LEATY OVER HIRSCHMAN IN A SECOND GENERATION DRIVING DUEL AT OSWEGO TO
CLAIM THE RICHIE EVANS MEMORIAL BY JR KENNERUP ( RoC MEDIA ) Oswego, NY ..
When you hear the last names of Leaty and Hirschman racing for the win most
would think of Jan Leaty and Tony Hirschman. But on Saturday night at the
Oswego Speedway these two great drivers saw their sons Mike and Matt put on a
whale of a show in the Parts Plus AutoStores sponsored Richie Evans Memorial
at the Oswego Speedway. Mike Leaty started from the outside pole and led all
100 laps to win his first ever feature in the Race of Champions ( RoC )
Asphalt Modified Tour. But by no means was it an easy win for the Williamson,
NY driver as he had to hold off the relentless challenges of defending RoC
champion Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. Hirschman who started fifth
actually got underneath Leaty twice during the event only to be boxed in by a
lap car each time. In the end Leaty had a potent enough of a car to hold off
Hirschman for the $3,500 victory. Once again at Oswego the late stages of the
feature belonged to Eric Beers who pitted on lap 74 to change tires to finish
a fast closing third. Zane Zeiner made wholesale changes to the car after the
B Main and it worked out fine as he finished fourth after starting 23rd.
Finishing fifth with a huge smile on his face was Jan Leaty as he watched his
son cross the start / finish line first on this night. “ It feels so good as
we’ve been here numerous times, heck last time we didn’t even qualify here,
it’s so tough here “ said Mike. “ This place means so much to me and my family
as we live only 45 minutes from here. I know how hard my dad works and when we
were building this car during the winter we watched a video from 1988. Dad
hadn’t gotten his first one ( Oswego win ) at that time and to win at Oswego
it just means so much. “ Mike spoke about the race. “ I knew it was important
to get out in front at the start as then I could run my own pace for a while,
plus I needed to save the right rear tire too. I ran hard for the first few
laps and then I was on cruise control. I knew it was really important to save
the tires once in front cause I knew guys would be coming in to put tires on.
“ Mike once in front had two scares ( laps 39 & 45 ) that saw Matt Hirschman
get under him. “ Lap traffic, I saw that coming and I thought it could be iffy
“ said Leaty. “ Matt got by me for about one turn and I put the pedal down and
thank god it stuck. I was playing it safe as I didn’t know where the lap cars
were going to be. Matt did a really good job getting up alongside of me as I
was playing it safe as I was trying to guard the outside because that is where
you need to be when passing lap cars. I knew when he got up alongside me I had
to fight for everything it was worth because I knew it was going to be really
difficult to get back by Matt once he got the lead. “ “ It definitely does “
answered Mike when asked how it felt to win at Oswego. “ How can you beat it?
I’ve always wanted to take that ride around the track after a feature win in
the pace car. Sweating in the cold air after 100 laps, all the fans, the place
is packed and that looks great. “ “ No doubt “ answered Mike when asked if
this was his biggest win ever. “ To win at Oswego, to win the Richie Evans
Memorial it just means so much. I’ve won a bunch of races at Spencer but
nothing compares to winning here. My car was outstanding as I have a really
good tutor and I think everybody knows that. “ “ To win the Richie Evans
Memorial is just unbelievable “ concluded Mike. “ It hasn’t sunk in yet but I
own the book Richie and I’ve read it, the stories in there are unbelievable.
