Night of Destruction at Desoto Can’t Keep Ohh From Victory

Disastrous Night for Most, but Dave Ohh Hangs on for Win on Opening Night of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks at Desoto Speedway

February 6, 2023 – Bradenton, FL…Last year he had to overcome fatigue from a 17 hour drive home after the 60^th Annual Rolex 24 at Daytona, this year Dave Ohh overcame a night of destruction at Desoto Super Speedway to claim his third straight win at the Bradenton oval. The Connecticut hot shoe was one of the few left on track with only minor damage when the checkered flag flew over the opening round of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), 2023 Florida Speedweeks.

Ohh was joined on the Desoto podium by second place finisher Brad Keysor and Zach Sears who led a fair amount of laps and ended up third. Five of the 13 starters failed to finish the 50 lap feature, and those that did, were just hanging on hoping to get their battered supermodifieds to the finish.

Much More Hectic for Ohh

Starting from seventh on the grid, Dave Ohh knew that he would have his work cut out to get to the front. Although his first two wins at Desoto weren’t cake walks, the TMS Wolfpack sponsored driver admitted that this win was the toughest. “This one was much more hectic,” explained Ohh with no exaggeration. “The wreck on the first lap in turn three was very close, and then when the 14, (Bobby Hayduk), went around it was right in front of us, and Zach and I had to split him. Definitely some close calls.”

“I was definitely lucky on that start and on the restarts tonight,” he said. “Anymore laps and Brad would have caught me.”

First Lap Set Tone

While the start may have been clean, the field didn’t make it a lap before the first caution of the night flew, and it was to set the tone for most of the rest of the race. Bob Gangwer and Icings on Top Rookie of the Year contender, Daniel Nans, brought the field down for the green flag and for Nans first time on the front row in his first visit to Desoto, he did a fine job matching Gangwer lock, step and barrel through the first two turns.

The rest of the 13 car starting field were minding their “Ps” and “Qs” as well, at least until they got out of turn two. After that, all bets were off, and after a bump into Nans going down the backstretch that seemed harmless enough, third place starting Steven Vincent blasted into turn three and clobbered the back end of Gangwer.

Gangwer’s 25 snapped around, then banged into Nans as Vincent spun around as well. Gangwer became the pinball in SUPRS machine being bounced into Nans, then clipped by Ryan Cloonan, and finally coming to a solid stop against the wall, having gone from the bottom to the top in front of the entire field.

The track was nearly completely blocked, and somehow as Nans kept going, the rest of the field were able to snake through the melee, albeit, some, with damage. Zach Sears had nowhere to go but to the bottom of the track, which was essentially blockaded by Vincent’s car sitting sideways in the turn. Sears showed a good bit of skill getting on the brakes and steering around Vincent’s car without slamming into him, and although he did clip Vincent and sustain some damage, he was able to continue, actually moving to second behind Nans for the restart.

Just One Lap

Sears cleared Nans on the restart, but the yellow flag came right back out for a spinning Carl Becker. The field reset with just one lap on the scoreboard, and just like the first restart, the green came out followed immediately by the caution, this time for Danny Ray who cooked it into turn one, then jumped a dirt mound and flew across the track in mid-air before smashing the outside wall to bring his night to an early end.

Sears brought the pack down for the green with Nans and Anthony Corsoniti in hot pursuit. Dave Ohh and Brad Keysor were in the top five at this point as well, and were still there when another caution flag came out just two laps after the green flew. This time it was Nelson Rodrigues who’d gone around, and some were already wondering if they were going to have enough fuel to finish the race.

Almost

Sears once again took the green and it almost looked like the dreaded yellow flag disease had been beat. Sears was able to click off 11 laps and pull to nearly a half track lead in his MSS sponsored #22 before Steven Vincent, who had been plugging away in ninth place, had a long lazy slide down the backstretch that ended in the infield to bring out yet another caution. Sears used the lapped car of Carl Becker to his advantage on the restart, and again pulled out to a decent lead over Dave Ohh who was now in second.

Second Near Disaster is Sears Undoing

Another 10 laps clicked off and Sears now had a pack of cars looming in front and the reigning SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Champion chomping on his rear nerf bar. Just as Sears was starting to work his way around the tail of lappers, Bobby Hayduk went for a wild ride through the infield, just missing a light pole, before sliding back up into the path of the remaining cars that were part of the pack that Sears was starting to lap.

Sears made a quick move, and for the second time in the chaotic race, averted disaster sliding to the high side of Hayduk as Ohh dove to the bottom. And while Sears restarted from the point, this caution would prove to be young Ohions undoing, as Dave Ohh blasted into the lead just a lap after the green flag came back out.

