whelen Modified Tour, but, I almost feel like it was just another race on the tour. You were just getting what you were going to get, it didn’t matter if it was a Friday night [Whelen Modified Tour] race in August, or the Fall Final, you were pretty much getting that field for those events, it didn’t matter if it was the Spring Sizzler or not. … It was kind of just another race on the schedule, whereas this year I really believe they’re doing an excellent job with this race. It was too hard to pass up not being there.” Between the purse money available and lap money available the winner of Sunday’s 100-lap feature could walk away with a payday of more than $30,000. And the winner of the Spring Sizzler will also earn a starting spot in the SRX Series feature at Stafford Speedway on July 2. Hirschman has earned the moniker “Money Matt” for his success over the last decade in chasing down big money purses in Modified races. But, Hirschman has never won at Stafford Speedway. In 22 career Whelen Modified Tour starts at Stafford dating back to 2005, Hirschman has four top-five finishes and 16 top-10’s. He made his last series start at the track in 2014. He finished third in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Call Before You Dig Connecticut Classic 150 at Stafford on Oct. 24, 2020. That was his last start at the historic half-mile. “It is a track that I’ve not won at, but, at the same time, I haven’t really competed there much recently,” Hirschman said. “Not that I didn’t have success … from [2006] to [2014]. Not that I wasn’t successful or competitive then, but obviously I’ve been more successful recently. The Tri-Track race [in 2020 at Stafford], although we didn’t win, I know there were comments made that people didn’t think I’d be competitive. I don’t know someone would think that, but I think we proved them wrong. We didn’t win, so I’m certainly not bragging about our performance, but we ran a good portion of the race in second and ended up losing second at the end and finishing third. Chase [Dowling] had everyone covered that day, but we were right in contention.”
Matt Hirschman outlasts Jonathan Brown to win SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway on April 2
On an afternoon on which South Boston Speedway and the SMART Modified Tour honored Modified racing legend and five-time South Boston Speedway champion, the late Ray Hendrick, Matt Hirschman put together a late-race rally and held off Jonathan Brown in a five-lap dash to the finish to win Saturday’s Flying VA 99 SMART Modified Tour race. Hirschman got a good surge on the race’s final restart, quickly cleared Brown, and pulled away in the closing laps to earn his third SMART Modified Tour victory in four series starts this season.
“At the end, once I got back to the lead, I was confident that as long as I got a good clean start I could pull away,” Hirschman said. “Getting back to the lead is what I worried about.” Hirschman gave up the lead to pit under caution on lap 72 for a fresh right rear tire. It wasn’t until he passed Brown on lap 89 that he regained the lead. A caution flag with five laps to go gave Brown one last shot at Hirschman, but Hirschman was able to hold onto the top spot and pull away for the win. “We opted to get our (right rear) tire on lap 35, and a lot of guys waited until around lap 70 to come in,” Brown remarked. “It hurt us a little bit there at the end. That fresher right rear (tire) they had would have really helped us, but all in all it was a good day.” Caleb Heady of Shelbyville, KY finished third, former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte of Corpus Christi, TX placed fourth and Tom Buzze rounded out the top five finishers. Rounding out the Top 10 finishers in the unofficial results were Burt Myers, Danny Bohn, Brandon Ward, Brian Loftin and J.B. Fortin. The race was a highly competitive one with seven lead changes among five drivers. Hirschman led three times for a total of 39 laps.
Saturday’s race was slowed by 13 cautions, a circumstance that led to a lot of competitive racing, especially on the restarts. “There were a lot of wrecks,” Hirschman noted. “Fortunately, I really didn’t see any of them. I wasn’t around them, but it was great racing. There was a lot of grip in the track, but it’s also fast, and things happen fast. I guess that might have been part of it.”
Matt Hirschman continues his dominance of the Smart Modified tour. Matt wins the Lucky Charms 99 at Southern National Motorsports Park over Max McLaughlin, Burt Myers, Brandon Ward and Bobby Labonte. on March 19
SMART Modified's makes there second stop of the season at Southern National today with twenty-five modifieds taking the green.
Jonathon (John Boy) Brown grabbed the pole with a time of 14.893 with Bobby Labonte was a close.041 behind Brown. After the re-draw Jeremy Gershner and Joey Coultier would start on the front row. Gershner would jump to the point for the lead followered by Coultier. Would work quickly to grab that lead from Gershner.
The first thirsty laps fouth thru twenty would run side-by-side as teh top three ran away from the field. When the thirty lap caution flew for the Jerry Hunt SuperCenter halfway bonus it would be awarded to Coultier, Gershner, followed by Hirschman would take home the bonus money. After the restart Coultier would jump away again and grab another bonus 500.00 for the Banks Life halfway leader. There would be three cautions counting the thirty lap cautions with thirteen modifieds finishing on the lead lap. After race interview Hirschman said he'd like to with a SMARTY Trophy for each of his crew members.
1 #60 Matt Hirschman
2 #77 Max McLaughlin
3 #1 Burt Myers
4 #2 Brandon Ward
5 #25 Bobby Labonte
6 #15 Brian Lofton
7 #7NY Caleb Heady
8 #4 Jason Myers
9 #14 Bobby Measmer Jr
10 #21 Jimmy Wallace
11 #22 Jonathan Brown
12 #02C Joey Coultier
13 #45 Gary Young
14 #8F Chris Finocchario
15 #6 Greg Butcher
16 #99 Jamie Tomiano
17 #48 John Kievman
18 #79 Jeremy Gershner
19 #8ny Wes Gilbert
20 #07 Dennis Holdren
21 #79D Mason Diaz
22 #5 Tom Buzze Jr
23 #01 Brian Weber
24 #12 Dean Ward
25 #02 Troy Young
26 #00 Kevin Orlando
27 #03 Craig Young
HIRSCHMAN WINS SMART MODIFIED SEASON OPENER AT FLORENCE SPEEDWAY ON MARCH 6, 2022
MICHAEL JAWORECKI
Florence SC 3/5/2022: SMART Modified’s season opener was at Florence Motor Speedway this weekend. Hirschman would keep his winning ways going after a great start to the season in Florida at the World Series at New Smyrna Speedway. Bobby Measmer would start his season off on a good note by winning the pole with a time of 17.086 over Dennis Holdren. After the redraw for the event Measmer would start sixth. In the first thirty laps there were three lead changes for the “Jerry Hunt Supercenter” 30 lap stage winner and the #02 Holden taking the money for winning that stage. After the restart on lap 31, Jason Myers would spin on lap 34 bringing out a quick caution. The race would go green and on lap 50 Matt Hirschman would grab the halfway bonus. On lap 66 Cody Kohler would spin in turn three closing the field back up and the pit crews would go to work on a crowded pit row to take on tires. When the race resumed on lap 67 there would be another caution for a checkup of Brian Loftin and causing the cars of Greg Butcher and Gary Young to tangle and sending Butch over the bank “Note I said bank due to Florence has no walls in turn 1 and down the back straightaway” There would be another caution on lap 69 when Bobby Labonte and Jeremy Gerstner would tangle on the back straightway sending Labonte to spin and Gerstner over the bank. In the closing laps Heady would try and make a final charge for the lead but would come home race runner up behind Hirschman
LOW COUNTRY 99 FINISHING ORDER 3/5/2022
1. #60 Matt Hirschman – 99
2. #7NY Caleb Heady – 99
3. #2 Brandon Ward – 99
4. #1 Burt Myers – 99
5. #22 Jonathon Brown – 99
6. #25 Bobby Labonte – 99
7. #15 Brian Loftin – 99
8. #21W Jimmy Wallace – 99
9. #4 Jason Myers – 99
10. #14 Bobby Measmer Jr. – 99
11. #12 Dean Ward – 99
12. #07H Dennis Holden – 99
13. #95 Cody Kolher – 99
14. #48 Jon Keivman – 99
15. #79 Jeremy Gerstner – 99
16. #99 Jamie Tomaino – 99
17. #00 Kevin Orlando – 98
18. #02 Tony Young – 98
19. #21N Tommy Neal – 97
20. #01 Brian Weber – 94
21. #03 Craig Young – 93
22. #45 Gary Young Jr. –
23 #6 Greg Butcher – 67
Hirschman wins Richie Evans 100, Blewett takes World Series Speedweeks was the story of Big Money vs. Showtime all week.
By Matt Weaver
There were three long distance Tour Type Modified races at New Smyrna Speedway over the past week and Matt Hirschman came away with a clean sweep.
NASCAR Modified Tour 200 ✓
John Blewett III Memorial 76 ✓
Richie Evans Memorial 100 ✓
Only a rapidly deflating tire on the final restart on Monday night prevented the Pee Dee Motorsports No. 60 from claiming the entire Speedweeks championship on Friday night. Hirschman likely would have finished inside top-five that night, but instead, it was the sheer consistency of Jimmy Blewett that earned a championship. Blewett finished either second or third all five nights and ultimately claimed his second Tour Type World Series championship by 12 markers over Hirschman.Following his misfortune and 12th-place finish on Monday, Hirschman responded with a runner-up and three consecutive wins. This is the fourth time Hirschman has won the Richie Evans Memorial 100 and it’s his sixth overall win in nine starts at the World Series main event. It snapped a tie with the late Teddy Christopher for all-time wins in the event.Even though Hirschman didn’t come away with the championship, he still believes this is his best overall performance at New Smyrna in February and that’s coming from a racer with six championship finishes of first or second in the weeklong event."[My team] did a great job all week," Hirschman said. "This PeeDee Motorsports car and team, I couldn’t ask for any more really. It’s exactly what I wanted to have in the car. Everybody did a great job all week. The only flaw we had was a tire going flat on Monday night. There’s nobody here that could control that. One of our best weeks, maybe the best week we’ve ever had. … Just amazing. What a week. I love coming here. I love speedweeks. I love this race track. I hope to do this for years to come."Hirschman took the lead from Bryan Narducci on the third lap after starting fourth and went unchallenged the rest of the way. Blewett immediately followed him into second and spent the remaining 97 laps looking for a way around. It didn’t happen.Blewett has consistently been the closest of everyone else all week and that was the best he had for Hirschman. "I felt this morning like I was racing for everybody in the racing community to try to beat Matt," Blewett said. "Matt is a great guy, great person on and off the track, but it’s not an easy feat to beat him. So, for me, I felt like I was doing it for everyone." This is actually the sixth time Blewett has won a championship at New Smyrna during Speedweeks as he also claimed four SK Modified championships when that division was run over the previous decade. Blewett claimed this crown driving the No. 7NY for Tommy Baldwin. Blewett said from the middle of the week forward, once he claimed sole possession of the points lead, that he would race conservatively to protect that advantage. Mission accomplished. "I just stayed focus," Blewett said. "All I really had to do this week was just drive the car and give [Baldwin] as much information as possible," Blewett said. "Back home, or anything I do myself, it’s just constant work and I can’t really focus 100 percent on driving the car because I’m focusing so much on working on it. So that took a huge weight off my shoulders and I could go to bed each night focusing on what I could tell Tommy and the guys back in the pits to get the car better for myself. Obviously we wanted to win. … but the championship was the big picture. We were looking at the big picture the whole week. Even though we didn’t win a race, we a won a championship. And it means something me to do it against a guy like Matt Hirschman." Patrick Emerling completed the podium on Friday night ahead of Teddy Hodgdon IV and they finished fifth and third respectively in the standings. Ron Silk was fourth in the standings after finishing eighth in the Richie Evans.
World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modifieds Race 5
Richie Evans Memorial 100
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Patrick Emerling
4. Teddy Hodgdon
5. Craig Lutz
6. Stephen Kopcik
7. Andrew Krause
8. Ron Silk
9. Joey Coulter
10. Bryan Narducci
11. Cam McDermott
12. Marcello Rufrano
13. Spencer Davis
14. Ronnie Williams
15. Tyler Rypkema
16. Paul Charette
17. Earl Paules
18. Jeremy Gerstner
19. Chris Young
20. Brian Robie
21. Tommy Catalano
22. Tyler Catalano
23. Anthony Bello
24. Tyler Truex
25. Chris Andretta
26. Eddie McCarthy
27. J.R. Bertuccio
28. Dillon Steuer
29. Chris Ridsdale
30. Amy Catalano
31. Rich Parker
32. Chris Dewalt
33. David Sapienza
34. Paul Hartwig, Jr.
35. Paul Hartwig, Sr.
36. Chris LaCicero
Hirschman Goes Back-to-Back with Midweek World Series Wins on Feb 17. That's three overall wins this week for the Pee Dee Motorsports No. 60 this week. Story By Matt Weaver
It might not ultimately be enough to close out on a fourth World Series of Asphalt championship, but Thursday night was representative of everything Matt Hirschman does well at New Smyrna Speedway each February. Running third on a restart with nine laps to go, Hirschman followed Jimmy Blewett past Ronnie Williams and into the first two spots, and the race was on. They raced nose-to-tail for the next six laps when Hirschman darted under Blewett in Turn 3 and took the spot. Big picture racing, Blewett did not contest the spot from Hirschman and essentially accepted a 14-point championship advantage entering the Richie Evans Memorial 100 on Friday night. Hirschman has now won two consecutive races this week, not including the Whelen Modified Tour event held on Saturday night at New Smyrna. "I was just looking for an opportunity," Hirschman said. "I think Jimmy was tight handling-wise. I actually, once I got ahead of him, I was pretty tight." Hirschman couldn’t be denied. "I did everything I could do to hold him off, my car was just too tight," Blewett said. "We were trying something tonight in anticipation of what the track is going to be tomorrow. We just missed a little bit."
Blewett essentially leads Hirschman by seven positions on the track and that dynamic was certainly on his mind in the closing laps. "Obviously you want to win, but we’re also looking at big picture," Blewett said. "I know [Hirschman] is too. Every point counts here these last two nights. Definitely can see everybody getting real aggressive at the end of the week here." Craig Lutz entered the night four points behind Blewett after winning the World Series opener on Monday but was taken out in an early crash and finished 31st and sits a distant sixth in the championship standings.
Ron Silk, who won Tuesday’s race, finished fifth on Thursday and is third in the standings and 34 points behind Blewett. All that remains is the biggest show of the week in the Richie Evans Memorial 100 -- a race Hirschman says is can’t miss. "I know one thing, we’re an entertaining group," Hirschman said. "The beginning of the race, a little off. People sure get their money’s worth with this group. These Modifieds just blow everything else away. There’s nothing that compares."
