Powell is on a Roll, First Two-Time Winner of The Whistler

Keith Powell is on a Roll and Setting SUPRS History as Season Winds Down 

August 9, 2016-Oswego, NY…Keith Powell is on a roll late in the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), and made history Tuesday night by becoming the first two-time winner of “The Whistler” Pete Trenca Memorial at Oswego Speedway online.

Keith Powell is on a roll in SUPRS after collecting his third feature win in a row and becoming the first SUPRS driver to ever win The Whistler more than once.

While not the dominant performance turned in last year where he led all 60 laps to win “The Whistler” for the first time, his victory this year was impressive, coming from sixth starting place to lead the last 21 laps on his way to winning by nearly four seconds over second place finisher Kyle Clark.

“Oh man this feels awesome,” began Powell. “It was kind of given to me I think I had a top three car and I was pretty sure I was going to finish third.

After running in second and third for the first half of the race, Powell inherited the lead when second place competitor Rob Warren got into the rear end of  leader Joe Achzet causing both to spin. Powell gladly took the point and went the rest of the distance unheeded to win his third feature in a row over  Clark and Warren, who was able to work his way back to the podium. Achzet wasn’t as fortunate as he ran out of fuel just a few laps after the incident that gave Powell the lead.

“I tried to hold Rob off there for a while and Joe checked out on us. I just made a bit of mistake trying to hold him back and he snuck under me when the car had a bit of a push and just couldn’t hold him back. Then something happened up there and I was kind of gifted into it. I don’t know, it must be the luck of the “whistler” or something, but I’ll take it. I won this Pete Trenca Memorial two years in a row now and that’s just really cool.  Congrats to Kyle and Rob on their runs. I’m pretty happy,” Powell said.

There had never been a repeat winner in the 12-year history of the race that honors the late Peter “Program” Trenca who was a fixture at the Oswego Speedway selling programs for over five decades before his passing in 2004. The feat was not lost on Powell. He stated, “Like I said before the start of the race, I wasn’t a regular at Oswego, being from Ohio, but when we came up, Pete was always there and made us feel welcome so I have a lot of respect for people like Pete. This might be something like what they call a “t-shirt” race in real racing when you win one of these memorials you get your name on the t-shirt so I’m Pretty excited about that.”

Rookie Kyle Clark continues to improve week after week and now has his best SUPRS finish ever to boast about after he was able to hold off the hard-charging Warren on the last restart that bunched the field.

“The first few laps I knew Rob and Keith were behind me and I was trying to give them as much room as possible because I know they are going for the championship,” said the Disturbed Motorsports sponsored driver.

He added, “I’m sorry to Rob I was fighting him off as much as I could because I’ve never finished this high and really wanted this second place because I’ve never had one. Congratulations to Keith on the win.”

Starting in fifth place for the feature, Rob Warren moved through the field early and set sail after “The Rabbit” Joe Achzet. His chase to “The Rabbit’s” tail ended abruptly when he drove the 1^st to Finish Race Servers Special into the rear-end of the leader. The ensuing collision turned both around and caused damage to each sim racing supermodified.

“First of all congrats to Keith,” began Warren. He was in the right place at the right time and could have easily gotten caught up in the wreck I caused with Joe.”

Warren was quick to tell Kyle Clark that he felt no ill will towards how the last run to the checkered flag went. “Kyle you’ve got no reason to apologize for that run. You raced hard and that’s what you’re here for so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Being embroiled in the championship battle, Warren’s usual patient and smooth driving style hasn’t been as clear and he admitted, “I got into Dave Brigandi early, then I got into Keith when he checked up while we were trying to pass someone. I had no idea how far ahead Joe was and when we got that yellow and I figured we’d go 3 or 4 laps and get some tire heat. But my car came in a little sooner and I got a run off of two and down the backstretch. If I would have made it stick, it would have been epic. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.”

Achzet was not readily available for comment after the race but had a fantastic run while leading for a 35 lap green flag stretch and looked to be the sure winner.

Bob Gangwer and Domenic Gioia rounded out the top five finishers. Gioa also won his heat race as did Warren.

While there are many points battles throughout the standings that are yet to be decided, all eyes are on the top two. Just 29 points separate Powell and Warren going into next week’s 12^th Annual Topless! 200 season finale. As has happened the last few years, the battle between the two to be crowned the SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Champion will go down to the checkered flag of the 200 lap grind.

