Offense was the best defense Tuesday at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway for Ron Silk.
Silk held off the charges of Matt Hirschman over the closing laps to win the 35-lap Tour Type Modified feature at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
It was the first victory together for Silk, of Norwalk, with new crew chief Phil Moran.
“[Hirschman is] a tough guy to hold off,” Silk said. “I think he had a little better car than we did. Luckily I was able to keep him at bay the best I could. We’ll have to get our car slightly better for the [Wednesday’s John Blewett III Memorial 76]. This is a new team, new crew chief, so it feels good to get it started off on the right foot.”
Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa. bounced back from a 12th place finish Monday to finish second. Jimmy Blewett of Howell, N.J. was third for his second podium finish in two nights.
Silk started sixth in the 35-car field with Blewett starting second and Hirschman third. Silk was bold early on to get up to second by lap four.
Silk used a lap four restart to get by Teddy Hodgdon IV for the lead with Blewett following him to second. On a lap five restart it was Hirschman moving past Blewett to second.
Hirschman stalked Silk the rest of the way but couldn’t find a lane by him.
“We caught him, just passing him is another thing,” Hirschman said. “[Silk] is one of the best we run against. He’s always a hard race. We just couldn’t make a pass.
“But I would say, looking back at the race, we started ahead of him. The three-wide thing, he went to the inside and I was in the middle and I didn’t want to use [Blewett]. I kind of was conservative on that and maybe that was the difference. There’s three races ahead of us and I’m looking forward to [the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Wednesday]. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I think we’re in good shape. I would have liked to have won, we had a fast enough car to win, but we’re back on form. We had an off night [Monday], it wasn’t anybody’s fault or the car’s, we had a tire going down. So we’re back in form. Hopefully tomorrow night we’re [in victory lane].”
Blewett was second to Craig Lutz in the Tour Type Modified division opener on Monday.
“Our main concerning coming into tonight was try to win the race,” Blewett said. “I just got a little too loose. … All in all we had a great run here tonight. The car was bad fast, just a little too free for me. Once [Silk and Hirschman] got drafting each other [Hirschman] kind of pushed [Silk] out front to get him away from me so I couldn’t make a move with him. Hats off to my guys, another podium finish here. We’re thinking big picture for the end of the week here with the points championship. We’ve got a lot of stiff competition here this year.”
After a fifth place in his first start at the track Monday, Hodgdon, of Danbury, was fourth Tuesday with Lutz, of Miller Place, N.Y. rounding out the top five in the second of five events for the Tour Type Modifieds this week.
Congratulations Ronnie Silk!
How about Hodgdon, pretty good account of himself down there!
Pretty exciting as far as 35 lappers go.
The 01 should have stayed and run the week to get a ton of valuable seat time.
Shawn, here’s a new poll for you….
What do you think is the correct pronunciation of “New Smyrna”?
1. New Suh-myrna
2. New Smyrna
3. New Sih-myrna
This is kinda like how some people pronounce “Tour” as “tur”.
.
IMO the 602 division has put on a better show. Same with stafford – almost every lap there is a side by side action
Really good race. Hodgdon really is doing a great job. Suh-myrna!
Shawn, here’s a new poll for you….
What do you think is the correct pronunciation of “New Smyrna”?
1. New Suh-myrna
2. New Smyrna
3. New Sih-myrna
This is kinda like how some people pronounce “Tour” as “tur”.
YOU must really be visiting the dispensary often lately.