Corsoniti Wins The Whistler, Claims Bounty on Keysor

August 13, 2024 – Oswego, NY…Anthony Corsoniti won the the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), 20th Running of “The Whistler” Pete Trenca Memorial for the first time Tuesday night at Oswego Speedway, and in so doing, not only earned a Guaranteed Starter spot for the 20^th Annual Topless! 200 next week, but also claimed the SUPRS Bounty that was riding on the head of Brad Keysor.

By claiming that SUPRS Bounty, the North Syracuse, NY driver took 60 points away from Keysor and added them to his Gold Crest Non-Wing Season Championship tally.

Ryan Cloonan fought hard to get around Corsoniti for the entire race, but ended up in second, while Bob Gangwer was relentless in his pursuit of Cloonan but came home third still looking for his first Trenca Memorial win.  It was Corsoniti’s second win of the non-wing season, book ending the summer with NASCAR Heat victories after taking the second race of the season in June.

Corsoniti also won the lone heat race.

Remembering Pete

Anthony Corsoniti was happy to win The Whistler and remembered it’s namesake Pete Trenca in victory lane. “This feels great, I’m glad we were running (NASCAR) Heat because that’s the only way I could beat Brad,” he said. “I will always remember Pete, he always was smiling and greeting people. He always said “hi” every time I saw him. He was just a nice guy.” 

“I want to thank our sponsors, 1^st to Finish Race Servers, BreezeGraphics.com, Icings on Top, Grid Finder and of course The Mod Squad. It was a good race,” Corsoniti stated.

Holding His Breath

“I don’t think I could breath for the last 20 laps,” explained “The Quiet Storm” as Corsoniti is known. “I was worried about scrubbing speed, Ryan was right there and I wasn’t giving up the bottom. I think I scrubbed the wall once and I was thinking, “oh no, I’m going to push up in the corner,” but I didn’t lose too much.”

Corsoniti came up on the lapped car of Bobby Hayduk with five laps to go, causing for some worry at the end of his fine Oswego run. “I saw Bobby and I got a little nervous,” he said. “He moved over which was nice, but I had a little room and got through smooth then just set sail.”

Win Puts an End to Keysor’s Domination of Summer

Anthony Corsoniti’s win while driving the TsForecast.com roadster, put an end to the summer long domination by former series champion, Brad Keysor. The Liverpool, NY hotshot, and 2-Time Pete Trenca Memorial winner, had strung together a 12 race winning streak that dated back to the first week of July. In all, Keysor has won 14 of the now contested 17 races with Corsoniti beating him twice, and Bob Gangwer being the only other driver to break “The Coach’s” stranglehold on SUPRS Victory Lane.

By taking the 60 points that had accumulated in the SUPRS Bounty pool from Keysor, Corsoniti single-handedly made it a race to the end of the Championship and put himself and second place championship runner Ryan Cloonan, back into contention.

With only 88 points separating the top three, and knowing that there’s 20 bonus points up for grabs to the winner of the Empire State Super Series Regional Tour, (which Cloonan is leading), coupled with the toughest race of the season coming up on Wednesday, Keysor is feeling the pain of losing those points.

“That 60 points hurt,” he said. “Realistically, it shouldn’t have gotten to 12 in a row because there were two or three races where I knew I was out of luck and figured that there was no way I would win the race. Then something happened to the leader, or the guys in front of me and I ended up stealing the win.”

“I told Ryan that if he finished second every race during the Canadian shows and the Mr. Online Supermodified Races, that he was still in the hunt, and here we are, he’s right behind me going into the final week. But congratulations to Anthony, he ran a great race tonight, and so did Ryan.”

While the top three could see some shuffling, and has Keysor breathing hard as he goes for his second SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Supermodified Season Championship, and third SUPRS championship overall, there’s still plenty of other action in the standings. After several drivers not attending The Whistler, and a couple others questionable for the Topless! 200, there’s still a good number of drivers fighting and clawing to improve, or at least not slip from the championship spot they’re in right now.

Next Race

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20^th Topless! 200 Week Begins

The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), Topless! 200 is “The Original 200 Lap Supermodified Sim Race,” where some of the best supermodified sim racers in the country will compete at Oswego Speedway. This time honored tradition of closing out SUPRS summer season is a 200 lap race of speed, strategy, skill, and luck where a driver has to be fast, but also make his supermodified last without a pit stop.