Other than a lap when Brad Keysor was able to get by him, Ohh led the next 12 laps before the final caution came out with the scoreboard showing seven to go. The night of destruction at Desoto would mercifully go green the rest of the way to the finish after a total of 26 caution laps were run.

Keysor Quickest in Time Trials

For the second year in a row Brad Keysor came out on top in Time Trials, and although he didn’t break his existing track record of 11.258 seconds set last year, he came close with a time of 11.264. Dave Ohh, who set the initial track record the first year SUPRS visited Desoto in 2021, was a close second in time with a 11.298. Ryan Cloonan rounded out the top three time trialers when he stopped the clock at 11.663.

The rest of the top five in time were no slouches, and for the third year straight all were under 12 seconds, with the rest of the Elite 8, (who were locked in and eligible for the Feature inversion), all turning laps in the 12.1 second range.

Boogie Down to Black Creek

The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series boogies down to the fictional Black Creek Raceway for the second night of the 2023 SUPRS Florida Speedweeks for a 25 lap feature at the big 3/4 mile. Dave Ohh has won the last three years at this track and is a favorite to repeat. The Elite 8 qualifiers will be locked into the first four rows of the 25 lap feature and then inverted by the roll of the die, and it’s possible that all 8 could be inverted.

Black Creek Raceway is one of two tracks that have hosted a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks race every year that the series has been contested. This year’s show at the NASCAR Heat sim racing track is part of the SUPRS/HeatFinder.net Supermodified Challenge and open to anyone that has the track, the SUPRS modification, and has registered to race at SUPRS.net.

****2023 SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Schedule****

Remaining Races:

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Tuesday 02/07/2023

SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 2

• Track: Black Creek Raceway-by Splashman-25 laps-3/4 Mile
• Platform: NASCAR Heat
• Mod: SUPRS W v6 mod
• 8:00pm Practice
• 8:10pm Mandatory Drivers’ Meeting
• 8:20pm Time Trials
• 8:30pm Racing
• Current Track Record: Ray Sand, Jr.; 17.016 sec. Set: 02/10/2009(NH)
• Defending Race Winner: Dave Ohh

Special Notes:

• SUPRS/HeatFinder.net public event-all welcome that have registered at SUPRS.net within 24 hours of race.
• Elite 8 qualifiers inverted based on die roll

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Wednesday 02/08/2023

SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 3

• Track: Dodge Raceway Stadium-by Gator-50 laps-0.375 Miles
• Platform: rFactor
• Mod: SUPRS W v7.3 mod 
• 8:00pm Practice
• 8:15pm Mandatory Drivers’ Meeting
• 8:20pm Time Trials
• 8:30pm Racing
• Current Track Record: Brad Keysor; 10.710; Set: 02/02/22(rF)
• Defending Race Winner: Dave Ohh

Special Notes:

• Group Practice. 
• Pits closed at all times during race conditions. Drivers are not allowed to enter or exit the pits once the Feature Race goes green.
• Elite 8 qualifiers inverted for feature based on pill draw

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Thursday 02/09/2023

SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 4

• Track: USA International Speedway-by Sim Factory LLC-25 laps-3/4 Mile
• Platform: rFactor
• Mod: SUPRS W v7.3 mod 
• 8:00pm Practice
• 8:10pm Mandatory Drivers’ Meeting
• 8:20pm Time Trials
• 8:30pm Racing
• Current Track Record: Brad Keysor; 14.657 sec.; Set: 02/03/2022(rF)
• Defending Race Winner: Brad Keysor

Special Notes:

• All-Skate Practice. 
• Pits Closed during caution until opened by Race Control, except to pull off track. Cars may not re-enter track from pits once white flag is shown.
• Elite 8 qualifiers inverted for feature based on pill draw

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Friday 02/10/2023

SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 5

• Track: 5 Flags Speedway-by RFN-50 laps-½ Mile
• Platform: rFactor
• Mod: SUPRS W v7.3 mod 
• 8:00pm Practice
• 8:10pm Drivers’ Meeting
• 8:20pm Time Trials
• 8:30pm Racing
• Current Track Record: Dave Ohh; 13.442 sec.; Set: 02/04/2022(rF)
• Defending Race Winner: Dave Ohh

Special Notes:

• All-Skate Practice
• Pits Closed during caution until opened by Race Control, except to pull off track. Cars may not re-enter track from pits once white flag is shown.
• Elite 8 qualifiers inverted for feature based on Florida Speedweeks points standings after four races.