Powell is looking for his first SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Championship while Warren is fighting to win his second in a row.  If Warren can pull it off it will mark just the third time in SUPRS history that a driver has gone back to back for the non-wing season championship and would join Kris Heveron and Ray Sand, Jr. in that élite crowd.

The SUPRS 12^th Annual Topless! 200 extravaganza at Oswego Speedway will get started Sunday, August 14 with SUPRS Test-n-Tune for both wing and non-wing sim racing supermodifieds starting at 7pm.

Then on Monday, August 15, beginning at 7:00 pm, the SUPRS stars will strap on the wings for 50 laps of action in the SUPRSNationals which is part of the 2015-16 Empire State Super Series regional championship.

Immediately following SUPRSNationals, the non-wing supermodifieds will take to the track for the 12^th Annual Topless! 200 practice and time trials. The top two qualifiers will be locked into the front row of the 20 car starting field. Ironically, Warren and Powell are also guaranteed starters for the event so if either is not able to qualify first or second, the worst the could start is third as long as their time is within a 1/2 second of the slowest qualified car.

On Tuesday, August 16, the 12^th Annual Topless! 200 cars will fire up at 7:00 pm for practice, followed by heat races at 8:00 pm, and the green flag for the big main event set to fly at 9:00 pm.

A full schedule of events and times for the 12^th Annual Topless! 200 can be found on the Schedule page of SUPRS.net.

Supermodified and sim racing fans alike can view timing and scoring as well as track telemetry of the 12^th Annual Topless! 200 with SUPRS LIVE! You’ll be able to keep up with your favorite SUPRS racer in an instant by going to www.SUPRS.net/site/live.

Learn more about the original  supermodified sim racing sanction and read about real supermodified racing with a visit to www.SUPRS.net. Join SUPRS active and vibrant Social Media channels by  “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Circling SUPRS on Google+, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube.

SUPRS RACE RESULTS:

• 12^th Annual “The Whistler” Pete Trenca Memorial
• August 2, 2016
• SUPRS rFactor NW V1.2 mod
• SUPRS Oswego Speedway V1.2

Heat Race 1 – 12 Laps (showing car number, driver name,hometown, sponsors-top 3 eligible for feature invert)

1. 9-Domenic Gioia; Oswego, NY; Pabst Blue Ribbon, Team Domination Motorsports
2. 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; CPR Motorsports, Icings on Top
3. 14-Joe Achzet; Yorkville, NY; GraphX
4. 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports
5. 15-Joey Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports

Heat Race 2 – 12 Laps (showing car number, driver name-top 3 eligible for feature invert)

1. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Syracuse Time and Alarm
2. 38-Kyle Clark; Mexico, NY; Coors’ Light, Disturbed Motorsports
3. 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Buffalo Biodiesel, Terry
4. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, Wing Side Up Enterprises: (DNF)
5. 77-Kevin Timmins; Baldwinsville, NY; Wesley Motorsports, BreezeGraphics.com:(DNS)

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

1. 41-Keith Powell; */6/16.661
2. 38-Kyle Clark; 5/16.441/+3.756
3. 35-Rob Warren; !/8/16.604/+4.187
4. 25-Bob Gangwer; 8/16.837/+9.457
5. 9-Domenic Gioia; */1/16.869/+11.344
6. 55-Steve Callahan; 7/16.714/+11.778
7. 77-Kevin Timmins; 10/17.696/+5 Laps
8. 14-Joe Achzet; */**/4/16.558/DNF(out of fuel)
9. 15-Joey Callahan; 9/17.269/DNF(pulled off)
10. 52-Dave Brigandi; 3/120.811 /DNF(pulled-off)

Time of Race:  25:58.586

• * Denotes Lap Led
• ** Denotes Most Laps Led
• ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
• ^ Denotes SUPRSCharger

Notes:

• The first start was called back when Keith Powell spun off of turn four on the first lap.
• There were 4 cautions for a total of 14 laps
• Lap Leaders-Domenic Gioia(1-4), Joe Achzet(5-38), Keith POwell(39-60)
• Keith Powell had fastest lap of race-16.441

SUPRS-

Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons since 2004