Modeled after the famed “International Classic 200” at Oswego Speedway, the Topless! 200 is the culmination of on-track action from Sunday August 18 through Wednesday August 21, 2024, where the 20^th Annual Topless! 200 is the third and final race of the 2024 Triple Crown of Supermodified Sim Racing presented by Icings on Top. 

To date, four drivers have won the Triple Crown which also includes the SUPRS All-Star 200, and the Summit Classic 125 for winged supermodifieds. After winning the first to races of the 2024 Triple Crown, 2023 Gold Crest Non-Wing Champion, Zach Sears, will be looking to join the elite list of SUPRS racers that claimed the elusive “perfect” Triple Crown cap by winning all three events in the same year.

Test-N-Tune Gets the Party Started

Everything kicks off August 18 with the SUPRS Sunday Night Test-N-Tune. The drivers will have a chance to put their wing and non-wing supermodifieds on the track to test their set ups while the SUPRS directors go through systems checks in preparation for Topless! 200 Week. Everything begins at 6pm eastern.

SUPRSNationals on Monday

On Monday, August 19, the racers strap the wing on their rFactor supermodifieds for the the SUPRSNationals Winged Supermodified 50, which is the last Empire State Super Series Regional Tour show of the season. Ryan Cloonan holds a slight eight point advantage over Brad Keysor and will be looking to take the ESS championship to tighten the season points standings as much as he can with the 20 bonus points he’ll get if he can pull it off.

Pole Night,  Heat Races, Rising Star Tuesday

The non-wing supermodifieds take to the track on Tuesday, August 20 with Time Trials for the 20^th Annual Topless! 200. While everyone will take shot at the pole position, only the top two qualifiers will be locked into the 2022 Gold Crest Non-Wing Championship marquee event, and everyone else will head to the qualifying heat races and B-Main. Prior to time trials, the Rising Star, a special invitation only event for drivers that have never won a feature in a non-wing supermodified at Oswego Speedway will be run. The winner of this race gets the last guaranteed starting spot for the Topless! 200.

Time to Go Topless! on Wednesday

On Wednesday, August 21 the excitement of SUPRS 20^th Anniversary year reaches it’s final crescendo with the running of the 20^th Annual Topless! 200 at Oswego Speedway. Drivers will have to be fast, smooth and lucky to make it to the end of the 200 lap grind where pit stops are rare, attrition high, and skill is tested.

Follow your favorite SUPRS driver Monday through Wednesday with live in-car video, track telemetry, scoring and timing, as you make new friends in our chat room on www.Twitch.tv/SUPRSOnline and see it all on  www.SUPRS.net/site/live.

Fans can learn more about all of these races by visiting the schedule page at SUPRS.net.

SUPRS RACE RESULTS:

• SUPRS 20^th Running of “The Whistler” – Pete Trenca Memorial
• August 13, 2024
• SUPRS Oswego Speedway
• Oswego, NY
• Race 17 of 18
• SUPRS NASCAR Heat NW2 modification
• 60 Laps

Supermodified Heat Race – 9 Laps (showing result, car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, top 3 eligible for feature invert)

1. 12-Anthony Corsoniti; N. Syracuse, NY; TsForecast.com
2. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, RW Woodworking
3. 13-Ryan Cloonan; Oswego, NY; Simability
4. 9-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; BMK Logistics, Chasing Cameras
5. 10-Gary Waldron; Wyoming, MI; Kenowa Auto Supply, Michigan Hill Gang
6. 08-Danny Ray; Goshen, IN; Smokie Bone’s Downhome Kitchen, White Lightening Transportation
7. 14-Bobby Hayduk; Brook Park, OH; Gannon Auto Sales, Bronx Country

Time of Race: 4:17.702

—–

Feature 60 Laps (showing car number, driver name, starting place, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 12-Anthony Corsoniti; P1 | ** | * | 16.217
2. 13-Ryan Cloonan; P2 | 16.182 | +0.439
3. 25-Bob Gangwer; P3 | 16.205 | +0.599
4. 3-Brad Keysor; P4 | ! | 16.123 | +6.905
5. 08-Danny Ray; P6 | 16.211 | +7.711
6. 14-Bobby Hayduk P7 | 16.353 | +1 Lap
7. 10-Gary Waldron; P5 | 16.282 | DNF-Pulled Off

Time of Race: 18:19.190

Key:

* Denotes Lap Led

** Denotes Most Laps Led

! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race

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