Bob Gangwer Wins First Career Harvest of Speed as SUPRS Opens 13th Season of Supermodified Sim Racing
LaPorte, IN – October 18, 2016…Bob Gangwer cut through a fine crop of fellow competitors to gather his first Harvest of Speed Tuesday night at LaPorte Speedway. Joe Achzet and Keith Powell followed Gangwer across the line some distance back to round out the podium as the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), kicked off it’s 13th season of online supermodified sim racing.
Bob Gangwer won the SUPRS Harvest of Speed after 13 years of trying. (Screenshot by BreezeGraphics.com)
“Finally,” exclaimed Gangwer in victory lane. “I finally won the Harvest after 13 years and it feels good to kick off the season with a win at an Indiana track.”
The Harvest of Speed is part of the extended Indyana Supermod Challenge and with his win, Gangwer, a native Hoosier and former Indyana Supermod Challenge Champion, takes an early point lead into the regional series that next runs at Indianapolis Raceway Park in April 2017.
Gangwer explained his strategy for the win, “Starting third, my plan was to try to make it a two or three car break away and I was happy to see Rob get the jump on Joe, and I thought this is good it’s just me and Rob and I’ll just ride and wait, but we couldn’t shake Joe at all.”
Gangwer got his chance to go to the front when Rob Warren, while leading, made contact with the tricky inside wall and bounced up the track allowing the second place machine of Gangwer to squeeze by low.
“When Rob bounced it off the inside wall, I thought that was all she wrote,” said the winner. “I had just started to get back in the throttle and for a split second I thought I was going to nail him. The timing of it all was just in my favor, but man was that close.”
Second place finisher, Joe Achzet is one of the SUPRS racers that makes no bones about his dislike of the NASCAR Heat sim racing platform and in particular LaPorte Speedway, but was very happy with his run to second place after 75 laps.
“Being patient,” said “The Rabbit” when asked what the hardest part of the race was. “Rob ran a great race, I just had to be patient behind him as I watched Bob drive off to the sunset. I’m limping away with a second place and I’ll take it, now bring on the rFactor race!”
Keith Powell hasn’t competed at the Harvest of Speed in over three years, but made his return to LaPorte a good one and was able to get past Rob Warren at the end of the race for a podium finish after a controversial move around his teammate Steve Callahan.
“I got into a groove and was able to run down Joe, Rob and Steve and they had a really good three-way battle going,” explained the driver of the CPR Motorsports, Icings on Top No. 41. “Steve got passed and dropped back into fourth and I was really just running behind him but I couldn’t really get up to him.”
Powell kept trying to get by his teammate and eventually got a little too close for comfort to his fellow CPR Motorsports member. “All the sudden he, (Callahan), went flying. I don’t think I got into him, but I guess I must have. I have to apologize to him and if SUPRS needs to move me back a spot, I’ll take it.”
Rob Warren was certainly a strong contender leading the first 28 laps only to make a mistake entering turn three while trying to go by a lapped car, ending up in fourth place at the end. He said, “I was just being too conservative and I saw the lapped car and completely lost concentration and slowed down too much and the car hooked left and I got into the wall.”
After a second place run in the Harvest of Speed last year, Steve Callahan had his sights set on another good run this year. Hounding Rob Warren and Joe Achzet for a podium, he was well on his way. He said, “First of all congratulations to Bob he just took off and had an excellent race. I had a lot of fun racing up front.”
When asked about the contact with his teammate, the Exide Battery sponsored racer said, “It was one of those deals and I’ll have to look at the replay. I was behind Rob and then all of a sudden I got shot into the wall.” Callahan quickly added, “All in all though , it was a fun night and good season opener, a nice kick off to the season.”
Earlier in the evening Rob Warren won the Fast Car Dash.
Coming next week, the SUPRS racers will venture to Kentucky for the first time and will run their rFactor wing supermodifieds at Red Ball Raceway for the Black Kat Klassic.
The evening begins on October 25 when the SUPRS Race Server opens at 7p for system checks. Official Practice is 8:00-8:30pm and racing is set to begin at 9:00pm.
Supermodified and sim racing fans alike can view timing and scoring as well as track telemetry of the Black Kat Klassic 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:
- 13th Annual “”Harvest of Speed” Season Opener
- October 18, 2016
- SUPRS NASCAR Heat W v6 mod
- LaPorte Speedway
Time Trials – (showing car number, driver name,hometown, sponsors, fast lap underlined-top 4 eligible for Fast Car Dash, Elite 8 locked into feature)
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, Wing Side Up Enterprises: 12.694, 12.747
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 13.135, 12.712
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 12.753, 12.728
- 14-Joe Achzet; Yorkville, NY; Cottontail Designs, GraphX: 13.218, 12.746
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 12.974, 12.798
- 9-Domenic Gioia; Oswego, NY; Pabst Blue Ribbon, Team Domination Motorsports: 12.995, 13.160
- 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 13.026, 13.455
- 15-Joey Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH: Jack Daniels, CPR Motorsports: 13.218, 13.656
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Buffalo Biodiesel, Terry: 13.526, 13.825
- 77-Kevin Timmins; Baldwinsville, NY: 15.061, 14.737
Fast Car Dash – 6 Laps (showing car number, driver name)
- 35-Rob Warren
- 14-Joe Achzet
- 25-Bob Gangwer
- 42-Carl Becker
Feature – 75 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, starting place/fastest lap/distance behind winner)
- 25-Bob Gangwer; */**/!/3/12.614
- 14-Joe Achzet; 2/12.745/+8.561
- 41-Keith Powell; ^/7/12.762/+9.435
- 35-Rob Warren; */1/12.770/+9.448
- 55-Steve Callahan; 5/12.731/+1 Lap
- 42-Carl Becker; 4/12.804/ +1 Lap
- 9-Domenic Gioia; 6/12.833/+2 Laps
- 52-Dave Brigandi; 3/12.811 /+3 Laps
- 77-Kevin Timmins; 10/13.462/+11 Laps
- 15-Joey Callahan; 8/13.003/DNF(pulled off)
Time of Race: 17:04.355
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
- ^ Denotes SUPRSCharger
SUPRS-
“Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons” since 2004
