Powell Perfect in Port City

Keith Powell Wins First SUPRS Port City Kick-Off

Oswego, NY – June 6, 2017…Keith Powell ran a perfect race to claim his first career Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), Port City Kick-Off  Tuesday night at Oswego Speedway after leading all but three laps. Rob Warren and Domenic Gioia finished second and third.

Keith Powell dominated a caution filled night to claim his first career Port City Kick-Off.

A multitude of opening night jitters marred the feature which lead to eight caution periods that lasted 27 laps. But Powell stayed the course and kept his #41 “Mayfield Missile” pointed in the right direction all night long setting the second fastest lap of the night and third best speed. Powell took the lead from Domenic Gioia on a lap three restart and held on through all the yellows to win by just under one second.

Notes

Coming out of the box with a win, helps Powell get off to a great start in the defense of his 2016 SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Championship. After a season-long battle with Rob Warren that year, and again in the recently ended 2016-17 SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Championship where he finished third to Warren, Powell knows that it’s critical to build momentum early.

Domenic Gioia kicked off his season with a heat race win and a fine run in the feature. His consistent times and smooth line kept him in the hunt for the win all night until a late race bobble dropped him to two seconds behind the winner.

Nelson Rodrigues, the SUPRS Icings on Top 2016-17 Gold Crest Wing Championship XIII Rookie of the Year came back from a crash in his heat race to finish in the top five. Rodrigues, had a mid-race battle with Steve Callahan, Bob Gangwer, and Derrick Backus, but they all faded allowing the Stoneham, MA driver to advance seven places for the SUPRSCharger award.

Powell was the only driver of the night to finish without a mark on his car. The same could not be said of Jeff Weber, who returned to SUPRS competition after a long hiatus. The former Port City Kick-Off winner had a rough go getting used to his new supermodified, and ended the night in the pits after series officials black flagged him for being over the SUPRS Incident Rule. Kevin Timmins and Dave Brigandi also watched the race from their pit stalls after both pulled in with extensive damage to their supermodifieds.

Shampine Memorial Next

The next race is the SUPRS 12^th Annual  Jim Shampine Memorial 80 at Oswego Speedway. Practice for this prestigious race runs from 8:00-8:30pm. A drivers meeting will take place at 8:30pm with Time Trials which will lock in the Elite 8 qualifiers, is at 8:45pm. Those not making the Elite 8 will have another chance to improve their starting position through the qualifying heat races set to start at 9:00pm. Estimated start time for the green flag of the 12^th Annual Jim Shampine Memorial 80 feature race is 9:30pm.

SUPRS veteran Gary Waldron is expected to make his return to the racetrack in the Michigan Hill Gang, Kenowa Auto Supply #10. Waldron, of Lansing, MI, has 326 SUPRS feature starts, but will make his first SUPRS rFactor start at the Shampine Memorial.

Watch, Listen, Enjoy

Be a part of the worldwide audience for SUPRS 12^th Annual Jim Shampine Memorial with SUPRS LIVE! It’s a great way for fans to keep up with their favorite SUPRS driver with live video, track telemetry and scoring and timing.

For fans that have a Twitch.tv account, the SUPRS Chat is a great place to make new friends, talk sim racing, or real supermodified racing and enjoy the broadcast all on one page!

For fans that miss the live stream, the full replay is available for on the SUPRS Twitch channel for up to 14 days and the edited version on the SUPRS YouTube Channel within 72 hours of each event.

Fans of supermodified racing and online sim racers alike can learn more about the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series by visiting www.SUPRS.net, “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Circling SUPRS on Google+, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and Viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube.

SUPRS RACE RESULTS:

• SUPRS 13^th Annual Port City Kick-Off
• Race 1 of 14
• June 6, 2017
• SUPRS rFactor NW v1.3 mod
• Oswego Speedway

Supermodified Heat Race 1 (showing position, car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors)

1. 9-Domenic Gioia; Oswego, NY; Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Team Domination Motorsports
2. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance
3. 61-Derrick Backus; Mexico, NY; Disturbed Motorsports
4. 38-Kyle Clark; Mexico, NY; Coors’ Light, Disturbed Motorsports
5. 77-Kevin Timmins; Baldwinsville, NY; BreezeGraphics.com, Wesley Motorsports
6. 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang

Supermodified Heat Race 2 (showing position, car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors)

1. 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports
2. 09-Jeff Weber; Ft. Wayne, IN; Adkin’s Glass, UAW Local 2209
3. 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports
4. 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Brigandi Carpet and Tile, Terry
5. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B & G Racing Photos, RW Woodworking (Penalized one position)
6. 7-Nelson Rodrigues; Stoneham, MA; Star Speedway (DNF-Accident)

Feature 50 Laps (showing car number, driver name, starting place, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 41-Keith Powell; P4 **  | * | 16.569 | +4.341
2. 35-Rob Warren; P7 | * |  ! | 16.509 | +0.895
3. 9-Domenic Gioia; P2 | * | 16.507 | +2.072
4. 38-Kyle Clark; P5 | 16.638 | +3.451
5. 7-Nelson Rodrigues; P12 | ⇑ | 16.715 | +5.526
6. 25-Bob Gangwer; P10 | 16.685 | +7.524
7. 55-Steve Callahan; P6 | 16.771 | +8.681
8. 61-Derrick Backus; P3 | 16.601 | +15.597
9. 42-Carl Becker; P11 | 17.559 | +2 Laps
10. 77-Kevin Timmins; P10 | 17.662 | DNF (Damage)
11. 52-Dave Brigandi; P1 | 17.417 | DNF (Damage)
12. 09-Jeff Weber; P8 | 17.636 | DNF (Black Flag-incident rule)

Time of Race:  31:07.953

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