Story By: KASEY KREIDER / LINDA’S SPEEDWAY – JONESTOWN, PA – The list of accolades surrounding the career of Hazleton’s Ross Perchak is one that is simply too long to list.
Perchak is a former track champion, a seven-time 270 Micro Sprint National Open winner, and the all-time winningest driver at the Linda’s Speedway. And those are all just accomplishments at one track.
But Friday night, on an evening when he was honored as Linda’s Speedway’s newest Living Legend, Perchak added a new triumph to his legacy, becoming only the third driver to win their Living Legends feature event at the Jonestown quarter-mile.
Perchak had the second quickest car in time trials, and started in that position for the 25-lap feature. But Perchak found himself slotting into line in the third spot as the first few laps of the A-Main took place, trailing Alex Swift and Tommy Kunsman.
Swift was in control, but then lost power and pulled into the infield on lap 11, giving Kunsman the top spot. The nose-to-tail battle between those two continued until Perchak did the seemingly unthinkable, ducking under Kunsman and making the pass through a rough middle groove of the racetrack to take the top spot with nine laps remaining.
Once getting to the lead, Perchak scampered away with a fitting victory, and etched his name alongside Mike Dicely and Brett Bieber as the only other drivers to win a feature on their tribute nights.
Three other divisions all crowned their track champions on Friday night. In the annual Charger Championship race, Jeremy Ott drove away to a commanding win. But the drama was behind him, as Chucky Kimmel and Chris Warren entered the feature separated by only three points in the standings.
Warren and Kimmel were both mired in the back of the pack during the A-Main, but then things went from bad to worse for the points leader in Kimmel. The engine on his No. 10 machine let go, and he was forced to pull off the racetrack, setting him up for a 10th-place finish and leaving him as only a spectator for the last six laps of the race.
Warren was running in the sixth spot, good enough to beat Kimmel by one point. But Justin Riegel made a pass for the position with just two laps to go, and it seemed as if for the second time this season that Linda’s Speedway could’ve had co-champions.
But coming through the final corner, the Eric Hollenbach machine – a teammate to both Warren and Kimmel – suddenly lost power. In the charge for the finish line, Warren was just able to beat Hollenbach to the stripe, giving him the 2024 Charger division championship outright.
There was a bit less drama to be had in the other two classes, as Ryan Groff put together a strong third-place run to capture his first Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Wingless 600 Micro Sprint track championship at the speedway. Meanwhile, former National Open champion Alex Ruppert backed up his July Speedweek race victory by leading Friday night’s 25-lapper wire-to-wire.
In the 600 Modified class, Tyler Bartik cruised to his first Linda’s Speedway title, as a consistent season for the Allentown native was capped off with a fifth-place result. Richie Hitzler continued his late-season hot streak, passing sister Tiffany Hitzler with five laps to go to bag his third straight win.
As a result of the rainouts on Sept. 27, Ken Buck clinched his first Linda’s Speedway championship after over two decades of trying in the Front Wheel Drive division. Hailey Eroh was well out in front regardless, and locked up the J&J Auto Body Junior Slingshots title.
The Linda’s Speedway returns on Friday, Oct. 11 for the final race before the 35th National Open. The event will feature the 270 Micro Sprints, Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, and the Junior Sprints in their final tune-ups before the big show. Joining them on the schedule will be the Xcel 600 Modified Tour, as well as non-points, makeup races for the Front Wheel Drives, All Star Slingshots, and Junior Slingshots.