Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – Anthony Perrego is the defending champion of both the United Rentals Big Block Modifieds and the H.O. Penn Small Block Modified divisions at the Orange County Fair Speedway.
The soft-spoken Anthony made a large statement Saturday night that he will again be in serious contention for both titles as he raced to victories in both the Modifieds and Small Block Modifieds.
Dillon Steuer and Alex Yankowski led the field to green with Steuer taking the top spot. Yankowski took the lead on lap 4 as it became a 3 car race as Stewart Friesen was in the hunt. Friesen got by both Yankowski and Steuer on lap 6 to take the top spot. Perrego was on the move early in the race, moving up from 8th to 4th by lap 6. Anthony took 3rd from Steuer on lap 8 and 2nd from Yankowski on lap 10. Effective in the high groove, he began the chase of Friesen.
Stan Frankenfield brought out the first caution of the race with a spin on lap 14. Perrego got the jump on the outside and pulled out to a comfortable lead on Friesen, After another brief caution, the fate of the race was just how well Perrego could move through lapped traffic. And he did so with ease. Mike Mahaney made an appearance at OCFS on Saturday and he ran in 3rd spot for the 2nd half of the race.
At the finish, it was Perrego 1 1/2 seconds over Friesen with Mahaney 3rd. Friesen and Mahaney were taking a chance on clinching a spot in the playoff for the $30,000 Modified championship. They had good runs, but they are down to only one event to try to make it into the round of 12. Danny Creeden advanced from 11th starting spot to finish 4th with Yankowski 5th. Tanner VanDoren finished 6th with Steuer 7th, Charles Loiodice 8th, Max McLaughlin 9th and Billy VanInwegen 10th.
It was a much tougher race for Perrego in the Small Block Modifieds as it took a late race pass for Anthony to take the win. But he got the job done and by doing so, he won a $1,000 bonus from Wicked Truck Worx of Montgomery, NY for sweeping the Big Block and Small Block features.
Steuer went from 3rd to 1st at the start and started putting down some very fast laps. Loiodice ran 2nd until lap 10 when Creeden took the spot. Perrego had made steady progress through the field from his 13th starting spot, cracking the top 5 by lap 10. On lap 12, Perrego took 2nd from Creeden. With 5 to go, Perrego was closing in on Steuer and with 2 to go, made the pass in turn 3. At the finish, it was Perrego by 1 1/2 seconds over Steuer. Creeden finished 3rd with Craig Mitchell 4th and Tyler Boniface 5th. The balance of the top 10 were Loiodice 6th, VanInwegen 7th, Corey Cormier 8th, Jimmy Horton 9th and Chris Staeens 10th.
Cody Higbie, fresh off his graduation the night before from Minisink Valley High School, raced his way to a graduation present, a victory in Saturday’s Arkel Motors Sportsman feature.
Jared LaBagh was the early leader and set the pace for the first 7 laps. Higbie had made up quite a few spots early and by lap 5, he was in a battle with LaBagh for the lead. Cody made the pass on Jared on lap 8, but Tighe Sherlock was right in the mix for the lead. Sherlock had a couple of looks on Higbie, but was never able to make the pass. At the finish, it was a 1.6 second margin of victory for Higbie over Sherlock. Grant Hilfiger raced from 16th starting spot to finish 3rd. Ryan Neiger was 4th and Mike Sabia 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Josh Allen 6th, LaBagh 7th, Travis Green 8th, Tyler Peet 9th and Kasey Hufcut 10th.
Dillon Gannon continued his recent run of successes in racing with his 2nd straight North East Parts Group Street Stock feature win.
Ray Tarantino had the look of a possible feature winner in this one, leading the first 9 laps and looking fast. Gannon got into 2nd on lap 8 and took the lead on a lap 10 restart. It was bad luck for Tarantino with 2 to go. John Tucker spun in front of Tarantino and Ray could not avoid contact and he got a left front flat. At the checkers, it was Gannon the winner with Jim Hajkowski 2nd, Jack Beaumont 3rd, Mike Vigiletti 4th and Charlie Donald 5th. Walt Henry was 6th with Wayne Taylor 7th, Tom Deak Jr. 8th, Bob Sleight 9th and Doug Sterling 10th.
The most serious incident of the evening saw veteran racer Richie Eurich flip his #10 Big Block after contact with Craig Mitchell’s car. Glad to report that Richie was not injured.
Racing returns to the House of Power on Saturday, July 2nd. The Modifieds will be having a 76 lap $7,600 to win event. Also in action will be the Small Block Modifieds, the Sportsman and the Precision Hydraulic and Oil Rookie Sportsman.