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Entering Tuesday night’s 35-lapper for the Tour-Type Modifieds in the World Series of Asphalt, it seemed as if Ryan Preece was under some sort of curse.

A stuck throttle on Saturday while practicing at Bronson Speedway shot Preece into the turn 1 wall and over the fencing. Then, on Monday night, Preece dominated the majority of the World Series opener only to retire from the race with seven laps remaining due to a broken part in the suspension.

No big deal for Preece.

A two-hour repair Tuesday morning took care of the problem. Preece took the checkered flag in the second World Series race for the Modifieds, taking the lead from Matt Hirschman on Lap 14. As any modified racer or fan knows, it’s no picnic when it comes to topping ‘Big Money Matt.’

“When you beat [Matt Hirschman] right there, in that #60 car, that’s saying something,” an excited Preece said in Victory Lane. “I knew I had a really good car. He was better than me at some places and I was better than him in a few places… Once I got in front, we were just kind of there, even, and then we were just able to inch away.”

Hirschman was somewhat less excited after the second-place finish, as the car and driver weren’t totally in sync despite being up front.

“We were ahead of him, and he was able to get by us,” Hirschman said. “Just need to be a little bit better with the car right now. It’s not to my liking… It was a winnable race. We were in the lead, but Ryan was just a litle bit better tonight.”

Preece’s triumph Tuesday was just the medicine he and the rest of the No. 6 team needed after the mechanical failure the night prior. But don’t chalk it up to a night of good luck. That’s far from what Preece wanted.

“I didn’t want any luck,” said Preece. “I wanted to make my way here [to Victory Lane] on my own.”

“I don’t think you could get much better than sitting right here,” Preece said, slapping the roof of his modified.

Now it’s on to Wednesday night, in which the Modifieds will hit the track for their longest race of the week so far, the John Blewett III Memorial 76.

  1. Ryan Preece
  2. Matt Hirschman
  3. Jimmy Blewett
  4. Patrick Emerling
  5. Timmy Solomito
  6. Eric Goodale
  7. Kyle Ebersole
  8. Mike Willis, Jr.
  9. Danny Bohn
  10. Jimmy Zacharias
  11. Craig Lutz
  12. Calvin Carroll
  13. Jeffrey Gallup
  14. Jeff Goodale
  15. Austin Pickens
  16. Amy Catalano
  17. Timmy Catalano
  18. Joe DeGracia
  19. John Gerstner
  20. Tom Tohn
  21. Nikki Carroll
  22. Chuck Hossfeld
  23. Jeremy Gerstner
  24. Ron Silk
  25. Jon McKennedy
  26. Kyle Trayner
  27. Matt Montineri
  28. Ronnie Williams

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Paul Lambert is an aspiring collegiate journalist. A writer and broadcaster, Paul's excited to cover New England short track racing in 2022. Paul has also been published in the Boston Herald, Speedway Illustrated and on Autoweek.com.

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