{"id":17,"date":"2006-11-28T13:19:29","date_gmt":"2006-11-28T13:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/wp\/?p=17"},"modified":"2006-11-28T13:19:29","modified_gmt":"2006-11-28T13:19:29","slug":"matt-hirschman-continues-hot-streak-with-mason-dixon-meltdown-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2006\/11\/matt-hirschman-continues-hot-streak-with-mason-dixon-meltdown-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Hirschman Continues Hot Streak With Mason-Dixon Meltdown Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Matt Hirschman Continues Hot Streak With Mason-Dixon Meltdown Victory<\/strong>
Young Pennsylvania Racer Pockets $12,500 at South Boston Speedway<\/strong><\/div>\n

CONCORD, NC (November 27, 2006) – Mr. November.<\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
That’s a nickname that Matt Hirschman has definitely earned in the past month.  After a very respectable rookie season in NASCAR Modifieds, Hirschman hit a pair of major open shows and swept both events.  On Saturday night, Hirschman won the 250-lap Modified portion of the inaugural Mason-Dixon Meltdown at South Boston Speedway (VA).  The victory bookends a month that started by winning the North-South Shootout at Concord Motorsport Park (NC).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I wish that there were more races in November,” laughed Hirschman in South Boston’s victory lane.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, Hirschman almost didn’t plan to race in either event.  He was a last-minute entry at Concord and was then attracted to entering the Mason-Dixon Meltdown by a combination of the $12,500 winner’s check and the prestige of competing on a historic weekend that featured twin 250-lap events for Tour-Type Modifieds and Super Late Model cars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It was a huge winner’s payday, and I knew as good as we were running with this car, we stood a good chance to take it,” said Hirschman.  “This is a new track and a new challenge for me.  To come down and take the win in the first-ever race here is something special.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is also special is the amount of notoriety that the victories can give the 24-year-old driver.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of attention that comes with this,” said Hirschman.  “You never know.  Every driver always dreams of a chance to go further.  I love Modifieds, and I’ll be happy to race them the rest of my life, but every driver has a dream to race at a higher level.  Right now, these wins give me a better chance of making that into reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I think that the Shootout started it.  That win was huge, and I got a lot of people who are definitely interested in Matt Hirschman.  This win backs it up.  I’m one of the top young drivers out there, so any opportunity to come out of this would be great.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hirschman started the Mason-Dixon Meltdown in the fourth position and patiently used the first portion of the race to stalk early leader Burt Myers, of Walnut Grove, North Carolina.  Myers led from the start until a restart on lap 104, when Hirschman took over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I spun the tires on that restart,” said Myers.  “It was my mistake, but I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myers never got the chance to make up for his miscue.  His car tightened up after a tire change and chassis adjustment during the mid-race break in the event.  After that, it just wasn’t as quick and left Myers out of contention.  He finished the race in the fourth position.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That left Eric Beers, James Civali and Chuck Hossfeld to challenge Hirschman.  All four drivers ran in tight formation as the laps clicked down, but Beers was the one who came the closest to taking the lead away.  He closed up to Hirschman but never passed him.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Matt had a good racecar there,” said Beers.  “We just didn’t end up with enough at the end to get him.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hirschman led Beers to the finish of the Mason-Dixon Meltdown, which evoked a sense of déjà vu.  At the North-South Shootout, Beers finished third when Hirschman won.  Ironically, both drivers live on the same street in Northampton, Pennsylvania, and are close friends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“First and second on the same street is good, so I guess that we are doing all right,” said Beers.  “I just want to change it around a little bit for the next time.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hirschman will now have an entire winter to bask in the glow of his two late-season victories.  He will return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour next season, splitting time between cars owned by Ed Bennett and Darling Motorsports.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“We definitely backed up our Shootout win here,” said Hirschman.  “Two huge wins like this at the end of the season means that I have a lot of momentum going into next season.  We’re all set for next year with the same cars that I ran this year.  I’ll be back in all of them, and hopefully we can keep this winning streak going.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finishing behind Hirschman and Beers were 2006 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rookie of the Year James Civali, Myers and Rusty Smith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cassius Clark of Farmington, Maine, held off Johnny Clark, Mike Rowe, Patrick Leperle and Rick Martin to win the Super Late Model portion of the Mason-Dixon Meltdown.  Earlier in the day at South Boston, Trevor Farbo finished inches ahead of Zach Stroupe to unofficially win the “Gamers’ Lounge 50” Pro Challenge Series event.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information on the Mason Dixon Meltdown, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 455–2051 (ext: 5) and be sure to visit www.masondixonmeltdown.com.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Race Results<\/p>\n

Mason-Dixon Meltdown <\/p>\n

Tour-Type Modifieds<\/p>\n

November 26, 2006<\/p>\n

South Boston Speedway, South Boston, VA<\/p>\n

Finish Position, Start Position, Driver, Hometown<\/p>\n

1. (4) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, PA<\/p>\n

2.  (9) Eric Beers, Northampton, PA<\/p>\n

3.  (6) James Civali, Meriden, CT<\/p>\n

4.  (1) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, NC<\/p>\n

5.  (14) Rusty Smith, Oxford, NY<\/p>\n

6.  (21) Junior Miller, Pine Hall, NC<\/p>\n

7.  (23) Alex Hoag, Bath, NY<\/p>\n

8.  (17) Kory Rabenold, Slatington, PA<\/p>\n

9.  (7) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, NY<\/p>\n

10.  (25) Darrell Krentz, Huntersville, NC<\/p>\n

11.  (15) Tyler Haydt, Kunkletown, PA<\/p>\n

12.  (19) Louie Mechalides, Tyngsboro, MA<\/p>\n

13.  (10) Todd Owen, Somers, CT<\/p>\n

14.  (13) J. Wes Swartout, Stroudsburg, PA<\/p>\n

15.  (22) Dean Gulick, Whitehouse Station, PA<\/p>\n

16.  (2) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, NH<\/p>\n

17.  (3) Jim Storace, Kingston, NH<\/p>\n

18.  (5) Bobby Grigas, III, Marshfield, MA<\/p>\n

19.  (20) Earl Paules, Kunkletown, PA<\/p>\n

20.  (11) Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, CT<\/p>\n

21.  (14) Tom Rodgers, Jr., Patchogue, NY<\/p>\n

22.  (8) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, NC<\/p>\n

23.  (18) George Brunnhoelzl, III, Mooresville, NC<\/p>\n

24.  (16) Ben Rowe, Turner, ME<\/p>\n

25.  (24) Harold Goden, Winston-Salem, NC<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Caution Flags: 8<\/p>\n

Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders: Burt Myers 1-103, Matt Hirschman 104-250<\/p>\n

Fast Time: Chuck Hossfeld, 14.512<\/p>\n

Heat Winners: Eric Beers, Todd Owen<\/p>\n

Dash Winner: Burt Myers <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Hirschman Continues Hot Streak With Mason-Dixon Meltdown VictoryYoung Pennsylvania Racer Pockets $12,500 at South Boston Speedway CONCORD, NC (November 27, 2006) – Mr. November.   That’s a nickname that Matt Hirschman has definitely earned in the past month.  After a very respectable rookie season in NASCAR Modifieds, Hirschman hit a pair of major open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}