Hirschman Wins the
12th Annual King of the Mountain
St. Johns, Pa- In conjunction with Day
two of the 12th annual “King of the Mountain” (KoTM) event at
Mountain Speedway, a slew of race cars and fans headed to the
track on Sunday to not only see who will claim the $5,000
Modified prize, but also to see who the 2011 track champions
would be in the final points event of the season. When it was
all said and done, Matt Hirschman of Northampton, PA rebounded
from a spin earlier to claim the big money and his first KoTM
victory since 2001. Nicknamed “The Rocket”, Ricky Ross, Jr. of
Mountaintop, PA started eleventh and then rocketed to the $1,000
Street Stock victory and Pete Verwys of Stroudsburg, PA stormed
to his fourth straight FWD feature win.
With 34 Modifieds in the pit area,
qualifying was important to the drivers, as the top 15 fastest
time trailers were assured a spot in the big 150-lap show. Matt
Hirschman timed fastest with what is believed to be a new track
record at a time of 13.188 seconds. The top ten drivers redrew
for starting spots, which put Chuck Hossfeld on the pole
position.
Hossfeld led the 29-car starting field
to the drop of the green flag and led the opening circuit over
Todd Baer, Earl Paules, Roger Coss and Justin Gumley. However,
only one lap later, Baer took the top spot and Paules followed
through to take second.
Content to run to the finish, Paules
didn’t put much pressure on the leader early on, but he did take
the lead on a lap 22 restart following the first yellow flag.
Hossfeld also got by Baer on the restart and grabbed second.
With Paules still in command, the red
flag waved on lap 30 when Travis Fisher and Brad Van Houten
tangled in turn four following a restart. Several drivers pitted
under the lap 30 caution periods, including Rusty Smith, Matt
Higgins, Eddie Brunnhoelzl III and Kyle Ebersole.
Green flag racing resumed and with 40
laps complete, Paules led over Hossfeld, Matt Hirschman, Zane
Zeiner and Nick Pecko. However, the yellow flag waved six laps
later when the leaders were racing in lapped traffic. A lapped
car slid up the track and slowed up Hirschman, which caused many
of the other front-runners to instantly check up, including
Zeiner, John Fortin and Brian DeFebo. Hirschman was the only one
of the three that was able to continue.
With the green back out and Paules in
command, the yellow struck once again, this time on lap 66 when
Tommy Wanick III got into Hirschman and took him around in turn
four. Despite the spin, Hirschman didn’t pit for tires.
Paules continued out front following the
restart, but a quick yellow slowed the action once again on lap
72. With a great restart, Hossfeld took the race lead. Paules
dropped to second and was hounded by Pecko, followed by Ebersole
and Gumley.
It appeared that Hossfeld had the car to
beat, but that all changed following a lap 91 yellow, which
involved a spin by John Markovic. Several of the front-runners
pitted for tires, including Hossfeld, Paules, Pecko and Gumley.
Hossfeld got back on track first, but only to find his right
rear wheel chasing him down the backstretch. Hossfeld did head
back to the pits and retuned to the speedway.
The pit stops moved Barry Callavini to
the point for the restart and he led a lap before Bobby Jones on
lap 92 overtook him. Jones then led two circuits before Paules
overtook him. With 50 laps remaining, Paules was out front, with
Pecko, Hirschman and Darren Scherer in tow. During the same lap
and while racing three-wide for the fifth spot, Coss, Gumley and
Callavini took things three-wide. The end result was a very tore
up racecar for Coss, who found himself in the turn four fence.
Green flag racing resumed and it became
apparent that Hirschman was on a mission. He overtook the strong
running Pecko for second on lap 112 and then slipped underneath
Paules for the race lead in turns three and four 16 laps later.
Despite three yellow flags after taking
the lead, Hirschman remained out front and could not be denied
his second career KoTM victory. Paules was forced to settle for
second, followed by Jones, who won raced his way in through the
consi and also clinched the Modified title two weeks prior.
Pecko and Gumley completed the top five.
Hirschman reminisced in victory lane
about what he called his best career victory, his KoTM victory
in 2001.
“This win is huge and that first King of
the Mountain victory in John Markovic’s back up car in 2001 is
what first got me noticed and helped me land a lot of good rides
since then”, noted Hirschman.
Jeff McGrath led twenty other hungry
Street Stock drivers to the drop of the green flag in the 50-lap
feature before the yellow flag waved when Daryn Miller slowed on
the initial green. Dale Santee got clipped and headed head on
into the front stretch guiderail and somehow hit the pits and
was able to continue.
Green flag racing resumed and Chris
Burge took the top spot. McGrath slipped to second, with Robert
Fink, Alan Schlenker and Miller in tow.
The race was slowed on lap seven when
Chip Wanamaker got into Rich DiMarco in turn two. Wanamaker, who
was vying for the divisional championship with Steve Shultz, was
forced to restart from the rear of the field with DiMarco for
the restart. Prior to the caution, Brian Wozniak climbed to
second.
