DREVICKI COLLECTS WINCHESTER SPEEDWAY CHECKERS
By: Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
Winchester, Virginia (September 12, 2020)………Steven Drevicki of Reading, Pa. continued his winning ways and incredible streak of consecutive top five finishes, by becoming the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series’ first ever feature event winner at the Winchester Speedway in Virginia.
In a recently rescheduled event at Winchester, 17 Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast 360 sprint cars entered the pit area of the speedway for the series’ first ever trip to the high banked Virginia oval. The speedway has a long history of open wheel action, as the ARDC Midgets made many appearances to the speedway over the years.
In heat race action, Billy VanInwegen would collect a convincing heat race number one victory, with Kyle Spence and last week’s winner Kenny Miller lll in third making the redraw. Heat number two saw veteran driver Carmen Perigo grab the win, with Drevicki in second, and Alex Bright taking the third and final redraw spot.
Following the redraw for the feature event, Kenny Miller lll and Carmen Perigo would share the front row for the 25 lap feature event, with Drevicki pulling the worst pill and starting sixth.
As the field went green, the slick surface and banks of the speedway lead to an extremely bunched field with drivers fighting hard to gain as many spots as possible. Billy VanInwegen would be the first to try and utilize the top side of the speedway, but it would not work to his liking.
Steven Drevicki was the early car on the move, diving underneath Miller, Spence, and VanInwegen and beginning his move toward the front. By lap five Drevicki had moved into third, with Alex Bright in Second, and Carmen Perigo leading the way.
On lap nine of the feature event, Drevicki was able to make the move around the outside of Alex Bright into turns one and two and take over the second spot and begin to reel in race leader Carmen Perigo.
As the field approached the halfway point of the feature event, it was clear that Perigo and Drevicki were the class of the field, with Bright losing ground in third, along with the rest of the field.
Bruce Buckwalter Jr., a former midget winner at the speedway, was locked in a tight battle with Kyle Spence for the last position inside the top five, with Spence continually holding off the advances of Buckwalter.
Lap sixteen would see the field beginning to encounter the back half of the field, with Perigo continuing to lead Drevicki, with Bright, Miller, and Kyle Spence rounding out the top five.
By lap 20, Drevicki was all over the back bumper of the Treyco Heavy Industrial 21 of Carmen Perigo, waiting for a moment to pounce and make his move for the race lead. Perigo was beginning to have problems exiting the corners of the speedway, with Drevicki opening up his line trying to dive underneath Perigo to take the lead.
As the two leaders encountered the lapped car of Lee Kauffman, Drevicki was side by side with Perigo for the race lead. On lap 23, Drevicki was able to dive underneath Perigo for the race lead into turns one and two. Try as he might, Perigo was not able to get back by Steven Drevicki, as Drevicki went on to collect his fourth series victory of 2020.
Drevicki has been the driver to beat all season long leading the points from the first event of the season at Orange County. Drevicki is no stranger to Winchester Speedway Victory Lane, as he collected an ARDC Midget victory in the past. The win for Drevicki, means that the Reading, PA driver continues to be the only repeat winner on the series trail in 2020, with four feature event wins (Orange County, Big Diamond, Williams Grove, and Winchester).
Carmen Perigo Jr is not a series regular, but the veteran driver with over thirty years of driving experience is always a threat to win whenever he enters the pit area. The Stoystown, PA driver has made starts with the USAC Silver Crown Series in 2020, and in USAC East Coast Action Perigo has four feature starts with three top fives, and four top ten’s.
Series rookie Alex Bright is also no stranger to the banks of the Winchester Speedway with prior midget experience like Drevicki and Buckwalter. Bright collected his first feature event win at the Port Royal Speedway on August 22nd, and has been consistent with five top fives, in his five feature event starts.
Since joining the series, Kenny Miller lll has finished 12th, collected his first series victory, and now a second solid top five run. The former micro sprint champion has been nothing but impressive in the three events he has run since joining the series and continues to gain experience at every track the series travels too. Look for Miller to be a threat at the series remaining events, and on the tour in 2021.
Kyle Spence had previously made plans to head to Illinois to race his micro sprint on Saturday but returned to the seat of the Dave Betts 22 entry on Saturday night. Spence was rewarded with a top five feature event finish following a hard fought battle with Bruce Buckwalter Jr. Spence is yet another of the extremely impressive rookies that the series has gained in 2020, and a feature event win is on the horizon for Spence.
While the season may be winding down, three massive events remain on the series schedule for 2020. First, is a stop to the all-new Bridgeport Speedway as a part of the Danny Serrano Memorial weekend. On October 2nd, the series makes our second visit to the always entertaining Georgetown Speedway where Ryan Watt was the winner in July. Finally, the series will end the season with a pair of 20 lap features at the Big Diamond Speedway on October 9th, where a champion will be crowned for 2020.
With plenty of action left to go for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series be sure to follow along on our social media sites, and our website for all the latest news and other series information.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: September 12, 2020 – Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Virginia
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top three redraw) 1. 5G-Billy VanInwegen, 2. 22-Kyle Spence, 3. 23m-Kenny Miller lll, 4. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 5. 17J-Jonathan Swanson, 6. 17m-Christian Bruno, 7. 71-Chris Allen Jr., 8. 9D-Kevin Darling, 9. 67-Jason Cherry. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top three redraw) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo, 2. 19-Steven Drevicki, 3. 20-Alex Bright, 4. 54-Joey Amantea, 5. 33B-Bill Unglert, 6. 23-John Stehman, 7. 117-David Swanson, 8. 96-Lee Kauffman. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Steven Drevicki, 2. Carmen Perigo, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Kenny Miller lll, 5. Kyle Spence, 6. Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 7. Billy VanInwegen, 8. Christian Bruno, 9. Bill Unglert, 10. Chris Allen Jr., 11. Kevin Darling, 12. Jonathan Swanson, 13. Joey Amantea, 14. David Swanson, 15. John Stehman, 16. Jason Cherry, 17. Lee Kauffman.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Carmen Perigo, Laps 24-25 Steven Drevicki.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-665, 2-Chris Allen Jr.-544, 3-Bill Unglert-520, 4-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-404, 5-Ryan Quackenbush-341, 6-Christian Bruno-332, 7-Jonathan Swanson-308, 8-Kyle Spence-294, 9-Jason Cherry-265, 10-Carmen Perigo-263.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: September 26, 2020 – Bridgeport Speedway – Swedesboro, New Jersey
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
ULTRA SHIELD PRODUCTS 2ND PLACE: Carmen Perigo
KEIZER WHEELS 3RD PLACE: Alex Bright
KING RACING PRODUCTS 6TH PLACE: Bruce Buckwalter Jr.
ULTRA SHIELD PRODUCTS 8TH PLACE: Christian Bruno
RACING OPTICS “STARTING FROM THE REAR”: Jason Cherry
