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Matt Hirschman Wins U.S. Open |
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Lancaster, New York – The Western New York racing finale, Dunn Tire Raceway Park’s US Open, attracted the best of the best competition in the north east United States to the historic facility this past weekend. Matt Hirschman won an exciting Modified feature event and also captured the overall Race of Champions Modified Tour Points Championship.
The headline event of the weekend was the final scheduled event – the Race of Champions Modified 100 lap feature. Tom McGrath redrew the pole position and was joined on the outside row by Earl Paules. Jim Storace, Rusty Smith, Sege Fidanza, and Jan Leaty followed the front row to the green flag. McGrath’s lead was short lived as Paules dove under him and took the lead on lap one.
A quick yellow flag on lap six produced a double file restart and Paules once again took the lead. The field quickly settled in single file as the top six cars of Paules, Fidanza, McGrath, J. Leaty, Matt Hirschman, and Smith ran nose to tail.
On lap 12 Fidanza made the move for the lead, going under Paules in turn three and coming out as the race leader. A yellow flag on lap 20 saw the first round of pit stops for the optional right rear tire. Most of the leaders stayed out and when the race went green again Fidanza led Paules, McGrath, and J. Leaty.
By lap 25 Hirschman had moved up to second while J. Leaty ran third. Hirschman began looking high and low on Fidanza, looking for any way around the leader. Hirschman’s opportunity came on lap 27 as he powered under Fidanza coming out of turn four and took the lead. The field once again settled in single file until the yellow flag appeared once again on lap 38.
The pits were a busy place as J. Leaty, and a number of other top ten cars pitted. The top four of Hirschman, Fidanza, McGrath, and Smith stayed out and at halfway ran in positions one through four. Just at the halfway point the yellow caution flag was displayed and the pits were re-opened. Hirschman, Fidanza, Smith, and Mike Leaty – who had been running fifth – all ducked into the pits.
The single file restart now had McGrath leading the pack while TJ Potrzebowski, Jim Storace, and Erick Rudolph followed. McGrath held his lead but the cars with fresher tires were on the move up through the field. By lap 70 Hirschman was back up to fifth. A late race yellow on lap 74 saw McGrath give up the lead and head pitside, handing the lead over to Potrzebowski. On lap 77 J. Leaty took advantage of his fresher tires and passed Potrzebowski for the lead. Hirschman followed and the battle for the lead soon began. Hirschman was all over J. Leaty and on lap 94 was able to capitalize on lap traffic, taking the lead away from Leaty. After clearing Leaty and lap traffic, Hirschman took off and built a considerable lead as the race wound down.
Hirschman crossed the finish line first and was followed by Jan Leaty and TJ Potrzebowski. The race marked the first time that a father son duo has won the Modified US Open event, with Matt’s father Tony winning one of the very first US Open Modified events. The Modified race was also significant in that it was the last race for veteran driver Sege Fidanza. Fidanza has decided to retire after an illustrious career that includes ten Lancaster Modified Championships. The one two finish between Hirschman and Leaty was equivalent to a championship match race. The winning pass by Hirschman was enough to beat Leaty in the Championship point race by only two markers.
Modified Feature Finish (9/20/09): Matt Hirschman, Jan Leaty, TJ Potrzebowski, Erick Rudolph, Sege Fidanza, Rusty Smith, Tom McGrath, Karl Hehr, Jeff Hamman, Dave Wollaber, Bob Reis, Eric Beers, Mike Leaty, Billy Putney, Mark Tychoniewicz, Jim Storace, Billy Burd, Rick Kluth, Earl Paules, Daryl Lewis Jr., Doug Reaume, Jimmy Zacharias, Tom Wiest, Daren Scherer, Terry Zacharias
Heat Winners: Hirschman, Smith, Putney
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