2022 World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modified Race 4
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Ronnie Williams
4. Stephen Kopcik
5. Ron Silk
6. Joey Coulter
7. Patrick Emerling
8. Dillon Steuer
9. Teddy Hodgdon
10. Spencer Davis
11. Andrew Krause
12. Tyler Rypkema
13. J.R. Bertuccio
14. Chris Young
15. Kyle Sisco
16. Tyler Truex
17. Chris Andretta
18. Earl Paules
19. Tyler Catalano
20. Michael Christopher, Jr.
21. Amy Catalano
22. Tommy Catalano
23. Paul Charette
24. Rich Parker
25. Chriss Ridsdale
26. Anthony Bello
27. Buddy Miller
28. Marcello Rufrano
29. Chris Dewalt
30. Jeff Malave
31. Craig Lutz
32. Jeremy Gerstner
33. Chris LaCicero
34. Tom Martino, Jr.
35. Paul Hartwig
MATT HIRSCHMAN’S WEDNSDAY VICTORY WAS CAREER WIN #200
By DINO OBERTO
On August 4, 2001 at Evergreen Raceway a then 19-year old Matt Hirschman raced to his career first asphalt Modified victory.
Wednesday at New Smyrna Speedway when he took the checkered flag in the night’s 76-lap John Blewett III Memorial it marked his 200th win. “I knew at the end of last year when I totaled up I was only two wins away but other than that it wasn’t something I really looked at or had any type of goal or timeline for it. We were able to get it down here and then got another one,” said Hirschman prior to the start of Friday night’s Tour Modified finale, the Richie Evans Memorial 100, which incidentally he also won and bumped his total to 202.“It’s a milestone for sure and you see it achieved a lot more with guys in dirt racing. They tend to race a lot more and some of those guys do it as a profession and not as a hobby,” he continued.“Probably back when I was at around 100 I didn’t even pay any attention to it because you’re just trying to keep winning but you realize the longer you do this I feel you appreciate it more and it is a significant milestone. You don’t know where that next one or even if there will be one when you’re talking numbers like that.” His climb to the 200 win mark has been an incredible journey. In the present era of pavement Modifieds he has risen to the head of the class and continues to set the standard of excellence with his winning performances time and time again. Hirschman acknowledges that it’s been a commitment by so many starting from his modest beginning when John Markovic gave him his first ride and to the present with his signature number 60 cars be it his own or the with the Pee Dee Motorsports team. All the people that were a part of this and not just those with us for the 200th win. Going back to the very first win when I had a buddy from school and my grandfather was my pit crew that night and my mom was with me too,” he recalled. “When you think about it from then to now there’s a lot of people who have contributed to the wins in between. Teams I drove for and the many people I drove for.” The now 39-year old, who hails from Northampton, vividly recollects that first night win too.
“I remember the night quite well honestly. I know I have pictures of it and Victory Lane and all. I know my dad was racing that night so him and my brother and head mechanic Frank where out at Riverhead,” said Hirschman. “I certainly appreciate that John Markovic gave me the opportunity to get my career started and then it just continued to grow from there.”
After spending his first year racing at Evergreen, Hirschman then began what is now his customary style of racing, on the road and hitting as many tracks as he can. Before long the victories started coming and the numbers began to grow. “The next year I was with Scott Edelman. He took me from a weekly racer at Evergreen to running RoC and that taught me a lot and going to all the different places as a rookie,” he noted. “He’s the one who took the biggest chance on me. We didn’t set the world on fire but we were competitive with going to all those places. We could have just stayed at Evergreen but we went on the road for a few years and that really developed me.” One of the unique things about the throng of victories he’s tallied is the fact that most are extra distance events as opposed to a regular type feature. But make no mistake Hirschman excels at them all from the 25-lapper and all the way up to 250 laps on big and small speedways too. Over the past decade the average yearly races he runs are in the 40 starts range with a winning percentage at a staggering 90% or better. When not finishing first top-5s are then the norm and rarely does he collect a DNF. This also comes at a time when paved tracks are not near the number of what they had been. “The asphalt racers that have huge win totals, they use to barnstorm the east coast and race several times a week. The opportunities aren’t even there to race that much if you wanted to and they just had multiple times a week to do that,” he expanded on.On that same note today’s cars are all purpose built making for as much a level playing field as possible and to reach his high-water mark. “There’s a lot more with these cars today and we go from one track to another and it seems you change half the car from one race to the next sometimes. I don’t believe they did that back then and they worked hard that’s for sure but I feel there’s so much more involved today and we also spend a lot of time at the race track,” Hirschman stated. “For instance the Whelen Tour race we were here at 9:00 a.m. for a race that was at nine o’clock at night and that’s a 12-hour day. I’m pretty sure the majority of races back then they were in and out a lot quicker. “So it’s totally different today and you’re not comparing apples to apples and I’m not looking for any comparisons to any previous greats but we’re certainly making history in today’s racing. One thing though I give them credit with what they raced with compared to the current equipment we run.” Seen as one of today’s greats and looked up to by many as a Modified kingpin, Hirschman revealed he too had his hero’s that he looked upon that were stars just as he is today. “Obviously my dad (Tony Hirschman) was always number one and I try not to make similarities but I feel that some of his traits or characteristics I believe I’ve continued and can resemble his ability to drive the car smooth and stay out of trouble and not only win the big races but championships too,” he reasoned. “There’s a lot of great drivers who can win a lot of races but they also win maybe championships and my dad could do both. Mike Stefanick’s another that could do both. So those two guys were my heroes in terms of Modified racing.” There is another driver who Hirschman pays gratitude towards, that being fellow Mud Lane neighbor Eric Beers. If ever there are two drivers that have traveled down the same path, it’s these two. “I learned a tremendous amount from Eric Beers because when I first started he was the top guy at the local tracks and he was also going to other places too so he was kind of what I ended up doing,” said Hirschman. “When I first started Eric was the top guy on the local circuit but also was traveling and winning. He won on the Whelen Tour, he won the Race of Champions. And I learned more racing with him than any other driver in my younger days. You want to pay attention to the best and he was on the local scene and just as good on the road.” If you look over the individual list of his 200 wins it would be hard to pinpoint which ones stand out more than others. A record eight wins in the prestigious Race of Champions certainly takes some precedence. Wins on the NASCAR Modified Tour, the Tri-Track Tour and just one after another top race wins fill his resume. With all the big races to enter as well as those tracks that still host the Modifieds, Hirschman sounded off that the state of this type of racing is as good as it’s ever been. “Asphalt Modified racing is stronger and more competitive then it was let’s say 10 years ago and I believe in the last handful of years it’s gotten better and better. Look at the car counts here and elsewhere we run,” he voiced. “I would say in the late 2000s, early 2010s Modified racing was a little questionable like where it was at and where it’s going. But I would say from the mid-2010s to now its stronger than it’s been in quite some time. “To be having the success and having one of the more recognizable names is something I take pride in. Hopefully we can keep it going but there’s no guarantee and that’s why when we reached this number it was very special and means so much.”
Hirschman's 200th Win Comes in the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Feb 16th. Big Money Matt is now the only driver to have won this race three times.
By: Matt Weaver
The decade of dominance continues for Matt Hirschman as ‘Big Money’ became the first three-time winner of the John Blewett III Memorial 76 Tour Type Modified race on Wednesday while also reentering the Speedweeks championship hunt. Hirschman has now won both of the extra length races held so far at New Smyrna Speedway in the Blewett plus the Whelen Modified Tour opener with one more on Friday night in the Richie Evans Memorial 99. He will be seeking is fourth consecutive victory in that race and sixth in ninth starts. He says it’s not as easy as it looks."I mean, we’ve won our fair share recently and especially in the big races, which is cool but we had our struggles when we first stated coming here in 2009, 10, 13 and 14," Hirschman said. "We won a few then, but we had a lot of struggles and some tough times, some wrecked cars and stuff like that. "Now with Pee Dee Motorsports, we’ve had a lot of success, six straight years of it and regardless of what happens the rest of the way, I’d call it a success with the Whelen Modified Tour win and tonight."
It was a clinic on Wednesday as Tom Martino Jr. jumped out to a massive early lead with the rest of the field running in a pack and all conserving their tires. Jimmy Blewett, Tyler Rypkema and Hirschman just let him speed away and committed to their plan. Blewett ultimately finished second but wasn’t surprised when he saw Martino spin and eventually pit before the end of the race. "That kid will burn the tires off his car in five laps," Blewett said. "He does it every single week, week in and week out, no matter the race track. He wanted to go, and I said, ‘go ahead kid, melt it down,’ and when I saw him spun out with five laps to go and spun out, I just said, ‘great job,’ and moved on." Hirschman says there’s no specific formula to winning the John Blewett III Memorial 76 because he’s done it by saving and he’s done it with the whole field setting a much faster pace. He says every year is different depending on the timing of cautions and the make-up of the field. "This race is different because it’s the furthest you’re going to take the tires," Hirschman said. "The 100 lapper, there’s a pit stop and it depends when the caution comes and when you take the tires, but this is likely the furthest you take em all week, and that’s why sometimes conserving and taking the charge late works, and sometimes it doesn’t." Hirschman also claimed this was his 200th career win.
"It’s been really a great ride," Hirschman said. "Actually tonight was my 200th career win, so there’s a lot of people that have helped make that possible over 20 years. I really appreciate everybody that’s been involved from the beginning until now." Blewett’s runner-up was his third podium to start the week and places him squarely in the championship lead -- four over Craig Lutz but Wednesday night was about family and community to the Howell, New Jersey native. "Once again we’re here with another podium finish," Blewett said. "I’ll take a second place. Obviously want to win this one more than anything. Like I said every year, I finish second in all of my brother’s memorial races. We’ll keep coming back and trying. "I’m very thankful – and I know I’m speaking on my family’s behalf for everybody back home – that they’re continuing to keep my brother’s legacy alive. My brother lived a short life, he was only 33 years old when he lost his life. To see the turnout, the people and the car count that comes year in and year out to show the support not only to my family but to our motorsports family as well. I just want to thank everybody back home that tuned in to watch the race. We’ll never forget John and we’ll keep coming back as many times as it takes." Lutz now has finishes of first, fifth and third to open his Florida Speedweeks. "It’s a good run," Lutz said. "Anytime you can finish on the podium, especially with the caliber of guys. Matt’s got this race down to a science and I know Jimmy was trying like hell to get one for his brother. It’s an awesome day to finish on the podium and keep the momentum going for the rest of the week. Joey Coulter and Patrick Emerling completed the top-five. Spencer Davis has shown speed all week but has been unable to finish races and finally put a complete event together to finish sixth.
John Blewett Memorial 76
Tour Type Modifieds
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Craig Lutz
4. Joey Coulter
5. Patrick Emerling
6. Spencer Davis
7. Tyler Rypkema
8. Andrew Krause
9. Teddy Hodgdon
10. J.R. Bertuccio
11. Eddie McCarthy
12. Cam McDermott
13. Timmy Solomito
14. Amy Catalano
15. Michael Christopher, Jr.
16. Ron Silk
17. David Sapienza
18. Stephen Kopcik
19. Chris Young
20. Tyler Truex
21. Dylan Slepian
22. Tyler Catalano
23. Brian Robie
24. Tom Martino, Jr.
25. Marcello Rufrano
26. Tommy Catalano
27. Earl Paules
28. Dillon Steuer
29. Jeremy Gerstner
30. Chris Ridsdale
31. Chris Andretta
32. Bud McIntyre
33. Jonathan Laurigh
34. Buddy Miller
35. Ronnie Williams
36. Anthony Bello
37. Ricky Moxley
38. Rich Parker
Aggressive Start, Restart Sends Silk to World Series Win on Feb 15. Silk earned his ninth Speedweeks win but first with crew chief Phil Moran. Sorry by Matt Weaver
It looked like a chess match, but Ron Silk says he was just driving as hard as he could to keep one of the fellow greats behind him in Matt Hirschman.
For 30 laps and across two restarts, Hirschman looked for away under or over Silk for the lead and just couldn’t do it. The race may have been won and lost on the initial start. Hirschman started the race ahead of Silk, but found himself on the bottom, with Silk using a three-wide pass from the preferred top side to move into third. Silk would take the lead on a third lap restart, aggressively driving past Jimmy Blewett and Teddy Hodgdon. Hirschman needed a fifth lap restart to move into second, at which point Silk had already taken the lead. The pair of aces would duel nose-to-tail for the next 30 laps with Silk emerging victorious. It looked like chess, but it was all drive. "I don't know about chess," Silk said. "I'm just trying to hold him off. He's trying to pass me."
The leaders approached the tail end of the field with two laps to go, but it was ultimately a non-factor. "You do get a little nervous seeing them approaching in the distance, but you just have to commit to your decisions and hope to catch a few breaks. Fortunately, everyone stayed out of the way and it didn’t affect the finish. The race was his ninth in World Series competition but also his first overall since acquiring the services of championship winning crew chief Phil Moran. Meanwhile, Hirschman was left wondering what could have been with a more aggressive start. "We caught him, just passing him is another thing," Hirschman said. "[Silk] is one of the best we run against. He’s always a hard race. We just couldn’t make a pass.
"But I would say, looking back at the race, we started ahead of him. The three-wide thing, he went to the inside and I was in the middle and I didn’t want to use [Blewett]. I kind of was conservative on that and maybe that was the difference. There’s three races ahead of us and I’m looking forward to [the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Wednesday]. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I think we’re in good shape. I would have liked to have won, we had a fast-enough car to win, but we’re back on form. We had an off night [Monday], it wasn’t anybody’s fault or the car’s, we had a tire going down. So, we’re back in form. Hopefully tomorrow night we’re [in victory lane]." Jimmy Blewett accepted another podium finish and also assumes the points lead heading into Wednesday’s John Blewett III Memorial 76. He was just too loose to close out on the leaders once they stayed in lockstep down the straights.
"The car was bad fast, just a little too free for me," Blewett said. "Once [Silk and Hirschman] got drafting each other [Hirschman] kind of pushed [Silk] out front to get him away from me so I couldn’t make a move with him. Hats off to my guys, another podium finish here. We’re thinking big picture for the end of the week here with the points championship. We’ve got a lot of stiff competition here this year."
