From Williams Grove Speedway
Frankie Herr and Carmen Perigo Jr. had mirror-image seasons. The duo were in the battle for the Williams Grove Speedway Tool Shed of America Super Sportsman point title. Both drivers were lacking one item in their 2009 racing portfolio – neither driver had secured a 2009 Super Sportsman victory at Williams Grove. Friday night, the final evening of racing for 2009, both drivers claimed a win in the twin 20-lap Super Sportsman features.
LeRoy Martin and Frankie Herr were in the front row as the first 20-lap affair began. Martin led the field into turn one followed by Herr, Jason Fry, Ryan Rupp and Scott Dellinger. By the fifth-lap the gap between the leader and second place was two lengths.
Herr’s winning move came on lap eight. Martin slid up the track in turns one and two. Herr used the very bottom of the turns to make his pass for the lead.
Once in front Frankie Herr left the field behind. He encountered lapped traffic on lap 15 but that did not slow down the Carlisle driver.
The only caution of the race came out with two-laps remaining. The yellow flag gave LeRoy Martin one final chance to score the win. On the restart Herr drove away from Martin. At the finish it was Frankie Herr winning his 11th career Williams Grove Super Sportsman feature by five lengths over Martin, Fry, Russ Mitten and Rupp.
The second feature found Ryan Rupp using his front row starting position to take over the lead. Rupp was trailed by Jason Fry, Scott Dellinger and Frankie Herr.
Carmen Perigo Jr., the 2009 Williams Grove Speedway Super Sportsman point champion, started the feature in eighth. By the end of the second circuit Stoystown’s Perigo was in fifth. Three laps later Perigo advanced to third.
The race for the lead became a three-car fight by lap 13. Ryan Rupp, Jason Fry and Carmen Perigo Jr. were in a close battle for the lead. On lap 17 Perigo passed Fry for second position.
The win would be decided on the final lap. In turns one and two Perigo slid across the track. Perigo and Rupp were even as they exited turn two. Side-by-side they raced into the final set of turns. They were still even off turn four. Perigo had the momentum off the turn and he edged out Rupp for the feature win. The win is the fourth of his career at Williams Grove. Fry, Scott Dellinger and Russ Mitten completed the top five.
Heat wins for the 35-car Super Sportsman field went to Frankie Herr, Russ Mitten and Jason Fry. Steve Wilbur, in his final race, won the consolation event.
Race #1
1) 99 Frankie Herr 2) 66 LeRoy Martin 3) 318 Jason Fry 4) 77 Russ mitten 5) 33 Ryan Rupp 6) 30 Scott Dellinger 7) 32 Gregg Foster 8) 93 Carmen Perigo Jr. 9) 55 Chad Criswell 10) 25 Bobby Hockenberry 11) 58 Paul Miller 12) 8 Rich Eichelberger 13) 80 Doug Hendricks 14) 345 Joey Biasi 15) 20 Eric Eckert 16) 45 Dave Socks 17) 5 Dave Berkheimer 18) 88 Aaron Eichelberger 19) 30R Duaine Smith 20) 91 Lanny Hake 21) 59 Steve Wilbur 22) 00 Rick Barr 23) 340 Stan Wanner 24) 9K Raymond Myers
Race #2
1) 93 Carmen Perigo Jr. 2) 33 Ryan Rupp 3) 318 Jason Fry 4) 30 Scott Dellinger 5) 77 Russ Mitten 6) 99 Frankie Herr 7) 66 LeRoy Martin 8) 32 Gregg Foster 9) 8 Rich Eichelberger 10) 58 Paul Miller 11) 80 Doug Hendricks 12) 55 Chad Criswell 13) 30R Duaine Smith 14) 20 Eric Eckert 15) 45 Dave Socks 16) 345 Joey Biasi 17) 9K Raymond Myers 18) 59 Steve Wilbur 19) 5 Dave Berkheimer 20) 20y Vance Yinger 21) 91 Lanny Hake 22) 25 Bobby Hockenberry 23) 88 Aaron Eichelberger 24) 340 Stan Wanner