The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

The more I watch Anthony Perrego race, the more impressed I am.

The 25-year-old Orange County Speedway modified champion was at Albany-Saratoga Speedway last Friday to get a final shakedown for the “Come ‘N Get It” shootout (which would subsequently be rained out on Tuesday) and turned in an impressive second-place finish to “The Awesome Aussie” Peter Britten. If the feature had gone a couple of more laps, Perrego probably would have won the darn thing.

The thing that impressed me most about Perrego was his early-race battle with Brett Hearn, who is an expert when it comes to finding the fastest way around Albany-Saratoga. While Britten and Keith Flach were running side-by-side for the lead, Perrego and Hearn were putting on a mirror-image show for third. Perrego finally got by Hearn for the No. 3 spot on lap 16, and then went back to the top side of the speedway to chase down Flach and Britten.

When Flach had to check up for the lapped car of Jim Nagle, Perrego made his move into second and then chased Britten across the finish line.

There aren’t many drivers who can look so good so quickly at Malta, but Perrego is one of them. I can’t wait to see what he does when he starts on the pole for “Come ‘N Get It,” which is now scheduled for June 5.

With the 35-lap feature at Albany-Saratoga running without a caution, it was inevitable that lapped traffic would play a part in the finish, and Britten darn-near saw his run end midway through the race.

Coming out of the fourth turn on lap 11 (that’s how fast the leaders got into traffic), Britten found his line blocked by Brian Berger. Britten jumped to the right, made contact with Berger’s car and brushed the outside wall.

“He came up into me, but it wasn’t his fault,” said Britten of Berger after the race. “I had a decision to make, and I went to the outside. I didn’t want to sit behind him because I was afraid someone would get by me. I just had to do what I could.

“For some reason, I was having trouble getting my bearings out there,” Britten added. “It seemed to be a little darker than usual. I couldn’t hit my marks like I wanted to.”

RIP, SEYMOUR

The racing world lost another great man with the death of Seymour Hayes earlier this week.

Hayes was the co-promoter at Fonda Speedway with the Compani brothers, Ron and Ralph, from 1980-1993, but I had known Seymour for a long time before he and I really got involved in racing. Seymour and my father worked together at the old Glen Mohawk Dairy in Fultonville, and when I had a vacation from school during my high school days, I would get up at 4:30 a.m. and head off to work with my father, who delivered milk to stores in Albany. At that time, Seymour knew me as Bill Boggie’s helper.

When Ralph Compani took over Fonda, Seymour was the moneyman and the calming influence to Compani, who liked to shoot from the hip and ask questions later. The two of them put on the biggest show in Fonda Speedway history, “Thunder Along the Mohawk,” and I’ll never forget the ear to ear grin Seymour had as they started to put spectators in the infield because the grandstands were full by 5 p.m.

Fonda has lost another link to its glorious past.

WEATHER REPORT

What would “The 4^th Turn” be without another weather report? As previously stated, “Come ‘N Get It” was rained out on Tuesday, and rescheduled for June 5. Also, Utica-Rome’s makeup race on Wednesday was also rained out. Utica-Rome is now 0-for-5.

AROUND THE TRACKS

A couple of local drivers were able to put together good back-to-back nights last weekend. Flach finished third at Albany-Saratoga and came back with his first win of the year at Lebanon Valley on Saturday, while sportsman driver Jack Speshock had a fifth at Albany-Saratoga Speedway and a third at Airborne Park in Plattsburgh. On Friday, he started 30^th in the feature at Malta.

Then, there were some drivers who had one good night and one not-so-good showing, After winning Friday, Britten only managed to finish 11^th at Lebanon Valley, after two straight top-five finishes on the high banks. Tim Hartman Jr. finished 14^th in the sportsman feature at Albany-Saratoga after spinning out on lap 18 while battling Robert Bublak Jr. for fourth, but Hartman Jr. bounced back with his first win of the year at Fonda on Saturday. Rocky Warner is still trying to find the right combination at Albany-Saratoga (he finished 14^th Friday night), but earned a very popular win at Fonda Saturday, beating Stewart Friesen to the checkered flag.

I had a nice chat with the Ronca brothers Friday. Rich was getting some photos shot of his car, displaying new sponsorship from Paragon Jewelers on Jay Street in Schenectady. Don, who took an early retirement from General Electric over the winter, is hoping to bounce back from one of the worst seasons of his career. The former track champion only had three top-10 finishes during the entire 2018 season, and finished 17^th in the points race.

He admitted he thought about retiring from racing during the offseason, but changed his mind, “I still had all this equipment, and I still don’t feel like I’m ready to walk away,” he said.

Andy Bachetti tied a track record at Lebanon Valley last Saturday with his third straight small block modified win. The only other driver to win three straight in that division was Claude Hoard in 1980.

The limited sportsman field at Albany-Saratoga includes a lot of famous names. Montgomery Tremont, Ken Tremont Jr.’s son, will be at Malta on a regular basis, The younger Tremont ran at Devil’s Bowl last year and Ken Jr. figured it was time for him to get some seat time at another track. Also campaigning limited sportsman are Brett Hackel, the younger brother of Bobby Hackel IV, and Johnny Bruno, son of Devil’s Bowl promoter Mike Bruno.

Jeremiah Munson was behind the wheel of the iconic 10%, owned by Johnny Kollar, Friday night at Malta. Munson had mechanical problems during warmups and didn’t make the feature.

Guy Sheldon has returned to racing, campaigning the Lorne Browe-owned small block modified at the Valley so Browe can spend more time with the asphalt services business. Sheldon has two career modified wins at Albany-Saratoga (in 1997 and 1998) and has seven big block wins at the Valley, the last coming in 2007.

Keep an eye on Jack Lehner, because the second-year modified driver is going to get his first career win soon. Admittedly, he’s facing some intense competition at Albany-Saratoga, but he finished second last Saturday night at Airborne.

The racing card at Albany-Saratoga on Friday night will include a $3,000-to-win modified feature, and the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds will also be running.