1. Ron Silk
2. Matt Hirschman
3. Jimmy Blewett
4. Teddy Hodgdon
5. Craig Lutz
6. Ronnie Williams
7. Stephen Kopcik
8. Michael Christopher, Jr.
9. Joey Coulter
10. Marcello Rufrano
11. Tyler Rypkema
12. Anthony Bello
13. Timmy Catalano
14. Earl Paules
15. Tyler Truex
16. Brian Robie
17. Patrick Emerling
18. Tommy Catalano
19. Paul Charette
20. Kyle Sisco
21. Tyler Catalano
22. Jeremy Gerstner
23. Dillon Steuer
24. David Sapienza
25. Dylan Slepian
26. Chris Ridsdale
27. Spencer Davis
28. Rich Parker
29. Jonathan Laurigh
30. Chris Dewalt
31. Chris Andretta
32. Tom Martino, Jr.
33. J.R. Bertuccio
34. Chris Young
35. Andrew Krause
Craig Lutz Claims Second Straight Speedweeks Opener on Feb 14
It was a case of ‘new look, same results’ for Craig Lutz on opening night for the Tour Type Modifieds in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway. A year ago, Lutz survived the carnage of Night One and emerged victorious for team owner Russell Goodale at the start of Speedweeks. This year, opening night was considerably less destructive and Lutz won in his Speedweeks debut for Danny Watts with Goodale support. Lutz led every lap and held off Jimmy Blewett over the final five laps to take the 50-lap feature. For the near entirety of the race, Lutz was under pressure from Ronnie Williams but the final restart saw Blewett unsuccessfully take his shot at the lead. He had to work for that one harder than he already was."For sure," Lutz said. "It was already five to go so you're giving it everything you've got and then the caution comes out. They stack ‘em up and it's hard to get going again." Lutz ultimately chose the top side for the restart, but there was some trepidation because what if Williams was loose on the bottom? "It can go both ways," Lutz said. "If someone gets a good launch off the bottom, they can beat you, but I prefer sweeping around the top and it worked out tonight." Williams sank on the restart and Blewett found an adjustment that nearly won him the race especially starting second row on the outside. Blewett was able to make a run to the outside but couldn’t complete the pass before taking the white flag. "I was free up until that [second caution]," Blewett said. "So I said ‘I’ve got nothing really left to lose so let me just bury this brake adjuster one way and if it works it works.’ And it did, it worked out. I knew when we had the restart we were going to have something for them once I realized what was going on with the brake issue there. I had him off of [turn two] down the backstretch and then the caution came out." Patrick Emerling completed the podium and was largely hanging on. "Not a bad first night for us," Emerling said. "We lacked a little bit right at the beginning. We were just kind of biding our time there to save a little toward the end there." Ron Silk and Teddy Hodgdone completed the top-five. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race winner Matt Hirschman posted the quickest time in qualifying and raced as high as seventh but faded after restarting on the bottom with five laps to go. He faded to 12th.
2022 World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modified Race 1
1. Craig Lutz
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Patrick Emerling
4. Ron Silk
5. Teddy Hodgdon
6. Ronnie Williams
7. Eddie McCarthy
8. Marcello Rufrano
9. Brian Robie
10. Chris Young
11. Tyler Rypkema
12. Matt Hirschman
13. David Sapienza
14. Stephen Kopcik
15. Cam McDermick
16. Tommy Catalano
17. Michael Christopher, Jr.
18. Anthony Bello
19. Paul Charette
20. Tyler Truex
21. Dylan Slepian
22. Earl Paules
23. Chris Andretta
24. Amy Catalano
25. Tom Martino, Jr.
26. J.R. Bertuccio
27. Dillon Steuer
28. Andrew Krause
29. Jeff Malave
30. Joey Coulter
31. Jeremy Gerstner
32. Ricky Moxley
New Race, Familiar Face: Matt Hirschman Wins First Whelen Mod Tour Event At New Smyrna Speedway on Feb 12In recent years Matt Hirschman has been the king of the Tour Type Modified division at the annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. Saturday, with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Smyrna Speedway for the first time, Hirschman proved that his crown carried over to the series. Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., drove away from the field late to win the Whelen Modified Tour New Smyrna Visitor’s Bureau 200 Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway.“It means a lot,” Hirschman said. “I never made it to Daytona [International Speedway] or the Daytona 500, but coming down here to be part of Speedweeks and win races, this being the first time the [Whelen Modified Tour is] ever here, it just means a lot. It’s a lot of work. I appreciate all the effort by the PeeDee Motorsports team. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of yet this week. A lot of racing to go, which I’m really looking forward to. Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. was second. Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott, making his second series start, was third. It was the fifth career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Hirschman in his 107th series start since 2005. Hirschman also was the pole winner of the event. “Of all the things we’ve done with this team, and this is our sixth year, we’ve won other races, [Whelen Modified Tour] races, North-South Shootouts, [Tri-Track Open Modified Series] races, coming to Florida has really been the most enjoyable thing that I’ve done with these guys and this team,” Hirschman said. “You feel like you made it when you come down here and you win a big race. I never made it to Daytona, but this is huge for me. I’m really proud of everybody, myself included, that we’ve been able to accomplish so much down here. It’s awesome. “Just cool to be down here, [on] FloRacing, packed house here, sold out crowd, this awesome. I’ve been watching racing all week on Flo and others. I’ve watched Sprint cars, Dirt Modifieds, Dirt Late Models, I’ve been watching all kinds of stuff, and now to be part a headline maker here tonight at New Smyrna, this is cool. We’ll just try to keep it up and win some more races [next week].” Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, Mass. and Tyler Rypkema of Owego, N.Y. rounded out the top-five respectively. Hirschman went by Christopher for the lead with 39 laps to go with Goodale moving into second two laps later. Hirschman was easily able to keep a healthy distance between himself and second place the rest of the way. “I knew I probably wanted to get him early on in [the last] run,” Goodale said. “Matt is way too good of a driver to make mistakes late in the race. I knew with about 15 laps to go that he probably had the better car. I was hoping lapped traffic or a mistake on his behalf would put us right back there in the mix. We were driving away from third. I was just driving the thing as hard as I could to not make any mistakes and stay with him in case he bobbled there.”
Christopher made his only other series start last September driving for Baldwin at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway in an event where he finished 14th. “I hope I put on a good show for the fans,” Christopher said. “I proved to [car owner Tommy Baldwin Jr.] and everyone else that the PSR Chassis is here to play and we’ll be racing the rest of the week with the PSR. We’re here to compete and do well the best that we can. Obviously we were on older tires there at the end but just looking for that yellow. Gambled and it didn’t work out. But I’m pretty happy to be on the podium. Very thankful for this opportunity.” Ryan Preece looked like he would be Hirschman’s toughed competition for the night, but Preece ended up involved in a wreck with Andrew Krause with about 60 laps remaining coming off turn four while battling for fourth place. Preece ended up 10th. Two-time defending series champion Justin Bonsignore retired after 32 laps with mechanical issues and ended up last in the 31-car field.
1 1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports Chevrolet 200 48 5 Running
2 13 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing Chevrolet 200 42 Running
3 8 7 Mike Christopher, Jr. * Chevrolet 200 42 1 Running
4 6 79 Jon McKennedy Hoosier/Christopher Towing/TFR/Willwood Brakes 200 40 Running
5 12 32 Tyler Rypkema Musco/Northern Drilling Chevrolet 200 40 1 Running
6 14 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials/Goodie Racing Chevrolet 200 38 Running
7 19 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes Chevrolet 200 38 1 Running
8 18 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara Chevrolet 200 36 Running
9 17 7 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway Chevrolet 200 35 Running
10 2 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/CBYD Chevrolet 200 35 1 Running
11 9 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect/Lumierre Elect/Andrew James Interior 200 33 Running
12 4 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory/RB Enterprises Ford 200 32 Running
13 15 21 Jimmy Blewett Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 200 31 Running
14 10 34 J.B. Fortin John’s Fuel Oil Inc/John’s Tree Removal Chevrolet 199 30 Running
15 3 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance/MIT Chevrolet 199 29 Running
16 20 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants Ford 199 28 Running
17 11 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet 198 27 Running
18 7 2 JR Bertuccio Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 198 26 Running
19 28 59 Matt Kimball * BNP Machine Dodge 197 25 Running
20 25 20 Eddie McCarthy * McCarthy’s Marine Chevrolet 197 24 Running
21 21 70 Dylan Slepian * Eastport Feeds Chevrolet 197 23 Running
22 27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet 195 22 Running
23 23 28 Paul Charette * Polar Beverages Chevrolet 194 21 Running
24 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Chevrolet 191 20 Running
25 24 2 Joey Coulter Race fan/Air Shok/Molecule/Simpson Chevrolet 149 19 Electrical
26 22 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating/Technique Chassis Ford 148 18 Accident
27 31 55 Jeremy Gerstner GMP Lawn Care Chevrolet 147 17 Accident
28 16 49 Chris Young JH Homstead Chevrolet 142 16 Accident
29 26 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 140 15 Accident
30 29 1 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales Chevrolet 94 14 Handling
31 5 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet 32 13 Overheating
Matt Hirschman is seeking a hat trick of his own next week during NASCAR’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
Feb 8, 2022 by Rob Blount
Hat tricks are typically reserved for hockey or soccer, but Matt Hirschman is seeking a hat trick of his own next week at NASCAR’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in the Tour-type Modified division. Yes, Hirschman already has three division championships, but this year he’s going for his third straight division title and fourth in the last five years. Hirschman has 10 victories at New Smyrna dating back to 2009, with seven of those wins coming since 2018. When someone has accomplished everything they’ve set out to achieve, one has to wonder what keeps bringing them back. “What brought me back, and this being now our sixth consecutive trip, is the PeeDee Motorsports team,” said Hirschman. “When that was formed in 2016, being based out of South Carolina, we’ve always tried to do some southern stuff in addition to my full slate of northern races. Coming down here in February has been a part of that every year. This is our sixth trip, from 2017 to 2022. It’s a huge effort to do it. A lot of work, a lot of prep. A lot of work while you’re here and even when you return. But it’s something that has been one of the more enjoyable things that we’ve done in our time together as a team.” Since the Northampton, Pennsylvania driver made his return to New Smyrna in 2017, the week’s format has been the same. The Modifieds run their first race on Monday and end their week the following Friday with the running of the Richie Evans Memorial 100. But this time around, there’s a new wrinkle to the format with the highly anticipated addition of the season-opener for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this Saturday night. Hirschman explained that the biggest challenge this new addition poses is personnel related. “What is probably the biggest challenge is our crew is made up of people spread out all over the south and the northeast,” Hirschman explained. “It’s a challenge any time we race, but this is probably the biggest thing we do the entire year. And adding the Whelen Tour race, now we’re bringing in even more people. We typically run the World Series with about five or six crew guys to run the week. Now we’re looking at we need 10-plus to cover all of the positions that are needed with live pit stops and things like that. This is even a bigger logistical challenge than what we’ve done the previous five years.” But even though that part of things is difficult logistically, he said that he can’t wait for race day on Saturday for the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200. “It's going to be a big deal and I would expect a packed house as far as the turnout just because of the anticipation,” he said. “I think this has been talked about happening for quite some time. I think it’s going to be a big deal and I think it’s going to gain a ton of attention across the country, really. Another thing that has Hirschman excited is the expected car counts for the rest of the week. It wasn’t that long ago that fewer than 15 Tour-type Modifieds made the trip south to New Smyrna, but this year the entry list has exceeded 50 cars. “This is huge. It wasn’t that long ago that the Tour-type Modifieds being part of the World Series was probably on life-support. It was in the danger-zone with the car counts,” said Hirschman. “So this is great to see, and I like to see the division rewarded for the support, because we’re probably going to double the car count of any other class quite possibly.” With a big car count, Hirschman expects some big moments for the Modifieds at New Smyrna, and as a result, some large crowds as well. “I can say with confidence I believe we’re the best show in town,” Hirschman said. “It just seems like it’s a perfect match, our cars for this race track. I really look forward to Wednesday and Friday nights, the two big races and longer races, the John Blewett III Memorial on Wednesday night at 76 laps and the Richie Evans Memorial on Friday. The Evans race is the biggest of the week and coming at the end it’s a culmination of a week’s-plus worth of work. “But I will say I think the Wednesday night race has been the best race in recent years. Just a couple of years ago I had the photo-finish with Anthony Nocella. You watch the last few laps of that race, and that’s not just one of the best races of the year. I think that’s one of the best races like all-time best races in the World Series and in short track racing in general.” Much like that night, Hirschman has been involved in many of the big moments at New Smyrna. A third-straight championship with the Tour-type Modifieds would be another one of those big moments to add to the extensive resumé. His quest for that third World Series of Asphalt championship in a row kicks off on Monday, February 14. But first up is the season-opener for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, February 12th. Race fans can watch that race, as well as the entire World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway on FloRacing.
https://www.floracing.com/articles/7416857-matt-hirschman-seeking-hat-trick-at-new-smyrna-world-series
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 happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day. I understand how everyone feels and see’s what happened. We don’t operate as a team like that. I don’t condone taking people out of races. We were running 13 second laps with split second decisions. Sorry for costing Matt a win not that it matters much at this point.”
Sam Rameau of Westinster, Mass. was fourth and Doug Coby of Milford fifth Sunday at Monadnock. Eric Goodale, Jake Johnson, Austin Beers, Tommy Catalano and Jacob Perry rouned out the top-10 respectively in the 25-car field.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 200 –
2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 200 0.776
3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 1.051
4 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants/Powells Stone & Gravel 200 1.946
5 7 Doug Coby Stuart’s Automotive 200 3.418
6 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 4.795
7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks 200 7.221
8 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 7.521
9 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 200 8.166
10 47 Jacob Perry* Jacks Competition Engines 200 8.325
11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn”s Auto 200 8.434
12 50 Ronnie Williams Jr. Empower Financial Advisory & RB Enterprise 200 10.233
13 1 Mike Christopher Jr.* John Blewett Inc. 200 13.436
14 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 199 1 lap
15 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 199 1 lap
16 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 198 2 laps
17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 195 5 laps
18 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 193 7 laps
19 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Last Minute Racing 192 8 laps
20 71 James Pritchard Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Lauren Landscaping 192 8 laps
21 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 192 8 laps
22 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 164 36 laps
23 25 Brian Roble* Maurice Enterprise/Gromando’s Market 149 51 laps
24 76 Matthew Kimball* Gomarlo’s Supermarket 37 163 laps
25 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 13 187 laps
RACE STATISTICS
Time of race: 53 mins, 55 seconds
Average speed: 55.641 mph
Margin of victory: 0.776 seconds
Caution flags: Laps 73-78 (Car #07 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #18); 126-131 (Car #78 spin turn 1 no contact, FP#82); 168-173 (Car #71 spin backstretch no contact, FP #34); 176-179 (Car #26 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #1). 4 for 22 laps.
Lap leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-17, Matt Hirschman 18-45, Ron Silk 46-155, Matt Hirschman 156-197, Justin Bonsignore 198-200.
Total laps led: Ron Silk 110, Matt Hirschman 70, Justin Bonsignore 20. 4 changes involving 3 drivers.
