Matt Hirschman Breaks Dry Spell with Victory at Oswego
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Ten years later, Matt Hirschman can still get the job done.
The Northampton, Pennsylvania, driver rolled into NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Victory Lane for the first time since October 0f 2008 on Saturday night at Oswego Speedway.
Hirschman took the lead from Justin Bonsignore on lap 120 and survived three attempts at NASCAR overtime in order to seal his third career Whelen Modified Tour victory. The win was his first at the 0.625-mile New York oval and first driving for PeeDee Motorsports.
“It’s been a long time for me, but for this PeeDee Motorsports team, it hasn’t been, it’s been a short amount of time,” Hirschman said. “We’ve been knocking on the door for two years together to get a win, and it finally came together tonight. No better place for it to come than right here at Oswego. I always have said this was my favorite track. I love coming here.”
RACING-REFERENCE: Toyota Mod Classic 150 presented by McDonald’s Results
Hirschman started from the pole position after scoring the top spot for the second straight season in group qualifying and paced the first 94 laps of the race with rising star Chase Dowling on his tail. When the caution flew on lap 92, Hirschman led the lead lap cars down pit road and took fresh Hoosier rubber, but got stuck behind another car leaving the pit area and lost several positions.
Dowling and Bonsignore were among those to beat him back on the track.
The charge back through the field began immediately, and subsequently ended with Hirschman passing for the top spot with just 30 laps to go in the scheduled distance. He had to survive multiple cautions, and three green-white-checkered finishes before he could celebrate. He led a race-high 139 laps.
Bonsignore, who lined up to the outside of Hirschman for each of the three NASCAR overtime restarts, crossed the line 0.588-seconds back. Even though the Holtsville, New York, native wanted to win his third straight Whelen Modified Tour race, the points leader was able to survive an array of late cautions to score another podium finish for Kenneth Massa Motorsports.
Five-time and defending series champion Doug Coby finished third, while Woody Pitkat, who led 13 laps, finished fourth. Eric Goodale rounded out the top five.
Matt Swanson was sixth, followed by Patrick Emerling, Timmy Solomito, Blake Barney and Tommy Catalano.
Bonsignore extended his points lead to 75 points over Chase Dowling, while Timmy Solomito is third, 103 points back with four races remaining on the championship points schedule.
The Toyota Mod Classic 150 presented by McDonald’s will air on NBCSN on Thursday, September 6, at 6 p.m.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will move across New York to Riverhead Raceway for the next event on the schedule on Saturday, September 8.
Sources: Kyle Souza/NASCAR PR
2018 Toyota Mod Classic 150
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race number 12 of 12
Saturday, September 1, 2018 at Oswego Speedway, Oswego, NY
150 laps* on a .625 mile paved track (93.8 miles)
Time of race: 0:52:09
Average speed: 78.588 mph
Pole speed: 128.154 mph Cautions: 11 for 47 laps
Margin of victory: 0.588 sec
Attendance: n/a
Lead changes: 6
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Status Led Pts
1 1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports (Roy Hall) Chevrolet 165 running 139 48
2 4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. (Kenneth Massa) Chevrolet 165 running 10 43
3 6 2 Doug Coby Mayhew / Dunleavy’s / AJ Roman’s Const. (Mike Smeriglio III) Chevrolet 165 running 0 41
