Preece Keeps Up His Winning Ways

Posted by Wayne G. Barber Photos by Wayne G. Barber

OSWEGO, N.Y. -- A spectacular summer for Ryan Preece continued Saturday night at Oswego Speedway in the Toyota Mod Classic 150 presented by McDonald’s.
The Berlin, Connecticut, native took his fifth checkered flag of the season. Preece took the lead from Matt Hirschman on Lap 114 and never looked back.
“We came in and made a little bit of an adjustment because I felt he [Hirschman] was better in the first half,” said Preece of the halftime stop. "We were good. Just kind of tried to make him go hard the whole time.”
The victory was the 20th of Preece’s Whelen Modified Tour career and the first at Oswego. Preece ran up front all race long. After qualifying fourth, Preece quickly made his way up to second. On Lap 114, Preece dove underneath Hirschman in turn three. After taking the lead, Preece pulled away, with no one able to challenge the 25-year-old.
Preece took the checkers 2.849 seconds ahead of Hirschman. Earlier in the day, Hirschman won his second straight Coors Light Pole Award and went to lead a race-high 117 laps.
Preece also extended his point lead to nine over Doug Coby. Rowan Pennink is third, 16 points behind Preece and one ahead of Timmy Solomito.
Justin Bonsignore was sixth at Oswego and is six points behind Solomito. Craig Lutz, Max Zachem, Dave Sapienza and Pennink rounded out the top 10 at Oswego.
The Toyota Mod Classic 150 will air on NBCSN Thursday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the track Saturday, Sept. 16, at Riverhead Raceway in New York.

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	4	6	Ryan Preece	TS Hauler Chevrolet	150	47	4	Running
2	1	60	Matt Hirschman	Pee Dee Motorsports Chevrolet	150	44	2	Running
3	3	16	Timmy Solomito	Starrett Racing Ford	150	41		Running
4	5	2	Doug Coby	Mayhew Tools/Dunleavy/AJ Romano Chevrolet	150	40		Running
5	12	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing Chevrolet	150	39		Running
6	7	51	Justin Bonsignore	Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet	150	38		Running
7	8	46	Craig Lutz	Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet	150	37		Running
8	15	20	Max Zachem	Anytime Realty/Robert B Our Chevrolet	150	36		Running
9	9	36	Dave Sapienza	Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet	150	35		Running
10	6	3	Rowan Pennink	Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet	150	34		Running
11	10	64	Rob Summers	Hoosier Tire East/Fast Track Elect/Hughes Motors	150	33		Running
12	13	89	Matt Swanson	Starrett Tools Ford	150	32		Running
13	16	21	Ronnie Williams *	Gershow Recycling Chevrolet	149	31		Running
14	14	77	Gary Putnam	Curb Records Chevrolet	148	30		Running
15	18	39	Calvin Carroll *	Power with Prestige/Cruising w/Betty Chevrolet	146	29		Running
16	20	33	Wade Cole	Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil Ford	141	28		Running
17	17	82	Ted Christopher	Horton Avenue Materials Chevrolet	107	27		Accident
18	2	07	Patrick Emerling	Buffalo Auto Auction Chevrolet	86	26		Handling
19	21	78	Walter Sutcliffe Jr. *	Last Minute Racing Chevrolet	57	25		Clutch
20	11	5	Kyle Ebersole	Ebersole Excavating Chevrolet	38	24		Electrical
21	19	01	Melissa Fifield	Eastern Propane & Oil Chevrolet	33	23		Engine

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Matt Hirschman, Time: 17.64 Seconds, Speed: 127.551 mph
Time of Race: 0 hrs., 58 mins, 38 secs Average Speed: 95.935 mph Margin of Victory: 2.849 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 39-42; 77-80 (Competition caution, FP #36); 109-114.  3 for 14 laps.
Lap Leaders: Matt Hirschman 1-117, Ryan Preece 118-150.
Total Laps Led: Matt Hirschman 117, Ryan Preece 33.  1 changes involving 2 drivers.
Top 10 Driver Points: Ryan Preece 460, Doug Coby 451, Rowan Pennink 444, Timmy Solomito 443, Justin Bonsignore 437, Eric Goodale 418, Dave Sapienza 387, Matt Swanson 380, Max Zachem 373, Rob Summers 360
Next Race:Riverhead