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock on June 18
Matt Hirschman is still angry over the ending of Sunday's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
Jun 20, 2022 by Rob Blount
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock
With five laps to go in Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour “Duel at the Dog 200” at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway, it looked as though Matt Hirchman had his second win of the season on lockdown. But with three laps to go, Hirschman had trouble putting JB Fortin a lap down and that handed the win over to Justin Bonsignore. When Hirschman came upon Fortin’s No. 34 machine, he tried to go to the outside in turn three, but Fortin came up off the bottom and ran Hirschman up another lane, opening the door for Bonsignore to squeak by underneath. Then, going into the next corner, Fortin went from the second lane abruptly to the bottom lane right in front of Hirschman, letting Bonsignore begin to drive away. Completed · Jun 19
2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway
Fortin took to Facebook after the race and apologized to Hirschman, saying that, “what happened was definitely not intentional.”FloRacing connected with Hirschman Monday morning over the phone, and he said he does not believe Fortin to be truthful.“It makes it worse, because I know that it was intentional,” said Hirschman. “It was basically telegraphed for weeks. You’re not going to fool me. And to be honest, you didn’t fool the top three finishers. It made it worse, because if that’s what he felt he needed to do, then he did it and he needs to own it.”Fortin’s explained in his Facebook post that he was struggling in turn three all race and was worried he’d make contact with Hirschman.
“I should have backed up the corner more,” Fortin wrote. “When we got down into 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 RF 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.” Fortin continued by saying, “I feel terrible for what happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day.” Hirschman explained that he believes the incident was payback for something that happened between them in the late stages of the May 21 event at Lee USA Speedway. Fortin was running in the top three on a restart when he and Hirschman made side-bar contact that sent Fortin into the marbles and took his chances of a win away. “After the race at Lee, he caught me by surprise because he came after me with his car after the finish, and I had no idea what he was mad about,” said Hirschman. “I went back and watched the video, and of course he can go back and watch the video, and I don’t see anything there where he should be mad at me. Did we maybe touch a little bit at the end of the straightaway on a restart? Yes, but it had nothing to do with the entire corner where he got wider than he maybe should have. But he was side-by-side with the car behind me and they made contact. So that’s between them two.
“And prior to that, he was in second and closing on the leader and had a real chance at winning that race, and the car that spun to bring the caution out is the car that he helped win the race yesterday. So that just shows you how smart he is. And in interviews he kept making reference to it, so he basically telegraphed it. You decided that was what you needed to do, then own it. So to put that out and try to make an excuse and lie about it, that just makes it worse in my opinion.” Hirschman explained that since he’s had time to reflect on what took place on Sunday, he has not cooled down at all, but instead is actually more upset about it than he was after it initially happened. But, he also added that he has no plans to seek out Fortin to discuss the incident. “When you wake up the day after, and you wake up probably earlier than you should have, and you lay there and think about it, it hurts a little bit more,” he said. “This is not how the outcome of races should be decided. It’s discouraging and disappointing. I know he’ll read this. I have nothing to say to him. I have no use for talking to him. But he owes me a win on the Whelen Tour. How is he going to repay me that? You get me the win back that you stole from me and my team yesterday and we’re good.”
Evergreen Raceway: 11th to 1st for Matt Hirschman at Evergreen on June 17th
Matt Hirschman is silky smooth no matter where he goes to race and Friday night at Evergreen proved, why he will be a threat for his 7th straight track championship.
Hirschman diced his way through the field like a fine chef dices his onions. Starting 11th and grabbing the lead from Roger Coss with more than 30 laps remaining. Coss and Cody Koehler shared the front row and Coss jumped out to an early lead with Koehler hot on his heels. Coss who was having his best run to date, was no match for Hirschman as he cruised to his second straight win in as many races. Chuck Hossfeld who started 10th ended up P2.
Modifieds 1. Hirschman 2. Hossfeld 3. Coss 4. Jerry Hildebrand 5. Austin Beers 6. Brian DeFebo 7. Ricky Collins 8. Earl Paules 9. Daren Scherer 10. Nick Baer 11. Bobby Jones 12. Carl Altemose 13. Cody Koehler 14. Austin Kochenash 15. Geary Reinhimer Jr.
SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY GOES BACK-TO-BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER ON THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES WITH LANCASTER MOTORPLEX VICTORY ON JUNE 11
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., earned his second straight victory in Race of Champions Modified Series competition this past Saturday night as he held off a star-studded field of competitors to reach victory lane at the newly named, Lancaster (N.Y.) Motorplex, formerly Lancaster National Speedway. Leaty was awarded $4,000 for his efforts driving his family-owned machine. “Tonight was intense, that was for sure,” stated Leaty following victory lane festivities. “Patrick (Emerling), was back there in the the Stearns-Putney car that I had the privilege to drive last week and then there’s Matt (Hirschman), we were all right there, those guys know how to race and they have respect. It was great to win last week, but it’s extra special to win in our family owned-car with my Dad and my family here. We can now focus on July 1 at Spencer.” Leaty came from the third starting position to inherit the lead when race leader, Andy Jankowiak of Buffalo, N.Y., who had led the early stages of the 59-lap affair spun, under caution, on the “one-to-go” lap while he was aggressively scuffing his tires. Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., started 8th and worked his way to finish second. Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., drew the 12th starting position for the second consecutive week and finished third.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 4 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 3
2 8 14 Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 6
3 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 9
4 2 73X Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -2
5 3 65 George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -2
6 11 1 Chuck Hossfeld Chuck Hossfeld Lockport, NY 5
7 6 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA -1
8 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -3
9 19 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 10
10 10 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -
11 7 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -4
12 1 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -11
13 16 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 3
14 15 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 1
15 13 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY -2
16 14 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard -2
17 23 21 Paul Townsond Paul Townsond Guelph, ON 6
18 17 40 Alan Bookmiller Alan Bookmiller Castile, NY -1
19 9 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY -10
20 18 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA -2
21 22 01 John Barber John Barber Bliss, NY 1
22 20 62 Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Lancaster, NY -2
23 21 88 Tim Garlock Tim Garlock Kenmore, NY -2
24 24 65L Andy Lewis Andy Lewis Ontario, NY
“SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY MAKES HIS WAY TO VICTORY LANE IN “FAST 40” 67TH ANNUAL SPENCER SPEEDWAY OPENER on June 3
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane. This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts. “This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.” Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd.
Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY -
2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10
3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1
4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2
5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4
6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7
7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1
8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3
9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5
10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5
11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6
12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11
13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6
14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10
15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1
16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9
17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5
18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3
19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16
20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2
21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1
22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7
23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13
24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Claremont postponed due to weather allows Matt to attend RoC opener at Spencer June 3 where he comes from 12th to 2nd
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane.
This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts.
“This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.”
Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd.
Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/-
1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY -
2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10
3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1
4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2
5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4
6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7
7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1
8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3
9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5
10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5
11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6
12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11
13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6
14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10
15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1
16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9
17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5
18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3
19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16
20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2
21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1
22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7
23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13
24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Chase Dowling Wins Inaugural Monaco Modified Tri-Track Stop at Thunder Road on May 29
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series visited Barre, Vermont for the first time in history and Chase Dowling wasn’t going to be denied. The Roxbury, Connecticut, native captured the $10,000 winning prize in the Granite City 100 – passing for the lead with 48 laps to go and leading the remainder of the distance en route to Victory Lane. Dowling bested Anthony Nocella and six-time Tri-Track champion Matt Hirschman in the 25-car starting field.“First off, I want to stop and say to all of you guys here and the fans, this is badass,” Dowling said in Victory Lane. “All of you guys coming out on Memorial Day, it’s great to see a great crowd, this is a great facility. The car was on rails today – the crew did a great job. Can’t do it without all of the sponsors.”Dowling’s victory was his sixth in Tri-Track competition in 17 starts, only trailing Hirschman, who has 14. Nocella, who had speed in his No. 92 all day, finished a solid second in a field that had a total purse rising over $40,000.“All in all a decent run today,” Nocella said. “I have to thank Tri-Track for coming here and Thunder Road for having us, it’s a great facility with great racing.”Hirschman’s goal is always to get to the front, and the Pennsylvania native made it there late in the race, but couldn’t capture the checkered flag. It was Hirschman’s 29th top-five finish in 36 career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series races.“Track position was important,” Hirschman said. “We had some speed at the end. I’m happy we were able to get to third. Thunder Road has a great thing going here on Memorial Day weekend as we remember those who were lost fighting for our freedom. I like to win, but we moved forward, got third and we will see if we can be better next time.”Ronnie Williams and Kirk Alexander finished the top-five. Woody Pitkat and Stan Mertz Racing made the late decision to visit Thunder Road and finished sixth, while Matt Swanson was seventh, Jake Johnson eighth, Brian Robie ninth and Chris Pasteryak 10th.Earlier in the day, Nocella, Dowling and Alexander won qualifying heat races in the Pepsi Challenge, collecting $300 each for their triumph. Matt Kimball collected a $500 bonus in the Green Construction Management LLC Hard Charger award.
BARRE, Vt – When it comes to describing the Thunder Road International Speedbowl green is a word that certainly would come to mind quickly. Green dominates the color scheme and track logo and all the views of mountains beyond the picturesque historic bullring. Green also could describe much of the field for the first Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series field when it came to experience at the quarter-mile oval.Chase Dowling had never turned a lap at the track before Sunday, but he hardly looked like a rookie at the track.Dowling dominated out front over the second half of the event to win the 100-lap Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature Sunday, which was part of the 59th Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic racing card.Dowling, of Roxbury, scored a $10,000 payday for the victory in front of a packed crowd at Thunder Road.“I just want to say, all you fans, this is badass,” Dowling said. “All you guys coming out on a Sunday for a Memorial Day, remember all the people that aren’t here. This is great to see a great crowd for Tri-Track. This facility is awesome. Hopefully we’re back next year.”
Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. was second and Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. third.Dowling got under Kirk Alexander off of turn four on lap 52 and went virtually unchallenged out front the rest of the way.“I just can’t thank everybody enough,” Dowling said. “This car was on rails. The crew guys did an awesome job all day.”Following a lap 80 restart Ronnie Williams got by Alexander for third with Hirschman following to fourth. Hirschman got by Williams for third on lap 96 but Dowling and Nocella were far checked out from him.“Track position is pretty important and we used the cone restart at the end to gain some of those spots,” Hirschman said. “It looked like we had some speed at the end. I’m happy we were able to get to there. Prior to that we weren’t even close to really sniffing the front.“You guys have got a great thing going here with this crowd up on the hill. … It’s a nice thing on Memorial Day weekend. Obviously remember those lost fighting for our freedom. Just a really nice thing here today. I’d like to win, but we move forward. Got third, got the wall a little bit, got some green paint to go home on the car. We’ll see if we come back we’ll see if we can do better next time.”
Matt Hirschman cashes in at Mahoning Valley Speedway Modified Spring Zing “Tom Wanick Jr., Memorial 150” … 11th win of season worth just over $10G in cash and awards on May 22
The Modified Spring Zing “Tom Wanick Memorial 150” paid big dividends for Northampton’s Matt Hirschman after a track record payout. Hirschman, who scored his 11th win of 2022, won $7000 for the victory and with additional bonuses finished off the day with just over $10,000 in total cash and awards. Hirschman started 10th and on lap 63 moved to the front for the first time with an inside pass on Blake Barney. Afterwards he withstood strong numerous challenges from Barney, Bobby Jones and Chuck Hossfeld. With 50 laps to go he opted to make a pit stop under a caution and change his right side tires. When he returned to the track he was ninth and over the next 17 laps put on a driving clinic as he passed one car after another until regaining the top spot from Hossfeld. The rest of the way he simply drove lap after lap in a consistent smooth fashion and took the checkers over Barney by a solid two car lengths. “It was a long race and glad to finish it up at the top. This is the highest paying race we ever had here and you don’t know when or if that will ever happen again and I appreciate doing this in honor of Tom Wanick Jr., and for what his family and the speedway did for all of us,” said Hirschman. “This is a special win for sure with Tommy (Wanick III) wanting to do this race for his dad.” The race got off to a great start with Don Wagner leading the first few laps before Barney, the previous night winner at Wall Stadium Speedway, took charge. Tagging in behind him was Rod Snyder Jr., and TJ Potrzebowski. That trio ran in that order until lap 40 when Hossfeld stepped up to third. Four laps later he had just got by Snyder when the first caution waved for a Josh Scherer spin. Unfortunately that would trigger a string of yellow flags which made the going exasperating to say the least plus there was a slow-up when a brief shower crossed over the track. “I had no problem navigating the traffic there was just way to many caution laps and I was kind of losing my mind because we kept stopping and I just wanted to get a rhythm going with some green flag laps,” admitted Hirschman. “Plus with the rain coming down it was kind of a frustrating race a little bit but wining makes up for all that.” In between the rash of cautions and as Hirschman was leading there was a great battle for second taking place. After giving up the lead to Hirschman Barney and Jones put on a spirited battle for second spot. Then Hossfeld came back onto the scene and used the inside lane to advance to second. When Hirschman pitted under a lap 100 caution it allowed Hossfeld to assume the lead. Earl Paules was now second after Barney and Jones had pitted a few laps prior to the century mark.VWith Hirschman out of the picture for the time being Hossfeld was setting a good pace while fending off Paules. But after reentering the track with fresh rubber Hirschman was putting on a rapid charge and passing at will. His race winning pass came with an inside move off Turn 4 over Hossfeld and once in front there was no denying his authority. Matt (Hirschman) is a great guy and I call him almost daily. His dad Tony was my dad’s favorite driver and Matt is a great a great racer,” offered Tom Wanick Jr., from Victory Lane. Hirschman picked up bonuses from Troyer Race Cars, Hirschman Speed, D & B Towing, Aqua Duck Water Transport, Pennsylvania Veterans Outdoor Veterans and the Wanick family. The later was an additional $1500 for his autographed roof. It was also 29th Mahoning win and ninth consecutive victory in as many starts here. Barney, the runner-up finisher had his best finish at Mahoning. He stayed in the hunt from the drop of the green and only fell back after pit stops. But each time he returned the car was quick and he came just one spot short of sweeping the weekend. “I really enjoy this place and I had a really good race car and was fortunate enough to have a good starting spot in second. I took the lead early and tried to do what he (Hirschman) does and pace the race,” said Barney. “I lost a little drive there at the end and I really wish I could have gave the 60 a run. I thought I had good pace and our car felt good. We went 100 laps on the same tires and when we came in that last time and it woke the thing up.” Paules was a solid third with Hossfeld fourth and Brian DeFebo fifth. Connecticut racer Anthony Bello was sixth and awarded an additional $1000 for being highest finishing crate car. Josh Scherer, Jones, Chris Ammon and Snyder Jr., competed the top 10.
