Zane Zeiner Wins 'Race 300' for ROC Modified Series at Chemung

Defending Race of Champions Modified Series champion Zane Zeiner scored the win Saturday night in "Race 300" for the series at Chemung Speedrome, surviving the twists and turns of a dramatic evening of racing.

From the start, the 75-lap race was physical and aggressive, and several big names were caught up in the excitement. After just four laps, Matt Hirschman's race was over following a multi-car incident in turn four.

Zeiner stayed clear of the chaos, running in the top three for most of the evening. On lap 58, Zeiner worked his way by Jack Ely to take the lead.

"It felt like a real aggressive race up front. I told my brother-in-law, man, this isn't my style of race. He kept me calm under the situation. We work well together. I knew I just needed that long green flag run. I got in a groove.

"That last restart, I just had to tighten my belts up a little bit and hit my marks, get pressure to Jack. He slipped up a little bit in four and I got that run going down the frontstretch."

The win marks Zeiner's first triumph at Chemung Speedrome in a full-blown Tour Modified. Between the event's stature as "Race 300" in series history and the elusive Chemung trophy, Zeiner carried plenty of motivation for Saturday's race.

"I had this race circled for a lot of reasons," said Zeiner. "Right now, it still feels like a dream to me, to be honest with you, for things to work out and us to be in victory lane. A lot of luck went our way and here we are. We've been close last year twice with two seconds, but to finally pull it off feels great."

Austin Beers rallied from an incident near the halfway mark of the race to finish second. The Pennsylvania driver worked his way to fourth before gaining two spots in the closing laps, as Jack Ely and Jake Lutz both fell off the pace.

"The radio was messed up. I didn't have a spotter the first half of the race. I used it up and Zane got by me. I was like, well, it's not going to hurt at this point to take it down pit road. We swapped lefts, tightened it up a little bit, drove our way back through the field.

"We got lucky there with obviously Jack and Jake, so it sucks for them to have that, but they ran a great race. We lucked into a second, but I drove my butt off to get to fourth there."

Another driver who recovered from an incident was Paulie Hartwig, III. Hartwig was as far back as 20th after the lap four incident with Hirschman and Bryce Bailey, but bounced back for a podium finish.

"When I wrecked there, we got a left-front flat, so that was a pretty good comeback. The car was pretty good, actually. We played the game. This place is alright, but there are a lot of good guys here."

Roger Coss finished fourth, with Andy Jankowiak rounding out the top five just one night after a fifth-place finish with the ARCA Menards Series at Iowa Speedway.

A busy Father's Day weekend continues on Sunday for the Race of Champions Family of Series. The ROC Sportsman Modifieds hit the track at the Wyoming County BullRing Sunday, along with the ROC Super Stocks, ROC FOAR Score Dash Series, and Wyoming County's G-Dog Pro 4s.

-Photo credit: MoJo Photos/Race of Champions

RACE OF CHAMPIONS 'RACE 300' UNOFFICIAL RESULTS