GOOD DRAW ALLOWS HIRSCHMAN TO LEAD FLAG TO FLAG FOR RoC WIN AT CHEMUNG
BY JR KENNERUP
Chemung, NY … Drawing the pole position for any race is a good thing but when you draw it at the Chemung Speedrome it means more. This tricky 1/3 mile oval is a test of man and machine and when racing during the daytime it makes the inside groove the preferred groove.
On Sunday afternoon Matt Hirschman won his heat and drew the pole for the 75 lap Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Tour North Region event. Surviving two bumps from LW Miller early on in the feature Hirschman ran a perfect race to record his first career Chemung Speedrome feature win.
Earl Paules coming off three consecutive wins in short track asphalt Modifieds racing dogged Hirschman the final 64 laps but settled for a strong second. John Markovic in a brand new Troyer car ended up third with TJ Potrzebowski finishing fourth and 15th place starting Pete Brittain finished fifth.
“ We pulled the pole and had a good enough car  to stay there all day “ said the defending RoC champion from Northampton, Pa. “ It’s a good track to pick the pole because you usually don’t pit here and it worked out to our advantage today. I’ve been a regular on the Series for three years now and today was the first time I picked the pole for a feature. I was due to pick the pole and I took advantage of it today. “
It appeared that Hirschman was pacing himself as he would open up a big lead and then let the competition catch up to him, but that wasn’t the case according to Matt. “ I ran as hard as I could to stay in front of them “ summarized the $2,800 winner. “ Pretty much I ran as hard as I could every lap, there wasn’t anything else there. Cause he ( Paules ) was within a car length for most of the time, we started to distance ourselves from everybody else then the caution would come out. I pretty much ran every lap as hard as I could as I knew I wasn’t going to pit. Once you’re out front you want to stay there if you have a car capable, pretty much that is what we did today. “
Matt only had to deal with lapped traffic twice during the feature and he knew that if he got by the lapped cars clean there was no way for Paules to pass him. “ I moved up early in the race to lap ( Billy ) Putney coming out of turn two “ recalled Matt. “ He ( Putney ) moved down and he was slower than I thought he was and he picked back up his pace a little. I moved out to pass him a little early and Earl was able to get underneath me ( lap 26, turn three ), Earl ran me clean the whole race. “
After LW Miller moved into second on the opening lap from his third place starting position he and Hirschman had two scrapes. The first was on a lap three restart when Miller jumped over the right front of Hirschman. The second was when Miller drove into turns three and four too hard on lap ten and made contact with Hirschman getting him sideways. This contact bottled up the field causing a large multi car accident in turn four and ending the race for several competitors including Jan Leaty and Rusty Smith.
Matt spoke about the contact with LW Miller. “ The only close calls the whole race were with LW ( Miller ) and I’m not sure what he was thinking about. He plugged in there and slammed me in the back and almost spun me out, took himself out, I’m not sure what he was thinking about there.  Then on that restart he jumped over my right front."
The second generation racer spoke about the heavy lapped traffic at the end of the race with drivers being lapped that didn’t have a lot of experience racing at Chemung. “ Some guys were running low and some guys were running high, lapped cars are suppose to go low. We did a little bit of everything as he went under lap cars who ran high and drove around lap cars who were running low. Nobody held me up and everyone pretty much held their groove when I was lapping them. “
With the win Matt continued a very strong season on the Race of Champions Tour. “ It’s good to get a win for the team “ said the defending series Champion. “ We’ve been close this year, we’ve been really good as we finished second at Oswego. We dogged Mike Leaty for a long time, had a good race there. At Wyoming County that was my race as we made a pass for the lead only to have the caution put me back in second. We won here today and at Mahoning Valley I ran another car and if I didn’t make a driving error we would have had a shot to win there. Everywhere we’ve been this year we’ve been competitive enough to win and that is why we’re going to keep trying as many as these shows as possible. We do it on our own and we do it for fun and the Race of Champions Tour is fun to run. “
Second place finisher Earl Paules from Kunkletown, Pennsylvania knew that he didn’t have a clear shot to pass Hirschman for the win. “ No I didn’t get that clear opening today “ said the soft spoken driver. “ He ( Hirschman ) was where I wanted to be, you have to run around the bottom here and the only way I was going to pass him was if I roughed him up a little bit and I didn’t want to do that. “
Of late Earl has been a terror on the short tracks with a RoC win at Wyoming County and winning the last two regular Saturday night shows at Mahoning Valley. “ Yes we have been going good on the small tracks but I really love Oswego “ said Earl. “ Thompson’s coming up and we’re running a SK car there on Thursday nights. Were getting familiar with the track so when we go there in September with the Modified we should be good, I hope anyway. “
Earl spoke about why he happy with a second place finish. “ Look at the points right now and it’s really close, probably one of the closest point battles in a few years. There are a lot of good cars and anything can happen so you do need some luck on your side too.”
