Story By: BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY – MINERSVILLE, PA – Anthony Perrego and the Vinnie Salerno Four-Star Racing team are making a habit of stealing the big money shows here at the Big Diamond Speedway.
The powerful duo continued their big show dominance last night in winning the 11th annual Money in the Mountains / Fritz Roehrig memorial race. Perrego led all 50 laps to take home the $10,000 first place prize for the Quandel Concrete Modifieds.
Crate rookie graduate Jax Yohn held off the challenges of Colin Cox to win the $1,000 first place prize in the USS Achey Inc Crate 602 sportsman while second generation driver Chase Gular captured his first ever win in the Big Creek Concrete 602 Crate rookie feature. Chuck Fayash and Jarrod Bassininsky were the winners of the two Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner features.
Anthony Perrego and Craig Von Dohren led the 24-car field to the green flag in the 50-lap Quandel Concrete Money in the Mountains Modified feature with Perrego sprinting out to the lead as Rick Laubach vaulted past Von Dohren and into second. The first yellow of the race was put out by starter Warren Alston after only one lap when Duane Howard spun the Getz Motorsports No. 15G coming down the front stretch. Howard was able to head to the pits under his own power as the crew made quick repairs and sent him back out to rejoin the race. The race restarted with Perrego still in command. A huge crash occurred in turn three as Ryan Krachun re-entered the track going into turn three after going off the backstretch. Krachun came together with a hard charging Jack Butler who ended up going up and over. The red flag was immediately put out, stopping the field. Thankfully both Butler and Krachun were okay after the hard crash which also involved Wayne Witmer. While all of that was going on, Big Diamond’s all-time leader in wins Craig Von Dohren had stopped in turn four requiring a tow to the pits. Howard was also involved as he spun to avoid the slowing car of Von Dohren.
After a lengthy cleanup, the racing resumed with Perrego once again in charge, leading the way over Laubach who now had to deal with the hard charging Tim Buckwalter who was challenging for second with Mike Gular and Louden Reimert close behind. Buckwalter was putting the pressure on Laubach for second, but it was Laubach continuing to hold the runner up spot. While the battles were going on throughout the top five, the race still belonged to Perrego as he started to lap the tail end of the field as lap 15 was on the board. After a good stretch of racing, the yellow was out for the No. 4M of Logan Watt who slowed to a stop in turn four. Back to green flag racing, Perrego continued his dominance as he quickly pulled away from Laubach who was battling hard with Buckwalter for second. Meanwhile, Reimert worked his way past Gular and was now in fourth as the racing was slowed again for a spin by Heath Metzger.
Perrego once again asserted himself as the car to beat on the restart as Reimert was able to get by Buckwalter for third and start to pressure Laubach for second. Defending modified track champion Brett Kressley, who hovered around top ten for most of the race, suddenly pulled the No. 19K off the track as the field was taking the halfway signal. The race had settled down at this point with Perrego leading Laubach, Reimert, Buckwalter and Gular as the last yellow of the race was thrown on lap 39 when Dominick Buffalino went around in turn two. There was no denying Perrego on this night as he easily pulled away from the field on the restart to lead the remaining eleven laps. The last restart proved detrimental to Buckwalter as he was caught up on the outside allowing both Gular and Jeff Strunk to get by dropping Buckwalter to sixth. But this night belonged to Perrego as he streaked across the line to take the big $10,000 first-place prize. Rick Laubach, Louden Reimert, Mike Gular, Jeff Strunk, Timmy Buckwalter, Jared Umbenhauer, Duane Howard, Matt Yoder and Dave Dissinger completed the top ten.
“A lot of it was that we had luck on our side tonight,” said the happy Perrego from victory lane. “Got ourselves a good draw tonight coming in the gate and got a good redraw. All in all, we had a great racecar. It really drove flawlessly tonight; we went back to our notebook and kind of seen what we did a couple of other races here and it really paid off.”
