By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 20, 2022) — Justin Peck picked up a $10,000 payday by winning the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event Saturday night at Utica Rome Speedway. Peck went from third to first passing Tyler Courtney and Brent Marks on lap 10 and drove away from the field through slower traffic for the victory.
The victory was Peck’s fifth of the 2022 season. Peck was quick to credit his team for the great slick track setup being a key to victory.
“I felt like me and Brent were ripping around the top making good speed and then we kind of caught traffic. When Tyler passed me on the bottom there and start battling with Brent I could just tell our pace slow down so much on top I knew if I could just get clear of whoever was in front that I was going to be able to make some more speed up there,” said Peck. “This thing just comes to life man about 10 laps into the race it just seems like when a when a fuel comes off the back bars and everything starts working like it should it’s you know it’s a dream to drive”
Brent Marks and Justin Peck started on the front row for the 30-lap main event. Marks led the opening lap with Peck on his back bumper. One lap into the event Tyler Courtney made his presence moving into third and pressuring Peck for second.
After several laps of pressure Courtney was able to get a look under Peck down the backstretch on lap seven to take away second position. Peck was able to hang on Marks back bumper and create a three-car race for the lead.
Courtney began to pressure Marks for the lead on lap eight but was picked by a slower car which allowed Marks to hold the top spot.
Peck back on the outside, right on marks bumper in traffic. When Marks and Courtney left the top lane open in turns three and four on lap 10 Peck took advantage and went from third to first to take the lead.
Marks was able to get another look under Peck for the lead one lap later, but Peck held onto the lead. Marks then found himself under pressure from Courtney for the second position.
The first caution flag of the event came out when Larry Wight slowed on the backstretch with mechanical issue. After the restart Courtney just got by Marks when the red flag appeared when Danny Varin slid off to the racetrack into the forest. Varin was able to get out of the car under his own power, but it took about 20 minutes to get Varin’s car free of the foliage.
Peck pulled away during the restart as Corey Eliason drove around the outside of Courtney for third. Courtney then slid Eliason back briefly before Eliason took the spot for good on lap 18.
Peck started to overtake slower cars on lap 23 but maintained his lead. Further behind him the top five was shuffled when Eliason off the track with five laps to go and lost multiple spots. Courtney also got by Marks to take the second position.
Up front it was all Peck though picking up the feature victory over Courtney, Marks, Chris Windom, and Eliason.
Courtney had some unfortunate timing of a caution flag impact his race as he got by Brent Marks, but recovered from that and a couple of other miscues to get to the runner up position.
“I definitely wanted to stay ahead of Brent there on that restart before the open red there, but you know it’s just that’s racing and that’s how it goes,” said Courntye. “I didn’t do my job the next restart and you know let Cory get by me there and had to race with him for a while and then you know once we got rolling there after a few laps of me pull my head out we were pretty good, and everybody get Brent there at the end.”
Marks indicated after the race that him and his team had some changes, they wanted to make to the car but were unable to do so before the feature pushed off.
“I was good to the first half of the corner but then I got the exit, and it just went and square back up for me,” said Marks. “I liked clean air better than I did you know traffic so usually our car is better in traffic but we were just we just missed it tonight”
Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Utica-Rome Speedway
Vernon, New York
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Dixie Vodka Qualifying
1. 13-Justin Peck, 14.711[9]
2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 14.826[26]
3. 19M-Brent Marks, 14.947[11]
4. 11-Cory Eliason, 14.951[24]
5. 42-Sye Lynch, 14.971[10]
6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.076[16]
7. 26-Zeb Wise, 15.077[6]
8. 4-Cap Henry, 15.110[25]
9. 19-Chris Windom, 15.129[5]
10. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.131[17]
11. 29-Logan McCandless, 15.136[13]
12. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.242[23]
13. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 15.267[14]
14. 10-Dave Blaney, 15.273[22]
15. 6-Ryan Smith, 15.292[18]
16. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 15.301[15]
17. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni, 15.354[21]
18. 99L-Larry Wight, 15.507[19]
19. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 15.554[20]
20. 28F-Davie Franek, 15.579[12]
21. 17-Jordan Thomas, 15.656[7]
22. 49H-Bradley Howard, 15.684[2]
23. 97-Greg Wilson, 15.789[30]
24. 98-Joe Trenca, 15.843[3]
25. 121-Steve Glover, 15.966[27]
26. 07-Mark Coldren, 16.003[28]
27. 3-Denny Peebles, 16.043[1]
28. 36-Logan Crisafulli, 16.441[8]
29. 41-Chase Moran, 16.704[4]
30. 01-Danny Varin, 38.255[29]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 11-Cory Eliason[1]
2. 26-Zeb Wise[2]
3. 48-Danny Dietrich[3]
4. 13-Justin Peck[4]
5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]
6. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6]
7. 7NY-Matt Farnham[7]
8. 49H-Bradley Howard[8]
9. 36-Logan Crisafulli[10]
10. 121-Steve Glover[9]
CSI Shocks Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 42-Sye Lynch[1]
2. 4-Cap Henry[2]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]
4. 29-Logan McCandless[3]
5. 10-Dave Blaney[5]
6. 28F-Davie Franek[7]
7. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[6]
8. 97-Greg Wilson[8]
9. 07-Mark Coldren[9]
10. 41-Chase Moran[10]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 19-Chris Windom[2]
2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]
3. 19M-Brent Marks[4]
4. 99L-Larry Wight[6]
5. 17B-Bill Balog[3]
6. 98-Joe Trenca[8]
7. 6-Ryan Smith[5]
8. 3-Denny Peebles[9]
9. 17-Jordan Thomas[7]
DNS: 01-Danny Varin
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[2]
2. 13-Justin Peck[4]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]
4. 11-Cory Eliason[3]
5. 42-Sye Lynch[1]
6. 19-Chris Windom[5]
Classic Ink USA B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[2]
2. 6-Ryan Smith[1]
3. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]
4. 01-Danny Varin[12]
5. 3-Denny Peebles[6]
6. 17-Jordan Thomas[7]
7. 97-Greg Wilson[5]
8. 36-Logan Crisafulli[9]
9. 41-Chase Moran[11]
10. 07-Mark Coldren[8]
11. 49H-Bradley Howard[4]
12. 121-Steve Glover[10]
Tezos A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 13-Justin Peck[2]
2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]
3. 19M-Brent Marks[1]
4. 19-Chris Windom[6]
5. 11-Cory Eliason[4]
6. 48-Danny Dietrich[10]
7. 26-Zeb Wise[8]
8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]
9. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[14]
10. 4-Cap Henry[9]
11. 17B-Bill Balog[13]
12. 42-Sye Lynch[5]
13. 10-Dave Blaney[15]
14. 6-Ryan Smith[20]
15. 98-Joe Trenca[18]
16. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[16]
17. 17-Jordan Thomas[24]
18. 28F-Davie Franek[17]
19. 7NY-Matt Farnham[21]
20. 29-Logan McCandless[11]
21. 3-Denny Peebles[23]
22. 01-Danny Varin[22]
23. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[19]
24. 99L-Larry Wight[12]