29SEP

Despite a constant threat of rain that eventually temporarily delayed the Race of Champions 250, “Big Money” Matt Hirschman wouldn’t let it rain on his parade, scoring his seventh Race of Champions 250 win at Lake Erie Speedway Saturday.

Hirschman set the pace from the start, managing his tires while leading the field from the drop of the green flag. His red 60 modified would go on to lead through the fuel stop, before finally pitting for tires during a caution on lap 157. George Skora III would inherit the lead during the pit cycle, taking the lead just in time for a quick lake effect rain shower to douse the Erie, PA facility on lap 171. Despite Skora III’s prayers for the event to end, a valiant effort by track officials was able to dry the track through spitting precipitation and fog that had rolled in off the track’s namesake lake.

Skora led briefly following the rain delay, but Hirschman had no problem cutting through the field with fresh tires. Hirschman fell to tenth on the pit cycle, but returned to the lead just 15 laps later. Despite late charges by Skora III and Eric Beers, Hirschman never looked back, leading the last 60 laps to score his fifth straight Race of Champions 250 win, adding to his wins at Oswego and Chemung.

Hirschman was fully aware of his accomplishment in victory lane.

“It’s incredible, taking a moment just to think about it,” said Hirschman. “There are races that are run every year and I know there are some that I’ve gone back-to-back, sometimes three in a row. Never a race to win five straight years in a row, at different tracks. Records are made to be broken, but that one’s going to be a tough one to beat. There are so many things that have to align, regardless if you have a car that’s fast enough to win, a pit crew that’s fast enough to get you out of the pits, so many stars need to align to win a race like this.”

Hirschman was grateful of the effort put in by the track crew to get the track ready for racing after the rain moved through on lap 171.

“When we went back green the track was as good if not better than it was earlier in the race. The outside was actually cleaner from the marbles and things when we went back green. It was the right thing to do to wait it out and get the race in. Had another shot of rain come through, it probably would have been over. I would have shaken the 65’s (Skora III) hand, can’t control the weather. If he had been the winner because of that, hey, go down in history, can’t take that away from him. I would have been deflated; I knew we had a car certainly better than where we were.”

Hirschman was not the only winner following the Race of Champions 250, as the Race of Champions Modified Series handed their 2019 championship trophy to Patrick Emerling for the second time. Emerling missed the first race of the season due to schedule conflicts, but managed to string together a series of consistently good finishes throughout the remaining campaign. Andy Jankowiak entered the race with the championship lead, but fell out early with mechanical issues, handing the championship to Emerling.

Emerling was excited to have prevailed in the championship but was cognizant of the effort made to come from behind and win the championship. “There’s awesome competition in this series. Skipping the first race, we were 100 points down right off the bat, was going to be really tough for us to come back. We just had really solid runs week in and week out, we’d show up to the track and be in contention to win. I think pretty much every race was a podium finish for us. I think my team, we earned it. It just comes to show what we can do. We’re going to continue to get better here.”

The Race of Champions Modified Series will now look to the 2020 tour after a successful 2019 season. Highlights from the weekend, plus interviews with Race of Champions 250 competitors, will be available exclusively to 51 Network subscribers this week.

-Story by: Patrick Hahe – Speed51.com Great Lakes Editor

-Photo credit: Speed51.com photo

Race of Champions 250 Results

1 – Matt Hirschman
2 – Eric Beers
3 – George Skora III
4 – Scott Wylie
5 – Austin Beers
6 – Chuck Hossfeld
7 – Patrick Emerling
8 – Daren Scherer
9 – Mike Leaty
10 – Randall Richard
11 – Kyle Ebersole
12 – Daryl Lewis Jr.
13 – Chris Risdale
14 – Chris Finnachario
15 – Dan Majchrzak
16 – Jack Ely
17 – Andy Jankowiak
18 – Jimmy Zacharias
19 – David Kozlowski
20 – Jeff Szafreniec
21 – Kevin Timmerman
22 – Kevin Miller
23 – Jake Wylie
24 – Mike Ramos
25 – Ricky Knapp

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