Modified racing wouldn’t be what is today if it wasn’t for Richie Evans, it’s
truly an honor to win his memorial race. “ Mike had this to say about racing
with Matt Hirschman. “ Matt he ran me nice and clean, he did a good job too,
it was a lot of fun. “ The proud father of the feature winner, who finished
fifth had this to say about his feature winning son. “ I’ve always been proud
of Mike “ said the smiling Jan Leaty. “ Today is a special day for him as it’s
his first Modified win outside of Spencer Speedway. We’re a family team, his
car is kept in my garage at home and we work on it together , it’s a great day
for us. I’m super proud of him and got a little pride in myself even. “ “ I
gave it all I had “ said Matt Hirschman about his second place run. “ We had a
good car, I passed Eric Beers ( lap 17 ) and Ryan Preece ( lap 27 ) and I went
right after him ( Leaty ) and that was probably my time that I should have
been able to get him, if I could of. “ The defending RoC Overall Champion
spoke about racing at Oswego and the upcoming Sunoco Race of Champions in
September. “ I’m real happy to finish second here as Oswego is my favorite
track “ said Matt. “ I wish I could be riding around the track in the pace car
like he ( Leaty ) is right now. I know that this is a car that we can come
back here in September and win the 200 as that is the biggest race for us. I’m
happy to have a good run here and finish second, I would have loved to win on
the Evans and Shampine weekend but we’ll come back here in September and give
it a run then. “ “ I’ll bring the car back just the way it is right now “ said
Matt when referring to if he learned anything new on this night. “ I feel we
had a car that could have won, we were all over him and it didn’t seem that we
had anybody coming from behind. This is the best car I’ve ever had here and
I’m looking forward to coming back with it. “ Matt spoke about the two times
that he had the preferred inside groove only to get boxed in behind a lap car
and that enabled Mike Leaty to keep the lead. “ We were all over him “
summarized Matt. “ We had a good car, moved up early, but just didn’t have
enough to make a clean pass. “ Matt spoke about finishing second instead of
trying too hard for the win by possibly using a dangerous move. “ You got to
be smart “ said Matt. “ It’s a good test, 100 straight laps to see how the car
is going to handle. Like I said I wasn’t going to do anything stupid, I wasn’t
going to take him out, I was there, I tried. But finishing second and bringing
the car home in one piece is better than bringing the car home in pieces. “
Matt was very complimentary of the race winner Mike Leaty drove. “
Congratulations to Mike, he did an excellent job, he didn’t make mistakes, he
ran a clean race. “ Third place starter and finisher Eric Beers for the second
race in a row at Oswego needed a late race yellow. “ Once again I needed a
yellow at the end “ said the upbeat Beers. “ I love this race track, the fans
are awesome, everybody who works here is awesome. Ever since I’ve been coming
here I’ve been fast here, I just hope that it stays that way. If the cautions
fall the right time in the 200 that is when I’ll need them, that will be a
good one to win again. “ Eric’s night certainly wasn’t an easy one by any
means. “ We were riding there ( early in the race ) watching those kids in
front of me race and I thought we had a pretty good car “ said the
Northampton, Pa. driver. “ Then I must have picked up something on the track
that made the right rear tire go down and we started backing up. Then I went
down there in the corner ( turn one ) and a piece of the starter fell off (
lap 74 ) and bounced up and hit the tin in the driveline area. That noise
scared me as I didn’t want the driveline coming through the car and injuring
me as I‘ve been injured enough, so I got the car to stop. We pulled in and
yanked the starter off as it was only held on by a wire, changed a tire, went
back out and it woke the car right back up. “ Eric was also complimentary of
the two drivers in front of him and spoke about racing in the Richie Evans
Memorial. “Nice job Mike Leaty and Matt , we’ll see what happens next time
here “ said Eric. “ Richie was the king of the Modifieds and will always be
the king of the Modifieds no mater what anybody else does. I’ve never won a
Richie Evans Memorial, I think I’ve run in a dozen of them and one of these
days I’m going to win one. “ Qualifying for the 38 car field saw heat races
being won by Earl Paules, Sege Fidanza, Jan Leaty, Hirschman, and Tom McGrath
with Bobby Holmes and Jimmy Blewett capturing the twin B Mains. EVANS MEMORIAL
NOTES; Once again a very talented field saw qualifying race action hot and
heavy which led to some bent racecars and bent egos. Among the cars who
received damage in the heats were Chuck Frisbee, Bill Mislin, Wilbur Hebing,
Chuck Hossfeld, Terry Cheetham, Pete Brittain, and Rick Kluth. All of these
cars with the exception of Brittain were either repaired in time to finish the
heat race or in time for the B Main. JR Kent driving the car that has seen
Dave Koroleski behind the wheel at RoC shows in the past. Former Oswego
Limited Super and Super Modified driver Mark VanLuven wheeling the second Zane
Zeiner / Martinelli Motorsports entry. Terry Zacharias was slated to drive the
third Zacharias Racing entry but scratched before the racing began. However
this car was pushed into service after the heat race accident of Pete Brittain
which saw his primary ride suffer un - repairable front end damage. Brittain
did a masterful job in the feature to finish 11th after starting 28th and that
included three pit stops. Tony Hanbury also racing for the Zacharias Family in
a former Bobby Osgood driven Modified. Tommy Kinsella saw his day end during
hot laps when his engine blew a head gasket. Up and coming driver Ryan Preece
ran in the top three a majority of the race until his tires went away and he
faded to 12th. Lee Sherwood who won the first Oswego show three weeks ago was
running as high as third until worn tires saw him slip back to ninth. Alex
Hoag looking strong in the feature until being involved in a multi car turn
one accident on lap 77. The Zane Zeiner team changed springs, stagger, wedge,
just about everything they could after the B Main to see if the car would
respond and it did. When his car failed to fire on the track at the start of
the feature Tommy Cloce was sent to the rear. Three provisional buy - ins for
the race went to Jackson and Brittain who were both in the top ten of North
Region points in 2005 and to Markovic who was in the top ten overall RoC
points in 2005. TJ Potrzebowski missing his first RoC show in quite some time
due to his B Modified racing commitments with Ed McGuire. RoC Director Andy
Harpell announced on Saturday that Vic Hooker has sponsored all 200 laps in
the Sunoco Race of Champions at $50 per lap. Then add into this amount is the
large collection of lap money that is annually collected by Don & Marilyn Toal.
