Anthony Perrego led all 75 laps as he dominated the Super DIRTCar Series “Anthracite Assault” last night at the Big Diamond Speedway holding off SDS points leader Matt Sheppard. The USS Achey Inc Crate 602 Sportsman feature was a wild one at the end as Danny Buccafusca and Mike Loney came up on a lapped car and crashed across the finish line with Buccafusca getting the win. Chuck Fayash held off Kris Ney to win the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner feature.
Anthony Perrego and Felix Roy led the 28-car Super DIRTCar series field to the green flag with Perrego immediately jumping out to the lead. Perrego was pacing the field as Mat Williamson took advantage of a Roy stumble in turns three and four to steal the second spot away. Perrego had started to open a large lead as starter Dave Farney threw the first yellow flag of the race for Steve Bernard who slowed. When the race resumed, it was Perrego still in front as 4th place starter and defending winner of this race Matt Sheppard was making moves towards the front getting past Roy on the outside to move to the third spot. Sheppard and Williamson were engaged in a battle for second as Perrego pulled away. Lap 23 saw Mike Mahney start to make his presence known as he moved past Roy into fourth and started to insert himself into the battle with Sheppard and Williamson.
Lap 30 saw Perrego catching the tail of the field and having to deal with lapping cars. With Perrego’s pace being slowed by the lapped cars, Williamson and Sheppard started to draw a bead on the leader. Perrego managed to put the car of Nick Rochinski a lap down and start to stretch his lead once again. Meanwhile, Williamson and Sheppard now had to deal with the lapped car of Rochinski. Williamson tried the outside to pass Rochinski and when he did, Sheppard dove to the bottom and went by Williamson for second place. Perrego continued to stretch his lead as now Sheppard was being held up getting around the lapped cars. Once Sheppard was able to get some clear track, he started to track down Perrego and quickly charged to the front. With 25 laps to go, Sheppard had closed the gap to under five car lengths and on lap 54 was now on the back bumper of the Vinnie Salerno No. 4* modified.
Perrego kept his car down low knowing that the bottom groove was the place to be and forcing Sheppard to try and make his move on the outside. While Perrego and Sheppard were neck and neck for the lead, Williamson was making his way back towards the front two. With the track being bottom dominant in the late stages, Sheppard could do nothing but follow Perrego as the field came to 10 laps to go. Lap 67 saw Perrego go to the outside to try and put a lap on Max McLaughlin, Sheppard made his move and kept the No. 9S on the low side and pulled alongside Perrego through turns one and two. Perrego was able to outpower Sheppard down the backstretch with the two leaders making light contact.
The long green flag run came to an end on lap 71 as Mike Gular slowed with a flat tire. During the yellow Roy stopped in turn four requiring wrecker service. Perrego led the way for the single file restart with Sheppard desparetly trying to make a move on outside as they went back to green. Sheppard was determined and kept it up top as Perrego maintained his line on the bottom. Perrego was up to the task as he was able to stay in front when the last yellow of the race was put out for Alex Yankowski who slowed and pitted with a flat tire. It was Deja Vue for Perrego as Sheppard once again went to the top side, but Perrego never flinched and was able to hold off the multiple time champion for the big $7,500 win. Sheppard finished second with Williamson, Mahaney and Britten the top five.
“My car was really fading there, and I don’t know how Matt (Sheppard) was running the middle like he was,” as Perrego spoke with pit reporter Mike Mallett in victory lane. “We were able to hang on, we made a little contact down there in turn three fighting for the rubber. Once time there in lapped traffic, I was trying to get around Max (McLaughlin) and he snuck under me, and I got back to the bottom, and he raced me really clean. We work really hard on these things and finally tonight everything came in line. We time trialed okay, got into the redraw and got lucky there and was able to hold on. Matt is really good, and it was finally good to be able to get one from him.”
The USS Achey Crate 602 feature saw Mike Loney leading the way at the start. Multiple yellows slowed the action with track officials calling for single file restarts the rest of the way. Through all of the cautions, Loney continued to lead with fourth-place starter Danny Buccafusca now second and moving in on the leader. As starter Jeff Merkel threw the white flag signaling one lap to go, Buccafusca was all over the back of the leader Loney. Loney drifted off the bottom coming into turn three just enough for Buccafusca to make a move for the lead. Buccafusca drove it hard into turn three and pulled alongside the No. 17 of Loney. The two cars came off turn four side by side banging quarter panels, with neither driver wanting to give an inch. The two leaders came up on a group of lapped cars quickly when suddenly one of the cars slowed causing Loney to plow into the back of the car and sending him into Buccafusca just as they were crossing the finish line. Buccafusca was ahead as the took the checkered flag giving him the win over Loney
Chuck Fayash was the winner of the Red White and Blue Roadrunners feature event after a hard battle with Kris Ney who spun trying to the lead on the last lap. Fayash was the winner over CJ Ferguson, TJ Fitzpatrick, Tonya Lance & Kris Ney.
Full Results from the Anthracite Assault – July 11, 2023
Modified Super DIRTCar Series: 1. Anthony Perrego 2. Matt Sheppard 3. Mat Williamson 4. Mike Mahaney 5. Peter Britten 6. Darren Smith 7. Jack Lehner 8. Tim Sears Jr 9. Chris Hile 10. Larry Wight 11. Ronnie Davis III 12. Nick Rochinski 13. Max McLaughlin 14. Mathieu Desjardins 15. Louden Reimert 16. Alex Yankowski 17. Felix Roy 18. Mike Gular 19. Jeff Strunk 20. Adam Pierson 21. Billy Pauch Jr 22. CG Morey 23. Steve Bernard 24. Jimmy Phelps 25. Marcus Dinkins 26. Sam Martz
Did Not Qualify: Sammy Martz Jr, Matt Stangle, Justin Stone, Mike Tyson & Mike Trautschold
Modified Heat Winners: Darren Smith, Peter Britten & Matt Sheppard
Last Chance Qualifier: Larry Wight
USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman: 1. Danny Buccafusca 2. Mike Loney 3. Xavier Sprague 4. Talan Carter 5. Matt Yoder 6. Kevin Olenick 7. Jordan Henn 8. Logan Watt 9. Jax Yohn 10. Hunter Iatalese 11. Justin Lilick 12. Kyle Kania 13. Brennan Chapman 14. Tim Borror 15. Donne Broderick 16. Josh Mooney 17. Marty Shappell 18. Kevin Kaplafka
Crate 602 Sportsman Heat Winners: Matt Yoder & Danny Buccafusca
Penske Shocks Gift Certificate Winners: Danny Buccafusca ($100), Mike Loney ($75) & Xavier Sprague ($50)
Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners: 1. Chuck Fayash 2. CJ Ferguson 3. TJ Fitzpatrick 4. Tonya Lance 5. Kris Ney 6. Alex Schoffstall 7. Jim Kost 8. Joe Bassininsky 9. Eric Buchinski
Roadrunner Heat Winner: CJ Ferguson