Crannell Cops First Points Win of Season

Grand Rapids, MI 7/20/05…It didn’t take long for Rookie Jim Crannell of Oswego, NY to figure out the fast way around Jennerstown Speedway in a non-wing supermodified, showing the SUPRS veterans he is a force to be reckoned with by taking his first feature win in Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series action Wednesday night. Crannell brought the Snap-On Tools #27 home for the victory over John Davidson, Sean Gibbs, Gary Waldron, and Jim Davidson by a 2.8 second margin.

“I’ll tell ya what,” began an out of breath Crannell, “I was nervous the whole race. Starting from the pole I knew I had a good shot at a win but I also knew John (Davidson), was right there.”
”I got a good start but it only took him two laps to get by me, so I just stayed with him and ended up getting him behind a lapped car that was doing it’s best to move out of the way,” said Crannell.

With a slightly ragged start for the 17 car field, the front row of Crannell and Davidson put some distance on the rest of the field. But even with Davidson being the all time SUPRS winner, he didn’t have a chance to breath. “Oh man he was fast,” said the San Diego, CA driver of Crannell. “He was clean and fast, my hats off to him for a great run.” “I may have had something for him but when we got into lapped traffic he made a great move and I got into the lapped car, after that my car was hurt so I’m pretty happy with second.”

Third place finisher, Canadian, Sean Gibbs had it a bit easier throughout his race. Explained Gibbs of his run, “It was decent because I was pretty much all by myself out there the whole race.” Gibbs, who had an excellent start at the drop of the green, went on to explain, “John and Jim just plain took off and I ran out of time with the CASCAR, MOPAR #2, those guys were just awesome out there.”

While Gibbs had plenty of room to race, Gary Waldron of Wyoming, MI was feeling a bit like a sardine racing within a tough pack of SUPRS competitors. “What can I say, it was really tough out there tonight, I got knocked around pretty bad at the start and then had to really work to get back up front,” stated the driver of the Michigan Hill Gang, Wholesale Diamond Exchange, ADA Automotive, YES Michigan #10. “Once I got up to the pack I had a blast with AJ, (Truax), Steve, (Callahan), and Jim, (Davidson), but I didn’t have much else. We deserve a fourth because that’s all the car we had tonight.”

Jim Davidson of Elyria, OH is used to the action that Waldron spoke of, but had what many would consider his best run ever and steered clear of the carnage to bring the Team Extreme #22 home for a fine fifth place finish. Said Davidson in Victory Lane, “Man this feels great, it’s nice to run up front and be competitive.” “I just tried to stay smooth and consistent even though I got a little nervous racing with Gary and AJ, because they are great competitors. I just hope this is a good start to good things to come.”

Falling out of the top 10 for the first time in recent memory was AJ “Slideways” Truax in the Truax Motorsports, BurnBoys.com #35 roadster. In an uncharacteristic move, for the tough contender, Truax pulled to the bottom of the track with 3 laps to go with a badly damaged race car. “I don’t know what it was tonight, but from practice on it just seemed like everyone was in kill mode, “ began the man who led the points going into the race but dropped two spots after. “Everyone up front ran real clean, Jim did a great job, but I’ll tell ya what, there’s not a car from mid-pack back that didn’t hit me, I just had no car left so I pulled down to give way for everyone else. Kudos to Gary and Jim for some great racing out there when I was up front, we’ll come back next week and try again.”

Truax will join the rest of the SUPRS hotshoes for race 4 of the non-wing point season this Wednesday once again at Jennerstown Speedway in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. The cars take to the track for open practice at 7pm with Driver’s Meeting at 7:45pm and Racing Promptly at 8.

Heat wins went to Crannell and John Davidson. Crannell had the fastest lap of the race at 16.804 seconds. In other notes, Buddy Cottom made a number change from #51 to #21.

Come see why SUPRS is the “Ultimate Online Sim Race Car” by visiting www.suprs.net.

Results – SUPRS Regular Show at Jennerstown Speedway, Jennerstown, PA-07/20/05

SUPRS Non-Wing Supermodified Points Race #3-Oswego Mod by Shaker Designs for NASCAR Heat

Heat Race 1-12 Laps-Handicap Start(Finish determines starting place feature 1 inside row)

1. #27-Jim Crannell-Oswego, NY
2. 55-Steve Callahan-Cuyahoga Falls, OH
3. #10-Gary Waldron-Wyoming, MI
4. #35 AJ Truax-Hannibal, NY
5. #11-Mike Dougherty-Grand Rapids, MI
6. #25-Bobby Gangwer-Goshen, IN
7.  #6-Nelson Bartlett-Martiville, NY
8. #00-Josh Crannell-Oswego, NY
9. #72-Joey Constanza-Hannibal, NY

—–

Heat Race 2-12 Laps-Handicap Start(Finish determines starting place feature 1 outside row)

1. #5-John Davidson-San Diego, CA
2. 22-Jim Davidson-Elyria, OH
3. #2-Sean Gibbs-Burlington, ONT, CAN
4. #23-Chris Meyers-Amherst, OH
5. #19-Frank Ferry, JR-Sandusky, OH
6. #9-Domenic Gioia-Oswego, NY
7. #83-Frank Keene-Scranton, PA
8. #21-Buddy Cottom-Oswego, NY

—–

Feature Finish-63 Laps-

• Race Time-N/A
• Fast lap of race-#27-Jim Crannell-16.804
  
• Laps Lead-#5-John Davidson, #27-Jim Crannell
  
• Most Laps Led-#27-Jim Crannell

1. #27-Jim Crannell
2. #5-John Davidson
3. #2-Sean Gibbs
4. #10-Gary Waldron
5. #22-Jim Davidson
6. #55-Steve Callahan
7. #11-Mike Dougherty
8. #00-Josh Crannell
9. #19-Frank Ferry, JR
10. #25-Bobby Gangwer
11. #35-AJ Truax
12. #23-Chris Meyers
13. #6-Nelson Bartlett
14. #21-Buddy Cottom
15. #9-Domenic Gioia
16. #83-Frank Keene
17. #72-Joey Constanza-DNF

NEXT RACE 07/27/05 SUPRS Regular Show 63 – Non-Wing Race 4 -Jennerstown Speedway-Jennerstown, PA