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View Full Version : DREAMS DO COME TRUE…HEBING AND KENNY TROYER GET THEIR FIRST OSWEGO RoC DART MODIFIED



RGeeProductions
07-22-2007, 10:24 AM
On Saturday night at the Oswego Speedway another signature moment in the career of a driver and owner happened with their first ever Oswego feature win. On this night Wilbur Hebing of Ontario, NY driving the car owned by the legendary Kenny Troyer led all 75 laps to win the Parts Plus Autostores / State Farm Insurance / Garafolo's sponsored feature.

Hebing redrew the pole position for the feature but had to hold off the relentless challenges of current RoC Dart point leader Matt Hirschman who was second. Chuck Hossfeld in only his third race after moving back from North Carolina a few weeks ago finished third. Billy Putney with another solid Oswego run finishing fourth after starting tenth and second generation driver Mike Leaty came home in fifth.

“ Yes this is my biggest win by far by winning here at Oswego “ said the soft spoken $2, 800 winner. “ Drawing the pole helps a lot but I'm scared of being the rabbit. I like chasing but with the guys you have to race with here and the quality of drivers it's definitely a benefit to start up front. “

Wilbur in the last Oswego race back on May 26th was the fastest car at the end of the race. Tonight Wilbur had the fastest car throughout the entire the race. “ That is where we have been struggling the most with up here is with me trying to find the setup that makes me fast in the beginning of the race and also fast at the end. I'm so use to the 30 lap races that it is hard for me to decide how tight is tight. We seem to hit the setup tonight and to race with those guys and to be able to beat them is a dream come true. “

Wilbur spoke about the two times during the race in which Matt Hirschman pulled even with him while racing for the lead. “ I saw him ( Matt ) poke the car in there ( lap 35 ) and my radio man Greg said keep calm “ recalled Wilbur. “ I ran my line and didn't do anything stupid and we were all right. The car was fast and to race with Matt and the other guys with all that experience of running two and three times a week, it's tough to beat those guys. I'll take it. “

Two years ago at the 2005 Sunoco Race of Champions Wilbur was walking the pits on Saturday without a ride. Kenny Troyer was set down for a rule infraction and he came looking for Wilbur to drive his car for the remainder of that show. Ever since that rainy day back in 2005 Wilbur has driven for Kenny Troyer.

“ Actually this is a pretty good marriage for us as Kenny has been wanting to win a race here for 30 years “ said the smiling Wilbur. “ To finally get him a win here, I'm glad for the whole team. All the guys really work hard on the car and now we have something to joke around with Maynard ( Kenny's famous brother ) about, because Maynard rubs on us pretty hard now and then. We've been pretty fortunate to win some races at Spencer and Lancaster. To win here, there's a lot of history here. I've been coming here since the Race of Champions has been here, I've been second a bunch of times, led a lot of laps, and have never been able to pull it off. Tonight it is a dream come true. “

Sitting peacefully behind the celebration in the pit area was car owner Kenny Troyer with a cold liquid beverage in his hand. Kenny commented on his first career Oswego win. “ All I can tell you is that I'm going to die a happy man now. I run my first race here in 1978 so it's been pretty much 30 years of trying. I've always supported Oswego, it's my favorite race track ever since I saw the Modifieds race for the first time ever here in 1969. It's a dream come true. “

Kenny continued on about his car and driver on this night. “ The car was super. Wilbur Hebing did one hell of a job and I can't think of anyone who I would rather have drive my car than Wilbur Hebing. “

“ We've been there all year “ said second place finisher Matt Hirschman when talking about his consistent finishes. “ This is quite a few top threes in a row going back to Wall. We got quite a streak here together and we're leading both regions and unfortunately we're looking at missing a race here on Classic Weekend due to my schedule. We still got a chance at the points and we'll see how it shakes out, I'm just racing every night to get the best finish possible. “

Matt who started fifth spoke about his race strategy on this night. “ I set it up at the start and ran as hard as I could at the start of the race to try and get as close to the lead as possible. Wilbur got a good draw as he got the pole and he was fast enough that it would have taken a mistake or slipup by him for me to get past him. “

Matt quickly moved from fifth to third by the end of three laps and by lap five was in second. Matt was able to close right in on the back bumper of the leading Hebing machine and it was only a matter of time before a battle for the lead was going to take place.