Earl spoke about the heavy lapped traffic that he and Hirschman entered on lap 61. “ Yea I really wanted to see that lapped traffic as that was my only chance to pass him. If I could have gotten Matt off the bottom maybe I would have had a shot but the caution came out there with four to go and that ended any hope of passing him."
John Markovic credited his third place finish on a new Troyer car that he purchased from Hirschman Racing. “ I just purchased this car from the Hirschman Garage a few weeks ago “ said the driver from Bethlehem, Pa. “ It’s a brand new 06 as it took us about 14 days to put it together and with their guidance and help I appreciate it very much. “
John who has struggled recently used a good setup for Chemung. “ We got second here last year in the first race and we have a pretty good setup for here. Now we’ll try and see how it runs on another track, see if it holds it’s consistency. “
John who has raced since 1979 used his patient driving style on this day. “ I’ve been racing since 1979 and patience is my middle name, that is how I have survived for so long. “ 
Qualifying for the 30 asphalt Modifieds in attendance saw heats wins captured by Hirschman, Potrzebowski, Jan Leaty, and Paules while Kory Rabenold won the B Main.
DROME DROPPINGS; Several drivers were making initial Chemung appearance with Bobby Holmes getting the best finish of the bunch with a seventh. Chuck Frisbee debuting a new motor under the hood and the power helped him nip Kevin Lewis at the line for the last transfer spot in the B Main. Lewis was running the second Rick Kluth entry for the third show in a row. After the B Main Kluth who had magneto problems during the heat race and was forced to qualify through the B Main switched over to the car that Lewis was racing. The switch must have worked because Kluth came from last place starting spot to finish ninth. A tiring afternoon for Phil Slater as he spent more time going to and from the track to his shop in Apalachin, NY than he did racing at Chemung. Phil blew the motor in his primary car during the first round of hot laps and the crew drove an empty hauler back to the shop, 25 miles away to get the backup car. After returning to the track Phil didn’t qualify and he blew a left rear tire in the B Main ending his chances of qualifying. Matt Parsons was up from North Carolina for the weekend and decided to race but his day ended after a blown head gasket during the heat race. RoC’s all time winningest driver George Kent made his first race of the season driving the Dave Koroleski entry. Despite getting in a couple of jingles which affected the handling of the car George brought the car home in 11th. Chaz Surman drove the second John Markovic entry on this day. Daren Scherer did triple duty on this day with a win in the Legends, a tenth in the SST’s and a disappointing 24th in the Modifieds. Tony Hanbury and TJ Potrzebowski both did double duty on the day with Tony leading TJ across the line for the win in the SST’s. A $100 cash bonus for leading halfway was presented to Matt Hirschman as the money was in memory of Joe Crouse who was the number one fan of George Kent.
RACE REPORT CHEMUNG SPEEDROME RACE OF CHAMPIONS NORTH REGION RACE #4
FINISH; Matt Hirschman, Earl Paules, John Markovic, TJ Potrzebowski, Pete Brittain, Zane Zeiner, Bobby Holmes, Tony Hanbury, Rick Kluth, Billy Putney, George Kent, Eric Beers, Mike Leaty, Lee Sherwood, Wesley Swartout, Brian DeFebo, Ben Reynolds, LW Miller, Chuck Frisbee, Jan Leaty, Todd Smith, Rusty Smith, Bill Chandler, Sr., Daren Scherer, Dave Wollaber, Kory Rabenold.
DNQ’S; Kevin Lewis, Chaz Surman, Matt Parsons, Phil Slater.
LAP LEADERS; Hirsch man ( 1 - 75 )
SUNOCO RACE FUELS AWARD; Rabenold
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Kluth
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Kluth ( 26th to 9th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Chandler ( 2nd to 23rd )
NEXT RoC RACE; Saturday August 5th Oswego Speedway North Region Race #5