Next feature on the track was the 20-lap USS Achey Inc Crate 602 Sportsman which featured a couple of young guns from last year’s rookie class leading the way in Jax Yohn and Bryce Bashore. Yohn took off from his pole starting spot to lead the way with teenager Colin Cox slipping by Bashore for the runner-up spot. Cox was able to keep pace with Yohn throughout the race and made a bold bid for the lead on a lap 17 restart using the outside lane. Cox was able to stay even with Yohn through turns one and two and down the backstretch but just could not find the bite he needed through turns three and four to take the lead. With Cox now hung up on the outside, defending USS Achey Inc Crate 602 points champion Jordan Henn was able to slip by Cox for the second spot as the leaders were taking the two to go flags. Henn tried to put the pressure on Yohn for the lead but to no avail as Yohn was able to take the big $1,000 feature win. Following Yohn across the line were Henn, Cox, Joe Toth and Paulie Hartwig III.
It was night number one for the Big Creek Concrete Rookie Crate 602’s and coming away with the convincing win was Chase Gular, son of modified standout Mike Gular. Gular led all 15 laps to take the big win over Steven Smith III, Reice Widger, Duke Stafursky and Danica Getz.
The Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners were racing double features on this night as they ran their makeup feature from last Friday’s Thaw Brawl and their regularly scheduled feature. Chuck Fayash led from start to finish holding off a hard charging Kris Ney for the win in the makeup 20-lap race. In the nightcap, it was Jarod Bassininsky taking the lead from Jim Kost on lap seven to win his first career feature race.
Full Results from Friday night, April 26th – Money in the Mountains
Quandel Concrete 358 Modifieds
Feature Finish – ANTHONY PERREGO, Rick Laubach, Louden Reimert, Mike Gular, Jeff Strunk, Timmy Buckwalter, Jared Umbenhauer, Duane Howard, Matt Yoder, Dave Dissinger, Brett Tonkin, Dominick Buffalino, Bryan Rhoads, Kevin Beach Jr, Aleia Geisler, Brett Kressley, Heath Metzger, Logan Watt, Craig Von Dohren, Ryan Krachun, Jack Butler, Wayne Witmer, Justin Grim, Brandon Edgar
Did Not Qualify – Eddie Strada, Bobby Trapper Jr, Ryan Watt, Shawn Fitzpatrick, Matt Stangle, Michael Burrows, Ken Eckert Jr, Cale Ross, Doug Smith Jr, Coleby Frye, Scott Albert, Cliff Quinn, Mike Lisowski
Heat Winners – Mike Gular, Dominick Buffalino, Craig Von Dohren, Jared Umbenhauer
Consi Winners – Dave Dissinger & Brett Tonkin
Contingency Winners
Penske Racing Shocks Certificates
$100 – Anthony Perrego
$75 – Rick Laubach
$50 – Louden Reimert
USS Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman
Feature Finish – JAX YOHN, Jordan Henn, Colin Cox, Joe Toth, Paulie Hartwig III, Nick DeSantis, Kevin Olenick, Bryce Bashore, Xavier Sprague, Brennan Chapman, Zach Steffey, Logan Starr, John McGeoy, Scottie Heilman, Daryl Dissinger, Glenn Rowan, Matt Martino, Troy Conrad, Brandon Firestine, Tim Borror, Tyler Vidal, Dirk Rimrott
Heat Winners – Colin Cox, Bryce Bashore, Jordan Henn
Contingency Winners
Penske Racing Shocks Certificates
$100 – Jax Yohn
$75 – Jordan Henn
$50 – Colin Cox
Big Creek Concrete Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman
Feature Finish – CHASE GULAR, Stephen Smith III, Reice Widger, Duke Stafursky, Danica Getz, McKenzi Smith, Christopher Buffalino, Teague Miller, Peyton Leindecker, Dan Adare
Contingency Winners
Penske Racing Shocks Certificates
$100 – Chase Gular
$75 – Stephen Smith III
$50 – Reice Widger
Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners
Feature Finish – JAROD BASSININSKY, Andrew Fayash III, TJ Fitzpatrick, Kris Ney, Alex Schoffstall, CJ Ferguson, Mike Reichert, Jim Kost, Ryan Murphy, Terry Kramer, Chuck Fayash
Did Not Start – Mike Allvord, Tonya Lance, Eric Buchinski
Thaw Brawl Makeup Feature Finish – CHUCK FAYASH, Kris Ney, Alex Schoffstall, Andrew Fayash III, Jarod Bassininsky, Mike Reichert, CJ Ferguson, Matt Ney, Jim Kost, Terry Kramer, Eric Buchinski, TJ Fitzpatrick
Did Not Start – Tonya Lance