Open Wheel Wednesday at Seekonk Speedway 6-28-17

Posted by Wayne G. Barber AP & Photos by Wayne G. Barber

 The Open Wheel Modified $10,000 13th annual event combined with the NEMA and NEMA Lite's at Seekonk Speedway for a low price of $25 is the best bargain in New England and the near sellout crowd proves that Seekonk should add a Modified Division soon.
  33 Race teams made the mid week trip for a chance at one of the largest prizes for this type of race car. 4 heat races plus a 12 car consi race to determine the 26 car feature field. Notables missing tonight were Steve Masse, Bellingham, Mass., Ted Christopher, Conn. Keith Rocco, Berlin Conn. Timmy Solomito, Long Island and Rob Summers who said his car was just not right today to run and loaded up.
 A total of 33 teams who regularly compete on the Modified Tour, Race of Champions, Valenti Modified Racing Series and a handful of independent runners, vied for one of the 26 starting spots.  Qualifying heat race wins went to Tommy Barrett #9, Anthony Nocella #92, Eric Berndt #16, and  Matt ( Big Money) Hirschman #60 a two time winner.The b-main was won by Richard Savary #99 .
 Those that failed to qualify included Kyle James, Carl Medeiros Jr., Calvin Carroll, Andy Jankowiak, TJ Bleau, Rob Summers and Karey Stular. The biggest heartbreak had to be for Karey Stular #15 a Canadian driver, who towed in after several days of travel from Edmonton Alberta, Canada to compete.
Coby posted a photo of the Canadian race team on Facebook earlier and lit up the site with hits.

Intense Jeff Rocco.

 Jeff Rocco did appear in a yellow #13x and got in the race via the consi. Chase Dowling ran this car in a previous Open Wednesday event. Rocco last week was on Long Island in the #85 in the Whelen Race. It shows his versatility like Bobby Santos, Doug Coby and Jon McKennedy of driving in any division with success. Rocco's night ended on lap 20 and left the tack on captain hook.
 Justin Bonsignore #51 Holtsville, NY and Jon Kievman #48 Deerfield Beach, Fla. led the field to the green flag after the draw for starting positions. Touching their rear nerf bars were Eric Berndt #16 Cromwell, Conn.in a stout Ceravolo Racing stable car and Matt Hirschman #60 North Hampden, PA. who should have stopped at Foxwoods on the way home with the luck he fell into on the day. Pole position for his heat race and a top 4 starting position for the feature for a wheelman that calls no track home and travels about to the largest payouts which he has mastered the past 10 years.
 Lap two had the pre-race favorite Doug Coby#2 Milford, Conn.into the cement wall and into the pits along with Mike Douglas #23 Auburn, NH who both were retired for the night.

 On lap three Hirschman passed Bonsignore and the point would be his for the rest of the cautions, restarts and the victory, his third to tie Doug Coby for the annual event's bragging rights. Only 13 race teams finished on the lead lap. The fans really enjoyed the race behind between McKennedy and Pennink and the first ten laps with Silk. I kept watching the darth vader #9 of Tommy Barrette Jr. who spanked the field a couple of weeks ago in the MTS race who stayed just in striking distance with a tire management type of strategy and maybe saving for the last 15 laps.  Ryan Preece #6 started back in the field and watched lap after lap of the two heavyweights McKennedy and Pennink duking it out without taking each other out which I always term a "Race within a Race".
 In the battle for 3-4-5th it put Hirschman on cruise control for a cold drink and ham and cheese sandwich and I think he had more horsepower if it was needed for any

Richard Savory always runs good at the Konk !

Blood Pressure is about to rise !

Very nice to see Tommy back at what he loves to do !

Three time winner Matt ( Moneyman) Hirschman joins Doug Coby as three time winners.

3 big wins in 2017 for this very talented driver.

other contender at the end of the race. Anthony Nocella #92 has been a very hot driver in 2017 and had a great car tonight and if had not spun out early on the night and just might have had enough left to seal the deal.

Race one of the three race Tri Track Series.

Next up for the Tri-Track Open Modified Series is the Summer Bash at Star Speedway in Epping, NH, on Saturday July 29.

Un-Official Finish: 1. Matt Hirschman, Northampton, PA (100); 2. Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA (100); 3. Rowan Pennink, Huntington Valley, PA (100); 4. Anthony Nocella, Woburn, MA (100); 5. Tommy Barrett Jr., Millis, MA (100); 6. Les Hinckley, Windsor Locks, CT (100); 7. Ryan Preece, Berlin, CT (100); 8. Todd Annarummo, Swansea, MA (100); 9. Woody Pitkat, Stafford, CT (100); 10. Blake Barney, Lakewood, NJ (100); 11. Ron Silk, Norwalk, CT (100); 12. Eric Berndt, Cromwell, CT (100); 13. Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, NY (100); 14. Earl Paules, Palmerton, PA (99); 15. Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, NY (99); 16. Bobby Santos, Franklin, MA (99); 17. Dennis Perry, Ashaway, RI (81); 18. Kurt Vigeant, Oxford, MA (41); 19. Dwight Jarvis, Ascutney, VT (28); 20. Eric Goodale, Calverton, NY (20); 21. Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT (20); 22. Jeff Rocco, Wallingford, CT (20); 23. Richard Savary, Canton, MA (20); 24. Jon Kievman Deerfield Beach, FL (8); 25. Doug Coby, Milford, CT (2); 26. Michael Douglas Jr., Auburn, NH (2).