Hirschman Banks Another Tri-Track Check
Tri Track Tour Type Modifieds SBM 6
Star Speedway, Epping NH 7.29.2017
In typical Hirschman fashion, Matt came to Bobby Webbers’ Star Speedway and ran a cool, calculated pace until it was time to go, and then he went. While nearly the entire field pitted on lap 73, Hirschman made a tire change and chassis adjustment, and then rejoined the starting field in 4th position, thanks to his crew on pit road.
Hirschman took only 4 laps to power into the lead, and then hold an impressive field of competitors at bay for the next 47 laps. In Victory Lane Hirschman gave all the credit to his entire team. Hirschman said “I owe a big part of this to my guys. I had a better car on lap 100 than I had on lap 1 and it really shouldn’t be that way. We were no good at the beginning of this race and we came in and not only did we do our tire change, we made adjustments. We would not have sniffed the top 5 if we didn’t come in for the tire and change. We would have been one of the guys getting lapped, that’s how bad we were at the start of the race.”
Steve Masse and Todd Annarummo led the 27 starters to the initial green, and Masse powered his way into the lead, which he held for the first 73 laps. Masse gave up that lead when he pitted under yellow. Masse led almost every car to pit road for fresh rubber and adjustments, leaving only Matt Galko and Dylan Steuer on the track.
Hirschman continued “The caution came at the time, we needed it. They hit it (the set up) all right, and gave me so many spots. We had to pass 2 or 3 guys there, one of them didn’t have fresh tires. My guys put me ahead of all the other guys that could have won this race tonight.”
By lap 74 Hirschman picked off Annarummo for 3rd pace, and drew a bead on 2nd place Chris Pasteryak, making an inside pass on lap 77, putting only Galko between himself and win number 7 in a row for the season.
Galko was easy prey, running on older tires and one lap later Hirschman powered by, leading for the next 47 laps. Hirschman kept all the contenders at bay, running out to a comfortable lead.
Behind Hirschman, Rowan Pennink charged through the pack late in the race to finish 2nd. Josh Cantara, the 2011 Star Speedway Track Champion, turned in a stellar performance for 3rd, while Anthony Nocella put on a late race charge, going from 8th to 4th in the last 20 laps. Woody Pitkat, who collected the Best Looking Mod award, rounded out the top 5.
About his winning streak, Hirschman commented “It’s incredible the streak we’re on. I’m almost speechless because, I don’t care how good a car you have, how well prepared you are, races are not easy to win. Sometimes the best car does win races, but to win this many in a row is incredible. We raced last week and I worked on this car every single night, late hours to finish this car for this week, and that was coming off a win last week. It does take a heck of a lot of effort. I know what it takes, and right now we’re on our absolute A plus best game that we’ve been on, and I’m trying to stay there.”
In the first half of the event, only one yellow flag flew on lap 30, slowing action briefly, but from lap 73 to lap 86 there were 9 cautions before the officials gave the command for single file restarts. That gave Hirschman more of an advantage with no one to challenge him on the restarts.
Finish
60 Matt Hirschman
25 Rowan Pennink
71me Josh Cantara
92 Anthony Nocella
52x Pitkat A Woody
9 Tommy Barrett
13 Stephen Masse
25x Brian Robie
48 Jon Kievman
16 Max Zachem
06 Les Hinckley
4 Jeff Gallup
15ct Chris Pasteryak
70 Andy Seuss
50x Carl Medeiros Jr.
51 Dylan Steuer
28 Dwight Jarvis
55 Joe Doucette
93 George Sherman
12 Todd Annarummo
76 Geoff Gernhard
27 Matthew Galko
8 Earl Paules
99 Richard Savary
73x Andy Jankowiak
7ma Kurt Vigeant
0 Mike Holdridge
Lap leaders
Masse 1-73
Galko 74-77
Hirschman 78-125
Margin of Victory 0.834
Best Lap Tie: 12:933
Best Speed 69.589
Best lap by Steve Masse
Sources: James Snape
photos by Crystal Snape