Modified Feature finish (150 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Blake Barney, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Chuck Hossfeld, 5. Brian DeFebo, 6. Anthony Bello, 7. Josh Scherer, 8. Bobby Jones, 9. Chris Ammon, 10. Rod Snyder Jr., 11. Tom Wanick III, 12. Jaden Brown, 13. Brandon Oltra, 14. Sean Verwys, 15. Anthony Sesely, 16. Austin Kochenash, 17. Paulie Hartwig III, 18. Kyle Strohl, 19. Roger Coss, 20. TJ Potrzebowski, 21. Cody Kohler, 22. Ron Silk, 23. Zane Zeiner, 24. Nick Baer, 25. Don Wagner, 26. Mike Hosier, 27. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 28. Lou Strohl DNQ: Terry Markovic, Carl Altemose, Johnny Bennett, Chris Risdale, Jacob Kerstetter
Doug Coby gallops to victory in the Inaugural Granite State Derby at Lee USA Speedway on May 21 while Matt get 3rd
By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
LEE, N.H. – Unlike the Kentucky Derby a few weeks ago, there would be no upset winner in the inaugural Granite State Derby presented by USA Insulation. Doug Coby conquered Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway to earn his second Tour victory of the season in as many starts.The 175-lap event was the first Tour event held at the 0.375-mile paved oval since 1998. Coby, who was back in Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7NY for second straight race following a victory last weekend at New York’s Riverhead Raceway, spent the first half of the race conserving his equipment while Matt Hirschman led the way. “Tommy Baldwin gave me a good car for two races in a row,” Coby said. “Just setting my pace with Matt (Hirschman) out front and just kind of seeing what his car was doing and it was really good. (We) just stuck to our plan.” Coby moved into the lead for the first time following a restart on Lap 104, but he appeared to be in trouble as J.B. Fortin began marching through the field with fresh tires.
Fortin had nearly caught Coby when the caution flag waved for a spin by Justin Bonsignore. That allowed the entire field to hit the pits for fresh tires, with Tommy Catalano beating Coby off pit road to take the lead.
Catalano’s stint at the front was brief, as Coby quickly returned to the lead during the restart with 19 laps left. Coby had the race under control at that point and looked well on his way to victory until contact between polesitter Jake Johnson and Eric Goodale brought the caution flag back out with two laps left. Coby held serve during the Overtime restart, fending off Jon McKennedy and pulling away to his 33rd NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.“This is a tough track, you can spin your tires real easy,” Coby explained. “Jon is a clean driver, Matt is a clean driver, but I didn’t want to worry too much about Jon and open the door for Matt to be the hero. They’re both so good.
“To be able to race with those guys is a great feat for this 7NY team and the Baldwin family.” McKennedy’s runner-up result was his best finish of the season in the No. 79 Modified. It was his seventh runner-up finish in Modified Tour competition since scoring his lone Tour win in 2018, ironically driving for Baldwin at the now-defunct Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. “Just needed to rotate a little bit better. We were a little bit too pushy,” McKennedy said about his race car. “I just had to wait that little bit right in the middle of the corner to get the car to turn, and ultimately that’s where we struggled all day. “Still a little bit off, but hey, I’ll take it. Hirschman dominated the opening 100 laps of the race but struggled to race his way back through the field following his first pit stop. He eventually recovered to finish third, but he admitted there were some decisions he would like to have back after he dominated the opening portion of the event. “Good start, just ended up a little bit off on strategy,” Hirschman said. “Sometimes you live or die by some of the decisions you make, and some of them start earlier in the day. What you do with your tires and how you plan on using them. I think we just ended up a little bit off. I’d like to re-do a couple things, but still a good run.” Ron Silk finished fourth for his second top-five of the season, while Johnson was fifth in his second career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start. Kyle Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Fortin, Goodale and Justin Bonsignore completed the top 10. Saturday’s event was promoted by JDV Productions and was first in the three-race Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, a mini-series within the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule that features an additional purse structure and bonus money for competing teams.
1 3 7 Doug Coby John Blewett, Inc. (Tommy Baldwin) – 181 running 78 47
2 5 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors (Dale Hedquist) – 181 running 0 42
3 2 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports (Matt Hirschman) – 181 running 100 43
4 9 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes (Philip Moran) – 181 running 0 40
5 1 3 Jake Johnson * Propane Plus / LIN's Propane Trucks (Greg Fournier) – 181 running 3 40
6 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance / MIT / Munn's Auto (Cam McDermott) – 181 running 0 38
7 6 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect / Lumierre Elect / Andrew James In (Ron Yuhas, Jr.) – 181 running 0 37
8 13 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing / Johns Fuel / John Tree Rem (Kenneth Lechner) – 181 running 0 36
9 7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing (Jason Shephard) – 181 running 0 35
10 10 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. (Ryan Stone) – 181 running 0 34
11 14 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara (David Catalano) – 181 running 0 33
12 11 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants / Powells Stone & Gravel (Russ Hersey, Jr.) – 180 running 0 32
13 12 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise (Tommy Grasso) – 180 running 0 31
14 8 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials / Riverhead Building Sup (TBA) – 180 running 0 30
15 15 47 Jacob Perry * Jacks Competition Engines (TBA) – 178 running 0 29
16 17 98 Steve Dickey,, Jr. * USA Insulation – 176 running 0 28
17 18 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing (Kevin Anderson) – 175 running 0 27
18 16 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape / TRC Electric (Chad McDonald) – 166 running 0 26
19 19 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales – 108 power steering 0 25
Hirschman takes Mod Main on May 15 at Evergreen Raceway
By Ted Grow
(St, John’s, PA) What's the saying? “You win some, you lose some”? Well, Evergreen Raceway finally snatched a win! Completing all racing events, in three and a half hours, and across seven different division's. Kuddos to all the driver's and track crew! Especially Jason, he rolled the dice and prevailed!
A 75 lap held over modified main from May 1st, proved to only delay the inevitable; a Matt Hirschman win. It, however, did not come easy starting 15th. Hirschman would have to work through some heavy hitters in front. Things got a little interesting on lap 11, as numerous cars headed pit side for an adjustment on an extremely slick race track, including Hirschman, had climb to the top 10. Kyle Strohl, Blake Barney, and Austin Beers all took shots at the 41 machine of Nick Baer. Each time, Baer was able to fend them off. As Baer lead the field, Hirschman mounted the charge moving to the outside. As Beers and Hirschman ran side by side, Baer using every inch of race track, thwarted the attempts of Beers and couldn't hold off Hirschman.
Earl Paules has not been to victory lane at Evergreen Raceway since the.
Results:
Tour Mods: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Austin Kochenash, Earl Paules, Austin Beers, Daren Scherer, Brian Defebo, Blake Barney, Kyle Strohl, Nick Baer, Carl Altemose, Bobby Jones, Cody Kohler, Chris Ridsdale, Roger Coss, Lou Strohl. DNS: Geary Rinehimer
Matt Hirschman Charges Late To Win Monaco Ford Modified Tri-Track Opener at Monadnock Speedway on April 30
WINCHESTER, N.H. – Matt Hirschman waited until the moment was right, pounced, and rocketed to another Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series win on Saturday night, April 30. Hirschman tamed the high-banks of Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire – scoring a $10,000 prize and once again living up to his “Big Money” name.
Hirschman passed Monadnock NHSTRA Modified regular Matthew Kimball and held off some of the top Modified contenders on multiple final restarts to capture the checkered flag. Sam Rameau, a two-time Tri-Track winner at Monadnock, crossed the line second, while Brian Robie was third.
Rameau – who was at the front of the field for nearly the entire first half of the race – decided to play a different strategy than most and stay out while nearly everyone else pitted. Laps later, from the lead, when another caution flew, Rameau decided it was time to head down for fresh Hoosier racing rubber. He would restart outside the top-15, and charge through the field to finish second. The Westminster, Massachusetts, native was back on the podium at his home track.
Hirschman played the strategy of pitting with everyone else, after riding at the rear in typical Hirschman fashion early, saving his equipment for when it mattered most. When the time was right, he worked his way into the top-five, and eventually challenged and passed Kimball for the lead.
On a flurry of late restarts, Rameau charged to second, while Robie used both the top – and bottom – to grab third. Kimball settled for fourth, with Chase Dowling, who won the August of 2021 race at Monadnock, fifth. Ronnie Williams was sixth, followed by Todd Patnode, Chris Pasteryak, Kirk Alexander and Les Hinckley.
Hirschman’s $10,000 prize, followed by Rameau’s $6,000 check, was only part of a purse that was over $40,000 for the event. Hirschman’s win was his 15th career in 36 series starts – now 10 races above anyone else in history.
The race also included the debut of the Call 811 Before You Dig “Cone” rule, where drivers must select their restart lane when they approach the orange cone. The addition of the cone rule allowed competitors to gain positions if they were brave enough to try a different lane.
Earlier in the day, Rameau, Dowling and Richard Savary won qualifying heats in the Pepsi Challenge, each earning a $300 bonus.
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series will return to competition for the second race of the season at Thunder Road Speedbowl on Sunday, May 29.
For more information on the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series, visit MonacoModifieds.com and follow the series on social media.
RESULTS:
Matt Hirschman
Sam Rameau
Brian Robie
Matt Kimball
Chase Dowling
Ronnie Williams
Todd Patnode
Chris Pasteryak
Kirk Alexander
Les Hinckley
Roger Turbush
Jake Johnson
Carl Medeiros Jr.
Richard Savary
Matt Swanson
Joey Jarvis
Max Zachem
Cory Plummer
Robert Bloxsom III
Dave Salzarulo
Dylan Izzo
Derek Robbie
Ben Byrne
Big Cash And Prizes: Matt Hirschman Hits Payday With Victory In 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler At Stafford on April 24
STAFFORD – Over the last two decades Matt Hirschman has established himself as one of the power players of his generation when it comes to Modified racing. But one of the big holes in the racing resume for the Northampton, Pa. driver was the lack of a victory at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Sunday Hirschman checked that box off in the hugest of ways and in the most dramatic style. “You wanted the best, you got the best right there,” Hirschman said. “… What a race. Ryan and me have had so many races like that and we don’t even race that often anymore. … Just another classic between us. Just two of us going for it, for everything. We ran each other clean.” Preece, of Berlin, was second and Ron Silk of Norwalk third. It was the first victory career victory at Stafford for Hirschman, who had previously made 22 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts and one Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series start at the historic half-mile. Hirschman earned $15,000 for the victory. He also made $4,000 in contingency bonuses and $6,450 in lap money for leading 43 laps for a total of $25,450 for the event. He also earned $1,150 for his third place finish in his qualifying race Saturday to kick his weekend total to $26,600.
He also earned a starting spot with the SRX Series when the division runs its second event at Stafford on July 2.
“Just incredible,” Hirschman said. “Unbelievable job by Stafford Speedway with what they did. I’m here because of what they did. The win and you’re in thing for the SRX [Series] is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I just couldn’t pass up this chance. To be a Sizzler winner now, me and my dad are the first father-son combo to ever do that. … I’m just so glad to be a part of this and for Stafford to do what they did.” The SRX Series ran the first event in its history on June 12, 2021 at Stafford. Former Stafford Speedway regular and six-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby won the event. “I don’t know if I’m going to sleep until then. It’s going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of that. The short track racer being included in the SRX was what drew me in as a viewer [in 2021]. I watched every one of them. [Doug Coby] represented the Modifieds well by winning. … To think about guys that won Daytona 500’s, Indy 500’s, [NASCAR Cup Series] championships, IndyCar championships, to be able to share the track with them will be an absolute honor and something I greatly look forward to. I’m going to have a lot of sleepless nights just thinking about it.” On a lap 58 restart it was Preece getting by Doug Coby for second with Hirschman following to third. Preece went by Jimmy Blewett for the lead on lap 59 with the caution flying a lap later. On the ensuing restart Hirschman was able to get by Blewett for second. By lap 65 Hirschman was stalking all over the bumper of Preece as the pair checked out from third place Blewett. Hirschman pestered Preece until getting under him in turn one on lap 77. The pair came off turn four side-by-side to complete the lap, with Preece leading at the line. But Hirschman was able to clear Preece for the lead off of turn two on lap 78. With Hirschman driving away from the field, caution came out on lap 95 for the spinning cars of Buddy Charette and Jack Ely. On the restart Preece stayed in line with Hirschman on the outside. The two came to the line to complete the lap with Preece edging Hirschman for the lead. A multi-car wreck on the frontstretch brought the caution out again on lap 97. On the restart it was Preece initially getting the jump on Hirschman, but Hirschman came back on the outside and powered by Preece to retake the lead off of turn two. The 12th caution flew on lap 98 setting up another showdown between Hirschman and Preece. On the final restart Preece was able to stay to the outside of Hirschman for most of lap 98, but Hirschman was able clear Preece off of turn four. Hirschman completed the last two laps unchallenged to take the checkered. “We left it all on the track tonight,” Preece said. “We gave it our best. … We had a really fast race car, just not fast enough. Matt’s got his program – him [and his father] do a really good job with it. … It was good to be back in Ole Blue. Great to be back at the Sizzler. Congratulations to that whole 60 team.” Silk led the opening lap, but the first caution of the event came quickly with a pileup at the rear of the field in turn one on lap two.
Following the lap two restart it was Woody Pitkat getting by Silk to take over the lead on lap three. Caution flew again on lap seven. On the restart Hirschman got by Silk for second place. The yellow flew on lap 13. Pitkat held the lead on the restart. Hirschman was able to overtake Pitkat on lap 14 through turn one but the pass was negated by a wreck at the rear of the field. On lap 21 Matt Galko was able to get by Hirschman for second. After stalking Pitkat for a number of laps, Galko got by him to take over the top spot on lap 36. Caution flew on lap 38 for the spinning car of Mike Christopher Jr., who was running eighth. On the restart it was Hirschman getting under Galko for the lead off of turn two, with Pitkat following to second. Galko was able to retake second from Pitkat, but by lap 50 Hirschman had opened a whopping lead over the field. The yellow reappeared on lap 57 for the spun car of Marcello Rufrano off of turn two. The caution sent most of the leaders to the pits, with Blewett and Coby staying out.
NAPA Spring Sizzler 100: 1. Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa.; 2. Ryan Preece, Berlin; 3. Ron Silk, Norwalk; 4. Ronnie Williams, Tolland; 5. Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J.; 6. Matt Galko, Meriden; 7. Chase Dowling, Roxbury; 8. Michael Christopher Jr., Wolcott; 9. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass.; 10. Craig Lutz, Miller Place, N.Y.; 11. Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y.; 12. Matt Swanson, Acton, Mass.; 13. Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y.; 14. Todd Owen, Somers; 15. Stephen Kopcik, Newtown; 16. Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury; 17. Doug Coby, Milford; 18. Buddy Charette, Woodstock; 19. Brian Robie, Sunapee, N.H.; 20. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 21. Dave Etheridge, Portland; 22. Jack Ely, Wall, N.J.; 23. Jeffrey Gallup, Agawam, Mass.; 24. Woody Pitkat, Stafford; 25. Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon; 26. Noah Korner, Canton; 27. Bobby Labonte, High Point, N.C.; 28. Anthony Nocella, Woburn, Mass.; 29. Marcello Rufrano, North Haven; 30. Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y.; 31. Mikey Flynn, Hampden; 32. Anthony Flannery, East Hampton; 33. Anthony Bello, Newtown.
