Carmen Perigo Jr. Is Iron Cowboy; Wins 1st USAC East Coast Main Event In A Thriller Over Briggs Danner
Christian Bruno Cops Exciting 600 Sprint Race; Yohn & Laubach Grab Slingshot Wins
Kutztown, PA (July 12)— In order to achieve his first USAC East Coast Sprint Car victory on Wednesday night, Carmen Perigo Jr. not only had to fend off two of the most successful drivers in series’ history, but he had to battle a deflating right-rear tire, too. But the Stoystown, PA throttle-jockey held on to claim the popular triumph at Championship Energy Action Track USA on the Kutztown Fairgrounds.
Some long time race fans in attendance called it, “the best Sprint Car race I’ve seen this year,” as the non-wing 360 Sprinters presented a terrific 30 lap Iron Cowboy Classic that was sponsored by E. Schneider & Sons Scrap Metal Processing and Recycling.
The companion 600 Sprint feature was plenty exciting too, with defending point champ Christian Bruno, from Deptford NJ, passing two of the division’s best to snare his initial win of the season at Action Track USA.
Birdsboro, PA’s Jax Yohn notched his first career All Star Slingshot victory at the Kutztown oval and Matthew Laubach, from Quakertown, PA, recorded his second triumph of 2023 in the Junior Slingshot main.
Twenty cars took the green in the USAC East Coast Iron Cowboy Classic, with Perigo quickly buzzing past pole sitter Preston Lattomus to lead lap one. Briggs Danner (started 8th) and Alex Bright (started 12th) were slicing their way through the pack on the racy bullring. Danner fought his way to fourth, then engaged in a highly entertaining three-way scuffle for second with Lattomus and Chris Allen Jr. The trio was dicing with lapped traffic and one another as Perigo scampered to a commanding half-lap lead. The first 20 tours went clean and green before a caution wiped out Perigo’s huge advantage and allowed Danner, who prevailed in that three car dogfight, to restart right behind the leader.
Bright became a factor on the restart, sliding Lattomus for third in turns three and four. Driving the Heffner Motorsports, Curt Michael wrenched No. 27, Bright made Danner his next victim, moving to the runner-up slot with a nice slider in one and two. The second yellow flag of the race flew with just four circuits remaining. As the race went green once again, Bright and Danner battled fiercely for second, throwing haymaker slide jobs at each other while staying within striking distance of race leader Perigo.
“I looked at the scoreboard under that second caution and saw the numbers 27 and 39 and thought, ‘oh no, not them,’ but I should have expected them to be a factor, I guess,” laughed Perigo in victory lane. “And I could feel my right-rear going soft with about two to go. I think I bounced it off the wall a little too often.”
Danner wrestled the runner up position back from Bright and set sail after Perigo. The third (and final) caution came with two to go, giving Danner one more shot at the leader. Danner hung with Perigo on the restart, then went for the slider in turns three and four on the last trip around the clay. He drove Perigo up the banking but the chauffeur of the No. 21 held his ground as they banged wheels and Perigo’s soft right-rear kissed the concrete one more time. Perigo won the drag race to the checkered flag by a mere 0.335 seconds over Danner, with Bright fading a bit at the end but holding on for third place money. Joey Amantea and Allen completed the top five.
“Yeah, we banged wheels and got a little physical, but we were both going for the win,” explained Perigo afterward. “And I knew Briggs would lift a bit and give me room to straighten out after the contact. He’s a really good and really clean driver and it was fun racing with him like that.”
Allentown, PA’s Briggs Danner darted by pole sitter Alex Ruppert to lead the first lap of the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature. Fourth starting Tim Buckwalter zipped to second on the third revolution and then the fun began, as he and Danner executed a slide-a-palooza for the top spot, much to the delight of the big crowd. Buckwalter finally secured the point just prior to a yellow with six complete, but it was Danner back in front after the restart and Bruno, who lined up 12th for the original start, now entering the fray by muscling under Buckwalter for second as they accelerated off turn four.
Bruno was getting a great launch off the inside of the corners, and he used that line to dash past Danner for the top spot with about half of the 25 lapper still to run. Buckwalter and Danner made Bruno work hard to stay in front, but the Groff Motorsports, EVO+ Injection No. 5 was up to the task. Pat Bealer weaved his way into third during the second half of the event, passing Danner who had given up second to Buckwalter. Danner and Bealer went side-by-side for several circuits before Danner reclaimed the position for good.
At the finish, it was Bruno scoring his first Action Track triumph of the season after a couple of near misses. He led Buckwalter to the checkered by slightly more than a half-second, with Danner fending off Colin White’s late charge to end up third. Bealer rounded out the top five.
