February 6, 2017 – Orlando, FL…Leading from the drop of the green flag, Keith Powell of Carrollton, OH brought home his first NASCAR Heat feature in four years winning night one of the 2017 Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), Florida Speedweeks Monday night at Orlando Speedworld. Powell held off a hard charging Joe Achzet and Rob Warren at the line.
Keith Powell(41) kicked off SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2017 with a win at Orlando Speedworld. (SUPRS Victory Lane art by BreezeGraphics.com
“It was tough up there leading with two tough guys on my tail,” Powell said after catching his breath. “I’m kind of shocked now to tell you the truth, but it’s good to put CPR back in winner’s circle, especially on a NASCAR Heat night. It was a great race, this one really surprised me.”
Fifth place was within a second of the winner at the checkered flag and it was anyone’s guess about how the race would end.
Keith “Put One on Ya” Powell said, “It was tough to keep my wits about me. Joe really ran me clean at the end, he probably could have forced the issue on lapped cars but he didn’t.”
For second place finisher Joe Achzet, the lapped traffic didn’t come at the right time. “I had a couple of shots at him,” he stated.
Achzet, who has had an ongoing tiff with Powell’s teammate Steve Callahan, thought better of roughing up another CPR Motorsports driver, saying, “It would have been really optimistic if I would have stuffed in there and after the last couple of weeks I wasn’t about to do that. Hats off to Keith he just had a little more car than me.”
Rob Warren’s third place finish kept Powell and Achzet from eating into his point lead too much and was happy to hold onto a podium.
“Congrats to Keith on the win, that is awesome,” he began. “I kept getting lost watching those guys battle up front. I gotta thank the 25, (Bob Gangwer) for running me clean.”
Powell’s Strategy Nearly Backfires
Powell got the jump on pole sitter Carl Becker and steadily pulled away from the 2014 winner here at Orlando, building up to nearly a one second lead.
“I got the lead and started to build a little lead,” explained the winner. “I just wanted to keep the car clean as long as I could.”
As he continued to pull away from Becker, he had little clue of the battle that was taking place behind him.
With Becker holding back the likes of Joe Achzet, Rob Warren, and Bob Gangwer, he lost control and got into the front-stretch wall pretty hard. “I threw a good finish into the toilet again,” said the likeable racer from Lansing, MI.
As he fought to gain control, Achzet, Warren, and then Gangwer slid by Becker and started to run down Powell just as he was catching his first lapped car.
Traffic Tightens the Top Five
Powell picks up the story, “Then almost at halfway I started catching the lapped cars and I wanted to keep the car clean so I tiptoed around the first lapped car. That let everyone catch up.”
And catch up they did. What was once a one car break away became a three, then four, then five car shootout as Powell, Achzet, Warren, Gangwer and now Steve Callahan raced nose to tail with each driver looking for the slightest advantage.
“I was slowly closing up on Keith but traffic really let me catch up to him,” said Achzet.
“I started to reel them in when they started fighting,” Warren stated.
Last Ditch Efforts
As the lap counter clicked over to 45, Achzet was throwing everything in the book at Powell, while Warren was trying to dive under Achzet as Gangwer and Callahan were waiting to pounce if any of the top three got out of shape.
It wasn’t to be though and Powell become the sixth different winner in the six times SUPRS has visited Orlando Speedworld as part of Florida Speedweeks. It was Powell’s third win of the season.
Bob Gangwer was fast qualifier, and Joe Achzet set the fast lap of the race.
Black Creek Next
The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series to Black Creek Raceway for night two of the 2017 SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Swing for a 25 lap affair at the big 3/4 mile. Bob Gangwer is the defending winner of this race.
Black Creek Raceway is one of only two tracks that have held a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks race every year that there has been a Speedweeks.
Learn more about supermodified racing and online supermodified sim racing 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 Florida Speedweeks Night 1
- Race 21 of 42
- Monday, February 6, 2017
- SUPRS NASCAR Heat W v6 mod
- Orlando Speedworld
- 50 laps
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, RW Woodworking: 11.681, 11.785
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 11.851, 11.705
- 38-Kyle Clark; Mexico, NY; Coors’ Light, Disturbed Motorsports: 11.732, 11.947
- 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 11.875, 11.748
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Designs of Elegance: 11.800, 11.777
- X-Chad Phelps; New Haven, NY; Haun Welding Supply, Disturbed Motorsports: 11.905, 11.810
- 14-Joe Achzet; Yorkville, NY; Cottontail Designs, GraphX: 11.864, 11.903
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 11.913, 11.887
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Brigandi Carpet and Tile, Terry: 12.020, 11.895
- 77-Kevin Timmins; Baldwinsville, NY; BreezeGraphics.com, Wesley Motorsports: 12.042, 11.999
Feature 50 Laps (showing car number, driver name, sponsors, bonus, starting position, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 41-Keith Powell: * | ** | P2 | 11.645
- 14-Joe Achzet: | ! | P6 | 11.585 | 0.177
- 35-Rob Warren: P7 | 11.606 | 0.669
- 25-Bob Gangwer: P3 | 11.634 | +0.761
- 55-Steve Callahan: P4 | 11.603 | +0.992
- 42-Carl Becker: P1 | 11.660 | 6.956
- 38-Kyle Clark: P10 | 11.705| +8.465
- X-Chad Phelps: P2 | 11.655 | +10.625
- 52-Dave Brigandi: P3 | 11.667 | +1 Laps
- 77-Kevin Timmins: P7 | 11.836 | DNF (Pulled Off)
Time of Race: 11:18.647
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
