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7/11/2009
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HIRSCHMAN USES TIRE MANAGEMENT
TO THE MAX ONCE AGAIN TO WIN WYOMING COUNTY RoC |
He has won races before using the same strategy and on Friday night at the
Wyoming County International Speedway defending RoC Dart Asphalt Modified
Tour champion Matt Hirschman showed just how good he is saving his tires.
The Northampton, Pa. driver was the only one not to pit for a fresh right
rear and he saved his tires just enough to hold off all challengers to win
the 75 lap feature.
Matt who started fourth took the lead on a lap 67 restart from Tony
Hanbury and then had to survive a wild scenario that took place over the
final eight laps. Matt was able to withstand five restarts in the final
eight laps to capture his first win on the tour this year. Early race leader
Pete Brittain ended up second with Rusty Smith nipping Eric Beers at the
line for third. Daren Scherer made several pit stops, kept the wheels on his
car and ended up fifth in a fine point racing effort on this night.
“I’ve been in the running to win here every year since I won here
in 2005 “ said the smiling race winner in post race technical inspection. “
That year (2005) I pitted to come up through and win and I have pitted to
almost win here (2006) and I have not pitted (2007) and not finished in the
top three. I’ve done it both ways, tonight there was no set plan on whether
I was going to pit or not going to pit.“
Matt and his hard working crew didn’t agree on his strategy on this
night. “They would run down to the pit each time a yellow would come out,
thinking I was coming in for a tire change. But I decided to stay out and
they didn’t agree with me on that strategy as they were all getting a
workout running back and forth to the pit. But I feed them good so I think
they’ll survive.“
Matt really didn’t start to make any move towards the front until
lap 60 as he hung around the top seven all feature long until that point. “I
didn’t mind the good cars racing in front of me like they were“ said Matt.
“There was a couple of guys behind me that were coming and I didn’t want to
fall back anymore in the field so I said that is it, it’s time to go to the
front and that is what I did. I kept myself right there with Eric, Earl, and
Tony (Hanbury) and I wasn’t going to fall back any further back in the field
I decided at that point. If I did fall further back then I would have had to
pit at that point. I was watching the laps and I knew at what point I had to
go, my guys weren’t so sure of that tonight. But I’m pretty good on when I
know it is the time to go to the front and tonight I played my cards right.“
Matt spoke on what goes into his thinking pattern on whether to pit
or not. “I was kind of paying attention to what a few did during the race.
When Jan ( Leaty ) pitted early and the next yellow a lot of the other guys
pitted and then after that they were in wrecks. I started to feel at that
point that I made the right decision to stay out and then I figured to stay
out and go with it. It was definitely the right call and then it seemed we
couldn’t get past lap 69 with all of the crashes. That put Earl (Paules)
right on my back bumper and I don’t know what happened to him after that.“
“This place owed me a win and I think I got it back tonight “ said
Matt. “Back in 06 I passed Earl twice and each time the yellow came out and
I had to go back to second. That was the year the track was coming apart and
there was no outside to use.“
Second place finisher Pete Brittain nearly pulled off the spin and
return to win scenario but fell one spot short on this night. “We did spin
and got spun and then got in a tangle up there in one and two and that
really didn’t hurt anything“ said Pete.
“The car was awesome for the racing tonight as we worked all
afternoon during practice trying to get bite into the car“ said Pete. “We
practiced all day on old tires and got good bite out of the car finally.
Mattie (Hirschman) is a master at saving his tires and when I got to him I
was out of tires, I didn’t have anything for him.“
“Yes I’m disappointed with a third “ said Rusty Smith. “I had a
faster car and got ran all over the place early in the race by Pete
(Brittain) and then Pete ran me all over the place at the end when I had a
faster car. But at least Pete is consistent as he ran Eric (Beers) all over
the place on the last lap and that enabled me to inch by Eric at the line
for third.“
Qualifying for the 23 car field saw heat wins go to Beers,
Brittain, and Hirschman.
BULL RING NOTES; Once again at this beautiful facility the
racing was exciting to say the least with only the last eight laps putting a
slight damper on overall evening of good racing. For the first time possibly
in the history of the RoC Tour there was not one single car entered from the
Zacharias Racing stables. Drivers that were able to keep all four wheels on
their cars ended up with good finishes. Eric Kocher and Daryl Lewis, Jr.
both made the first starts with the Tour in sometime and for the remainder
of the Tour this year Tony Hanbury will be a semi-regular.
The Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour is sponsored by;
Dart Machinery, Hoosier Racing Tire, Gater Racing News, Sunoco Race Fuels,
T. J. Toyota, Waite Toyota, PBM Performance Products, Dura Bond, Total Seal
Piston Rings, Competition Engineering by Moroso, Dynatech, Xceldyne
Technologies, Erson Cams, Melling Performance, Afco, CV Products, and LA
Sleeve.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR
RACE #3 WYOMING COUNTY
Finish; Matt Hirschman, Pete Brittain, Rusty Smith, Eric Beers, Daren
Scherer, Earl Paules, Rick Kluth, John Markovic, Mike Leaty, Billy Putney,
Eric Kocher, Kyle Ebersole, T. J. Potrzebowski, Brian DeFebo, Tony Hanbury,
Chip Santee, Jim Storace, Tom Wiest, Doug Reaume, Mark Tychoniewicz, Jan
Leaty, Daryl Lewis, Jr., Matt Clemens.
Lap Leaders; Smith ( 1 ), Brittain ( 2 – 35 ), Paules ( 36 – 63 ),
Hanbury ( 64 – 67 ), Hirschman ( 68 – 75 ).
Gater Racing News Driver Bonus Drawing $500; Beers.
Dart Machinery Set of Heads $1,500 value; Putney.
Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Charger Award; Scherer ( 16th to 5th ).
Hoosier Racing Tire Hard Luck Award; J. Leaty ( 5th to 21st ).
Next RoC Tour Event; Dunn Tire Raceway Park-Saturday July 18th-75 laps-$2,800 to win.
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Source: JR's
Motorsports Media / Race Of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour
Posted: July
11, 2009 |
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