June 8th, 2022. Mechanicsburg, PA. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA was able to narrowly secure his fourth feature event win of the 2022 Rapid Tire Services, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, presented by Capitol Renegade season in dramatic fashion over Briggs Danner by a mere .030!
In the series third of three visits to the speedway this season, rookie driver to the track Colin White, and veteran driver Carmen Perigo lead the field to green for the first USAC East Coast feature event to be contested in 33 days.
Carmen Perigo took the lead early on the high side of the speedway with drivers fanning out three wide using the top, bottom, and middle of the speedway early on in the feature event. The two drivers who had been putting on an early drive to the front were seventh place starter Alex Bright, and Mark Smith who had been using the bottom side of the speedway to cut themselves into the top five early on.
Kenny Miller lll went for a spin in turns one and two at the completion of lap number two in the feature event, drawing the first caution of the night, and bunching the field together for the ensuing restart.
Carmen Perigo retained the race lead on the restart with White holding onto second. Alex Bright had moved his way into the third place position by lap four of the feature event, taking second away on lap six.
Meanwhile, early mover Mark Smith fell back on the restart and lost a number of positions and was battling at the tail end of the top ten with Briggs Danner who after struggling early was finding his rhythm and picking up cars on his way forward.
Christian Bruno was making the bottom side of the speedway work extremely well, retaining his position inside the top five and moving into third as the field hit the ten lap mark of the feature.
The speedway had its typical Williams Grove lines as the bottom of turns one and two were the place to be for the majority of the field early on, while the top was dominant in three and four. Unless, you were Alex Bright and Carmen Perigo who were battling for the race lead on the high side of the speedway.
Bright utilized a massive run off of turn four to throw the slide job on Perigo for the race lead at the completion of lap ten of the feature event, and officially take the lead on lap eleven.
As the field reached the half way point of the feature event Bright was the race leader, Christian Bruno had worked his way by Carmen Perigo utilizing the catfish line on the extreme bottom side of the speedway, with Briggs Danner blasting the top side of the speedway on both ends and moving into fourth, with Steven Drevicki rounding out the top five.
Bruno continued to execute perfectly on the bottom side of the speedway, and was closing in on the race leader Alex Bright in lapped traffic as Bright was floundering some on the high side of the speedway.
Bruce Buckwalter lost brakes aboard the 83 entry and was slowing to enter the pit area in turns one and two when rookie driver Bobby Butler made contact with the slowing Buckwalter machine and spun to a stop in turn one. This drew the second caution flag of the night and bunching the field together for one last dash to the finish.
Bright, using the high side refocused and rest, and pulled away from Bruno who refused to leave the bottom side of the speedway. Briggs Danner found his feature time gear and began to pick off the remaining cars in front of him working by Drevicki, then to the outside of Bruno on lap twenty-one and set his sights on the leaders Bright.
Danner had enough for Bright and on lap twenty-four drew in on the tail tank of the Hummer Motorsports 20, and threw a massive slide job on the race leader heading into turns one and two. Bright didn’t miss a beat, and immediately turned the car underneath Danner, stuck his foot to the floor and drove back by Danner off of turn two and down the backstretch.
As the lead duo entered into turn three Bright dove to the bottom to protect the slider attempt of Danner, with Danner darting to the top before cutting the wheel and making a diamond move off the corner to get under Bright as the two exited four. Both drivers on the throttle, skating back and fourth to the line the entirety of the front-stretch, with Bright just barely keeping the nose ahead of the Heffner Racing 5G to score his second straight win at Williams Grove over Danner, Bruno, Drevicki, and Mark Smith.
Alex Bright has been busy despite the series being off for nearly a month. Following a successful Eastern Storm with two runner up finishes, Bright grabbed an non-wing win at the I-55 Speedway only a few weeks ago. Since Lou Cicconi has come on board as the head crew chief of the Hummer Motorsports 20, they have been smooth and consistent, just as they were last year. Bright explained that he is a driver that needs the “Carrot on the stick” and while leading lost his aggressiveness, allowing Danner to close in late.
