Category: SUPRS News

Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby at Cayuga Speedway Next for SUPRS

Goshen, IN – January 3, 2016….After a two-week break to allow members to spend time with family and friends for the Christmas and New Year holidays, the stars of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series will fire up their online sim supermodifieds for the first time of the new year for the 12^th Annual Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby on January 5, 2016 at Cayuga Speedway.

Thanks to BreezeGraphics.com we always have great looking promotional posters!

Myles Maxon of Oswego, NY is the defending winner of the race and was on the winning Snowball Derby Challenge team with Domenic Gioia last year. Maxon is one of three multi-time winners of the race and has been a member of a  Snowball Derby Challenge winning team twice.

While it’s unlikely fans will see the defending series wing sim supermodified champion on the track this year, it’s interesting to note that from 2006-2010 he never finished below seventh, finished on the podium once and in the top five a total of four times during that span. Maxon also won the Summit Classic 125 the one and only time it was ever held at Cayuga Speedway in 2010.

Domenic Gioia joined Maxon in victory lane to receive the Snowball Derby Championship Crown last year. The pair finished the night with 130 points, tying Bob Gangwer and Dave Brigandi for the team championship, but received the winners laurels based on highest finishing team member.

Of the current top five in the SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Championship standings, only one has won this event and that is Sand, Jr.

With three Snowball Derby wins to his name, as well as being the current track record holder, (a mark that has stood since 2009),  Ray “The Sandman” Sand, Jr. is considered the man to beat at Cayuga Speedway.

Last year he led the first 26 laps of the race and looked to be on his way to another win but dropped out of the race just past the half-way point. This year he’s in the midst of a battle for top spot on the SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Championship standings with SUPRS most recent winner Rob Warren.

Rob Warren is hot this season. Is he hot enough to melt Ray Sand, Jr.’s record at Cayuga?

Rob Warren may have the fewest Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby starts of the top three in the current point standings, but he comes into this year’s event holding the most wins of the season at six, and will be looking for his third feature win in a row. Warren has missed one Derby, (in 2011), but has finished no lower than 12th, (2010), and has two sixth place finishes (2012, 2013) in the Cayuga Speedway races he’s run. Last year he finished fourth and has also been on the podium as part of a Snowball Derby Challenge winning team in 2013.

While Sand, Jr. and Warren battle at the top of the point standings, Steve Callahan has had a rough start so far, missing a couple of races including the Christmas Special which was the last race of 2015.

Regardless, Callahan’s name is synonymous with starts at Cayuga. Callahan has finished no lower than sixth place since 2010 and has been a model of consistency at Cayuga while living up to his “Steady Steve” nickname, making every race at Cayuga Speedway since becoming a member and placing no lower than 15th place since his first Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby run in 2006.

The competitors will not only be racing against each other but they will also pair up into two-man teams where the slowest matches up with the fastest from time trials. Each member of the team will work throughout the night to gain the most points possible for the overall Snowball Derby Challenge Championship.

Missing only one race since the first one in 2005 and tied with Steve Callahan for most Crazy Canuck Snowball Derby feature starts is Bob Gangwer. Having never won the race, Gangwer does have the distinction of being on the Snowball Derby Championship Team the most often. Gangwer joined with Jim Davidson,(2006), Dan Brigandi, (2007), Jamie Hartley, (2010), and Ed Riley, (2011), for a total of four Snowball Derby Championships.

Time Trials, Canadian Pursuit, Heats, and a 50 lap feature will keep the racers busy all night long on a slick track that is anything but predictable as they race for extra Gold Crest Division Season Championship points that come from being on the winning Snowball Derby Championship team.

The snowballs start flying at 8:00 pm for practice and will be followed by Time Trials at 8:30 pm and Racing at 9:00 pm.