Bloomsburg, PA. August 6th, 2021. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
Allentown, PA driver Briggs Danner added another winning performance to his resume with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series by passing veteran driver Carmen Perigo Jr late in the feature event to collect his seventh feature event victory of the 2021 season.
The front row of the thirty lap feature event featured invader driver Justin Grant, and crafty veteran Carmen Perigo Jr side by side leading us to the green flag. On the initial start, Grant had a superb start taking the lead over a hungry Perigo who stayed right on the rear of the Cicconi Racing 75 entry. Grant held a small lead over grant as the laps began to be added into the record book for series competition. Briggs Danner was already on the move early in the stages of the feature moving into the top three by the completion of lap four.
The first yellow flag of the feature flew in turns three and four as race leader Justin Grant began to set himself up for turn four and began to over-rotate the car on lap six. Second place Carmen Perigo Jr tagged the rear of the 75 car and sent Grant for a 360 spin in turn four. Grant per all USAC Series rules would start at the rear of the field for the feature. Unfortunately, Grant would not return to the rear of the field and would drop out of the feature event.
Perigo lead the field to green on the ensuing restart of the feature with Danner glued to the rear bumper of the 21 machine with Damon Paul, Tommy Kunsman, and Alex Bright rounding out the top five. As laps continued to get put into the record books Alex Bright had worked his way into fifth from his ninth place starting spot, with Damon Paul working his way into third. The first half of the field were all glued to the cushion of the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds as the field began to encounter lapped traffic, who at the time were staying to the bottom side of the speedway. The second caution of the evening would fly on lap fourteen as Nash Ely would get together with Jason Cherry and both drivers would stop in turn three.
The restart around the halfway mark of the feature event had Perigo remaining the leader over: Danner, Paul, Kunsman, Bright and Steven Drevicki. On the restart, Danner stayed right with Perigo for the race lead drawing along side in turn one, with Perigo standing on the gas and retaking the race lead off of turn two. While the top two began to battle for the lead, Alex Bright moved by Tommy Kunsman for fourth and started his quest for the final podium spot on last weeks winner Damon Paul.
By lap twenty-three of the feature, Perigo and Danner began to trade the top spot back and forth with Perigo coming out on top of the battle to start. The lead duo also began to encounter lapped traffic again as the laps dwindled in the thirty lap main. Damon Paul continued to be under pressure from Alex Bright for third, with the rest of the top six spots remaining relatively calm.
Perigo continued to lead the feature with Danner remaining right on the bumper of the veteran driver. Perigo made a dazzling move into turns one and two splitting lapped cars to hit the cushion and get at bit of breathing room over Danner for a lap or two. Ultimately, Danner would draw along side leader Perigo on lap twenty-six, with Danner moving into the race lead on lap twenty-seven. From there on, it was smooth sailing as Briggs Danner picked up his seventh, Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, presented by Capitol Custom Trails feature event of the season. Carmen Perigo, Damon Paul, Alex Bright, and Tommy Kunsman rounded out the top five.
The win on Friday for Danner was a bit of redemption for the outstanding rookie driver, as last week at Winchester was a bit of a disappointing outing for the team following a mistake running inside the top three. Danner and the Gallagher Racing team lead by Curt Michael had a great set up in the 5G for Fridays main event allowing Danner to utilize the high line, and the low line when needed in the feature event. With the feature win on Friday, it has allowed Dinner and team to retake the points lead by just one singular point over Alex Bright and Hummer Motorsports heading into Selinsgrove where both drivers have won a feature this season.
Carmen Perigo and finishing second after leading the majority of the feature event laps, is a tune that Perigo and team are beginning to get sick of. Perigo has lead multiple features over the existence of the USAC East Coast Series, but has yet to seal the deal and end up in victory lane. As always, despite the success, and understandable disappointment of running second, the jovial Perigo simply laughed and stated “Were going to win one of these sometime” as the team loaded up to make the trip back to Stoystown, PA. Look for Perigo to be behind the wheel of the teams Silver Crown series entry on Sunday where they will look to repeat a top five effort from last season.
