RPW Column: Anthony Perrego Continues Hot Streak At Orange County; Wins Another Saturday
RPW Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – When your hot, your hot.
Not even a 3+ hour rain delay could stop Anthony Perrego Saturday night as he came away with the victory in the 30 lap United Rentals DIRTcar feature. The win was the second consecutive Big Block win for the Superior Remodeling, Brian Smith owned 44 and his 3rd straight win overall.
Just after the Modifieds finished their warm ups, activity was brought to a halt by nearby cloud to ground lightning. Shortly thereafter, a torrential downpour hit the speedway. But track officials refused to throw in the towel and after a delay of about 3:15, racing was able to resume. It was a great effort by the track maintenance crew and the drivers who ran in the track to finish off the work to go back racing. It was a job well done by all.
With 33 Modifieds signed in, 4 heats races were run with Jack Lehner, Jimmy Horton, Dillon Steuer and Kirk Horton taking the wins.
John Brown and Kirk Horton led the 30 car feature to green with Brown leading the first 3 laps. Steuer got by Brown on the 4th lap when the caution flag flew for Chris Shultz, stopped in turn 3. Craig Mitchell took the lead with Perrego moving up quickly from his 12th starting spot. The 6th lap of the feature was plagued by 2 red flags, the first when Brown got sideways between turns 1 and 2 and was hit by Michael Storms and Sammy Martz. The second was a nasty looking wreck involving Jerry Higbie, Eric Holmgren, Josh Delea, Tyler Jashembowski and Chris Whitehead. Holmgren took a wild flip and Higbie’s car was heavily damaged. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
Once the track was clear, Mitchell maintained the lead over Perrego. Jimmy Horton. with another strong, moved into 3rd on lap 11. Perrego actually slipped by Mitchell at one point, but Craig did a nice crossover to move back ahead. A caution on lap 11 saw Lehner exit with a flat and Tommy Meier being pushed off the track. On the restart, Mitchell maintained the lead with Horton briefly moving ahead of Perrego with Max Mclaughlin 4th and Matt Sheppard 5th. Just a lap later, Horton pulled in, another potentially great finish foiled by mechanical failure. Perrego continued to chase down Mitchell and took the lead on lap 16.
Caution on lap 17 for Whitehead, stopped on the backstretch bunched up the field again. Perrego led on the restart with Mitchell, McLaughlin and Sheppard trailing. On lap 18, it was another caution as Steuer stopped on the track. Sheppard got by McLaughlin on the restart and Max’s great run ended on lap 21 as he pulled in with a heavy plume of steam coming from the car. Over the final laps, Perrego was able to stretch it out to win by a straightway over Mitchell. Sheppard really pressured Craig on the last lap, but he had to settle for 3rd with Billy VanInwegen 4th and Tyler Dippel 5th. Spots 6-10 were Jimmy Spellmon. Matt Hitchcock, Bob McGannon, Donnie Wilson and Tyler Boniface.
In Sportsman action, heat race wins went to Anthony Falanga, Dylan Smith, Tanner Vandoren and Joe Conklin.
With the long delay, the Sportsman feature will be held over until Saturday, June 27th. It will be the first event of the evening with the Big Block Modifieds, Street Stocks and a whole Sportsman show to follow.
