After winning last night’s John Blewett III Memorial 76, Matt Hirschman said he was a fan of longer races.
After winning the 35-lap Tour Modified event at the World Series of Asphalt Thursday night, “Big Money” Matt might be a fan of the short ones, too.
Hirschman made a daring, three-wide pass for the lead on the race’s final restart with less than ten laps to go. It was a pleasant surprise for Hirschman, who is now sitting on back-to-back Tour Modified victories this World Series.
“I really didn’t think tonight was gonna be our night after our poor qualifying effort,” Hirschman said in Victory Lane. “Definitely gotta do better there… Just was in the right opportunity. I don’t know if we had the fastest car, but just made one good move and that was the move we needed.”
Timmy Solomito led much of the race, taking the lead from Doug Coby on the ninth lap of the sprint. Once Tommy Catalano began pressuring Solomito, however, the grip Solomito’s car once had appeared to fall off.
On the final restart, Solomito and Catalano, both of whom had battled hard for the lead on the prior restart, went high up the track in turn two, leaving the bottom wide open for Hirschman to take advantage. Solomito was forced to settle for second, while Catalano ended up finishing fourth.
“We just overworked the right front tonight,” said Solomito. “We’ve been loose the last couple nights and we tightened the car up finally, and just overworked the right front. I let [Catalano] have the bottom there on that one restart, he used me up for three laps, and I couldn’t let him have the bottom again… I like to win, so it is what it is.”
Tour Modified points leader Chuck Hossfeld finished third, putting him in prime position to wrap up the title Friday night. Hossfeld has yet to win this week, but he has finished no worse than fifth throughout this year’s World Series.
“It’s been fun here,” said Hossfeld of this week. “We race, then we eat, then we drink and then I try and get an adult hug in and repeat. We do it again tomorrow and every day, same thing. That was like qualifying for 35 laps. These guys are tough… Really proud of the team.”
The Tour Modifieds take to the track tomorrow night for their World Series of Asphalt finale, the Richie Evans Memorial 100.
The full results can be found below:
- Matt Hirschman
- Timmy Solomito
- Chuck Hossfeld
- Bobby Measmer Jr.
- Tommy Catalano
- Andy Jankowiak
- Patrick Emerling
- Calvin Carroll
- Dylan Steuer
- Amy Catalano
- Jeremy Gerstner
- Tyler Ripkema
- Nikki Carroll
- Anthony Nocella
- Doug Coby
- Jimmy Blewett
- Chris Ridsdale
- Mike Leaty
- Al Emmarino
- Mike Bologna
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