RPW Exclusive: Phelps & Perrego Tighten Super DIRTcar Points With Great Runs At Weedsport

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEEDSPORT, NY – The roll that Jimmy Phelps has been on lately in Super DIRTcar competition continued Sunday night in the Hall of Fame 100 at the Weedsport Speedway with a bunch of laps led, a second place finish, and a guaranteed spot for Super DIRT Week in October.

However, Anthony Perrego, who finished third on the night, is also gaining momentum on tour.

For Phelps, Sunday was his third consecutive podium finish against the Super DIRTcar Series’ best while Perrego continued his string of top 10 finishes to start 2024 on the Tour.

Couple that with an uncharacteristic off night for Matt Sheppard, who finished ninth on Sunday at Weedsport, and a mechanical failure for point leader Mat Williamson while the #88 was in the top five on lap 68 (finished 23rd), and you have one of the tightest Series point battles in ages.

After Sunday night’s race, Sheppard now has a two point lead over Perrego, three over Phelps with Williamson just ten back.  Not to be included in the party, Peter Britten is fifth in points, just 31 markers out of first.

The 2024 Super DIRTcar Series has the makings of a true historic battle right down to the end.

On Sunday at the Port, Phelps appeared to have a good car from the drop of the green flag for the 100-lap affair but lap traffic while leading gave him fits and looked to make the HBR driver use up his equipment a bit too early.

“We were just too good too early tonight,” Phelps said.  “We kind of got rolling there pretty good and maybe I was spinning my right rear tire too hard.  It blistered out pretty good and we faded.”

It was another solid effort on the Tour for the Baldwinsville Bandit on this night.  Even he knew the best car was probably standing on Victory Hill at the end of the race, driver 98H believes he and Perrego deserved to be up there as well.

“All-in-all, that 44 was awfully good tonight,” he said.  “I know Anthony was coming there at the end and we were kind of playing ‘defense’ mode.  This was just a great night for the HBR Team.”

It’s the effort put forth by the entire HBR team, as well as the driver behind the wheel, that has Jimmy enjoying one of the most consistent seasons of his racing career so far in 2024.

“The guys on this crew have been working really hard on our program this year,” he said.  “It’s really starting to show.  Thanks to J&B Installations, Mohawk Northeast and all of the sponsors on this car.  This was a good points night for us.  We’ll take it and keep digging.”

After making the redraw but pulling the worst number (12), Anthony Perrego put on a charge to the front of the field in the Hall of Fame 100 Sunday evening to place third at the finish.

The Vinny Salerno-owned #4* machine was one of the fastest cars on track for a good portion of the event and Perrego got the result to show it.

“All-in-all, we had a great car tonight,” Perrego said.  “To come from 12th, we just kind of used and abused this thing.  I think when we got up to third that’s all we had.”

Perrego could see that the handling had gone away on Phelps’ machine.  However, he was struggling with his ride as well.

“I think Jimmy was fading there at the end,” he said.  “We got all over him but he was smart enough to move his lane and protect.”

Though it wasn’t a win, Perrego was happy with a third after starting deep on the grid.  He’s also looking ‘big picture’ as he chases his first Super DIRTcar Series crown.

“We’ll take a third after starting 12th,” he said.  “This was a great points night with both Matt (Sheppard) and Mat (Williamson) being further back in the finish rundown.”

He may be happy with third, but he was to get back to victory lane on the Tour.

“We’ll keep digging,” he said.  “These top three’s kind of sting but we’ll win another one of these things one of these days.”

Next up for the Super DIRTcar Series will be a trip north of the border for a trio of events in Canada July 22-24th.  Two stops at Autodrome Drummond and one at Brockville Ontario Speedway awaits before the annual DIRTcar SummerFAST mini-series goes green in the early part of August.