Ohh Now All-Time Feature Winner at Dodge

Fourth Straight Dodge Raceway Stadium Speedweeks Win Puts Ohh on Top

February 8, 2023 – Maitland, FL…Dave “SpeedyMan” Ohh is now the all-time feature winner at Dodge Raceway Stadium after coming from the back with 20 laps to go to take the victory on the third night of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), 2023 Florida Speedweeks on Wednesday. The win was Ohh’s fourth, in four years within the tight 1/3 mile confines of Dodge Raceway Stadium which now moves his total career Speedweeks win tally to 13, and two for the week.

For the second year in a row, Brad Keysor drove the wheels off of his BMK Logistics #3, ran in the top three the whole race, and even led for 12 laps. But once again played second fiddle to Ohh’s lead chair run. Ryan Cloonan, like Ohh, had to work his way back to the front of the field after early contact, and was able to lock down a third place finish for the second year in a row.

Throw It in for the Win

There’s just something about Dodge Raceway Stadium that suits Ohh’s “stand on it” driving style, and after the race he explained how he was able to overcome an in-game penalty that sent him to the back for driving too slow during a caution. “You have to drive the car,” he said matter of fact. “You just have to drive it off of the hill, the bump in turn two and throw it into turn three hoping you got get the bumps the wrong way.”

A master at car control, especially when it’s on the verge of coming around, Ohh knows that loose is fast, especially at Dodge. “You have to drive a really loose car here, and just hang on through the bumps.”

Couldn’t Get Rhythm

While he always makes winning look easy, Ohh was quick to admit that the win this year wasn’t easy and part of it was his inability to figure out where his rhythm went. “The field was definitely tighter this year,” said Ohh. “Tonight it just felt different to me, I’m not sure what it was, but it was harder to get into a rhythm like before here.”

Caution Nearly Cost Him

The rest of the competitors may have begged to differ when he took the lead on lap four then held it through a few cautions. Able to maintain control of the gap to Brad Keysor and Zach Sears, it looked like Ohh could have drove away at any minute, and the only thing keeping him from doing so was the timing of what few cautions there were in the race.

One of those cautions nearly cost him the win. Slowing suddenly and dropping low on the backstretch as the field came out of turn two on the white flag for a restart, startled many of the racers, but Ohh explained afterwards what happened. “I was getting a driving too slow warning and then I got a penalty for going to slow behind the pace car,” he said. “So I thought it would be safer to drop to the back under caution, take the penalty and try to come back through.” Never one to mince words, the defending Season Champion said that he “didn’t want to finish the race with a penalty not cleared and I didn’t want to say anything being in the race channel while we were on track.”  “At least I only had to race back to the front once tonight,” he joked. “Thanks to The Mod Squad and HeatFinder.net and of course to Icings on Top and all of the SUPRS sponsors.”

Surprisingly Smooth Race

After a disastrous night at Desoto to kick off Speedweeks on Monday, many competitors were leery of a repeat of the race that saw a season high caution count of seven for 26 laps. Adding to that fear was the fact that Dodge is incredibly bumpy and tight, and 14 drivers showed up to race within the walls of the stadium track, the most cars of the week so far.

Much to the surprise of all, the race was slowed just 3 times for 19 laps and all of the incidents were single car except the first one on lap two when Ryan Cloonan got into 3-time Dodge Raceway Stadium feature winner Nelson Rodrigues. Rodrigues was done for the night at that point, adding insult to injury for the driver that had once dominated every race run at Dodge.

The race went green for a race high 17 laps between lap 11 and 28, then 16 green flag laps closed out the race. In between, Carl Becker brought out a caution then called it a night, Eric Merkley pulled off the track with an ill-handling car, and Tuesday night’s winner at Black Creek, Zach Sears mangled his Adkins’ Glass ride when as he stated, “I’m not really sure what happened, I just ran out of talent.” Other than that, the race was almost as smooth as last year’s event that only had 3 cautions, but also had fewer cars.

Relieved to Finish

Danny Ray, and rookie Daniel Nans both felt relieved to get across the finish line. Ray for the first time this week, and Nans after losing connection on Tuesday. Likewise, Gary Waldron and Bobby Hayduk just kept on trucking and were able to finish the event. Ray and Waldron both crossed the line with zero incidents of any kind, while Hayduk and Nans each had one apiece.

Ohh Just Misses Track Record

Try as he might, Dave Ohh couldn’t regain the track record he had lost last year to Brad Keysor. Keysor’s 10.710 second lap narrowly held on after Ohh clipped off a 17.724 to lead the rest of the pack in qualifying. Keysor was slower than last year at 10.820, but was still the only other driver below 11 seconds. Zach Sears was third quick with an 11.152, the Anthony Corsoniti stopped the clocks with a lap of 11.182 seconds. The highlight of Nelson “Hot” Rodrigues’ night was certainly his time trial run after the disastrous feature he had. The former “King of Dodge” turned in fifth quick time with a lap of 11.278 seconds in his Star Speedway sponsored machine.

2-Time Speedweeks Champ Back

For the first time since the Christmas Special in December, 2-time SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Champion, Keith Powell, was back on the track. Powell, who had been away for some health related issues, showed that he had lost little in regards to skill and talent. After rolling his CPR Motorsports “Mayfield Missile” off the rig, he went out and qualified into the Elite 8, then made his Icings on Top sponsor proud finishing the feature without a scratch on the car in sixth after starting on the pole. Powell stated, “It was some good racing out there tonight and it felt good to be back. I’m going to try to make it tomorrow night, we’ll just have to see.”

Speedweeks Points Update

With the win, Dave Ohh now has a 25 point lead in the SUPRS Florida Speedweeks point standings over Brad Keysor. After crashing out of the feature at Dodge, Zach Sears, who trailed Ohh by just five markers coming into the night, has fallen to fifth and is now 67 points out of first.

Behind Ohh and Keysor, Ryan Cloonan still has a fighting chance sitting in third, 35 points behind the leader. Anthony Corsoniti has been the model of consistency and is fourth just five points in arrears to Cloonan.

USA, USA, USA

It’s time for the SUPRS racers to start chanting USA as they roll into Lakeland for a 25 lap feature at USA International Speedway on Thursday for the fourth of five nights of SUPRS 2023 Florida Speedweeks.

Just like Black Creek Raceway where Zach Sears won on Tuesday, USA International Speedway holds the distinction of having hosted a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks event every year that the swing through the “Sunshine State” has been run.

Former SUPRS and Speedweeks champions, Keith Powell and Ray Sand, Jr., lead the way with wins at USA and have each won there three times. Along with Powell and Sand, Jr., Brad Keysor is one the ten different drivers that have victories at USA, to have won more than once at the big 3/4 mile track.

This year, he hopes to join that elite club of three-time winners as he goes for his third consecutive win at USA International Speedway. Last year Keysor set a new track record and led all the laps in a green to checkered run that lasted just a little over six minutes.

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

Remaining Races:

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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.