WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Anthony Perrego led wire to wire Sunday night to pick up the win in the 50-lap, $7,500-to-win Big Block vs. Small Block Challenge during the Battle at the Bowl at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
However, that didn’t mean it was an easy hill to climb.
“We drew bad for both the big and small block,” Perrego said. “We started eighth in both our heats and got a fifth and fourth out of them.”
It was then time for the separate 25-lap, $1,500-to-win qualifiers for Perrego and everyone else, with the top eight from each going to the pole shuffle.
“For the big block we rolled pretty good,” he noted of the qualifiers. “We went 15th to fifth, and I thought after that the big block would be the car of choice. Despite only getting to seventh for the small block race, I knew it was a lot better then what my big block was because of how much easier it was to drive.”
The pole shuffle changed the night for Perrego, as he put on a show and won the whole thing.
“With the inversion we got on the front row of that,” Perrego pointed out. “We knocked out (Mat) Williamson and Stew (Friesen). It was good for us and put them back. At the end when we faced (Jimmy) Phelps he got around us but pushed going into one and we were able to slide under and take the pole.”
Perrego, a regular at the famed Orange County Fair Speedway, had to hold off reigning Super DIRT Week and Super DIRTcar Series champion Williamson at the end of the feature.
“Me and him duked it out in those big races last year,” Perrego said of Williamson. “We did not end up with the finishes we deserved. We were right with him both times and I’m just finally happy we could collect one.”
Erick Rudolph took the runner-up finish from Williamson at the end, with Marc Johnson and Phelps filling out the top five.