8/10/19 - TYLER BONIFACE SCORES FIRST BIG BLOCK FEATURE WIN, ANTHONY PERREGO CONTINUES SB STREAK
By FRANK CATIZONE
MIDDLETOWN, NY – Local favorite Tyler Boniface and veteran talent Ryan Godown both captured their first career Modified victories at the Orange County Fair Speedway Saturday night as the track hosted a pair of 30-lap feature races.
Boniface, who was making just his third start in Modified competition, took advantage of the misfortunes of both Brian Krummel and Anthony Perrego to pocket the winner’s share of $3,300 in taking the first 30-lapper.
Boniface, who started 12th in the 32-car field, inherited first place after 19 laps were scored when Perrego was forced to the pits with a broken rear end on his car. Krummel, who relinquished the lead to Perrego a lap earlier, was involved in a fourth-turn accident and knocked out of the event.
Boniface postioned himself to take over first place as he worked his way towards the front and was sitting in third place behind Krummel and Perrego by the midway point of the event. Boniface then raced out to a big lead the rest of the way as he finished ahead of Jimmy Horton, Michael Storms, Chris Whitehead and Brett Hearn.
Whitehead, who started on the pole, led for the first 12 laps before Krummel forged ahead on the 13th circuit around the five-eighths mile, hard clay oval.
Godown, who was making his OCFS season debut, made the trip north to prepare for the upcoming Centennial Anniversary Weekend (Aug. 15-17) at the track and was more than happy with the way things turned out.
“It was definitely worth the trip,’’ said Godown. “I’ve only been here a handful of times in the past and was pretty much here just getting a handle on the track for the Centennial Weekend. I’m looking forward to the $100,000 event.’’
Godown, who also won at Big Diamond (PA) Speedway Friday night, benefitted from the inversion spin as he started in fourth place for the 32-car field. He raced among the top three the entire distance and passed Jimmy Phelps for the lead following a 23rd lap restart. Godown then went on to outrace Phelps, Billy Dunn, Hearn and Perrego to the finish.
Billy Pauch Sr., who made his first OCFS appearance in decades on Aug. 3, and Dunn were both driving cars owned by Ray Graham. They were also among a group of competitors preparing for the upcoming week’s blockbuster show along with Phelps, Dominick Buffalino and Jackie Brown Jr.
Pauch, who has enjoyed much success in the New Jersey-Pennsylvania circuit during his decorated racing career, started on the pole and led the Modified nightcap for the first nine laps. Phelps took over with a backstretch pass on the 10th circuit and remained there until Godown took over.
In Small Block Modified competition, Perrego continued his mastery of the division as he drove home with his fifth straight victory in the 25-lap main event. He was followed across the finish line by Hearn, Boniface, Jimmy Spellmon and Dunn.
Perrego, who padded his lead to 40 points over Hearn in the championship chase, drove past Hearn entering the first turn on the 10th lap and then went pretty much uncontested to the checkered flags – winning by nearly five seconds.
Hearn and pole-sitter Brendan Finley swapped the lead back and forth during the early part of the race before Hearn gained command on the sixth lap. That lead, however, was short-lived as Perrego entered the picture and took control.
The Sportsman division also had a pair of 20-lap main events as Jared LaBagh and Grant Hilfiger each earned a victory, and also kept their battle close for the 2019 track championship.
LaBagh, who entered the night 18 points behind Hilfiger, notched his fourth triumph of the season in the 20-lap nightcap as he utilized a late-lap pass on Hilfiger for the lead. Hilfiger was right on LaBagh’s bumper to the finish with Michael Sabia, Sammy Martz Jr. and Matt Shultz following.
Hilfiger posted his fifth victory on the season in the held-over feature from Aug. 3 as he finished ahead of Sabia, Bobby Flood, Christian Rumsey and Martz. Hilfiger has now accumulated 1,104 points this season and padded his cushion to 54 markers over LaBagh.
Rob Taylor nosed out Kevin Skelly at the wire to pick up his first victory of 2019 in the Street Stock 15-lap feature.
Taylor took advantage of a caution with 14 laps completed when the hood on Ron Constable’s car flew off to force a caution. Taylor got the jump Skelly on the restart and was able to remain slightly ahead to the finish.
Skelly settled for a second-place effort with points leader Bob Sleight Jr., Jim Hajkowski and Joe Scheffold rounding out the top five.
Modified (1) Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Tyler Boniface, 2. Jimmy Horton, 3. Michael Storms, 4. Chris Whitehead, 5. Brett Hearn, 6. Mike Gular, 7. Jerry Higbie, 8. Ryan Godown, 9. Jimmy Phelps, 10. Bob McGannon, 11. Billy Pauch Sr., 12. Billy Dunn, 13. Matt Janiak, 14. Craig Mitchell, 15. Gary Edwards Jr., 16. Tommy Meier, 17. Dillon Steuer, 18. Brendan Finley, 19. Sam Martz Sr., 20. Bob Hentschel, 21. Donnie Wilson, 22. Dominick Buffalino, 23. C.G. Morey, 24. John Ferrier, 25. Jackie Brown Jr., 26. Matt Hitchcock, 27. Anthony Perrego, 28. Danny Creeden, 29. Brian Krummel, 30. Steve Dodd, 31. Jeff Heotzler Sr., 32. Danny Cronk. Did Not Qualify: Richie Eurich, Tyler Jashembowski, Josh Deleo, Tom Hindley, Corey Lowitt, Kirk Horton, John Guarino.
