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THOMPSON – Last Octobert at the Sunoco World Series at Thompson Speedway, Jacob Perry looked to be easily on his way to his first Exit Realty Truck Series victory.
Then his motor decided to give up before the checkered flag flew. Win gone.
Saturday the Pawcatuck teenager returned to Thompson looking for redemption.
He got that redemption and gave the fans at Thompson Speedway some drama in the first feature of the season on the .625-mile oval.
Perry used a last lap pass of Gerard Giordano Jr. to win the 35-lap Exit Realty Truck Series event.
“My spotter … did an absolutely phenomenal job to keep me calm behind the wheel,” Perry said. “I hate to have to move somebody for the win, but after last year we had huge unfinished business. We were leading by a straightaway and I lost a motor. I really really wanted this one. I’ve never won an opener before, to be standing in Thompson Speedway victory lane at the Icebreaker is an honor.”
Giordano, of Freeport, N.Y., held on for second. David Koenig of Baldwin, N.Y. was third.
“This is my first real win on the oval,” said Perry, who was a Pro Four Modified Lites class winner in an event at Thompson previously, but didn’t actually take the checkered flag as the overall winner in that feature. “It’s an honor. I’ve been watching my dad [Dennis] run here for years and years. It’s always been a dream of mine to win up on the Big T. I grew up just racing a little bit south of here. It’s a true honor.”
Giordano led most of the way, but had Perry stalking him over the closing laps. Perry would make gains through the corners, but it was Giordano getting the advantage down Thompon’s long straightaways.
On the final lap Perry got under Giordano into turn one and used a little side-by-side contact through the corner to come out of turn two with the advantage.
“It wasn’t typically who I am as a racer,” said Perry, who will run regularly with the Granite State Pro Stock Series in 2019. “I’m not 100 percent proud of the move. But I know any of the top drivers would have done that move to win. I grew up watching Woody Pitkat and Teddy Christopher, he was the man at pulling off that move. So I knew I had to try something. We were getting out-motored a little bit on the straightaways and we were killing him in the corner so I knew I had to take one final chance at it in my best corner and somehow everything went our for once and we actually came out on top. … It was just a little bit of doors. There’s fenders there for a reason.”
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