6/5/2021
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Drevicki Returns to USAC East Coast Victory Lane at Williams Grove
Mechanicsburg, PA, June 4th, 2021, Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
Steven Drevicki of Reading, PA found his way back to Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series presented by Capitol Renegade Victory Lane on Friday night at the Williams Grove Speedway. Drevicki defends his title as the only driver in series history to win at the Central Pennsylvania oval, and ends a five race run of Briggs Danner and Alex Bright finding victory lane.
Following heat race competition and the feature event redraw, Carmen Perigo Jr and Steve Buckwalter in his season debut, would share the front row for the twenty-five lap feature event. The initial green would quickly turn to yellow, then red as Joey Amantea, Aidan Borden, Mike Thompson, and Damon Paul were involved in an incident in turn one and two. While the yellow was being thrown, Lee Kauffman hopped over the right rear of another car down the backstretch and ended up flipping over the turn three wall. Kauffman would be ok following his incident on the backstretch.
Take two of the feature event green flag saw Carmen Perigo blast away to the lead of the feature event with Buckwalter, Kenny Miller and the rest of the field in tow. Steven Drevicki quickly made his way forward from his sixth place starting spot, and was up to the third place position by lap three. Other drivers quickly on the move were ninth starting Alex Bright, and seventh starter Tommy Kunsman.
In the early stages of the feature event, Perigo held a manageable lead over Steven Drevicki, with Kenny Miller settling into third with some breathing room over the balance of the field. The battle was on for positions four through eight as Steve Buckwalter, Briggs Danner, Alex Bright, and Tommy Kunsman began to quickly trade positions back and forth. Around the half way point of the feature event Drevicki began to close in hard on the rear bumper of leader Carmen Perigo, with the rest of the top five still being under intense dispute. Alex Bright and Briggs Danner would trade the fourth position a number of times, with Bright edging Danner for the time being.
Drevicki drew even with Perigo for the lead on lap fifteen of the feature event, but was unable to complete the pass on the outside lane of the speedway. The story changed on lap sixteen however, as Drevicki powered around the outside of Perigo to take the lead at the line. One lap after Drevicki moved into the lead, Kenny Miller lll utilized the low side of the speedway to work by Carmen Perigo and attempt to stay within reach of race leader Steven Drevicki.
Meanwhile, the battle for positions three through five remained ever intensifying as Briggs Danner would re-pass Alex Bright, and the two would draw in on the tail tank of Carmen Perigo, all the while catching both Miller and Drevicki at the front of the pack in lapped traffic. On lap twenty of the feature event the entire top five of the field was running in the same corner with Drevicki high, Miller low, Danner and Bright trading the high side and low side for positions three and four, with Perigo holding on in fifth, still within reach of the leader Drevicki.
With two laps to go, Briggs Danner found the low side of the speedway and worked by Kenny Miller for second, and quickly drew along side race leader Steven Drevicki. The two would battle side by side for the race lead over the final two laps with Drevicki continuing to nail his line around the high side of the speedway, with Danner running a near perfect diamond maneuver through the corners.
As the leaders came into turns three and four on the final lap, Danner again dove down to the bottom of the speedway and attempted to pull alongside Drevicki once again. Drevicki would fend off the charge and win the drag race down the front-stretch and grab his first feature event win of the season. Alex Bright came home third following contact with Kenny Miller on the last lap of the feature event, with Miller unfortunately suffering damage resulting in a DNF. Carmen Perigo wound up fourth after the last turn scuffle, with Tommy Kunsman Jr keeping up his consistency and finishing fifth.
Steven Drevicki has not had the great start the he is accustomed to so far on the 2021 tour, not gracing victory lane until Friday evening, and suffering a pair of finishes outside the top ten to go along with his three top fives. Drevicki will not be a full time series traveler in 2021 as he tests his merit against the USAC National Series for a number of events. Despite the up and down start, Drevicki finds himself third in series points, and has now collected his first feature win of the season. Drevicki is also the only driver who can claim credit for a victory at the Williams Grove Speedway. As the series heads to Lincoln tomorrow night, Drevicki is also, the only series feature event winner, and has plenty of experience at the Abbottstown oval.
