LADY LUCK SHINES DOWN ON PAULES TO WIN WILD WYOMING COUNTY RoC FEATURE
BY JR KENNERUP ( RoC MEDIA )
Perry, NY ..  What a difference a week makes in the life of a race car driver on the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Tour. One week ago Earl Paules couldn’t get anything to go his way but on Sunday afternoon at the Wyoming County International Raceway everything went his way at the right time.
Paules was leading the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Tour North Region feature with five laps to go in the 75 lap contest but was passed by defending race winner Matt Hirschman. However before a lap was officially scored the ninth yellow of the race came out and this break allowed Paules to regain the lead.
The final four laps saw Paules move his racing groove up the track just a bit to keep Hirschman at bay. Hirschman made one last try for the win but slipped out of the groove coming out of turn four with the checker flag waving. Paules won his first RoC feature of the year by a slim margin over Jan Leaty who ducked under Hirschman on the final lap. Rusty Smith who started 20th made a late race charge after pitting for a new tire on lap 35 to end up fourth with Zane Zeiner after being involved in a lap 43 incident coming back through the field to wind up fifth.
" It was survival as the track was really coming apart fast " said the winner from Kunkletown, Pa. " A lot of pieces flying but we were just trying to save that right rear tire, we weren’t going to pit. "
Earl started the race in third and dropped back to fourth before moving back into third on lap seven. When leader Larry Jackson got loose coming out of turn two on lap nine Earl moved into second behind leader Daren Scherer. Earl stayed behind Scherer for the better part of 40 laps before moving to the outside.
" I stayed in behind him ( Scherer ) as I was just trying to save that right rear " said the $2,800 feature winner. " If nobody was pressuring me I was going to press him, and I didn’t. When Leaty ( Jan ) stuck his nose under me ( lap 50 ) , I said it’s time to go, we can’t play around any longer. We went to the outside, made it work, and we won. "
Earl spoke about the lady luck shining down on him with five laps to go in the race. " That’s a lot of racing luck. Last week it didn’t work our way, this week it worked our way as it goes back and forth. "
" Yes I did " answered Earl when asked if he changed his line for the last four laps of the feature. " I didn’t know he ( Hirschman ) was that good, I didn’t know that he took a right rear on. So I just stayed around the bottom, obviously there was no top. "
Being father’s day it was a special win for Earl. " My dad is here today and it worked out real good. " 
" It was a rough race " said Jan Leaty who finished second after starting fifth. " It’s too bad the way things came apart there, what are you going to do? Jimmy ( track promoter Majchrzak ) and the guys made a big effort the past couple of weeks to make the track better and they did. Where they did the patching the track was good but unfortunately there are a couple of more places that need fixing. "
Jan spoke about his race. " Had a good event, the car ran good all day. We never really got the opportunity to lead unfortunately but I think we were good enough to win it. But the race became a track position race. "
" I wanted to ride it out the first half of the race " said Jan when talking about his game plan for the feature. " I wanted to be really careful with the tires because I didn’t want to pit to change tires and that worked out good for me because at the end I still had a little something left. "
For the second year in a row Matt Hirschman thrilled the Wyoming County crowd with some late race passing on the outside. Unlike last year when he won, the race today he settled for a very disappointing third.
" We took the lead and it was ours but the caution came out before we completed a lap " said the eighth place starting driver. " After that he ( Paules ) changed his driving style a little bit and I just didn’t have it, to finish it off. "
Matt pitted on lap 35 and worked his way up through the field to become a factor in the race on lap 62 when he moved into fourth. One lap later he was third and into second on lap 69 and just after lap 70 was in the books made a bold inside turn four move to take the lead only to lose it when the yellow came out. On the final lap Matt made one last attempt for the win but slipped out of the groove in turn four.
Matt spoke about that last lap. " He ( Paules ) moved me up the track. The track wasn’t great because of all pieces of debris coming out of it. It wasn’t great but I would still have made it work to win, he moved me up too wide at the end. The difference between second and third means nothing as it’s all about the win in that situation. Racing is fun and I had fun out there today but the end result wasn’t what I thought I deserved. "
Qualifying for the 28 Modifieds in attendance saw heat race wins go to Todd Smith, Lee Sherwood, Pete Brittain, and Jan Leaty, while Tony Hanbury won the B Main.
BULL RING NOTES; Two weeks before this show a major track patching project was successfully completed. But on this 95 degree day where track temperatures ran well over 150 degrees other parts of the aging track surface broke up. This caused numerous cautions as track crews tried to remedy the problem. Terry Zacharias was slated to run the former Bobby Osgood machine that is in his stable but just before racing started the ride was turned over to Daryl Lewis, Jr. Kevin Lewis was running the backup Rick Kluth entry on this day. During long stretches of green flag racing Rusty Smith had the fastest car and with the final four laps under green Rusty didn’t have enough time to get going. Zane Zeiner rran the car he won the SST RoC race at Oswego in 2004. Phil Slater and Chuck Frisbee who both are competing for Rookie of the Year on the RoC trail both qualified for their first feature of the year. Surprise entrant Kory Rabenold got faster as the day wore on and finished a solid eighth.   RoC would like to congratulate Tommy and Shy Fuchs on the birth of their first child, a daughter this past Tuesday. Tommy and Shy along with their mom Deb and brother Dan are RoC officials.
RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR NORTH REGION RACE #2
Finish; Earl Paules, Jan Leaty, Matt Hirschman, Rusty Smith, Zane Zeiner, Billy Putney, Mike Leaty, Kory Rabenold, TJ Potrzebowski, Larry Jackson, Daren Scherer, Lee Sherwood, Ben Reynolds, Phil Slater, Chuck Frisbee, Tony Hanbury, Alex Hoag, Dave Wollaber, Bill Mislin, Rick Kluth, Mark Tychoniewicz, John Markovic, Brian DeFebo, Pete Brittain, Bobby Holmes, Todd Smith.
DNQ’S; Daryl Lewis, Jr. and Kevin Lewis
LAP LEADERS; Scherer ( 1, 9 - 54 ) , Jackson ( 2 - 8 ) , Paules ( 55 - 75 )
SUNOCO RACE FUELS AWARD; Hoag
GATER RACING NEWS $500 DRIVER BONUS DRAW; Tychoniewicz
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; R. Smith ( 20th to 4th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD ; Britain ( 4th to 24th )
NEXT RoC RACE; Saturday July 1st - Lancaster Motorsports Park - North Region Race #3