Perry, Powell Turn in Dominating Performances on First Night of North Carolina Swing

Kyle Perry Leads All at Dasera, Keith Powell Wins by A Lot at Orange County Both Dominate Night 1 of SUPRS North Carolina Swing

October 20, 2020 – Rougemont, NC …Kyle Perry dominated on the way to winning the 40 lap feature at Dasera Speedway, as did Keith Powell at Orange County Speedway on the first night of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), 17^th Annual North Carolina Swing Tuesday.

Perry Performs Well Under Pressure

Kyle Perry of Fulton, NY got his start with SUPRS when he was just at the minimum age to join, made a commitment to run the full season and go for a championship. He is making good on that commitment with solid runs at the start of the season and his performance in the first race on the opening night of the 17th Annual North Carolina Swing proves he will be in contention.

Perry, driving the Orange Crate Brewing, Bellinger Auto Service #02, qualified second quick which put him solidly into the Elite 8 and made him eligible for the feature inversion. That inversion served him well with an outside front row starting position right next to the driver that has won the Dasera feature the last two years in a row, Carl Becker. “I’ve had a pretty frustrating start to the year,” said Perry. “I’ve been able to time trial good the first two races, but once we get into the race, getting through traffic has been the tough part. So starting outside front row definitely helped tonight.”

Perry got a great start and was able to lead from lap one to 40 and claim his second career SUPRS feature victory in the winged supermodifieds. There were plenty of hair-raising moments for the young SUPRS racer who also drives a real supermodified, but perhaps nothing was as nerve-wracking as knowing that SUPRS 2020 Gold Crest Non-Wing Supermodified Champion, Dave Ohh, was trying to make his march to the front.

“The toughest thing for me was staying focused,” he said. “When I saw the eleven, (Ohh), creeping up the leader board there, I was trying to concentrate on making my marks and not looking to see if he was closing in or not.”

Perry’s lead was too much for Ohh to overcome and Ohh ended up in second place over a second and a half behind the winner with third place finisher, Bob Gangwer, close on his tail. Rob Warren and Ryan Cloonan rounded out the top five at the 3/8 bowl with 18 degree banking.

All of the 14 starters finished the race and ten of them were on the lead lap at the end. Earlier in the night, Dave Ohh set fast time with a lap of 11.263 seconds.

Powell Passes Becker Early, Never Looks Back

2018-19 North Carolina Swing Champion, Keith Powell knows how important a good finish is on the first night of the swing and wasted no time getting to the front in the second race of the night held at Orange County Speedway. “I’m just super excited,” said Powell. “It’s a good start to the week and those two tracks are behind me now and I just hope to finish in the top six the rest of the week and get locked in for Thursday.”

It marked the second year in a row that a member of the CPR Motorsports team turned in a dominating performance at Orange County Speedway. Last year, Powell’s teammate, Steve Callahan, started from the pole an led all 40 laps in SUPRS first feature race to be held at the Rougemont oval.

While Powell didn’t lead from start to finish, after he took the lead from Carl Becker on lap eight, he built up a strong cushion and ended up taking the win by 3.3 seconds over second place finisher Brad Keysor. Rookie Ryan Cloonan had his best NASCAR Heat run yet and finished in third.

“Once I got by Carl, I just set sail,” said the driver of the Icings on Top sponsored Mayfield Missile. “I just had to, I knew there were a lot of fast guys coming.”

Powell noted that “The front row, (pole sitter Zach Sears and outside row one starter Carl Becker), took off, and well, they just took off, they were gone. I was waiting for them to slow down, but I didn’t want them to jam on the brakes and back us up, but they got to racing hard and I just let them sort it out.”

Not surprisingly, Powell, who qualified second quick to Dave Ohh, and finished in third last year here, set the fastest lap of the race at 11.051

Two Qualifying Races Left

The 2020 North Carolina Swing continues tomorrow with qualifying races three and four. The first stop of the night is at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, followed by a full event on the 1/2 mile tri-oval at Concord Motorsports Park in Midland.

Both tracks will host 50 lap rFactor supermodified sim racing features for the SUPRS racers as they try hard to stay in the top eight in NC Swing points. Practice for both races begins at 7:45pm with racing slated to go at 9:05.

Hoping to Make the Hickory Hustle on Thursday

The swing finishes off  at Hickory Motor Speedway on Thursday, October 22. The top eight in points after the four qualifying races will be invited to “The Hickory Hustle” where the driver sitting in victory lane after 75 challenging laps, will be crowned North Carolina Swing Champion.

Supermodified and sim racing fans alike can view timing and scoring including track telemetry of races three and four as well as The Hickory Hustle during the 17^th Annual North Carolina Swing 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, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube.

Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)

1. 11-Dave Ohh; Union, CT; TMS Wolfpack: 11.055, 11.020
2. 41-Keith Powell; Crestline, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 11.091, 11.287
3. 13-Ryan Cloonan^R; Oswego, NY; Simability: 11.123, 11.520
4. 02-Kyle Perry; Fulton, NY; Bellinger Auto, Orange Crate Brewing: 11.168, 11.132
5. 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Chasing Cameras: 11.437, 11.137
6. 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 11.216, 11.148
7. 22-Zach Sears; Elyria, OH; Midwest Supermodified Series, Adkins Glass: 11.220, 11.166
8. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, RW Woodworking: 11.199, 11.174
9. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Designs of Elegance: 11.303, 11.193
10. 10-Gary Waldron; Wyoming, MI; Kenowa Auto Supply, Michigan Hill Gang: 11.214, 11.196
11. 17-John Held^R; Hagersville, ON, CAN; NAPA Auto Parts, Coca-Cola: 11.445, 11.250
12. 08-Danny Ray; Goshen, IN; Smokie Bone’s Downhome Kitchen, Masterbrand: 11.764, 11.378
13. 14-Bobby Hayduk; Brook Park, OH; American Heart Assoc., American Diabetes Assoc.: 11..407, 12.025
14. 28-Steven Vincent^R; Cicero, NY; Creative Assistant: 11.491, 11.458

Feature – 40 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, starting place/best lap time/distance behind winner)

1. 41-Keith Powell; * /  ** /  !  /  P3 / 11.051
2. 3-Brad Keysor; P4 / 11.107 / +3.308
3. 13-Ryan Cloonan^R; P5 / 11.104 / +3.857
4. 25-Bob Gangwer; P6 / 11.063 / +4.080
5. 42-Carl Becker; P2 / 11.155 / +7.191
6. 11-Dave Ohh; P7 / 11.126 / +7.839
7. 02-Kyle Perry; P8 / 11.180 / +8.206
8. 35-Rob Warren;  P10 / 11.105 / +8.564
9. 17-John Held^R; P16 / 11.138 / +1 Lap
10. 10-Gary Waldron; P11 / 11.157 / +1 Lap
11. 08-Danny Ray; P15 / 11.330 / +1 Lap
12. 28-Steven Vincent^R; P2 / 11.354 / +2 Laps
13. 14-Bobby Hayduk; P13 / 11.342 / +2 Laps
14. 22-Zach Sears; P1 / 11.239 / DNF

Time of Race: 09:07.487

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• * Denotes Lap Led
• ** Denotes Most Laps Led
• ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race