Briggs Danner continues to impress as he came home with yet another finish on the podium. While never falling out of touch with the lead pack, Danner struggled some early on in the future event trying to explore different lanes around the Williams Grove Speedway in his first ever start. Danner found the bottom lane of the speedway and methodically picked his way through the top five, nearly grabbing his fourth victory of the season.
Alex Bright also kept his streak of finishing on the podium alive with a strong third place effort. Bright had been ahead of series points leader Briggs Danner early on in the feature event, before Danner snuck by in the closing laps. Bright is not letting Danner get away on any given night in the feature event, and continues to keep the rookie within his sights for the series points lead.
Carmen Perigo is a driver who pops in and out of series competition throughout the season, but is always extremely competitive wherever and whenever he shows up. The veteran super sportsman driver who has been behind the wheel of non-winged sprint cars for the last number of seasons, lead more than the first half of Fridays feature event before relinquishing the lead to Steven Drevicki, and falling back to fourth. Perigo will continue to make starts here and there throughout the 2021 season, and will to add his name to the list of series feature winners.
Rounding out the top five was rookie driver Tommy Kunsman who week after week consistency finishes inside the top ten. Kunsman seems to be stuck in the fourth to eight place positions as far as feature events are concerned, but if the consistency shown over the first six races of the season is any indication of what the rest of the year may be, the Bethlehem, PA driver could quickly find himself competing for feature event victories, and a shot at the series points title.
Ed Aikin nabbed his best finish of the season, along with driver Christian Bruno as both drivers finished inside the top ten, in sixth and seventh respectively.
Heartbreak fell upon Kenny Miller lll who looked to be well on his way to a top four finish, until a last lap incident with Alex Bright resulted in a DNF. Miller has contended for wins in multiple events so far in 2021, but just has not been able to put together a full feature event. No doubt the two time feature winner in 2020 will contend for victories in the future, and may even grab a few before the season is over.
Next up for the series is a second ever visit to the Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, PA tomorrow night alongside the 410 winged sprint cars, and the ARDC Midgets.
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USAC East Coast at Williams Grove Results:
Heat 1 (8 laps, three redraw, all qualify): 1. 21 Carmen Perigo, 2. 19 Steven Drevicki, 3. 20 Alex Bright, 4. 83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr, 5. 17m Christian Bruno, 6. 12w Troy Fraker, 7. 11 Mike Thompson DNS.
Heat 2 (8 laps, three redraw, all qualify): 1. 75 Steve Buckwalter, 2. 5G Briggs Danner 3. 7 Ed Aikin, 4. 3BC Nash Ely, 5. 117 David Swanson, 6. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 7. 88J Joey Amantea.
Heat 3 (8 laps, three redraw, all qualify): 1. 21k Tommy Kunsman, 2. 23m Kenny Miller, 3. 83s Billy Ney, 4. 96 Lee Kauffma, 5. 7B Aidan Borden, 6. 67 Jason Cherry, 7. 57 Damon Paul DNS.
Feature Event (25 Laps): 1. 19 Steven Drevicki, 2. 5G Briggs Danner, 3. 20 Alex Bright, 4. 21 Carmen Perigo, 5. 21k Tommy Kunsman, 6. 7 Ed Aikin, 7. 17m Christian Bruno, 8. 83 Bruce Buckwalter, 9. 75 Steve Buckwalter, 10. 3BC Nash Ely, 11. 117 David Swanson, 12. 17J Jonathan Swanson, 13. 88J Joey Amantea, 14. 23M Kenny Miller, 15. 11 Mike Thompson, 16. 12w Troy Fraker, 17. 7B Aidan Borden, 18. 67 Jason Cherry, 19. 83s Billy Ney, 20. 96 Lee Kauffman, 21. 57 Damon Paul.
Lap Leaders: 1-15: Carmen Perigo, 16-25: Steven Drevicki
Penske Shocks 1st Place: Steven Drevicki
Penske Shocks 2nd Place: Briggs Danner
Penske Shocks 3rd Place: Alex Bright
Ultra Shield 3rd Place: Alex Bright
Ultra Shield 8th Place: Bruce Buckwalter Jr
USAC East Coast Points Standings: 1. Briggs Danner 452, 2. Alex Bright 442 -10, 3. Steven Drevicki 374 -78, 4. Tommy Kunsman 358 -96, 5. Nash Ely 307 -145.
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman
