BRIGHT OUTDUELS DANNER FOR SELINSGROVE WIN
By: Nick Fillman – USAC ECSC
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (May 22, 2021)………Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA utilized a late race restart on lap twenty-two to pull off a slide job on race leader Briggs Danner to collect his second win of the 2021 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series presented by Capitol Renegade tour.
Nash Ely and Briggs Danner were the front row of the second ever feature event to be contested under the USAC East Coast banner at the Selinsgrove Speedway. When the initial green flag flew, Briggs Danner quickly moved his way passed Nash Ely for the feature event lead and began to set sail on the rest of the field. Ely held on to second early on with Alex Bright quickly moving his way into the third place position by the end of lap three from his fifth place starting spot.
By lap five of the feature event Danner would have an incredible lead by over a straightaway, and would also begin to catch, and lap, cars at the tail end of the field. Bright had moved his way into the second place spot, with Nash Ely, Kenny Miller, and Carmen Perigo the top five. A mad flurry of action would take place in positions six through ten with drivers like Steven Drevicki, Bruce Buckwalter Jr, Mark Smith, and Tommy Kunsman trading positions constantly among themselves just outside of the top five.
The first caution flag of the feature event would fall on lap ten of the feature event as Jason Cherry spun to a stop on the exit of turn four. The caution erased massive lead that Danner had built up over the hard charging Bright and bunch the field together just short of the half way point in the feature. The restart on lap ten featured Danner leading Bright, Perigo, Ely, Miller, Smith, and Drevicki.
The lap ten restart saw Briggs Danner execute to perfection and gap Alex Bright down the front stretch, leaving Bright to fend off a turn one dive bomb attempt from Carmen Perigo for second. Bright would have the necessary speed to cross Perigo over and retain the second place position as they exited turn two. Mark Smith made quick work on the restart moving from sixth to fourth, and Steven Drevicki following along as he worked his way into the fifth place position by the half way point.
Danner continued to lead Alex Bright as the two leaders began to encounter lapped traffic again, with both drivers, and the top half of the field, pounding the cushion around the outside of the Selinsgrove Speedway. Danner had some difficulty with lapped cars the second time around, leading to Bright catching up as the two worked through the back of the field. On lap twenty Bright was locked in on the rear of race leader Briggs Danner and began to show his nose to the inside trying to make a move for the lead. Bright would get alongside Danner on more than one occasion, with Danner out pacing Bright on the high side to retain the race lead. Danner had re-established a three to four car length lead on lap twenty-one as Bright was caught behind a lapped car allowing Danner to slip away.
On lap twenty-two Colby Womer would make contact in turn two and stop on the outside of the speedway, setting up a three lap dash to the finish. Danner held the lead over Bright, Perigo, Mark Smith, and Kenny Miller lll. Miller had moved back into fifth at the time of the caution as fifth place runner Steven Drevicki slowed with a flat right rear tire and would not return.
The final restart of the feature event saw Bright glued to the rear bumper of Briggs Danner as the two came to the green flag off of turn four. Bright immediately dove to the inside of Danner as they entered turn one, completing the slide job on Danner for the race lead. Bright executed the last three laps on the cushion to perfection, pulling out and away from Danner for his second feature event win of the season. Danner came home second over: Carmen Perigo, Mark Smith, and Kenny Miller lll.
The win for Alex Bright was his second on tour of 2021, and fourth career with the series. Despite Bright’s comfortability on short tracks, it was his third win on a half mile track that featured a cushion around the outside of the speedway. Two of Bright’s other wins came at the Port Royal Speedway, which is similar to size and shape to the Selinsgrove Speedway. Bright mentioned in victory lane that once he had captured the second place position, he was happy to see the caution flag fly, as he could not even see race leader Briggs Danner thanks to the massive lead he had established. The win for Bright brings him within one of Danner’s season total and will close the gap between the two at the top of the points standings.
Briggs Danner came home in a strong second place on Saturday night in what was sure to be a bittersweet finish after leading twenty-two laps of the feature event. Danner has had incredible consistency thus far in the season, with extremely limited laps in a non-wing sprint car, and even fewer at some of the tracks he has raced at thus far. With a lot of racing left to go on the series trail in 2021, Danner has plenty more opportunities to add wins to his collection and have a serious shot at the series title.
Carmen Perigo made his second feature event start of the 2021 season after son Brett was in the car last weekend at the Bedford Speedway. Perigo has many laps at the Selinsgrove Speedway, and utilized that to his advantage during the evening. Perigo cruised to a heat two win early on in the night and worked his way from eight to finish third in the feature event. Perigo nearly competed the pass on Bright for second on the lap ten restart, but ultimately ended up with a respectable third.