With the green back out and with what
appeared to be the car to beat at the time, Wozniak got around
the leader using an outside maneuver on lap nine. However, that
went by the wayside when Burge made contact with the leader and
they both spun in turn two on lap 10. Just behind in turn one,
DiMarco tangled with Wanamaker, who sustained heavy damage,
which dashed his championship hopes.
When it was all sorted out, McGrath was
shown as the leader, followed by TJ Gursky, Mike Garris, Sr,
Ricky Ross, Jr. and Steve Shultz.
Under green once again, McGrath held off
his competition and began to pull away as they battle behind
him. Craig Lutz, who had moved into third a few laps earlier,
lost the spot to Ross. Ross then moved by Gursky for second and
Shultz followed to third.
The yellow waved when Justin Mooney and
Garris tangled on lap 32. With the green flag back out, Ross
took the lead on the following circuit before Mooney and Garris
tangled once again, this time in turns one and two, bringing out
the red flag. Both drivers appeared to be okay following the
hard crash.
Green flag racing resumed and Ross went
on to claim not only his first feature win of the season, but
also his first KoTM Street Stock victory. Lutz, who got by
McGrath for second with 16 laps remaining, settled for second,
followed by McGrath, Shultz and Wozniak. With his fourth place
effort, Shultz was declared the division champion.
Heat race wins went to Brian Wozniak,
Daryn Miller and Jeff McGrath. Justin Mooney was the consi
victor.
Jay Skupski led his fellow FWD drivers
to the drop of the green flag in the 40-lap feature and led the
opening circuit over Dylan Hoffman, Robert Fink, Trevor Ahouse
and Justin Hughes before the yellow flew when Keith Frankenfield
and Harry Sager tangled in turn one.
With the green flag back out and with
Skupski still in command, Pete Verwys got by Ahouse and Eric
Banashefski for the fourth spot on lap six. Two laps later he
ran third behind Skupski and Hoffman.
Lap 12 got exciting, as Verwys made a
three-wide pass for the lead stick and he took command of the
race. Cody Roth came up and into the second spot, followed by
Dave Freundt, Hughes and Banashefski, who was looking for a
solid run to claim the divisional championship.
Freundt got by Roth for second and set
his sights on the leader, but Verwys held him off over the
closing laps to claim not only the KoTM victory, but also his
fourth straight and fifth overall win of the season. Roth
finished in the third spot, followed by Hughes and Banashefski,
who claimed his first divisional championship.
Heat race victories went to Cody Roth,
Dave Freundt and Pete Verwys.
Modified (150-laps) 1. MATT HIRSCHMAN 2.
Earl Paules 3. Bobby Jones 4. Nick Pecko 5. Justin Gumley 6.
Todd Baer 7. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 8. Allen Creveling 9.
Barry Callavini 10. Andy Walko 11. Chuck Hossfeld 12. John
Markovic 13. Daren Scherer 14. Rob McCormick 15. Jason
Hearne 16. Roger Coss 17.Kyle Ebersole 18. Travis Fisher 19.
Tommy Wanick III 20. Jim Storace 21. Matt Higgins 22.Zane Zeiner
23. John Fortin 24. Brian DeFebo 25. Brandon Oltra 26.
Rusty Smith 27. Brad Van Houten 28. Ken Vogel, Jr. DNS:
Shaun Carrig DNQ: Brian Sones, Terry Markovic, Dean Gulick,
Randy Richard, Joe Mooney
Street Stock (50-laps) 1. RICKY ROSS, JR
2. Craig Lutz 3. Jeff McGrath 4. Steve Shultz 5. Brian
Wozniak 6. TJ Gursky 7. Ray Minieri 8. Justin Mooney 9.
Dale Santee 10. Gene Bowers 11. Alan Schlenker 12. Brian Labar
13. Greg Long 14. Derek Stachecki 15. Chris Burge 16. Sam
Grow 17.Tony Hilliard 18. Bernie Uphold 19. Mike Garris Sr 20.
Chip Wanamaker 21. Robert Fink 22.Rich DiMarco 23. Daryn
Miller DNQ: Mike Nichols, Todd Ahner, Sam Danaher, Keith
Frankenfield, BJ Wambold, Frank Katona, Bill Verwys, Jr, Bobby
Hunsicker, Jr, Cody Roth
FWD (40-laps) 1. PETE VERWYS Jr 2. Dave
Freundt 3. Cody Roth 4. Justin Hughes 5. Eric Banashefski 6. Jay
Skupski 7. Dylan Hoffman 8. Doug Johnson 9. Keith Frankenfield
10. Brandon Oltra 11. John Smith 12. Larry Spencer III 13. Alex
Doyle 14. Trevor Ahouse 15. Taya Wentz 16. Harry Sager 17.Harry
O'Neill 18. Robert Fink DNS: Frank Hughes
Source:
Geno Ostrowski/Mountain Speedway PR
Posted: October 9, 2011