Modified (2) Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Ryan Godown, 2. Jimmy Phelps, 3. Billy Dunn, 4. Brett Hearn, 5. Anthony Perrego, 6. Michael Storms, 7. Mike Gular, 8. Billy Pauch Sr., 9. Jimmy Horton, 10. Bob McGannon, 11. Tyler Boniface, 12. Dillon Steuer, 13. Craig Mitchell, 14. Dominick Buffalino, 15. Tommy Meier, 16. Gary Edwards Jr., 17. Brendan Finley, 18. Donnie Wilson, 19. Jackie Brown Jr., 20. Chris Whitehead, 21. Matt Janiak, 22. C.G. Morey, 23. Sam Martz Sr., 24. Bob Hentschel, 25. Matt Hitchcock, 26. Steve Dodd, 27. Jerry Higbie, 28. Danny Cronk, 29. John Ferrier, 30. Jeff Heotzler Sr. Disqualified: Brian Krummel (weight), Danny Creeden (weight).
Small Block Modified Feature, 25 Laps: 1. Anthony Perrego, 2. Brett Hearn, 3. Tyler Boniface, 4. Jimmy Spellmon, 5. Billy Dunn, 6. Brian Krummel, 7. Gary Edwards Jr., 8. Danny Creeden, 9. Brendan Finley, 10. Richard Smith, 11. C.G. Morey, 12. Dillon Steuer, 13. Roger Henion Jr., 14. Joey Bruning, 15. Bob Hentschel, 16. Mike Gular, 17. Michael Sabia, 18. Joe Bonetti, 19. Allison Ricci, 20. Craig Mitchell, 21. Scott Ferrier, 22. Tommy Meier, 23. Richie Eurich, 24. Ray Jashembowski, 25. Frank Venezia, 26. Danny Hedges, 27. Tyler Treacy, 28. Tom Hindley, 29. Chris Stevens, 30. Jerry Higbie, 31. Patrick Reiser.
Sportsman Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Jared LaBagh, 2. Grant Hilfiger, 3. Michael Sabia, 4. Sammy Martz Jr., 5. Matt Shultz, 6. Mel Schrufer, 7. Clinton Mills, 8. Dan Morgiewicz, 9. Jake Bedell, 10. Joe Bonetti, 11. Charlie Loiodice, 12. Joe Conklin, 13. John Brown, 14. Jordan Lawrence, 15. Joey Coppola, 16. Christian Rumsey, 17. Cole Stangle, 18. Greg Sleight, 19. Troy Arnold, 20. Milton Mann, 21. Travis Green, 22. Ryan Neiger, 23. Nick Plumstead, 24. Robbie Colburn, 25. Jamie Yannone, 26. Bobby Flood. Did Not Qualify: Ken Ryder, Aaron Doolittle, Ken Ferrier, Dylan Smith, Kevin Ward, Rich Eggers, Justin Gozzi, R.J. Smith, Marshall Jones, Howie Finch, Austin Smith, Jeff Higham Jr., Mike Bull, Chris Lynch, Bob Jashembowski, Pat Mann, John Farriser, Rob Wosyluk, Jeff Jones, Gary Edwards III, Mike Orlando.
Sportsman Feature (held over from Aug. 3) Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Grant Hilfiger, 2. Michael Sabia, 3. Bobby Flood, 4. Christian Rumsey, 5. Sammy Martz Jr., 6. Dan Morgiewicz, 7. Matt Shultz, 8. John Brown, 9. Greg Sleight, 10. Mel Schrufer, 11. Joe Bonetti, 12. Jamie Yannone, 13. Charlie Loiodice, 14. Jake Bedell, 15. Joey Coppola, 16. Bob Jashembowski, 17. Ken Ryder, 18. Ken Ferrier, 19. Jared LaBagh, 20. R.J. Smith, 21. Travis Green, 22. Jeff Higham Jr., 23. Robbie Colburn, 24. Jordan Lawrence, 25. Joe Conklin, 26. Troy Arnold, 27. Cole Stangle. Did Not Start: Patrick Murphy, Cole Hentschel, Corey Cormier.
Street Stock Feature Finish, 15 Laps: 1. Rob Taylor, 2. Kevin Skelly, 3. Bob Sleight Jr., 4. Jim Hajkowski, 5. Joe Scheffold, 6. Dan Maher, 7. Ron Constable, 8. Edgar Hedges, 9. Wayne Taylor, 10. Ray Tarantino, 11. Chickie Bruntfield, 12. Jim Maher, 13. Ryan Modiano, 14. Matt Caromano, 15. Emerson Cargain Sr., 16. Nick Giardini, 17. Dylan Gannon, 18. Charlie Donald. Did Not Start: Jared Palmer.