Forty-three of the 600 Sprints entered the program in a final tune up before next Wednesday’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek event at Berks County’s baddest bullring.
Jax Yohn found some speed on the high side in the 20 lap All Star Slingshots main and registered the first victory of his young career at Action Track USA Yohn took the lead from Griffin Hendershot on the seventh trip around the oval, then held off a strong running Luke McCloskey for the win. Point leader Brett Bieber crossed the stripe in third, with Tyler Hoch fourth and Hendershot backsliding to fifth when the checkered flag waved.
“The Salt Shaker”, Matthew Laubach, felt the need to try and get an early lead in the Junior Slingshot main, and he did just that. Laubach went third to first on the opening tour, then fought off a last lap challenge from Chase Gular to earn his second victory of the current campaign. One-time winner Gular wound up a close second with Christopher Buffalino, opening Night victor Darian Danyluk, and Cody Williamson making up the top five at the conclusion of the 15 lapper.
Wednesday, July 19 will see Action Track USA host more than 80 of the nation’s best 600 Sprint pilots, including Mr. Kyle Busch of NASCAR Cup Series fame. It’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek, and the progressively banked oval in Kutztown always draws one of the week’s largest and most competitive fields.
Joining the 600’s on next Wednesday’s card will be the Speedway Entertainment All Pro SpeedSTRs and the All Star Slingshots. Warm-ups begin at 6:15 with racing immediately following the hot lap sessions and opening ceremonies.
Your midweek motorsports adrenaline rush is waiting…at Championship Energy Action Track USA!
RESULTS:
USAC East Coast Sprint Car Iron Cowboy Classic, 30 laps: 1.Carmen Perigo Jr., 2.Briggs Danner, 3.Alex Bright, 4.Joey Amantea, 5.Chris Allen Jr., 6.Tim Buckwalter, 7.Steve Drevicki, 8.Kenny Miller III, 9.JT Ferry, 10.Mike Thompson, 11.Brendon Hires, 12.Scott Frack, 13.Dalton Herrick, 14.Preston Lattomus, 15.Bobby Butler, 16.Aidan Borden, 17.Bruce Buckwalter, 18.Ed Aikin, 19.Austin Graby, 20.Gary Huston.
DNQ: Heidi Hedin, Christian Bruno, Patrick Chilmonik, Lee Kauffman, Brett Rose.
Hyper Racing 600 Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Christian Bruno, 2.Tim Buckwalter, 3.Briggs Danner, 4.Colin White, 5.Pat Bealer, 6.Anthony Tramontana, 7.Alex Ruppert, 8.Zack Weisenfluh, 9.Connor Gross, 10.Shelby McLaughlin, 11.James Roselli, 12.Michael Nolf, 13.Preston Lattomus, 14.Gabe Gerber, 15.Gunnar Pio, 16.Ryan Boyd, 17.Neal Allison, 18.Connor Mirabelli, 19.Joe Nemeth, 20.Jacob Severn, 21.Kyle Herve, 22.Corey Colaluce, 23.Zach Curtis, 24.Patrick Chilmonik, 25.Evan Nolf, 26.Bobby Butler, 27.Lucas Kostic, 28.Steven Snyder Jr., 29.Jacob Fisher, 30.Mason Beinhower.
DNQ: Maddie Boyd, Adrianna Delliponti, Jared Lilly, Richie Baker, Mike Tacredi, Aidan Svanda, Jacob Homnick, JT Bierman, Jace Marshall, Fred Heinly, Jase Smith, Julian Rexrode, John Barnett.
All Star Slingshots Feature, 20 laps: 1.Jax Yohn, 2.Luke McCloskey, 3.Brett Bieber, 4.Tyler Hoch, 5.Griffin Hendershot, 6.Dylan Hoch, 7.Dave Carraghan, 8.Shawn Dengler, 9.Faith Turnbaugh, 10.Karter Adams, 11.Ryan Rochelle, 12.Amanda Angstadt, 13.Gavin Danner, 14.Hunter Handelong, 15.Tyler Ulsh, 16.Mark Abrahim, 17.Tyler Lilick, 18.Michael Tacredi, 19.Mike Maguire.
Junior Slingshots Feature, 15 laps: 1.Matthew Laubach, 2.Chase Gular, 3.Christopher Buffalino, 4.Darian Danyluk, 5.Cody Williamson, 6.Jocelynn Darinsig, 7.Mason Noll, 8.Lilly Esterly, 9.Billy Pauch III, 10.Brendan Lilick, 11.Landon McNichol.
