Hirschman in Top Form for Bullring Bash
LEE, NH — With round one of Tri-Track Open Modified Series in the record books, Modified race fans were treated to a fantastic day of racing under perfect weather conditions. 34 of the finest Modifieds competed for the 26 starting spots in the inaugural Bullring Bash. With one of the biggest pay days ever recorded, there was a “take no prisoners” attitude resulting in some damaged race cars along the way. At the end of the century lap grind, Matt Hirschman from Northampton, PA sat in Victory Lane. Matt said “This is me at my best here, these short track bullring open shows.”
After four heats, a consi and a “B” main, the field was set for 100 green flag laps of action. Jeff Rocco of Meriden, CT and Justin Bonsignore of Islip, NY paced the field to the green flag of starter John Spence Jr. Rocco wasted no time blasting into the lead followed by Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon, CT. Pasteryak was piloting the Charlie Pasteryak #15 for this event. By lap five, Rowan Pennink of New Egypt, NJ made his presence known by racing into the second spot. Rocco was setting a quick pace and continued to lead with Pennink, Pasteryak, Todd Ceravalo and Todd Annarummo in tow.
The middle of the pack was tightly bunched with positions changing on each lap. With 20 laps clicked off, Pasteryak found the needed power and slid past Pennink for second, now setting his sights on Rocco’s #57. The three cars ran away with a straightaway lead over Ceravalo, Annarummo, Anthony Nocella, Pennink, Richard Savary, 14-year-old Matt Swanson and Jon McKennedy, fourth through tenth respectively.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
The first yellow flag appeared on lap 27 for a minor spin, and the restart saw the five front cars streak away from the rest.
Running side by side, bumper to bumper back in the pack, young Matt Swanson was working over Nocella until an overheating race car ended Swanson’s day on lap 41.
At the halfway mark a restart had Annarummo outrun Rocco to become the new leader of the event, and a lap later Pennink used the outside to pass a fading Rocco for second.
Annarummo and Pennink turned up the wick and pulled out to a short lead, and on lap 60 Pennink raced by Annarummo for the lead, and three laps later Ryan Preece drove Ole Blue #3 past Annarummo for second. Tough luck for driver Steve Masse, who crashed in his heat, crashed again in the consi, and was the provisional starter, came from last place to power his way by Preece for third by lap 70, and five laps later drove that #13 past Annarummo into second, only to give second back because of a yellow brought out by a spin.
Under caution both the leader Pennink and second place Annarummo pitted, leaving Masse as the new leader, and Todd Szegedy as runner-up. Richard Savary in the #99 was the next car on the move as he worked his way past Szegedy on lap 82. All that riding deep in the pack for a patient Hirschman was coming to an end with the last 15 laps remaining. Hirschman moved into the top eight, then became a man on a mission, moving into fourth place a few laps later, and by lap 86 he was third. With 10 laps to go, Hirschman raced by Savary, who then spun, bringing out the yellow. The restart was a drag race with Masse leading and Hirschman on the outside. When the green flew so did Hirschman, pulling away and letting the rest battle for second spot.
It looked like Masse was going to come home in second place but coming off turn four to the checkered flag, Masse and Preece made contact, with the #12 climbing up over the #13 with considerable damage to both cars. In the ensuing melee, Dennis Perry made it by the wreck to come home in third.
“You’re not gonna see a better Modified race all year (than those three (open competition races) are going to be,” Hirschman said in victory lane. “I don’t have much experience here but I pay attention to what goes on and I pay attention to all of racing, all the different series, who’s winning, who does what so I may not have a lot of on track experience, but I know what it takes to win these shows.”
Second place Ryan Preece said, “We had a pretty good car right off the get go and I talked with Steven before the race and asked him what we should do and that was ride so I pretty much rode around 20th up until about lap 50. And I saw some light where I could take the lead so I did, and then we got that caution around 25 to go and that’s when we pitted and started to make our charge. We were just one adjustment away from being as good as Matt. It seems to be a normal thing in these open shows where I finish second to him but we got two more open shows we can try and see if we can beat him”
A jubilant Dennis Perry said “It’s been a rough day. This is my first time ever in a feature up here in a Modified. … This is the biggest payday we ever had. I sure got some bent stuff to fix for Thursday at Thompson”
“I gave Todd (Annarummo) a pretty good punt,” Perry said of the crash that moved him from fifth to third. “It happened. I was right on him. I tried to dig underneath for the last turn and I gave him a shot. I hope everybody’s okay. It’s nothing intentional. It was a racing deal, but I feel terrible about it.”
Lee USA Speedway, Lee NH
Bullring Bash Modified 100 Powered by Sunoco
Length of Track 0.375 mi.
Margin of Victory 1.941 sec
Best Lap time turned by 25CT Matt Galko 14.926
Race completed in 1:19:07.038
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com
Matt Hirschman
Ryan Preece
Spencer Davis
Steve Masse
Todd Annarummo