Matt Hirschman Wins Third Straight John Blewett, III Memorial

It may have taken longer than Matt Hirschman hoped, or many fans would have expected. Nonetheless, Hirschman returned to victory lane at New Smyrna Speedway Wednesday night.

Hirschman won the John Blewett, III Memorial 76 Wednesday at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, his third consecutive win in the tribute race.

Winning at New Smyrna has become standard fare for Hirschman. He is a four-time World Series Tour-type Modified champion, and now has 18 World Series race wins. However, he was winless after three nights of Modified racing at this year's event.

While many drivers would have loved to have two top-fives and three top-10s in that stretch, it was not the gold standard Hirschman has set in recent years.

"The toughest competition you'll ever face is when you beat yourself," said Hirschman in victory lane. "We did that for three nights so far. Results of 10th, fifth and fifth are just not up to our standards.

"We got back on track tonight. Everything, hopefully, from here forward goes a little smoother for us and we get on track like we should."

Hirschman took the lead with a three-wide pass against Ryan Lutz while negotiating lapped traffic on lap 57, and led the rest of the way for the victory.

The John Blewett, III Memorial is always a special race during the World Series. Hirschman was presented with an open-face helmet trophy designed in the style of Blewett, III's own racing helmets, offering more sentimental value to Hirschman.

"It's always good to get a win here on the Blewett Memorial tonight. They've got a neat little trophy, a helmet like John used to wear. I used to go to Flemington Speedway to watch him in his earlier days. That's the kind of helmet he'd wear, you could always see his face in the car. Very determined racer, I always enjoyed racing with him."

Hirschman now has at least one win in every World Series since 2017. His 18 World Series wins place him fourth on the all-time list in Modified competition, behind Ted Christopher (43), Richie Evans (38) and Reggie Ruggiero (28).

With two more chances over the next two nights, including Friday's Richie Evans Memorial 100, Hirschman hopes to add to that total before week's end.

"We'll see if we can get any more this week. We got off to a slow start, but hopefully we can finish strong."

Gio Ruggiero and Brent Crews' points battle in the Super Late Model division at the World Series will continue into Thursday night, as Ruggiero finished first and Crews second in Wednesday's Super Late Model feature. With a poor weather forecast for Saturday, New Smyrna officials have moved the Orange Blossom 100 to Thursday, meaning tomorrow's 100-lap race will decide the title.

In the Pro Late Model division, Jimmy Renfrew returned to victory lane for his second victory of the World Series. The opening night winner took the lead from Katie Hettinger on lap 16 and held off Hunter Wright on a series of late restarts to pick up the victory.

Jack Baldwin, son of Tommy Baldwin, Jr., won Wednesday's 602 Modified feature, the Grandpa Blewett Memorial 66. Baldwin held a 2.4 second lead over Josh Carey when the caution flew on lap 60 and the race ended six laps shy of its scheduled finish due to reaching the one hour time limit.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy/Racing America

TOUR-TYPE MODIFIED JOHN BLEWETT, III MEMORIAL 76

SUPER LATE MODELS

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