BRIGHT EXTENDS POINT LEAD WITH 9TH USAC EC WIN
By: Nick Fillman
Winchester, Virginia (September 11, 2021)………At the conclusion of twenty five hard fought laps, Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA was able to collect his ninth win of the season in dramatic fashion over Carmen Perigo and continue to add to his points lead on the 2021 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade.
Following heat race action, and the redraw for the top eight starting positions in the feature event field, Bruce Buckwalter Jr who is continuing to develop as a sprint car driver, and Alex Bright would lead the field to green for the twenty five lap feature event at the Winchester Speedway.
The initial green flag of the feature event immediately saw bright make his move around the outside of Buckwalter to take the lead for the feature event. Bright worked the middle lane of the very slick, and technical surface of the Winchester Speedway, with Buckwalter on the bottom as the field completed the first pair of laps.
The car that was most noticeably on the move was veteran driver Carmen Perigo Jr who was picking off cars lap by lap, quickly finding himself in the third place position by the completion of lap four. Perigo was utilizing the extreme high side of the speedway to work his way up, and was catching the lead duo in rapid fashion, with Perigo moving into the runner up position by the conclusion of lap six.
Bright was the leader in front of the field with Perigo glued to the tail tank, as they completed laps with Bright running the middle, and Perigo on the high side blocking the runs of Perigo lap after lap. Buckwalter was solidly in third, with Drevicki holding a steady fourth. The most intense battle on track outside of the battle for the lead was between Eric Jennings, Kenny Miller lll and Joey Amantea early on, who remained three wide and trading positions at the back half of the top ten for numerous laps with Jennings holding onto fifth as the field reached the half way point.
Carmen Perigo appeared to have a much faster car than Bright while continuing to run the outside lane of the track, but simply would run out of room as the duo would come off of the turns onto the straightaways. The two would be virtually inseparable, clicking off laps and quickly finding less than ten laps to go. Meanwhile, the battle for fifth through eighth remained even more intense as fifteenth starting Colin White entered the battle for the top five, ad would secure that honor on lap sixteen. Jennings, Amantea, and Miller continued to battle with no position outside of fifth being safe.
On lap seventeen of the feature event Perigo finally got the run he was looking for and got around Bright for the race lead at the line heading into turn one. Bright was able to pull the slide job in the middle of turns one and two and break the momentum of Perigo around the high-side of the speedway and take the lead back as they made their way down the back straightaway.
Perigo continued to give Bright everything he could with no contact being made between the lead duo as the laps continued to wind down. Ultimately Perigo would not have enough to get back by Bright for the lead as Alex Bright would go on to score his ninth win of the season. Perigo had to settle for second, with Buckwalter a strong third, Drevicki and a hard charging Colin White rounding out the top five.
What else could be said about Alex Bright and the Hummer Motorsports team on the 2021 Series trail? They have been lights out suffering only one DNF, and that was due to an accident battling inside the top five at Action Track USA. With the win on Saturday night at the Winchester Speedway, and a rare off night for Briggs Danner, Bright has extended his points lead to the largest it has been all season long with a 73 point advantage over Danner with five races remaining. While the gap may be at its biggest point of the season, anything can happen in racing, and five races is more than enough time for Danner to mount a charge back for the points lead.
Coming home in second yet again was veteran driver Carmen Perigo Jr. Perigo has been the most consistent of any driver in the series at the Winchester Speedway nearly picking up the win last season in the series debut losing the lead on the last lap to Steven Drevicki. Perigo finished third after leading early in July and was the bridesmaid yet again on Saturday night. In addition to the runner up effort on Saturday, Perigo nearly collected the win at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds over Briggs Danner adding to the many chances Perigo has had to find victory lane. Perigo has been busy this season, and recently completed a pair of runs in Illinois with the USAC Silver Crown series as well. Perigo may not be a regular competitor with the series, but one thing is certain, every time the 21 car enters the pit area they are a threat for the win.
