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 STAFFORD
SPRINGS, CT (April 24, 2005) -- The only bright spot in short track racing in
the Northeast came on Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway. Not because two
Hoosier Tire teams delivered great race victories in touring series action, but
because it seemed to be the only place that the sun shined in the area during
the weekend. Tony Hirschman of North Hampton, PA scored the victory in the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and Ben Seitz of Monument Beach, MA earned Spring
Sizzler victories at the Stafford Motor Speedway, while Waterford and Mahoning
Valley weekly action rained out. The event scheduled for the Southern New
England Modifieds also fell victim to the rain.
Tony Hirschman recovered from an early spin to claim the
victory in the TechNet Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST on Sunday
afternoon. The victory was the first Sizzler win for the long-time Hoosier tire
competitor. Zach Sylvester of Lebanon, CT continues to be the hottest thing on
the WMT this year backing up his runner-up finish at the opener at Thompson
with a second-place run in the Sizzler.
"We were really good on older tires," said
runner-up Sylvester of his Hoosiers. "The car was consistent every lap.
The speeds really did not fall off very much and the car remained comfortable
the whole race."
Todd Szegedy of Mooresville, NC returned to his roots serving
as a relief driver for the injured Eric Beers. The former series champion drove
the legendary "Ole Blue" to a third-place finish for the Boehler
Racing Enterprises team.
"We had great tire wear today," said Szegedy. "Wear
was not a problem for us at all."
Quote from Irish Saunders of Hoosier, "We are
off to a good start this year. The new design tires are racer friendly and have
helped to put on two great shows. After spinning early at lap 29, Tony (Hirschman)
pitted around lap 85 and went the rest of the way on his Hoosier tires." Saunders
added, "The race started with cars running 18.70 lap times and at lap
130, Teddy Christopher, who won the season-opener at Thompson, and Zach
Sylvester were still posting lap times in the 18.80's."
Tires: 27.0x13.0-15 640 D2720 (RR), 27.0x13.0-15 500
D2620 (RF), and 26.0x13.0-15 500 D2420 (Left Side). These were the same tires
run in the series opener at Thompson.
Ben Seitz, 2004 Northeastern Midget Association champion,
kicked off his title defense with a hard-earned victory in the Sizzler over
Joey Payne. The two battled it out for much of the race with Seitz claiming the
victory on his Hoosier tires.
For more information about the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
race, visit www.modseriesscene.com.
The Modified Tour returns to Stafford May 27th for the 3rd event on the series'
19-race schedule.
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