Matt Hirschman picks up Seekonk’s Modified Madness and the $10,000 to go along with it; Seth Carlson is NEMA winner, while Shaun Buffington winds Legends main
Seekonk, MA — Matt Wentz and Jon McKennedy brought the 25 car field down to the green flag, and it was Wentz who jumped out front. Matt led the first few laps before VMRS Champion Chris Pasteryak took over and started to pull away. Matt Hirschman, who started sixth, quickly moved behind Pasteryak, and put on the chase. Wentz followed in third until the defending Open Wheel Wednesday winner Doug Coby moved past. At the lap 25 mark, McKennedy had moved back into fourth with Louis Mechalidas was fifth.
By lap 40, Todd Annarummo and Ryan Preece had moved into fourth and fifth. While battling for the lead, Pasteryak and Hirschman got together, and both were taken out of the lead pack. Coby was involved as well, as he and Hirschman locked bumpers. This handed the lead over to Annarummo, with Preece, Todd Patnode, Austin Kochenash and Dave Berghman the top five. Kochenash had already pitted earlier in the event, and had worked his way back through the field.
Preece took over the lead, and survived several restarts with Annarummo and Kochenash in pursuit. Pasteryak and Hirschman were working their way through the pack, and by lap 70, they sat sixth and seventh. Pasteryak spun shortly after, and the field was bunched up once again. Steve Masse started making his moved, and took over the third spot by lap 78, with Hirschman in tow. Hirschman moved past Masse for third, and used a late race restart to take over second from Annarummo. Over the final eleven laps, the pressure was on, and through several late starts, Hirschman showed he could hang with Preece, even taking over on lap 93 as he raced the outside, but Preece took over on the next lap.
With a three lap shootout for the win, Preece took over and set the pace, but with a crossover move, Hirschman moved to the bottom, and squeezed under Preece for the lead. The pair ran side by side for the next lap, but Matt took over, and went on to become the first driver to repeat in this High Dollar event. Preece held on for second, with Masse third, Annarummo and Pasteryak the top five. Berghman, Eric Berndt, Wentz, Coby and Mechalidas rounding out the top ten.
Seth Carlson took off from his pole position in the NEMA 25 lap main event, and never looked back. At one point, Carlson held over a straightaway lead on the field. Jim Santamaria and Joey Payne tried to put some pressure on him, but both fell in the field, as Adam Cantor and Greg Stoehr moved through and took over second and third. By the tenth lap, Anthony Nocella and Todd Bertrand were fourth and fifth. Only Russ Stoehr would make and changed to the rundown, moving into fifth with less than 10 laps remaining. Jeff Horn finished sixth, with Randy Cabral, Bertrand, Paul Scally and Doug Cleveland rounding out the top ten.
Shaun Buffington picked up his second win of the season at Seekonk, in the INEX Legend Cars main event. Shaun started on the pole, and led every lap of the 35 lap feature, but it wasn’t without competition, as Tom Gray pushed his teammate hard around the 1/3 mile oval. Gray held onto second until lap 12, when Nick Lascoula moved past for second, and hunted the leader down. At one point, it appeared that Lascoula was the faster of the two, but a handful of cautions slowed the field up, and Nick did not have the power on the restarts to beat Buffington. While the Nick’s Pit Stop Legends Series point leader pulled away, Lascoula had his own battle to be had, with Gray and Nick Ladyga pressuring him for the second spot. In the end, Buffington held on for a comfortable win, with Lascoula, Ladyga, Gray and Justin Travis finishing in the top five. Joey Parker overcame a couple of mishaps to finish sixth, with Jordan LaMothe, Matt Carpenter, Taylor Martin and Branden Dion rounding out the top ten.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR