First Ohio Driver to Win SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship
Lakeland, FL – February 11, 2017….Keith Powell of Carrollton, OH is the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), Florida Speedweeks 2017 Champion.
Keith Powell is the SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2017 Champion after five winners in five nights of supermodified sim racing. (SUPRS Milestone Graphic by BreezeGraphics.com)
This is Powell’s first SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship, and he is now the sixth different winner in 13 years to claim the Speedweeks Championship.
Powell, driver of the Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports “Mayfield Missle” said, “This feels pretty awesome. Going into it I sure wouldn’t have thought that last weekend.”
“I knew the schedule was going to be tough and I had a tough couple of weeks leading into Florida with my legs and stuff. I was just going to be happy to run a consistent five nights,” he explained.
With a first, two fourths and second, only a sixth place finish on Night 4 at Dodge Raceway Stadium hampered his march to the Speedweeks throne.
His win on Night 1 at Orlando Speedworld set the tone for the week.
After five nights of racing that produced five different winners, including first ever feature wins for Nelson Rodrigues and Kyle Clark, Powell secured the Speedweeks crown with a total of 335 points. Joe Achzet, who led the Speedweeks Championship for three of the five nights finished up in second place 15 markers behind Powell.
FINAL 2017 SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Points
5 Nights-5 Tracks-ONE SPEEDWEEKS CHAMPION
February 6-10, 2017
Races include:
Orlando Speedworld - 2.6, Black Creek Raceway - 2.7, New Smyrna Speedway - 2.8
Dodge Raceway Stadium- 2.9, USA Int'l Speedway - 2.10
| Car | Driver Name | Hometown | Wins | Best Finish | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | Keith Powell | Carrollton, OH | 1 | 1 | 335 |
| 14 | Joe Achzet | Utica, NY | 1 | 1 | 320 |
| 25 | Bob Gangwer | Goshen, IN | 0 | 2 | 315 |
| X | Chad Phelps | Fairhaven, NY | 1 | 1 | 295 |
| 38 | Kyle Clark | Mexico, NY | 1 | 1 | 265 |
| 35 | Rob Warren | Pulaski, NY | 0 | 2 | 260 |
| 42 | Carl Becker | Lansing, MI | 0 | 6 | 215 |
| 7 | Nelson Rodrigues | Stoneham, MA | 1 | 1 | 195 |
| 77 | Kevin Timmins | Baldwinsville, NY | 0 | 2 | 195 |
| 52 | Dave Brigandi | Syracuse, NY | 0 | 7 | 185 |
| 55 | Steve Callahan | Cuyahoga Falls, OH | 0 | 5 | 120 |
| 9 | Domenic Gioia | Oswego, NY | 0 | 6 | 110 |
Other winners included Joe Achzet on Night 2 at Black Creek Raceway and Chad Phelps on Night 3 at New Smyrna Speedway.
SUPRS Co-Founder Bob Gangwer expressed his gratitude to the SUPRS Members for their support and a great Speedweeks saying, “This has to be one of our best Florida Speedweeks in the last five years, and the support of the SUPRS Members was fantastic. They all helped keep the show going each night and raced with respect looking at the big picture.”
“We had a really good week, with a ton of close, competitive racing, five different winners, a real mix of drivers on the podium, Nelson and Kyle picking up their first feature wins and only a couple of ruffled feathers, to me that’s a lot of positives to take away and it’s all because of the caliber and class of the SUPRS drivers,” said Gangwer.
The SUPRS racers will have a short breather as there is no racing on Tuesday night because of Valentine’s Day. But after kissing their sweetheart goodbye, they’ll head west for Wednesday’s SUPRS Copper World Classic XIII presented by Kern Motorsports at Phoenix International Raceway.
Systems Checks begin at 7:00pm while Official Practice starts at 8:00pm. Time Trials will follow at 8:30pm and racing will start at 9:00pm nights.
Because this is a rFactor event, fans will be able to enjoy SUPRS LIVE! as drivers challenge the “Desert Mile.” Keep up with your favorite SUPRS racer in an instant by visiting www.SUPRS.net/site/live.
Learn more about supermodified racing and online supermodified sim racing by visiting www.SUPRS.net, “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Circling SUPRS on Google+, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and Viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube.
SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2017 Statistics
- In all, 12 drivers received points for SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2017. Of those, nine had perfect attendance.
- Keith Powell had the best finishing average of 3.4, just slightly better than Rob Warren’s 3.75.
- All five race winners were first-time Florida Speedweeks winners, which brings the total number of drivers that have won at least once during Speedweeks to 24.
- There were eight different podium finishers throughout the week, with Joe Achzet and Rob Warren tying with the most at three each.
- Three different drivers set fast time and two track records were set.
- With Nelson Rodrigues win on Night 4 at Dodge Raceway Stadium, there are now eight different states represented by Florida Speedweeks winners.
- It was the first time in SUPRS Florida Speedweeks history that the rFactor sim racing platform has been used.
- Finally, Dodge Raceway Stadium is now the tenth different track to host a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks feature event.