Briggs Danner is another driver who stayed busy during the off time and had a successful Eastern Storm, topped with a runner up finish at the Grandview Speedway. Danner struggled in his heat race, securing the final points inversion spot, and took most of the feature event to find his way to the front. Once Danner found the line he wanted, and the car wanted, he was the fastest car on track and cut through the top five with ease. Unfortunately it was a case of too little, too late, for Danner and the Heffner Racing South team.
Finishing out the podium was recent high school graduate Christian Bruno. Bruno picked up a pair of 600 sprint victories in the off weeks, including a $1,000 payday on Wednesday heading into Williams Grove. While the driver has had podiums with the series before, Friday night was without a doubt the strongest the team has looked in their entirety with the series. Bruno was challenging Bright late in the feature event, but could not get the car to react on the high side of the speedway.
Fourth on the field was former series champion Steven Drevicki, who continues to have a fantastic rebound year following an extremely difficult and challenging 2021 season. Drevicki sits solidly in third place behind Danner and Bright, and no doubt will end up picking up a feature event victory before the season is over.
If you talk to Mark Smith he will tell you “I don’t know what I’m doing” or “Im not a wingless guy.” When talking about non-wing sprint car racing. However, he’s not fooling a single person, especially with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series. Mark had the dominant car at Williams Grove until a power steering failure late in the Gallagher Memorial race, picked up an Eastern Storm heat win at Port Royal, along with a solid Silver Crown Series run. The veteran driver was again paired up with legendary car owner Lou Cicconi and the two picked up a respectable top five run after starting ninth. Not bad for the self proclaimed “not great” non-wing driver.
The series moves into a quick turn around, as all focus turns from the paper clip half mile of Williams Grove, to the tiny confines of Action Track USA for the first of two stops to the Kutztown, PA bull-ring on Wednesday, July 13th! Last season Briggs Danner picked up the inaugural win at the speedway. Look for many drivers to be pulling double duty on Wednesday night in both the USAC East Coast 360 division, along with the always entertaining wingless 600 sprints!
USAC East Coast At Williams Grove Results:
Heat 1 (8 Laps, All Qualify, 4 Invert): 1. 19 Steven Drevicki, 2. 20 Alex Bright, 3. 21 Carmen Perigo, 4. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 5. 75 Mark Smith, 6. 88J Joey Amantea, 7. 23m Kenny Miller lll, 8. 83s Billy Ney, 9. 12w Troy Fraker, DNS: 75x Bobby Butler
Heat 2 (8 Laps, All Qualify, 4 Invert): 1. 21k Tommy Kunsman, 2. 17B Christian Bruno, 3. 90 Colin White, 4. 5G Briggs Danner, 5. 7 Ed Aikin, 6. 23B Preston Lattomus, 7. 71 Chris Allen Jr, 8. 59 Steve Wilbur, 9. 67 Jason Cherry. DNS: 7B Aidan Borden.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 20 Alex Bright, 2. 5G Briggs Danner, 3. 17 Christin Bruno, 4. 19 Steven Drevicki, 5. 75 Mark Smith, 6. 7 Ed Aikin, 7. 88J Joey Amantea, 8. 23M Kenny Miller lll, 9, 21 Carmen Perigo Jr, 10. 23B Preston Lattomus, 11. 90 Colin White, 12. 67 Jason Cherry, 13. 21K Tommy Kunsman, 14. 12w Troy Fraker, 15. 59 Steve Wilbur, 16. 7B Aidan Borden, 17. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 18. 75X Bobby Butler, 19. 71 Chris Allen Jr, 20. 83s Billy Ney.
Lap Leaders: Carmen Perigo (1-10), Alex Bright (11-25).
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger: Alex Bright (7th-1st) +6. Briggs Danner +6 (8-2), Jason Cherry +6 (18-12), Kenny Miller +5 (13-8).