Big Money Looking To Sizzle: Matt Hirschman Files Entry For 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler At Stafford April 24
In the landscape of the top talent in Tour Type Modified racing in the Northeast, there are just a few name names not currently on the entry list for the 50th NAPA Spring Sizzler on April 24. Monday one of those names went from off the list to on it. Matt Hirschman confirmed to RaceDayCT Monday that he will be chasing the big money and more on Sizzler weekend at Stafford April 23-24. The allure of a big purse and loads of lap money had already made the event an attractive possibility for Hirschman. The addition of the winner of the event getting a starting spot in the SRX Series field at Stafford on July 2 was the final piece needed for drawing Hirschman. “It puts it over the top,” Hirschman told RaceDayCT Monday. “It’s just too hard to pass up with that in there. It’s going to be a competitive field and it’s going to be no easy race for whoever wins for sure with the level of competition with the opportunity that is there.” Hirschman is the 42nd driver on the entry list for the event. Hirschman, one of the most successful Tour Type Modified drivers in recent years adds to the significance of an entry list that already includes a former NASCAR Cup Series champion and four former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champions. Hirschman has 14 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victories and and has won the division’s championship in six of eight years. He also has five career Whelen Modified Tour victories, including a win this year’s season opening event at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Feb. 12. The Spring Sizzler will be contested as a Stafford track sanctioned Open Modified event with qualifying heat races scheduled for April 23 and the 100-lap feature scheduled for April 24. Before this year the Spring Sizzler weekend main event was a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour every year but one from 1985 to 2021. The Whelen Modified Tour did not compete at Stafford in 1988 and the Spring Sizzler main event was contested in SK Modifieds. Hirschman said returning the race back to an Open show raises the level of distinction for the event. “It was always known as ‘The Greatest Race in the History of Spring’ and I believe the potential is there for it to be that this year,” Hirschman said. “And not to say that it wasn’t special when it was a part of the Whelen Modified Tour, but, I almost feel like it was just another race on the tour. You were just getting what you were going to get, it didn’t matter if it was a Friday night [Whelen Modified Tour] race in August, or the Fall Final, you were pretty much getting that field for those events, it didn’t matter if it was the Spring Sizzler or not. … It was kind of just another race on the schedule, whereas this year I really believe they’re doing an excellent job with this race. It was too hard to pass up not being there.” Between the purse money available and lap money available the winner of Sunday’s 100-lap feature could walk away with a payday of more than $30,000. And the winner of the Spring Sizzler will also earn a starting spot in the SRX Series feature at Stafford Speedway on July 2. Hirschman has earned the moniker “Money Matt” for his success over the last decade in chasing down big money purses in Modified races. But, Hirschman has never won at Stafford Speedway. In 22 career Whelen Modified Tour starts at Stafford dating back to 2005, Hirschman has four top-five finishes and 16 top-10’s. He made his last series start at the track in 2014. He finished third in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Call Before You Dig Connecticut Classic 150 at Stafford on Oct. 24, 2020. That was his last start at the historic half-mile. “It is a track that I’ve not won at, but, at the same time, I haven’t really competed there much recently,” Hirschman said. “Not that I didn’t have success … from [2006] to [2014]. Not that I wasn’t successful or competitive then, but obviously I’ve been more successful recently. The Tri-Track race [in 2020 at Stafford], although we didn’t win, I know there were comments made that people didn’t think I’d be competitive. I don’t know someone would think that, but I think we proved them wrong. We didn’t win, so I’m certainly not bragging about our performance, but we ran a good portion of the race in second and ended up losing second at the end and finishing third. Chase [Dowling] had everyone covered that day, but we were right in contention.”
Matt Hirschman outlasts Jonathan Brown to win SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway on April 2
On an afternoon on which South Boston Speedway and the SMART Modified Tour honored Modified racing legend and five-time South Boston Speedway champion, the late Ray Hendrick, Matt Hirschman put together a late-race rally and held off Jonathan Brown in a five-lap dash to the finish to win Saturday’s Flying VA 99 SMART Modified Tour race. Hirschman got a good surge on the race’s final restart, quickly cleared Brown, and pulled away in the closing laps to earn his third SMART Modified Tour victory in four series starts this season.
“At the end, once I got back to the lead, I was confident that as long as I got a good clean start I could pull away,” Hirschman said. “Getting back to the lead is what I worried about.” Hirschman gave up the lead to pit under caution on lap 72 for a fresh right rear tire. It wasn’t until he passed Brown on lap 89 that he regained the lead. A caution flag with five laps to go gave Brown one last shot at Hirschman, but Hirschman was able to hold onto the top spot and pull away for the win. “We opted to get our (right rear) tire on lap 35, and a lot of guys waited until around lap 70 to come in,” Brown remarked. “It hurt us a little bit there at the end. That fresher right rear (tire) they had would have really helped us, but all in all it was a good day.” Caleb Heady of Shelbyville, KY finished third, former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte of Corpus Christi, TX placed fourth and Tom Buzze rounded out the top five finishers. Rounding out the Top 10 finishers in the unofficial results were Burt Myers, Danny Bohn, Brandon Ward, Brian Loftin and J.B. Fortin. The race was a highly competitive one with seven lead changes among five drivers. Hirschman led three times for a total of 39 laps.
Saturday’s race was slowed by 13 cautions, a circumstance that led to a lot of competitive racing, especially on the restarts. “There were a lot of wrecks,” Hirschman noted. “Fortunately, I really didn’t see any of them. I wasn’t around them, but it was great racing. There was a lot of grip in the track, but it’s also fast, and things happen fast. I guess that might have been part of it.”
Matt Hirschman continues his dominance of the Smart Modified tour. Matt wins the Lucky Charms 99 at Southern National Motorsports Park over Max McLaughlin, Burt Myers, Brandon Ward and Bobby Labonte. on March 19
SMART Modified's makes there second stop of the season at Southern National today with twenty-five modifieds taking the green.
Jonathon (John Boy) Brown grabbed the pole with a time of 14.893 with Bobby Labonte was a close.041 behind Brown. After the re-draw Jeremy Gershner and Joey Coultier would start on the front row. Gershner would jump to the point for the lead followered by Coultier. Would work quickly to grab that lead from Gershner.
The first thirsty laps fouth thru twenty would run side-by-side as teh top three ran away from the field. When the thirty lap caution flew for the Jerry Hunt SuperCenter halfway bonus it would be awarded to Coultier, Gershner, followed by Hirschman would take home the bonus money. After the restart Coultier would jump away again and grab another bonus 500.00 for the Banks Life halfway leader. There would be three cautions counting the thirty lap cautions with thirteen modifieds finishing on the lead lap. After race interview Hirschman said he'd like to with a SMARTY Trophy for each of his crew members.
1 #60 Matt Hirschman
2 #77 Max McLaughlin
3 #1 Burt Myers
4 #2 Brandon Ward
5 #25 Bobby Labonte
6 #15 Brian Lofton
7 #7NY Caleb Heady
8 #4 Jason Myers
9 #14 Bobby Measmer Jr
10 #21 Jimmy Wallace
11 #22 Jonathan Brown
12 #02C Joey Coultier
13 #45 Gary Young
14 #8F Chris Finocchario
15 #6 Greg Butcher
16 #99 Jamie Tomiano
17 #48 John Kievman
18 #79 Jeremy Gershner
19 #8ny Wes Gilbert
20 #07 Dennis Holdren
21 #79D Mason Diaz
22 #5 Tom Buzze Jr
23 #01 Brian Weber
24 #12 Dean Ward
25 #02 Troy Young
26 #00 Kevin Orlando
27 #03 Craig Young
HIRSCHMAN WINS SMART MODIFIED SEASON OPENER AT FLORENCE SPEEDWAY ON MARCH 6, 2022
MICHAEL JAWORECKI
Florence SC 3/5/2022: SMART Modified’s season opener was at Florence Motor Speedway this weekend. Hirschman would keep his winning ways going after a great start to the season in Florida at the World Series at New Smyrna Speedway. Bobby Measmer would start his season off on a good note by winning the pole with a time of 17.086 over Dennis Holdren. After the redraw for the event Measmer would start sixth. In the first thirty laps there were three lead changes for the “Jerry Hunt Supercenter” 30 lap stage winner and the #02 Holden taking the money for winning that stage. After the restart on lap 31, Jason Myers would spin on lap 34 bringing out a quick caution. The race would go green and on lap 50 Matt Hirschman would grab the halfway bonus. On lap 66 Cody Kohler would spin in turn three closing the field back up and the pit crews would go to work on a crowded pit row to take on tires. When the race resumed on lap 67 there would be another caution for a checkup of Brian Loftin and causing the cars of Greg Butcher and Gary Young to tangle and sending Butch over the bank “Note I said bank due to Florence has no walls in turn 1 and down the back straightaway” There would be another caution on lap 69 when Bobby Labonte and Jeremy Gerstner would tangle on the back straightway sending Labonte to spin and Gerstner over the bank. In the closing laps Heady would try and make a final charge for the lead but would come home race runner up behind Hirschman
LOW COUNTRY 99 FINISHING ORDER 3/5/2022
1. #60 Matt Hirschman – 99
2. #7NY Caleb Heady – 99
3. #2 Brandon Ward – 99
4. #1 Burt Myers – 99
5. #22 Jonathon Brown – 99
6. #25 Bobby Labonte – 99
7. #15 Brian Loftin – 99
8. #21W Jimmy Wallace – 99
9. #4 Jason Myers – 99
10. #14 Bobby Measmer Jr. – 99
11. #12 Dean Ward – 99
12. #07H Dennis Holden – 99
13. #95 Cody Kolher – 99
14. #48 Jon Keivman – 99
15. #79 Jeremy Gerstner – 99
16. #99 Jamie Tomaino – 99
17. #00 Kevin Orlando – 98
18. #02 Tony Young – 98
19. #21N Tommy Neal – 97
20. #01 Brian Weber – 94
21. #03 Craig Young – 93
22. #45 Gary Young Jr. –
23 #6 Greg Butcher – 67
Hirschman wins Richie Evans 100, Blewett takes World Series Speedweeks was the story of Big Money vs. Showtime all week.
By Matt Weaver
There were three long distance Tour Type Modified races at New Smyrna Speedway over the past week and Matt Hirschman came away with a clean sweep.
NASCAR Modified Tour 200 ✓
John Blewett III Memorial 76 ✓
Richie Evans Memorial 100 ✓
Only a rapidly deflating tire on the final restart on Monday night prevented the Pee Dee Motorsports No. 60 from claiming the entire Speedweeks championship on Friday night. Hirschman likely would have finished inside top-five that night, but instead, it was the sheer consistency of Jimmy Blewett that earned a championship. Blewett finished either second or third all five nights and ultimately claimed his second Tour Type World Series championship by 12 markers over Hirschman.Following his misfortune and 12th-place finish on Monday, Hirschman responded with a runner-up and three consecutive wins. This is the fourth time Hirschman has won the Richie Evans Memorial 100 and it’s his sixth overall win in nine starts at the World Series main event. It snapped a tie with the late Teddy Christopher for all-time wins in the event.Even though Hirschman didn’t come away with the championship, he still believes this is his best overall performance at New Smyrna in February and that’s coming from a racer with six championship finishes of first or second in the weeklong event."[My team] did a great job all week," Hirschman said. "This PeeDee Motorsports car and team, I couldn’t ask for any more really. It’s exactly what I wanted to have in the car. Everybody did a great job all week. The only flaw we had was a tire going flat on Monday night. There’s nobody here that could control that. One of our best weeks, maybe the best week we’ve ever had. … Just amazing. What a week. I love coming here. I love speedweeks. I love this race track. I hope to do this for years to come."Hirschman took the lead from Bryan Narducci on the third lap after starting fourth and went unchallenged the rest of the way. Blewett immediately followed him into second and spent the remaining 97 laps looking for a way around. It didn’t happen.Blewett has consistently been the closest of everyone else all week and that was the best he had for Hirschman. "I felt this morning like I was racing for everybody in the racing community to try to beat Matt," Blewett said. "Matt is a great guy, great person on and off the track, but it’s not an easy feat to beat him. So, for me, I felt like I was doing it for everyone." This is actually the sixth time Blewett has won a championship at New Smyrna during Speedweeks as he also claimed four SK Modified championships when that division was run over the previous decade. Blewett claimed this crown driving the No. 7NY for Tommy Baldwin. Blewett said from the middle of the week forward, once he claimed sole possession of the points lead, that he would race conservatively to protect that advantage. Mission accomplished. "I just stayed focus," Blewett said. "All I really had to do this week was just drive the car and give [Baldwin] as much information as possible," Blewett said. "Back home, or anything I do myself, it’s just constant work and I can’t really focus 100 percent on driving the car because I’m focusing so much on working on it. So that took a huge weight off my shoulders and I could go to bed each night focusing on what I could tell Tommy and the guys back in the pits to get the car better for myself. Obviously we wanted to win. … but the championship was the big picture. We were looking at the big picture the whole week. Even though we didn’t win a race, we a won a championship. And it means something me to do it against a guy like Matt Hirschman." Patrick Emerling completed the podium on Friday night ahead of Teddy Hodgdon IV and they finished fifth and third respectively in the standings. Ron Silk was fourth in the standings after finishing eighth in the Richie Evans.