All of this will lead to an amount that will certainly pass last years total
of $17,000. RACE OF CHAMPIONS ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR NORTH REGION RACE 1 RACE
REPORT FINISH; Mike Leaty, Matt Hirschman, Eric Beers, Zane Zeiner, Jan Leaty,
Chuck Hossfeld, Bobby Holmes, Sege Fidanza, Lee Sherwood, Earl Paules, Pete
Brittain, Ryan Preece, Tom McGrath, Tony Hanbury, Karl Hehr, Billy Putney,
Phil Slater, Bill Mislin, Wesley Swartout, Larry Jackson, Wilbur Hebing, John
Markovic, Dave Wollaber, Daren Scherer, Alex Hoag, Tommy Cloce, Jimmy Blewett,
Bill Chandler, Sr. Rusty Smith. DNQ’S; JR Kent, Tommy Kinsella, Chuck Frisbee,
Pete Britain ( 99 car ), Terry Zacharias ( 71 car ), Larry Fisher, Rick Kluth,
Terry Cheetham, Mark VanLuven, Doug Reaume. LAP LEADERS; Mike Leaty ( 1 - 100
) HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Zeiner ( 23rd to 4th ) HOOSIER
RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Hoag ( 4th to 25th ) GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER
BONUS DRAW $ 500; Brittain SUNOCO RACE FUELS AWARD; Hirschman NEXT RoC RACE;
Saturday June 10th - Mahoning Valley Speedway - Central Region Race 2
R.o.C Modified Tour Race Report: North Region
Race 1
Race of Champions Modified Tour North Region –100 laps
Race event #1
– Saturday, May 27th – Oswego Speedway
Finish Car #
Driver Hometown Starting
Pos.
1. 26 Mike Leaty
Williamson, NY 1st
2. 60 Matt
Hirschman Northampton, PA 5th
3. 9 Eric
Beers Northampton, PA 3rd
4. 22z Zane
Zeiner Bath, PA 23rd
5. 6 Jan Leaty
Williamson, NY 9th
6. 79 Chuck
Hossfeld Ransomville, NY 19th
7. 22 Bobby Holmes Lockport,
NY 21st
8. 77 Sege
Fidanza Lockport, NY 10th
9. 95 Lee
Sherwood Binghamton, NY 7th
10. 8 Earl Paules Kunkletown,
PA 15th
11. 71 Pete
Brittain Oakhurst, NJ 28th
12. 4 Ryan Preece
Kensington, CT 1st
13. 12 Tom McGrath
N. Tonawanda, NY 8th
14. 09 Tony Hanbury
Owego, NY 17th
15. 59 Karl Hehr
Cheektowaga, NY 20th
16. 88 Billy
Putney E. Aurora, NY 11th
17. 24 Phil Slater Owego,
NY 12th
18. 81 Bill Mislin
Tonawanda, NY 26th
19. 25 Wes Swartout
Stroudsburg, PA 6th
20. 84 Larry
Jackson Oakville, Ont. 27th
21. 66 Bill Hebing
Ontario, NY 24th
22. 95m John Markovic Bethlehem, PA
29th
23. 45 Dave Wollaber
Ransomville, NY 18th
24. 3 Daren
Scherer Binghamton, NY 14th
25. 97 Alex
Hoag Bath, NY 4th
26. 69 Tommy Cloce
Potsdam, NY 16th
27. 2 Jimmy Blewett Howell,
NJ 22nd
28. 27 Bill
Chandler Waverly, NY 25th
29. 34 Rusty Smith Oxford,
NY 13th
Event Distance: 100 laps
Number of Cars Entered: 39
Sunoco Race Fuels Bonus: Matt Hirschman
Gater Racing News Driver Bonus Draw: Pete Brittain
Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award: Zeiner (23rd
to 4th)
Hoosier Tire Hard Luck Award: Hoag (4th to
25th)
Rookie of the Race: Bobby Holmes
Lap Leaders: Mike Leaty (1-100)
Heat Winners: Paules, Fidanza, Jan Leaty, Matt Hirschman, McGrath
R.o.C Provisional Starters: none
Buy In Option: Markovic, Brittain, Jackson
Next Event – Central
Region Race 2 – Mahoning Valley Speedway (6/10)