Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – ACCORD, NY – After a few years absence, the King of the Catskills race returned to the Accord Speedway on Friday.
At the end of the night, there was a familiar face that returned for the night wearing the king’s crown and garb at the end of the 50-lap race…Anthony Perrego.
Perrego passed early leader Danny Tyler and went on to win the King of the Catskills over invading racer, Billy Pauch Jr.
The win was Perrego’s 15th career Modified victory at Accord, his first since the 2021 Battle at the Bullring.
The race also carried the designation as the Ron Van Etten Memorial. The winner’s share of the purse was $7,000 thanks to Associates Golf Car and the Van Etten family.
After the redraw, Danny Tyler and Rich Ricci Jr. had the prime front row starting spots. Tyler got off to a good start, leading over Ricci Jr. and John Ferrier. Perrego moved up from 6th starting spot to 3rd by lap 5. On lap 10, the first caution was out for Rich Ricci III and John Brown in turn 2. Richard Smith and Bobby Hackel headed to the pits. Smith returned to the race, Hackel did not.
The restart saw a big pileup in turn 2. Danny Creeden and Andy Bachetti pitted and retired from the race. Perrego grabbed 2nd on the restart and on lap 14, he got inside Tyler and completed the pass for the lead.
After a lap 18 caution, it was Perrego leading over Tyler, Craig Mitchell and Pauch Jr., up from 11th starting spot. lap 19 saw Pauch Jr. move past Mitchell to take 3rd. As Perrego was comfortably out front, Pauch Jr. began pressuring Tyler for 2nd, Halfway saw Perrego leading Tyler, Pauch Jr., Mitchell, Jerry Higbie and Joe Judge.
On lap 32, Pauch Jr. was able to clear Tyler for 2nd. Lap 38 saw caution slowing the field down. Perrego took off on the restart, keeping a safe cushion between himself and Pauch Jr. But as the laps counted down, the lead stabilized with Pauch Jr. not too far behind. Caution with 2 to go for Jimmy Wells gave Pauch Jr. one more shot at taking the king’s crown. But Perrego pulled out to win by a margin of 7/8ths of a second. Pauch Jr., Tyler, Mitchell and Higbie completed the top five running order. Completing the top 10 were Judge, Brett Graham, Chris Stevens, Ricci Jr. and Ricci III.
“The car was really good early on and we were able to really roll the bottom. I think that one restart, Danny Tyler got tight and we went by him,” Perrego said in Victory Lane.
Not having a regular racing stop on Friday’s made the decision to run for the 7g’s an easy one.
“Not racing on Friday’s, we’re able to skip around quite a bit. It was nice of Gary (Palmer) to put this on, it’s a good paying race. It means a lot to come back. We spent a lot of years racing here and Gary does a great job.”
Travis Green won his 2nd feature of the season at Accord Speedway on Friday, leading the entire 25 laps. Jimmy Johnson was a close 2nd with Kevin Stevens 3rd, Ryan Stortini 4th and Aidan Elliott 5th. Positions 6 thru 10 were Tyler Johnston, Eddie Owens, Brian Durbin, Scott Zehnacker and George Begg,
Dave Demorest survived a rough and tumble race to grab his 2nd win of the season in the Pure Stocks. Joe Narok was 2nd, John Hechinger 3rd, Phil Goetschius 4th and Preston Demorest 5th. Joe Smith was 6th followed by Jayden Sleight, Hunter Lee, Wayne Taylor and Walt Henry.
Andrew Sabo took his first win of the season in the Rookie Sportsman on Friday. Kyle Smith was 2nd, Darryl Collins 3rd, Tommy Marshall 4th and John Cole Jr. 5th.
It was win number 5 on the season for Amber Baccaglini in the All Star Sprints. Madison Lewis was 2nd, Sophia Spear 3rd and Rob Charmello 4th.
Bodie Marks scored win number 3 on the season in the Junior Slingshots. Brayden Traver was 2nd, Chase See 3rd, EJ Hatch 4th and Preston Trautschold 5th.
Robert Beach is now a 4 time Fireball 4 Cylinder winner this year, taking Friday’s win. Dave Donovan was 2nd, Jeff DeGroat 3rd, Jerry Kingeter 4th and George Barringer 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Tim DeGrote, Garrett Biagiarelli, Ed King, Chris Dyer and Ryan Heady.
The popular Camera and Autograph Night is rescheduled at Accord Speedway for this upcoming Friday, August 19th.