World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modifieds Race 5
Richie Evans Memorial 100
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Patrick Emerling
4. Teddy Hodgdon
5. Craig Lutz
6. Stephen Kopcik
7. Andrew Krause
8. Ron Silk
9. Joey Coulter
10. Bryan Narducci
11. Cam McDermott
12. Marcello Rufrano
13. Spencer Davis
14. Ronnie Williams
15. Tyler Rypkema
16. Paul Charette
17. Earl Paules
18. Jeremy Gerstner
19. Chris Young
20. Brian Robie
21. Tommy Catalano
22. Tyler Catalano
23. Anthony Bello
24. Tyler Truex
25. Chris Andretta
26. Eddie McCarthy
27. J.R. Bertuccio
28. Dillon Steuer
29. Chris Ridsdale
30. Amy Catalano
31. Rich Parker
32. Chris Dewalt
33. David Sapienza
34. Paul Hartwig, Jr.
35. Paul Hartwig, Sr.
36. Chris LaCicero
Hirschman Goes Back-to-Back with Midweek World Series Wins on Feb 17. That's three overall wins this week for the Pee Dee Motorsports No. 60 this week. Story By Matt Weaver
It might not ultimately be enough to close out on a fourth World Series of Asphalt championship, but Thursday night was representative of everything Matt Hirschman does well at New Smyrna Speedway each February. Running third on a restart with nine laps to go, Hirschman followed Jimmy Blewett past Ronnie Williams and into the first two spots, and the race was on. They raced nose-to-tail for the next six laps when Hirschman darted under Blewett in Turn 3 and took the spot. Big picture racing, Blewett did not contest the spot from Hirschman and essentially accepted a 14-point championship advantage entering the Richie Evans Memorial 100 on Friday night. Hirschman has now won two consecutive races this week, not including the Whelen Modified Tour event held on Saturday night at New Smyrna. "I was just looking for an opportunity," Hirschman said. "I think Jimmy was tight handling-wise. I actually, once I got ahead of him, I was pretty tight." Hirschman couldn’t be denied. "I did everything I could do to hold him off, my car was just too tight," Blewett said. "We were trying something tonight in anticipation of what the track is going to be tomorrow. We just missed a little bit."
Blewett essentially leads Hirschman by seven positions on the track and that dynamic was certainly on his mind in the closing laps. "Obviously you want to win, but we’re also looking at big picture," Blewett said. "I know [Hirschman] is too. Every point counts here these last two nights. Definitely can see everybody getting real aggressive at the end of the week here." Craig Lutz entered the night four points behind Blewett after winning the World Series opener on Monday but was taken out in an early crash and finished 31st and sits a distant sixth in the championship standings.
Ron Silk, who won Tuesday’s race, finished fifth on Thursday and is third in the standings and 34 points behind Blewett. All that remains is the biggest show of the week in the Richie Evans Memorial 100 -- a race Hirschman says is can’t miss. "I know one thing, we’re an entertaining group," Hirschman said. "The beginning of the race, a little off. People sure get their money’s worth with this group. These Modifieds just blow everything else away. There’s nothing that compares."
2022 World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modified Race 4
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Ronnie Williams
4. Stephen Kopcik
5. Ron Silk
6. Joey Coulter
7. Patrick Emerling
8. Dillon Steuer
9. Teddy Hodgdon
10. Spencer Davis
11. Andrew Krause
12. Tyler Rypkema
13. J.R. Bertuccio
14. Chris Young
15. Kyle Sisco
16. Tyler Truex
17. Chris Andretta
18. Earl Paules
19. Tyler Catalano
20. Michael Christopher, Jr.
21. Amy Catalano
22. Tommy Catalano
23. Paul Charette
24. Rich Parker
25. Chriss Ridsdale
26. Anthony Bello
27. Buddy Miller
28. Marcello Rufrano
29. Chris Dewalt
30. Jeff Malave
31. Craig Lutz
32. Jeremy Gerstner
33. Chris LaCicero
34. Tom Martino, Jr.
35. Paul Hartwig
MATT HIRSCHMAN’S WEDNSDAY VICTORY WAS CAREER WIN #200
By DINO OBERTO
On August 4, 2001 at Evergreen Raceway a then 19-year old Matt Hirschman raced to his career first asphalt Modified victory.
Wednesday at New Smyrna Speedway when he took the checkered flag in the night’s 76-lap John Blewett III Memorial it marked his 200th win. “I knew at the end of last year when I totaled up I was only two wins away but other than that it wasn’t something I really looked at or had any type of goal or timeline for it. We were able to get it down here and then got another one,” said Hirschman prior to the start of Friday night’s Tour Modified finale, the Richie Evans Memorial 100, which incidentally he also won and bumped his total to 202.“It’s a milestone for sure and you see it achieved a lot more with guys in dirt racing. They tend to race a lot more and some of those guys do it as a profession and not as a hobby,” he continued.“Probably back when I was at around 100 I didn’t even pay any attention to it because you’re just trying to keep winning but you realize the longer you do this I feel you appreciate it more and it is a significant milestone. You don’t know where that next one or even if there will be one when you’re talking numbers like that.” His climb to the 200 win mark has been an incredible journey. In the present era of pavement Modifieds he has risen to the head of the class and continues to set the standard of excellence with his winning performances time and time again. Hirschman acknowledges that it’s been a commitment by so many starting from his modest beginning when John Markovic gave him his first ride and to the present with his signature number 60 cars be it his own or the with the Pee Dee Motorsports team. All the people that were a part of this and not just those with us for the 200th win. Going back to the very first win when I had a buddy from school and my grandfather was my pit crew that night and my mom was with me too,” he recalled. “When you think about it from then to now there’s a lot of people who have contributed to the wins in between. Teams I drove for and the many people I drove for.” The now 39-year old, who hails from Northampton, vividly recollects that first night win too.
“I remember the night quite well honestly. I know I have pictures of it and Victory Lane and all. I know my dad was racing that night so him and my brother and head mechanic Frank where out at Riverhead,” said Hirschman. “I certainly appreciate that John Markovic gave me the opportunity to get my career started and then it just continued to grow from there.”
After spending his first year racing at Evergreen, Hirschman then began what is now his customary style of racing, on the road and hitting as many tracks as he can. Before long the victories started coming and the numbers began to grow. “The next year I was with Scott Edelman. He took me from a weekly racer at Evergreen to running RoC and that taught me a lot and going to all the different places as a rookie,” he noted. “He’s the one who took the biggest chance on me. We didn’t set the world on fire but we were competitive with going to all those places. We could have just stayed at Evergreen but we went on the road for a few years and that really developed me.” One of the unique things about the throng of victories he’s tallied is the fact that most are extra distance events as opposed to a regular type feature. But make no mistake Hirschman excels at them all from the 25-lapper and all the way up to 250 laps on big and small speedways too. Over the past decade the average yearly races he runs are in the 40 starts range with a winning percentage at a staggering 90% or better. When not finishing first top-5s are then the norm and rarely does he collect a DNF. This also comes at a time when paved tracks are not near the number of what they had been. “The asphalt racers that have huge win totals, they use to barnstorm the east coast and race several times a week. The opportunities aren’t even there to race that much if you wanted to and they just had multiple times a week to do that,” he expanded on.On that same note today’s cars are all purpose built making for as much a level playing field as possible and to reach his high-water mark. “There’s a lot more with these cars today and we go from one track to another and it seems you change half the car from one race to the next sometimes. I don’t believe they did that back then and they worked hard that’s for sure but I feel there’s so much more involved today and we also spend a lot of time at the race track,” Hirschman stated. “For instance the Whelen Tour race we were here at 9:00 a.m. for a race that was at nine o’clock at night and that’s a 12-hour day. I’m pretty sure the majority of races back then they were in and out a lot quicker. “So it’s totally different today and you’re not comparing apples to apples and I’m not looking for any comparisons to any previous greats but we’re certainly making history in today’s racing. One thing though I give them credit with what they raced with compared to the current equipment we run.” Seen as one of today’s greats and looked up to by many as a Modified kingpin, Hirschman revealed he too had his hero’s that he looked upon that were stars just as he is today. “Obviously my dad (Tony Hirschman) was always number one and I try not to make similarities but I feel that some of his traits or characteristics I believe I’ve continued and can resemble his ability to drive the car smooth and stay out of trouble and not only win the big races but championships too,” he reasoned. “There’s a lot of great drivers who can win a lot of races but they also win maybe championships and my dad could do both. Mike Stefanick’s another that could do both. So those two guys were my heroes in terms of Modified racing.” There is another driver who Hirschman pays gratitude towards, that being fellow Mud Lane neighbor Eric Beers. If ever there are two drivers that have traveled down the same path, it’s these two. “I learned a tremendous amount from Eric Beers because when I first started he was the top guy at the local tracks and he was also going to other places too so he was kind of what I ended up doing,” said Hirschman. “When I first started Eric was the top guy on the local circuit but also was traveling and winning. He won on the Whelen Tour, he won the Race of Champions. And I learned more racing with him than any other driver in my younger days. You want to pay attention to the best and he was on the local scene and just as good on the road.” If you look over the individual list of his 200 wins it would be hard to pinpoint which ones stand out more than others. A record eight wins in the prestigious Race of Champions certainly takes some precedence. Wins on the NASCAR Modified Tour, the Tri-Track Tour and just one after another top race wins fill his resume. With all the big races to enter as well as those tracks that still host the Modifieds, Hirschman sounded off that the state of this type of racing is as good as it’s ever been. “Asphalt Modified racing is stronger and more competitive then it was let’s say 10 years ago and I believe in the last handful of years it’s gotten better and better. Look at the car counts here and elsewhere we run,” he voiced. “I would say in the late 2000s, early 2010s Modified racing was a little questionable like where it was at and where it’s going. But I would say from the mid-2010s to now its stronger than it’s been in quite some time. “To be having the success and having one of the more recognizable names is something I take pride in. Hopefully we can keep it going but there’s no guarantee and that’s why when we reached this number it was very special and means so much.”
Hirschman's 200th Win Comes in the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Feb 16th. Big Money Matt is now the only driver to have won this race three times.
By: Matt Weaver
The decade of dominance continues for Matt Hirschman as ‘Big Money’ became the first three-time winner of the John Blewett III Memorial 76 Tour Type Modified race on Wednesday while also reentering the Speedweeks championship hunt. Hirschman has now won both of the extra length races held so far at New Smyrna Speedway in the Blewett plus the Whelen Modified Tour opener with one more on Friday night in the Richie Evans Memorial 99. He will be seeking is fourth consecutive victory in that race and sixth in ninth starts. He says it’s not as easy as it looks."I mean, we’ve won our fair share recently and especially in the big races, which is cool but we had our struggles when we first stated coming here in 2009, 10, 13 and 14," Hirschman said. "We won a few then, but we had a lot of struggles and some tough times, some wrecked cars and stuff like that. "Now with Pee Dee Motorsports, we’ve had a lot of success, six straight years of it and regardless of what happens the rest of the way, I’d call it a success with the Whelen Modified Tour win and tonight."
It was a clinic on Wednesday as Tom Martino Jr. jumped out to a massive early lead with the rest of the field running in a pack and all conserving their tires. Jimmy Blewett, Tyler Rypkema and Hirschman just let him speed away and committed to their plan. Blewett ultimately finished second but wasn’t surprised when he saw Martino spin and eventually pit before the end of the race. "That kid will burn the tires off his car in five laps," Blewett said. "He does it every single week, week in and week out, no matter the race track. He wanted to go, and I said, ‘go ahead kid, melt it down,’ and when I saw him spun out with five laps to go and spun out, I just said, ‘great job,’ and moved on." Hirschman says there’s no specific formula to winning the John Blewett III Memorial 76 because he’s done it by saving and he’s done it with the whole field setting a much faster pace. He says every year is different depending on the timing of cautions and the make-up of the field. "This race is different because it’s the furthest you’re going to take the tires," Hirschman said. "The 100 lapper, there’s a pit stop and it depends when the caution comes and when you take the tires, but this is likely the furthest you take em all week, and that’s why sometimes conserving and taking the charge late works, and sometimes it doesn’t." Hirschman also claimed this was his 200th career win.
"It’s been really a great ride," Hirschman said. "Actually tonight was my 200th career win, so there’s a lot of people that have helped make that possible over 20 years. I really appreciate everybody that’s been involved from the beginning until now." Blewett’s runner-up was his third podium to start the week and places him squarely in the championship lead -- four over Craig Lutz but Wednesday night was about family and community to the Howell, New Jersey native. "Once again we’re here with another podium finish," Blewett said. "I’ll take a second place. Obviously want to win this one more than anything. Like I said every year, I finish second in all of my brother’s memorial races. We’ll keep coming back and trying. "I’m very thankful – and I know I’m speaking on my family’s behalf for everybody back home – that they’re continuing to keep my brother’s legacy alive. My brother lived a short life, he was only 33 years old when he lost his life. To see the turnout, the people and the car count that comes year in and year out to show the support not only to my family but to our motorsports family as well. I just want to thank everybody back home that tuned in to watch the race. We’ll never forget John and we’ll keep coming back as many times as it takes." Lutz now has finishes of first, fifth and third to open his Florida Speedweeks. "It’s a good run," Lutz said. "Anytime you can finish on the podium, especially with the caliber of guys. Matt’s got this race down to a science and I know Jimmy was trying like hell to get one for his brother. It’s an awesome day to finish on the podium and keep the momentum going for the rest of the week. Joey Coulter and Patrick Emerling completed the top-five. Spencer Davis has shown speed all week but has been unable to finish races and finally put a complete event together to finish sixth.
John Blewett Memorial 76
Tour Type Modifieds
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Craig Lutz
4. Joey Coulter
5. Patrick Emerling
6. Spencer Davis
7. Tyler Rypkema
8. Andrew Krause
9. Teddy Hodgdon
10. J.R. Bertuccio
11. Eddie McCarthy
12. Cam McDermott
13. Timmy Solomito
14. Amy Catalano
15. Michael Christopher, Jr.
16. Ron Silk
17. David Sapienza
18. Stephen Kopcik
19. Chris Young
20. Tyler Truex
21. Dylan Slepian
22. Tyler Catalano
23. Brian Robie
24. Tom Martino, Jr.
25. Marcello Rufrano
26. Tommy Catalano
27. Earl Paules
28. Dillon Steuer
29. Jeremy Gerstner
30. Chris Ridsdale
31. Chris Andretta
32. Bud McIntyre
33. Jonathan Laurigh
34. Buddy Miller
35. Ronnie Williams
36. Anthony Bello
37. Ricky Moxley
38. Rich Parker
Aggressive Start, Restart Sends Silk to World Series Win on Feb 15. Silk earned his ninth Speedweeks win but first with crew chief Phil Moran. Sorry by Matt Weaver
It looked like a chess match, but Ron Silk says he was just driving as hard as he could to keep one of the fellow greats behind him in Matt Hirschman.
For 30 laps and across two restarts, Hirschman looked for away under or over Silk for the lead and just couldn’t do it. The race may have been won and lost on the initial start. Hirschman started the race ahead of Silk, but found himself on the bottom, with Silk using a three-wide pass from the preferred top side to move into third. Silk would take the lead on a third lap restart, aggressively driving past Jimmy Blewett and Teddy Hodgdon. Hirschman needed a fifth lap restart to move into second, at which point Silk had already taken the lead. The pair of aces would duel nose-to-tail for the next 30 laps with Silk emerging victorious. It looked like chess, but it was all drive. "I don't know about chess," Silk said. "I'm just trying to hold him off. He's trying to pass me."