Bruce Buckwalter is in his sophomore season of sprint car racing, and this season has been improving consistently week after week. Buckwalter has usually found himself just outside the top five many times during the 2021 season, but Saturday night a well-earned podium finish was afforded to the Buckwalter team. Buckwalter has been fast both times the series has been to Winchester, where he is noticeably comfortable as Buckwalter has experience in an ARDC Midget, and it shows.
Steven Drevicki found himself inside the top five yet again and has begun to find a rhythm that is more of what is expected of the three time champion. This season has been full of ups and downs for Drevicki, and team, but over the last two weeks they have stabilized and finished solidly inside the top five. Drevicki is still piloting what is his normal 410 powered car rather than the family’s 360 car, but the increased comfort should help Drevicki as they prepare to head back to the mid-west in two weeks to the Gas City Speedway and Eldora Speedway.
Rounding out the top five with a very impressive run was 2021 Series rookie Colin White. Colin had a very strong run going in the series first stop to the Winchester Speedway in July, but it was unfortunately cut short due to engine issues aboard the Hamilton Racing 32. White was making big moves in his heat race but grabbed a piece of the wall with the tail tank of his entry and fell all the way back to the eight place spot in his heat. By way of the deep heat race finish, he would start fifteenth in the feature event, and methodically worked his way from the back to the front of the field in the feature. White used all three lines on track, low, middle and high to pass cars, and perhaps with the benefit of a caution, may have advanced even further in the top five and competed for the win. A strong and impressive run for the talented rookie driver.
Coming home in sixth just outside the top five, but worthy of a shoutout was Bloomingburg, NY driver Eric Jennings. Jennings made the long haul down to Virginia bringing his crate powered car along, instead of his usual ride aboard the Weslowski 16cw entry. While being down on horsepower, Jennings held his own in the slick, and came away with a near top five effort on Saturday night.
Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade is the third stop of the season to the always entertaining Bridgeport Motorsports Park as a part of Danny Serrano weekend on September 25th. Follow along with the series and all our news, photos, and other updates 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 RENEGADE RACE RESULTS: September 11, 2021 – Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Virginia
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 3BC-Nash Ely (2), 2. 23m-Kenny Miller III (8), 3. 19-Steven Drevicki (7), 4. 14-Eric Jennings (1), 5. 67-Jason Cherry (6), 6. 57-Damon Paul (3), 7. 5G-Briggs Danner (5), 8. 32-Colin White (4). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo (2), 2. 20-Alex Bright (3), 3. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (1), 4. 88J-Joey Amantea (8), 5. 7-Ed Aikin (6), 6. 38s-Tom Savage (7), 7. 83s-Billy Ney (5). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Alex Bright (2), 2. Carmen Perigo (6), 3. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (1), 4. Steven Drevicki (4), 5. Colin White (15), 6. Eric Jennings (8), 7. Joey Amantea (3), 8. Kenny Miller III (7), 9. Christian Bruno (12), 10. Ed Aikin (10), 11. 3BC-Nash Ely (5), 12. Jason Cherry (9), 13. Damon Paul (11), 14. Briggs Danner (13), 15. Tom Savage (14), 16. Billy Ney (16). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-16 Alex Bright, Lap 17 Carmen Perigo, Laps 18-25 Alex Bright.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE POINTS: 1-Alex Bright-1385, 2-Briggs Danner-1312, 3-Nash Ely-1020, 4-Damon Paul-990, 5-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-911, 6-Steven Drevicki-882, 7-Tommy Kunsman-832, 8-Joey Amantea-821, 9-Mike Thompson-790, 10-Kenny Miller III-781.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR PRESENTED BY CAPITOL RENEGADE RACE: September 25, 2021 – Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, New Jersey
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Penske Shocks $100 Award: Alex Bright
Penske Shocks $50 Award: Carmen Perigo
Penske Shocks $25 Award: Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
Ultra Shield 3rd Place: Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
Ultra Shield 6th Place: Eric Jennings
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger $50 award: Colin White (15th to 5th)
