Preece Scores Win In Winchester 200
Winchester, NH- Ryan Preece took down the win in the First Annual Winchester 200 Modified Touring Series event at the Monadnock Speedway. Preece went home with $15,000 and a Winchester 355 rifle. Eric Goodale would finish in second and Matt Hirschman would finish in third. A total of 22 cars showed up for the event.
Eric Goodale finished second in the event on Saturday night and he thought the strategy was be up front, stay up front. Before the race, he was hoping the cautions would be a minimum with 22 cars on hand.
Hoosier has been in the business for along time with selling tires in the modifieds. American Racer Tire was the tire that the modifieds ran on Saturday night. Goodale thought everyone is on the same thing. “ It definitely feels a little different. They take a little bit longer to come in. and they don’t seem to fall off as much as you do especially on the tour tires.” Goodale Said
Matt Hirschman would finish third in the Winchester 200 on Saturday night. Hirschman thought the American Racer Tire was a good durable tire. “ A little bit different type of racing than the Hoosier just based on where the speed is in the tire and what the fall off is but that’s not a bad thing. It’s different. “ Hirschman Said
Les Hinckley remembers when he was a kid when the modifieds would race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where the winner would go home with $15,000. Hinckley has raced in the $10,000 to win races at Seekonk before. With 22 cars on hand on Saturday night, Hinckley thought that they were quality cars. “ You look around the pit area and there is no slouches. You gotta a bunch of good race cars here.” Hinckley Said
ROC had a race last weekend at Lancaster as it was a make up race from a rain out. Hirschman thought it was a tough decision and it got to the point where he had not made a decision until the end of the week. He needed to get some feedback from his crew guys to see what they wanted to do and the majority vote was to come to Monadnock to go for the $15,000 dollars.
Andy Jankowiak was also on hand for the Winchester 200. The ROC Modified had a race at Lancaster but Jankowiak was entered in the Winchester 200 first before the event at Lancaster got rescheduled. Jankowiak crew members have been good to him and he wanted to honor that commitment to come up and run the Winchester 200 at Moandnock Speedway. “ It’s cool to support a big money race like this. Wish we had more cars here. I think people will come around once they see it. You gotta support guys that are putting up big money like this. We need more of this in modified racing.” Jankowiak Said
Gary Knight the founder of the Modified Touring Series put together the 1st Annual Winchester 200 at Monadnock Speedway. A total of 22 cars came with drivers from all over such as ROC drivers Matt Hirschman, Andy Jankowiak, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers, Eric Goodale, and Ryan Preece who also races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series full time as well as Valenti Modified Racing Series drivers Kirk Alexander, Chris Pasteryak, and Les Hinckley. “ We’ve got ROC Champions, NASCAR Whelen Modified Champions, MRS Champions, and the home track heroes. What more could you ask for with this type of field ??” Knight Said
Knight did say that there will be a Winchester 200 in 2017.
Story By: Matthew Wiernasz/Yankeeracer.com