Matt Hirschman Wins RoC Modified Summer Sizzler 80 at Evans Mills

Matt Hirschman scored the victory Saturday in the Race of Champions Modified Series event at Evans Mills Raceway Park, the 59th of his career with the tour. Hirschman has now won at 13 different venues in RoC Modified Series competition.

Hirschman took the lead on lap 46 of the 80-lap feature, maintaining his advantage over Andy Jankowiak for the victory. Before that, there was a brief scare for Hirschman as he made contact with Zane Zeiner while attempting to avoid an incident.

"The early part of the race, I was just looking to click some laps off," said Hirschman. "Then, once we were getting to about that halfway point, I was starting to think about making a move and seeing what I could do. About the same time I did, something happened in front of me and I wasn't expecting it. I ended up climbing up the back of the 22 there and bent the front a little bit, smashed the nose a little bit."

Hirschman and Zeiner fortunately avoided significant damage in the collision, and Hirschman carried on to the win.

"Luckily, it wasn't any more than that. That could have easily taken us out of it. From that point there, we were in good position there around some front cars. I just had to use the restart to get Andy and pull away. Late, it seemed like he was coming back with traffic there. All in all, a good night."

Jankowiak finished second, enjoying back-to-back weeks at Evans Mills. One week ago, he prepared for this RoC event by competing with Evans Mills' weekly Modified division.

"We put a lot of work into this, coming last week and everything," said Jankowiak. "It's been a pleasure racing with Evans Mill the last two weeks. Made some new fans, and we hope you'll have us back next year. It's been a really good experience. Hopefully you'll be following along with us on the ROC Tour and the rest of our endeavors."

"Andy J" noticed he gained some pace in the closing laps, but believes the best car still won on Saturday night.

"You never know until you get racing. We were probably a little bit too tight and he got away. He started getting a little free and we were starting to inch back up there. The lapped cars trying to race for 24th, they got side-by-side and slowed up any chance we might have had. No doubt the best car won. We're getting a little bit better, though. We've been struggling with this thing, so it's nice to get a good finish."

Zane Zeiner added to his RoC Modified Series points lead with a third-place finish, in spite of the damage to his car following the contact with Hirschman. Zeiner even wondered if that, along with some big adjustments before the feature race, might have actually benefitted him.

"Top three, we'll take it," said Zeiner. "We struggled here today and made a big swing here tonight. It wasn't bad. Not enough for the front two, but better than we had all day. We'll take it.

"I really didn't feel anything. We were a little bit free anyways, it might have helped it a little bit when it stood that spoiler up in the back. Who knows? We had a decent car and were moving forward, so we're pleased with the effort."

The RoC Modified Series hits the track again in two weeks' time on July 27 at Holland International Speedway for the Thunder in the Hills 100.

-Photo credit: MoJo Photos/Race of Champions

RoC Modifieds Summer Sizzler 80 Unofficial Results