That battle came in lap traffic on lap 35 going down the back straight as Hirschman pulled even with Hebing. But as the duo entered turn three Hebing was able to box Hirschman in behind a slower lap car that was on the inside of the track. “ I took a shot as he had a slower lap car in front of him “ recalled Matt when talking about what happened. “ It was worth a shot, it didn't work. “

Matt had one final shot at passing Hebing for the lead as he pulled even at the start / finish line as the duo completed lap 47. But Matt didn't have enough bite on the outside to hold it entering turn one. “ That was my good shot as he got loose in the middle of the corner and I wasn't able to get up and alongside of him. I just couldn't finish the pass; I didn't know what kind of passing was going on behind me. I felt that my car has been better here to pass on the outside. I don't know if it was the track or just wasn't quite as good on the outside as I would like to be here. I just couldn't quite cut it enough on the top tonight. “

“ Those guys could get away from us on the long runs “ said third place finisher Chuck Hossfeld. “ What happened was I figured there was going to be a caution so why keep chasing them. Then it looked liked there wasn't going to be a caution so I picked up the pace. Maybe what I should have done was chilled out a little more and saved the tires a little more. “

Chuck who started seventh moved into fourth by lap two and quickly motored into third three laps later. Chuck stayed there for the remainder of the race and at the end of the race had to hold off a hard charging Billy Putney for third. Chuck spoke about this race only being his third time in the car since returning from North Carolina just about one month ago.

“ I'm pretty happy with the car as it has just been sitting in my shop idle “ said Chuck. “ Each time we've run we have improved on it and that is all you can ask for and hopefully not long we'll be in victory lane. “

Qualifying for the 27 Modifieds on hand saw heat wins captured by Rick Kluth, Hirschman, and Hossfeld.

STEEL PALACE NOTES; Instead of sending one car home without making the field track management opted to run every car who entered. This decision was very popular with the drivers who all had a chance to race and get some laps. For the first time in over 20 years veteran Jim Lameroux found himself behind the wheel of a Modified as he ran the former Ed Conoran owned car. Dan Chimera failed to make the heat race as his car failed to fire but he got it repaired in time for the feature. Rick Kluth saw a strong run go by the way side when the rear end broke on lap 14 and he was in fourth. Many insiders were hoping for a late race yellow, which never came, to see just how much Erick Rudolph had left. Because he pitted for a new right rear tire on lap 50 and made up nearly a half a track under green flag conditions when the checker fell as he ended up sixth right on the heels of the fifth place finisher. Erick's teammate Bobby Holmes hit the turn three outside wall a ton on lap 50, he was taken to the hospital for a checkup after the races. RoC Dart officials would like to clarify an error that was reported in the story from Wyoming County last Sunday afternoon. Erick Rudolph was the youngest driver to win a RoC Dart Modified feature in the history of the Tour. However he was not the only teenager as Kory Rabenold won at Mahoning Valley last year. RoC / Dart would like to apologize to Kory for the error. The next Oswego show will be the final North Region point event on Saturday September 1st with a 125 lap $5,000 to win feature with time trials being run for this show to set the top 12 starting spots.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR CENTRAL REGION RACE # 4

FINISH; Wilbur Hebing, Matt Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld, Billy Putney, Mike Leaty, Erick Rudolph, Pete Brittain, Lee Sherwood, Rusty Smith, Tommy Kinsella, John Markovic, Danny Knoll, Jr., Alex Hoag, Andy Szapacs, Doug Reaume, Vern LaFave, Daren Scherer, Ken Canestrari, Chris Finocchario, Phil Slater, Bobby Holmes, Eric Beers, Dan Chimera, Jim Lameroux, Rick Kluth, Sean O'Neill, Matt Clemens

LAP LEADERS; Hebing ( 1 - 75 )
DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,200 VALUE; Markovic
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Brittain
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Smith ( 23rd to 9th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Kluth ( 2nd to 25th )

NEXT RoC DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR EVENT; Saturday August 11th - Chemung Speedrome - North Region Race # 4 - Completion of June 2nd show 75 lap feature only - 4 pm start

JR KENNERUP ( RoC MEDIA )