The leaders approached the tail end of the field with two laps to go, but it was ultimately a non-factor. "You do get a little nervous seeing them approaching in the distance, but you just have to commit to your decisions and hope to catch a few breaks. Fortunately, everyone stayed out of the way and it didn’t affect the finish. The race was his ninth in World Series competition but also his first overall since acquiring the services of championship winning crew chief Phil Moran. Meanwhile, Hirschman was left wondering what could have been with a more aggressive start. "We caught him, just passing him is another thing," Hirschman said. "[Silk] is one of the best we run against. He’s always a hard race. We just couldn’t make a pass.
"But I would say, looking back at the race, we started ahead of him. The three-wide thing, he went to the inside and I was in the middle and I didn’t want to use [Blewett]. I kind of was conservative on that and maybe that was the difference. There’s three races ahead of us and I’m looking forward to [the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Wednesday]. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I think we’re in good shape. I would have liked to have won, we had a fast-enough car to win, but we’re back on form. We had an off night [Monday], it wasn’t anybody’s fault or the car’s, we had a tire going down. So, we’re back in form. Hopefully tomorrow night we’re [in victory lane]." Jimmy Blewett accepted another podium finish and also assumes the points lead heading into Wednesday’s John Blewett III Memorial 76. He was just too loose to close out on the leaders once they stayed in lockstep down the straights.
"The car was bad fast, just a little too free for me," Blewett said. "Once [Silk and Hirschman] got drafting each other [Hirschman] kind of pushed [Silk] out front to get him away from me so I couldn’t make a move with him. Hats off to my guys, another podium finish here. We’re thinking big picture for the end of the week here with the points championship. We’ve got a lot of stiff competition here this year."
1. Ron Silk
2. Matt Hirschman
3. Jimmy Blewett
4. Teddy Hodgdon
5. Craig Lutz
6. Ronnie Williams
7. Stephen Kopcik
8. Michael Christopher, Jr.
9. Joey Coulter
10. Marcello Rufrano
11. Tyler Rypkema
12. Anthony Bello
13. Timmy Catalano
14. Earl Paules
15. Tyler Truex
16. Brian Robie
17. Patrick Emerling
18. Tommy Catalano
19. Paul Charette
20. Kyle Sisco
21. Tyler Catalano
22. Jeremy Gerstner
23. Dillon Steuer
24. David Sapienza
25. Dylan Slepian
26. Chris Ridsdale
27. Spencer Davis
28. Rich Parker
29. Jonathan Laurigh
30. Chris Dewalt
31. Chris Andretta
32. Tom Martino, Jr.
33. J.R. Bertuccio
34. Chris Young
35. Andrew Krause
Craig Lutz Claims Second Straight Speedweeks Opener on Feb 14
It was a case of ‘new look, same results’ for Craig Lutz on opening night for the Tour Type Modifieds in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway. A year ago, Lutz survived the carnage of Night One and emerged victorious for team owner Russell Goodale at the start of Speedweeks. This year, opening night was considerably less destructive and Lutz won in his Speedweeks debut for Danny Watts with Goodale support. Lutz led every lap and held off Jimmy Blewett over the final five laps to take the 50-lap feature. For the near entirety of the race, Lutz was under pressure from Ronnie Williams but the final restart saw Blewett unsuccessfully take his shot at the lead. He had to work for that one harder than he already was."For sure," Lutz said. "It was already five to go so you're giving it everything you've got and then the caution comes out. They stack ‘em up and it's hard to get going again." Lutz ultimately chose the top side for the restart, but there was some trepidation because what if Williams was loose on the bottom? "It can go both ways," Lutz said. "If someone gets a good launch off the bottom, they can beat you, but I prefer sweeping around the top and it worked out tonight." Williams sank on the restart and Blewett found an adjustment that nearly won him the race especially starting second row on the outside. Blewett was able to make a run to the outside but couldn’t complete the pass before taking the white flag. "I was free up until that [second caution]," Blewett said. "So I said ‘I’ve got nothing really left to lose so let me just bury this brake adjuster one way and if it works it works.’ And it did, it worked out. I knew when we had the restart we were going to have something for them once I realized what was going on with the brake issue there. I had him off of [turn two] down the backstretch and then the caution came out." Patrick Emerling completed the podium and was largely hanging on. "Not a bad first night for us," Emerling said. "We lacked a little bit right at the beginning. We were just kind of biding our time there to save a little toward the end there." Ron Silk and Teddy Hodgdone completed the top-five. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race winner Matt Hirschman posted the quickest time in qualifying and raced as high as seventh but faded after restarting on the bottom with five laps to go. He faded to 12th.
2022 World Series of Asphalt
Tour Type Modified Race 1
1. Craig Lutz
2. Jimmy Blewett
3. Patrick Emerling
4. Ron Silk
5. Teddy Hodgdon
6. Ronnie Williams
7. Eddie McCarthy
8. Marcello Rufrano
9. Brian Robie
10. Chris Young
11. Tyler Rypkema
12. Matt Hirschman
13. David Sapienza
14. Stephen Kopcik
15. Cam McDermick
16. Tommy Catalano
17. Michael Christopher, Jr.
18. Anthony Bello
19. Paul Charette
20. Tyler Truex
21. Dylan Slepian
22. Earl Paules
23. Chris Andretta
24. Amy Catalano
25. Tom Martino, Jr.
26. J.R. Bertuccio
27. Dillon Steuer
28. Andrew Krause
29. Jeff Malave
30. Joey Coulter
31. Jeremy Gerstner
32. Ricky Moxley
New Race, Familiar Face: Matt Hirschman Wins First Whelen Mod Tour Event At New Smyrna Speedway on Feb 12In recent years Matt Hirschman has been the king of the Tour Type Modified division at the annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. Saturday, with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Smyrna Speedway for the first time, Hirschman proved that his crown carried over to the series. Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., drove away from the field late to win the Whelen Modified Tour New Smyrna Visitor’s Bureau 200 Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway.“It means a lot,” Hirschman said. “I never made it to Daytona [International Speedway] or the Daytona 500, but coming down here to be part of Speedweeks and win races, this being the first time the [Whelen Modified Tour is] ever here, it just means a lot. It’s a lot of work. I appreciate all the effort by the PeeDee Motorsports team. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of yet this week. A lot of racing to go, which I’m really looking forward to. Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. was second. Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott, making his second series start, was third. It was the fifth career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Hirschman in his 107th series start since 2005. Hirschman also was the pole winner of the event. “Of all the things we’ve done with this team, and this is our sixth year, we’ve won other races, [Whelen Modified Tour] races, North-South Shootouts, [Tri-Track Open Modified Series] races, coming to Florida has really been the most enjoyable thing that I’ve done with these guys and this team,” Hirschman said. “You feel like you made it when you come down here and you win a big race. I never made it to Daytona, but this is huge for me. I’m really proud of everybody, myself included, that we’ve been able to accomplish so much down here. It’s awesome. “Just cool to be down here, [on] FloRacing, packed house here, sold out crowd, this awesome. I’ve been watching racing all week on Flo and others. I’ve watched Sprint cars, Dirt Modifieds, Dirt Late Models, I’ve been watching all kinds of stuff, and now to be part a headline maker here tonight at New Smyrna, this is cool. We’ll just try to keep it up and win some more races [next week].” Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, Mass. and Tyler Rypkema of Owego, N.Y. rounded out the top-five respectively. Hirschman went by Christopher for the lead with 39 laps to go with Goodale moving into second two laps later. Hirschman was easily able to keep a healthy distance between himself and second place the rest of the way. “I knew I probably wanted to get him early on in [the last] run,” Goodale said. “Matt is way too good of a driver to make mistakes late in the race. I knew with about 15 laps to go that he probably had the better car. I was hoping lapped traffic or a mistake on his behalf would put us right back there in the mix. We were driving away from third. I was just driving the thing as hard as I could to not make any mistakes and stay with him in case he bobbled there.”
Christopher made his only other series start last September driving for Baldwin at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway in an event where he finished 14th. “I hope I put on a good show for the fans,” Christopher said. “I proved to [car owner Tommy Baldwin Jr.] and everyone else that the PSR Chassis is here to play and we’ll be racing the rest of the week with the PSR. We’re here to compete and do well the best that we can. Obviously we were on older tires there at the end but just looking for that yellow. Gambled and it didn’t work out. But I’m pretty happy to be on the podium. Very thankful for this opportunity.” Ryan Preece looked like he would be Hirschman’s toughed competition for the night, but Preece ended up involved in a wreck with Andrew Krause with about 60 laps remaining coming off turn four while battling for fourth place. Preece ended up 10th. Two-time defending series champion Justin Bonsignore retired after 32 laps with mechanical issues and ended up last in the 31-car field.
1 1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports Chevrolet 200 48 5 Running
2 13 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing Chevrolet 200 42 Running
3 8 7 Mike Christopher, Jr. * Chevrolet 200 42 1 Running
4 6 79 Jon McKennedy Hoosier/Christopher Towing/TFR/Willwood Brakes 200 40 Running
5 12 32 Tyler Rypkema Musco/Northern Drilling Chevrolet 200 40 1 Running
6 14 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials/Goodie Racing Chevrolet 200 38 Running
7 19 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes Chevrolet 200 38 1 Running
8 18 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara Chevrolet 200 36 Running
9 17 7 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway Chevrolet 200 35 Running
10 2 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/CBYD Chevrolet 200 35 1 Running
11 9 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect/Lumierre Elect/Andrew James Interior 200 33 Running
12 4 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory/RB Enterprises Ford 200 32 Running
13 15 21 Jimmy Blewett Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 200 31 Running
14 10 34 J.B. Fortin John’s Fuel Oil Inc/John’s Tree Removal Chevrolet 199 30 Running
15 3 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance/MIT Chevrolet 199 29 Running
16 20 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants Ford 199 28 Running
17 11 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet 198 27 Running
18 7 2 JR Bertuccio Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 198 26 Running
19 28 59 Matt Kimball * BNP Machine Dodge 197 25 Running
20 25 20 Eddie McCarthy * McCarthy’s Marine Chevrolet 197 24 Running
21 21 70 Dylan Slepian * Eastport Feeds Chevrolet 197 23 Running
22 27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet 195 22 Running
23 23 28 Paul Charette * Polar Beverages Chevrolet 194 21 Running
24 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Chevrolet 191 20 Running
25 24 2 Joey Coulter Race fan/Air Shok/Molecule/Simpson Chevrolet 149 19 Electrical
26 22 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating/Technique Chassis Ford 148 18 Accident
27 31 55 Jeremy Gerstner GMP Lawn Care Chevrolet 147 17 Accident
28 16 49 Chris Young JH Homstead Chevrolet 142 16 Accident
29 26 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 140 15 Accident
30 29 1 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales Chevrolet 94 14 Handling
31 5 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet 32 13 Overheating
Matt Hirschman is seeking a hat trick of his own next week during NASCAR’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
Feb 8, 2022 by Rob Blount
Hat tricks are typically reserved for hockey or soccer, but Matt Hirschman is seeking a hat trick of his own next week at NASCAR’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in the Tour-type Modified division. Yes, Hirschman already has three division championships, but this year he’s going for his third straight division title and fourth in the last five years. Hirschman has 10 victories at New Smyrna dating back to 2009, with seven of those wins coming since 2018. When someone has accomplished everything they’ve set out to achieve, one has to wonder what keeps bringing them back. “What brought me back, and this being now our sixth consecutive trip, is the PeeDee Motorsports team,” said Hirschman. “When that was formed in 2016, being based out of South Carolina, we’ve always tried to do some southern stuff in addition to my full slate of northern races. Coming down here in February has been a part of that every year. This is our sixth trip, from 2017 to 2022. It’s a huge effort to do it. A lot of work, a lot of prep. A lot of work while you’re here and even when you return. But it’s something that has been one of the more enjoyable things that we’ve done in our time together as a team.” Since the Northampton, Pennsylvania driver made his return to New Smyrna in 2017, the week’s format has been the same. The Modifieds run their first race on Monday and end their week the following Friday with the running of the Richie Evans Memorial 100. But this time around, there’s a new wrinkle to the format with the highly anticipated addition of the season-opener for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this Saturday night. Hirschman explained that the biggest challenge this new addition poses is personnel related. “What is probably the biggest challenge is our crew is made up of people spread out all over the south and the northeast,” Hirschman explained. “It’s a challenge any time we race, but this is probably the biggest thing we do the entire year. And adding the Whelen Tour race, now we’re bringing in even more people. We typically run the World Series with about five or six crew guys to run the week. Now we’re looking at we need 10-plus to cover all of the positions that are needed with live pit stops and things like that. This is even a bigger logistical challenge than what we’ve done the previous five years.” But even though that part of things is difficult logistically, he said that he can’t wait for race day on Saturday for the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200. “It's going to be a big deal and I would expect a packed house as far as the turnout just because of the anticipation,” he said. “I think this has been talked about happening for quite some time. I think it’s going to be a big deal and I think it’s going to gain a ton of attention across the country, really. Another thing that has Hirschman excited is the expected car counts for the rest of the week. It wasn’t that long ago that fewer than 15 Tour-type Modifieds made the trip south to New Smyrna, but this year the entry list has exceeded 50 cars. “This is huge. It wasn’t that long ago that the Tour-type Modifieds being part of the World Series was probably on life-support. It was in the danger-zone with the car counts,” said Hirschman. “So this is great to see, and I like to see the division rewarded for the support, because we’re probably going to double the car count of any other class quite possibly.” With a big car count, Hirschman expects some big moments for the Modifieds at New Smyrna, and as a result, some large crowds as well. “I can say with confidence I believe we’re the best show in town,” Hirschman said. “It just seems like it’s a perfect match, our cars for this race track. I really look forward to Wednesday and Friday nights, the two big races and longer races, the John Blewett III Memorial on Wednesday night at 76 laps and the Richie Evans Memorial on Friday. The Evans race is the biggest of the week and coming at the end it’s a culmination of a week’s-plus worth of work. “But I will say I think the Wednesday night race has been the best race in recent years. Just a couple of years ago I had the photo-finish with Anthony Nocella. You watch the last few laps of that race, and that’s not just one of the best races of the year. I think that’s one of the best races like all-time best races in the World Series and in short track racing in general.” Much like that night, Hirschman has been involved in many of the big moments at New Smyrna. A third-straight championship with the Tour-type Modifieds would be another one of those big moments to add to the extensive resumé. His quest for that third World Series of Asphalt championship in a row kicks off on Monday, February 14. But first up is the season-opener for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, February 12th. Race fans can watch that race, as well as the entire World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway on FloRacing.
https://www.floracing.com/articles/7416857-matt-hirschman-seeking-hat-trick-at-new-smyrna-world-series
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