Clark, Powell, SUPRS Winners on 15th Anniversary Special Night

Kyle Clark, Keith Powell, and SUPRS all Winners on 15^th Anniversary Special Night

November 6, 2018 – Goshen, IN…The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), celebrated its 15^th Anniversary of sim racing with “Triple Tuesday” by running three different gaming platforms, three different modifications and three different tracks and the event was a rousing success. Kyle Clark and Keith Powell won the NASCAR Heat and rFactor races, while the sanction was the ultimate winner with a great night of racing and many memories shared.

Kyle Clark and Keith Powell picked up the feature wins on SUPRS 15th Anniversary “Triple Tuesday” and the rFactor 2 exhibition was a rousing success. (Victory Lane art by BreezeGraphics.com)

Surprise Winner in First Feature

The first race of the night took place at Featherlite Speedway and was a nod to the first year SUPRS got started. The race, which was part of SUPRS 14 event NASCAR Heat Supermodified Challenge schedule used the NHSM, (NASCAR Heat SuperModified), mod built by Shaker Designs’ Kevin Marine, which debuted in November of 2005. With the random start, a couple of rookies, and a field full of veterans, nobody could have guessed the winner before the start.

All the more reason for everyone to be surprised when Kyle Clark, who admittedly “dislikes” NASCAR Heat, narrowly held off veteran Carl Becker to take his first win in the 18-year-old sim racing platform. “I’m in shock right now,” said Clark. I told you the other day, there’s just something about that track that I felt comfortable with,” the first 15 laps i was just waiting for them to come and nobody ever came, I’m shocked.”

Carl Becker had a very good run in his “Italian Christmas Tree” supermodified. After dropping back nearly two seconds to leader Clark and fending off a hard-charging Rob Warren and an equally determined Steve Callahan, the 75-year-old Lansing, MI native charged his way back to the rear nerf bar of Clark to challenge for the lead with less than 5 laps to go. “Do you realize how hard that is on a body?” asked Becker. “I’d hate to check what my blood pressure is now. At my age, that’s like a win buddy,” he said of his spirited run.

Rough Start for rFactor Race
Moving to a new release of their rFactor wing supermodified for race two, the SUPRS racers put power to pavement at Richmond International Raceway. Showcasing a brand-new Belfab supermodified chassis built by SUPRS member and Breeze Graphics owner Kevin Timmins, the new mod also featured a never seen in rFactor articulating wing, just like the real supermodifieds.

A major smash-up involving 6 of the 10 cars on track before three laps were complete added to the rough start of the rFactor race. (Screenshot by Keith Powell)

The drivers had a rough time adjusting from NASCAR Heat to rFactor and it took three tries to get the race started. Then, once the green did fly, a caution came out on lap one for a spin by Steve Callahan that involved half of the field. Callahan was involved in the second caution of the night, but with extensive damage to his CPR Motorsports #55, the Cuyahoga Falls, OH driver was unable to continue.

By the time the drivers got to the second half of the race, it seemed as though they had the crashing out of their system and they got down to some close, fast racing.

Keith Powell held the point when the race finally got back underway, and never let go of the lead on his way to winning in the race that had one more caution just past the half-way point.

Powell Honored

“It’s a pretty big honor to win a race tonight on our 15th Anniversary, it’s something pretty cool,” said the Icings on Top sponsored racer. “Congrats to Kyle on winning the first feature and congrats to Carl too for a second place in that first race too, that’s pretty awesome for him.”

Powell’s win helps him stretch his Gold Crest Wing Supermodified Championship points lead to 51 points over Rob Warren, who moved into second place in the standings after these races.

rFactor 2
The last 33 lap show of the night, was perhaps one of the most anticipated. In the works for over a year, SUPRS pulled back the wraps on a yet to be released rFactor2 supermodified which breaks new ground for supermodified sim racing. Once again, when they were the first to bring sanctioned supermodified sim racing to the online world, the crew at SUPRS are now the first to bring the mighty supers to the ever evolving platform of rFactor 2.

This exhibition took place at SUPRS Oswego Speedway, which also still under construction, with non-wing Hawk, Jr. chassis built by Kevin Timmins. Rob Warren, Kyle Clark, Nelson Rodrigues, Steve Callahan, and Bob Gangwer took part in the fun run that also doubled as a test session.

While there’s still a lot of work to do, this exciting development opens the door to a three platform schedule in the future with the goal of exposing supermodified racing to an even wider variety of sim racers.

Coming Up

As usual, there’s no rest for the SUPRS racers as they run two rFactor shows next week. Starting with the Veterans Day Special on Monday at Levi Signature Speedway, then moving to Memphis Motorsports Park the next night for the 14th Annual Turkey Shoot. The winner of the Turkey Shoot is eligible for a free Burgers’ Smokehouse turkey delivered to their doorsteps in time for Thanksgiving. These shows are the last of November before the annual Thanksgiving break.

Learn More

Online sim racers, gamers, and supermodified racing fans can all learn more about the original supermodified sim racing sanction by visiting www.SUPRS.net, “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Circling SUPRS on Google+, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and Viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube. We’re also on Instagram @suprs_online, and don’t forget to check out our live streaming video at select races throughout the season via our SUPRS LIVE! page and Twitch.

SUPRS RACE RESULTS:
15th Anniversary Special – Triple Tuesday – November 6, 2018

Race 10a
SUPRS NHSM for NASCAR Heat
Featherlite Speedway
38 Laps

Feature(showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 38-Kyle Clark; Mexico, NY; Coors’ Light, Disturbed Motorsports: * / ** / 2 / 11.096
2. 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: * / ! / 1 / 10.988 / +0.130
3. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 9 / 11.033 / +0.305
4. 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 8 / 11.049 / +0.816
5. 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 7 / 11.019  / +2.035
6. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, Wing Side Up Enterprises: 5 / 11.032 / +2.466
7. 3-Brad Keysor(r); Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Nebraska Corn Huskers: 10 / 11.138  / +6.053
8. 7-Nelson Rodrigues; Stoneham, MA; Star Speedway:  6 / 11.177 /+7.158
9. 47-Rob VanTuinen(r); Modesto, CA; Star Trek Fan Club: 3 / 11.236  /
10. 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Brigandi & Sons Carpet and Tile, Terry: 4 / 11.148 /DNF

Race 10b
SUPRS rFactor W v7.3
Richmond International Raceway
33 Laps

Feature(showing car number, driver name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 41-Keith Powell; * / ** / 4 / 16.158
2. 35-Rob Warren;  7 /17.037 / 2.261
3. 25-Bob Gangwer; 8 / 17.169 / +4.980
4. 38-Kyle Clark; 6 / 17.252 / +5.091
5. 42-Carl Becker 7 / 17.746 /+15.432
6. 7-Nelson Rodrigues; ! / 2 / 17.024 /+15.520
7. 47-Rob VanTuinen; 2 / 17.997 / +1 Lap
8. 3-Brad Keysor; 6 / 17.191 / +1 Lap (Game added penalty-end of running cars)
9. 52-Dave Brigandi; 1 / 18.154 / DNF (Pulled off)
10. 55-Steve Callahan; 6 / 17.588 / DNF (Pulled off)

Exhibition
SUPRS rFactor 2 NW v1.0 alpha
SUPRS rFactor 2 Oswego Speedway v1.0 alpha
33 Laps

Finish(showing car number, driver name)

1. 35-Rob Warren
2. 38-Kyle Clark
3. 25-Bob Gangwer
4. 7-Nelson Rodrigues

SUPRS – “Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons” since 2004