Mark Smith completed a successful weekend with a fourth place effort on Saturday night at a track where he had more laps and experience than anyone in the pit area. Mark won the United Racing Club winged 360 feature event on Friday night at the Big Diamond Speedway and backed up his speed with the non-winged car on Saturday. Smith has been a feature winner on many occasions at Selinsgrove in a winged car but is still searching for his first USAC East Coast Victory. Luckily for Mark, the series makes two more visits to Selinsgrove before the conclusion of the season.
Kenny Miller rounded out the top five in the feature event and is yet another driver who has continued to impress in limited starts. Miller was a two time winner on the series trail in 2020, but is still looking, and working for his first victory of 2021. Miller and team fought off some early evening engine issues, to leave the Selinsgrove speedway with another top five run in his first ever start at the speedway. Miller was well on his way to a top five at Grandview last weekend before clipping the inside wall and crashing out of second. While Miller will not be competing full time with the series in 2021, the speed and consistency the team has shown so far has been extremely impressive. Look for Miller to contend for more feature event wins during the rest of the season, and potentially in 2022.
Special thanks go out to Mike Heffner and the entire Selinsgrove Speedway for starting twenty-four cars in the feature event after losing one car during the night of racing due to an engine malfunction.
Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade will be the first trip of the season to the Big Diamond Speedway on Friday, May 28th. As a reminder, the series event scheduled for the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds on May 27th has been postponed and rescheduled for July 16th along with the URC winged 360 sprint cars.
As always, follow along with our social media pages for all the latest photos, updates, and news from the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series. On Twitter at: @USACecsc, and on Facebook at, USAC East Coast Sprint Cars.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: May 22, 2021 – Selinsgrove Speedway – Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, 3 redraw, all transfer, starting positions in brackets) 1. 19-Steven Drevicki [1], 2. M1-Mark Smith [8], 3. 5G-Briggs Danner [9], 4. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. [2], 5. 88J-Joey Amantea [4], 6. 17-Christian Bruno [6], 7. 10m-Mike Meyers [3], 8. 07-Colby Womer [5], 9. 117-David Swanson [7]. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, 3 redraw, all transfer, starting positions in brackets) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo [4], 2. 23m-Kenny Miller III [3], 3. 21K-Tommy Kunsman [7], 4. 7-Ed Aikin [2], 5. 17J-Jonathan Swanson [1], 6. 7B-Aidan Borden [6], 7. 67-Jason Cherry [8], 8. 12W-Troy Fraker [5]. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, 3 redraw, all transfer, starting positions in brackets) 1. 71-Chris Allen Jr. [3], 2. 3BC-Nash Ely [5], 3. 20-Alex Bright [7], 4. 57-Damon Paul [4], 5. 83s-Billy Ney [6], 6. 12-Blaine Emery [8], 7. 11-Mike Thompson [2], 8. 96-Lee Kauffman [1]. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. Alex Bright [5], 2. Briggs Danner [2], 3. Carmen Perigo [9], 4. Mark Smith [3], 5. Kenny Miller III [4], 6. Nash Ely [1], 7. Chris Allen Jr. [8], 8. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. [10], 9. Tommy Kunsman [7], 10. Damon Paul [12], 11. Christian Bruno [16], 12. Ed Aikin [11], 13. Joey Amantea [13], 14. Mike Thompson [21], 15. Jonathan Swanson [14], 16. Billy Ney [15], 17. Jason Cherry [20], 18. Blaine Emery [18], 19. Mike Meyers [19], 20. David Swanson [24], 21. Aidan Borden [17], 22. Troy Fraker [23], 23. Steven Drevicki [6], 24. Colby Womer [22]. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Briggs Danner, Laps 22-25 Alex Bright.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-378, 2-Alex Bright-372, 3-Steven Drevicki-297, 4-Tommy Kunsman-290, 5-Nash Ely-259, 6-Damon Paul-257, 7-Kenny Miller III-256, 8-Chris Allen Jr.-249, 9-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-234, 10-Joey Amantea-228.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL TRAILERS RACE: May 28, 2021 – Big Diamond Speedway – Pottsville, Pennsylvania
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Penske Racing Shocks First Place Certificate: Alex Bright
Penske Racing Shocks Second Place Certificate: Briggs Danner
Penske Racing Shocks Third Place Certificate: Carmen Perigo
Ultra Shield Third Place Certificate: Carmen Perigo
Ultra Shield Eighth Place Certificate: Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