4 14 82 Woody Pitkat Horton Avenue Materials (Danny Watts Jr.) Chevrolet 165 running 13 41
5 10 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing (Edgar Goodale) Chevrolet 165 running 0 39
6 11 3 Matt Swanson Starrett / Mosquito Free / USNE (Jan Boehler) Chevrolet 165 running 0 38
7 3 07 Patrick Emerling Buffalo Auto Auction (Jennifer Emerling) Chevrolet 165 running 0 37
8 7 16 Timmy Solomito Starrett Racing (Eric Sanderson) Ford 165 running 0 36
9 23 14 Blake Barney * Atlantic Sprinkler (Richard Barney) Chevrolet 165 running 0 35
10 19 54 Tommy Catalano * Catalano Motorsports (Amy Catalano) Chevrolet 165 running 0 34
11 9 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply (Russell Goodale) Chevrolet 164 running 0 33
12 2 15 Chase Dowling 15-40 Connection / S&S Paving (Rob Fuller) Chevrolet 164 running 0 32
13 20 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood (Robert Pollifrone) Ford 164 running 0 31
14 21 32 Tyler Rypkema * Tim Duffek / Nelcorp (Dean Rypkema) Chevrolet 162 running 0 30
15 5 7 Jon McKennedy Accell Construction, Inc. (Tommy Baldwin) Chevrolet 156 crash 0 29
16 16 21 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial / Gershow Recycling (Joseph Bertuccio) Chevrolet 150 crash 0 28
17 12 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Chevrolet 150 crash 0 27
18 8 64 Rob Summers Hoosier Tire East / Fast Track Electrical (Mike Murphy) Chevrolet 150 running 0 26
19 17 6 Ryan Preece TS Hauler (Ed Partridge) Chevrolet 147 crash 0 25
20 25 01 Melissa Fifield Truck Stop Northeast (Kenneth Fifield) Chevrolet 147 running 0 24
21 22 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape / TRC Electric (Sean McDonald) Chevrolet 145 crash 0 23
22 13 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise (Judy Thilberg) Chevrolet 116 crash 3 23
23 24 33 Wade Cole Performance Engines / Kendall Oil (Wade Cole) Chevrolet 104 power steering 0 21
24 18 25 Calvin Carroll Power with Prestige / Cruising w / Betty (Joe Carroll) Chevrolet 91 crash 0 20
25 15 75 Chris Pasteryak Dawley’s Collision & Custom (Charles Pasteryak) Chevrolet 87 running 0 19
Rookie drivers are denoted with an asterisk.
* Race extended to 165 laps due to NASCAR overtime.
Caution flag breakdown:
Condition From Lap To Lap # Of Laps Reason Free Pass
1 54 54
55 59 5 #32 spun frontstretch #82
60 66 7
67 70 4 #18 spun turn 4 #75
71 71 1
72 74 3 #64,75 accident turn 2 #36
75 91 17
92 97 6 #01,25 accident turn 1 none
98 105 8
106 110 5 #46,7 accident turn 3 #21
111 114 4
115 119 5 #36 spun turn 3 #18
120 123 4
124 126 3 debris turn 2 #14
127 131 5
132 134 3 #46 spun turn 2 #18
135 147 13
148 149 2 #6,26 accident frontstretch #46
150 150 1
151 155 5 #5,21,15 accident turn 3 #18
156 156 1
157 162 6 #7,15 accident frontstretch none
163 165 3
Percent of race run under caution: 28.5% Average green flag run: 9.8 laps
Lap leader breakdown:
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
Matt Hirschman 1 94 94
Dave Sapienza 95 97 3
Woody Pitkat 98 110 13
Justin Bonsignore 111 119 9
Matt Hirschman 120 149 30
Justin Bonsignore 150 150 1
Matt Hirschman 151 165 15
Points standings after this race:
Rank Driver Points Diff
1 Justin Bonsignore 526
2 Chase Dowling 453 -73
3 Timmy Solomito 424 -102
4 Doug Coby 417 -109
5 Craig Lutz 409 -117
6 Rob Summers 384 -142
7 Eric Goodale 378 -148
8 Dave Sapienza 352 -174
9 Ronnie Williams 347 -179
10 Rowan Pennink 341 -185
11 Tommy Catalano 309 -217
12 Chris Pasteryak 301 -225
13 Ryan Preece 299 -227
14 Woody Pitkat 292 -234
15 Blake Barney 291 -235
16 Gary McDonald 288 -238
17 Calvin Carroll 280 -246
18 Wade Cole 268 -258
19 Ken Heagy 265 -261
20 Jon McKennedy 261 -265