Chris Meyers Sets New Track Record En Route to First Ever Topless! 200 Pole
Oswego, NY – August 17, 2015…Lorain, Ohio’s Chris Meyers will start from the pole position of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series 11th Annual Topless! 200 after setting a new track record for non-wing sim supermodifieds at Oswego Speedway online.
Chris Meyers(R) and Art Palmer(L), will lead the field to the green flag of the 11th Annual Topless! 200 Tuesday night. (Screenshot by Perry Vance)
Meyers’ lap time of 16.371 lowered the existing track record held by 3-Time Topless! 200 Champion Ray Sand, Jr. by two tenths of a second which was good enough for his second Topless! 200 front row starting position. His first came in 2008 when he started outside of Oswego, New York’s Buddy Cottom.
“This has been a long-time coming,” said Meyers. “I got the starting position I wanted on the front row and it’s no secret that clean air is better.”
When asked who he felt would be his main competition in the 200 lap grind, Meyers stated, “I think everyone is going to be really close in the 200. This race, I’ve come close to winning once and ended up second. We’ll see what happens, you just have to keep the nose clean, a lot can happen in 200 laps.”
Art Palmer, Jr. will start his first ever Topless! 200 alongside his fellow Buckeye, making it an all Ohio front row for the first time in history.
“All I did was tighten it up a little bit and the car was very comfortable,” explained Palmer. “That was probably the best I’ve ever felt in these cars. It’s going to be fun to start on the front row for one of these races.”
Palmer is one of four drivers that took time that are looking to become the Topless! 200 Rookie of the Race and said, “I’m really looking forward to starting in the front row with Chris. I know it’s going to be fun trying to be the first one to come out of turn two because you’ve got to get out front and pray that you can run consistently.”
Brian Strickland of Middleville, MI, Perry Vance from Pataskala, OH and Tony Reiner of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada all time trialed and will join Palmer as drivers looking to start their first Topless! 200
In a situation that is very similar to the last two seasons, the points chase has come right down to the last race of the year. This season it’s a three-way battle between current SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Championship leader Rob Warren and Ray Sand, Jr. and Keith Powell. The complexity of the battle took an interesting turn before Time Trials when Ray Sand, Jr. was unable to make it into the SUPRS Race Server in time and lost 13 points to Warren, while Powell picked up one point on Warren and is now only four points behind Sand, Jr. in third overall.
Powell is a Guaranteed starter and will fill in behind the front row after qualifying fourth quick, while Warren will have to run a heat race after Time Trialing in the fifth spot. Sand, Jr., who was also a Guaranteed Starter, will also have to run a heat race, but because he did not qualify, relinquished his Guaranteed Starter award and will have to start at the tail of the heat.
Action for the 11th Annual Topless! 200 continues on Tuesday August 18 with practice at 7:00 pm. Qualifying heats are set to meet the Oswego Speedway pavement at 8:00 pm and then the green flag for the 11th Annual Topless! 200 at 9:00 pm.
Supermodified and online racing fans can view timing and scoring of every SUPRS race this season 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.
All fans can learn more about the original and oldest online supermodified sim sanction, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, when they visit 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.
Laps are still available to sponsor at just $1 per lap. All proceeds go toward the Dion Parish Memorial Benevolent Fund for Supermodifieds. More details can be found on the SUPRS website.
11th Annual Topless! 200 Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined-*Denotes Topless! 200 Race Rookie)
- 23-Chris Meyers; Amherst, OH; Euphoria Vapors, Oswego Sub Shop: 16..601, 16.371 NTR
- 84-Art Palmer*; Wellington, OH; XSTSR, Ford Racing: 16.678, 16:696
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, RW Woodworking: 16.952, 16.699
- 41-Keith Powell; Geneva, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 17.088, 16.781
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Phillips Family Farm: 16.883, 16.783
- 7-Brian Strickland*; Middleville, MI; Infinity Shocks; Hoosier Tire: 17.090, 16.993
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 17.477, 17.105
- 85-Perry Vance*; Pataskala, OH; AWOL, Red’s Backyard BBQ: 17.483, 17.112
- 9-Domenic Gioia; Oswego, NY; Genesee Beer, Team Domination Motorsports: 17.448, 17.159
- 81-Tony Reiner*; Kitchener, ONT, CAN; Harley Davidson, Labatt’s Blue Beer: 17.907, 17.542