Damon Paul continued to prove that the speed he and the Cicconi Racing team have found over the last few weeks is no joke. Coming off of a big win at the Winchester Speedway on Saturday, the team again had a great outing with Paul holding off points leader Alex Bright for the final spot on the podium which is no easy feat with the immense speed that Bright has shown thus far. Look for Paul to continue to contend for more victories as the rest of the season continues on.
Fourth place ended up belonging to second place points man Alex Bright, after a hard fought battle with Damon Paul. Bright being one of two drivers to compete in both the midget and sprint car on Friday, had a busy night switching back and forth between the two cars all night. The Hummer Motorsports team with Crew Chief Brian Zyck, had yet another impressive run on Friday rebounding to fourth from their ninth place redraw spot earning them the hard charger honors for Friday night.
Rounding out the top five was Bethlehem, PA driver Tommy Kunsman Jr. Kunsman missed the last three events on the schedule due to prior racing commitments, but looked like he didn’t miss a beat on Friday night competing with the series best inside the top five all night long. Kunsman has remained inside the top five in points throughout the season and has continually been knocking at the door of his first career win. Kunsman and team will keep up the hard work as they continue to look for their first career victory.
Up next for the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is the third and final trip of the year to the Selinsgrove Speedway on August 8th, along side the USAC Silver Crown Series in a unique non-winged double.
USAC East Coast at Bloomsburg Results:
Heat 1 (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 21 Carmen Perigo, 2. 20 Alex Bright, 3. 75 Justin Grant, 4. 64 Rich Carnathan, 5. 16cw Eric Jennings, 6. 83s Billy Ney, 7. 32 Colin White, 8. 12W Troy Fraker.
Heat 2 (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 5G Briggs Danner, 2. 21k Tommy Kunsman, 3. 19 Steven Drevicki, 4. 23m Kenny Miller lll, 5. 7 Ed Aikin, 6. 11 Mike Thompson, 7. 67 Jason Cherry, 8. 117 David Swanson.
Heat 3 (8 Laps, 5 Qualify, 3 Redraw): 1. 17m Christian Bruno, 2. 57 Damon Paul, 3. 3BC Nash Ely, 4. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 5. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 6. 88J Joey Amantea, 7. 22b Jacob Balliet.
Semi Feature (8 Laps, 5 Qualify): 1. 32 Colin White, 2. 88J Joey Amantea, 3. 83s Billy Ney, 4. 11 Mike Thompson, 5. 22b Jacob Balliet, 6. 67 Jason Cherry, 7. 12w Troy Fraker, 8. 117 David Swanson.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5G Briggs Danner, 2. 21 Carmen Perigo, 3. 57 Damon Paul, 4. 20 Alex Bright, 5. 21k Tommy Kunsman, 6. 19 Steven Drevicki, 7. 17m Christian Bruno, 8. 23m Kenny Miller lll, 9. 16cw Eric Jennings, 10. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 11. 3BC Nash Ely, 12. 32 Colin White, 13. 64 Rich Carnathan, 14. 7 Ed Aikin, 15. 88J Joey Amantea, 16. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 17. 11 Mike Thompson, 18. 83s Billy Ney, 19. 22b Jacob Balliet, 20. 67 Jason Cherry, 21. 12w Troy Fraker, 22. 75 Justin Grant, 23. 117 David Swanson.
Lap Leaders: Justin Grant (1-5), Carmen Perigo Jr (6-26), Briggs Danner (27-30).
Penske Shocks $100: Briggs Danner
Penske Shocks $50: Carmen Perigo Jr
Penske Shocks $25: Damon Paul
Ultra Shield 3rd Place: Damon Paul
Ultra Shield 6th Place: Steven Drevicki
Vahlco Wheels Hard Charger $50: Alex Bright 9th to 5th