Rob Warren Wins First Christmas Special & Donates Burgers’ Smokehouse Ham Award to Injured Supermodified Racer
Bracket Hill, NH – December 16, 2014…After starting from the pole position and fending off the reigning series champion, Rob Warren parked his First to Finish Docks & Hoists machine in victory lane for the 11th Annual Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series Christmas Special Tuesday at Bracket Hill Raceway.
Then, in the true spirit of the Christmas season, after accepting the accolades and awards for his win, including a Burgers’ Smokehouse Christmas Ham, he promptly asked that the ham be sent to Jeff Russell, a supermodified racer that continues to recover from Traumatic Brain Injury suffered at Las Vegas Bullring in 2010.
Ray Sand, Jr. and Steve Callahan joined Warren on the podium in second and third place respectively
Rob Warren won the Christmas Special after holding off Ray Sand, Jr. at the wire.
After taking a break to grab an ice-cold Fresca, the winner said, “What a race, I’m extremely excited to get this win.” As he calmed down somewhat he spoke of why he wanted the win so bad, “I haven’t heard much about how Jeff Russell is doing, but I think he deserves a Christmas ham and I want to donate that award to him because that’s what this league is about, helping supermodified racers and their families.”
“My hat is off to everyone that was behind me, they were faster but Steady Steve never touched me and Ray Sand, showed the true champion that he is by racing me as clean and as hard as he did,,” said Warren.
For Ray Sand, Jr., is was a night of being first runner-up after qualifying second quick, finishing second in the Reindeer Dash, starting second in the feature and finishing second to Warren at the end of the night. Sand, Jr. was also looking for the second Christmas Special win of his SUPRS career.
The reigning SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Supermodified Champion may not have won the race, but was happy to have a good run. “Man I’ll tell ya I was trying like heck because I could smell that ham in my oven but it just didn’t work out tonight,” said Sand, Jr.
The 2008 Christmas Special winner went on to say, “Tough, tough joint to get ahold of and ya know, to set a guy up here is really hard. Congrats to Rob and Steve and everybody else, I had a real good time here tonight.”
SEE HOW CLOSE THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL ACTION WAS
For the second week in a row, Steve Callahan brought his CPR Motorsports “Double Nickle” home with a top three finish and gained valuable championship points as he works to close the gap to first in the standings held by Myles Maxon.
Callahan, of Cayuhoga Falls, OH was satisfied with his finish and stated, “That was a lot of fun tonight. Congrats to Rob. There was a lot of action for 25 laps out there tonight.”
In a night of close racing that started with the field time trialing within 0.107 seconds from top to bottom then last place finishing just 2.356 behind the leader and a spread of just .084 seconds from fastest lap of the feature to the slowest, every racer had a legitimate shot at winning the Christmas Special. At the drop of the checkered flag though Warren continued the 11 year streak of never having a repeat winner in this event.
Carl Becker, Bob Gangwer, Chris Meyers and Dave Brigandi followed the top three across the finish line stripe at the end of 25 laps.
Earlier in the night Carl Becker set the stage for a fast night of racing by stopping the time trial clocks with a 12.149 second lap time, just .023 seconds off of Ray Sand, Jr.’s track record set way back in 2008.
SUPRS now heads into a two-week lay-off allowing members to spend time with their family and friends during the Christmas and New Year season. The next schedule race is the always zany Cray Canuck Snowball Derby at Cayuga Speedway on Tuesday January 6, 2015. Practice gets underway at 8:00pm with racing set for 9:00pm.
Fans of supermodified racing and online sim racers alike are encouraged to 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:
11th Annual Christmas Special
Bracket Hill Raceway
Bracket Hill, NH 4/10 mi paved oval
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 12.224, 12.149
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; Rochester, NY; SandmanRacing.com: 12.156, 12.606
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cayuhoga Falls, OH; Ice Oil, CPR Motorsports: 12.229, 12.281
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Designs of Elegance: 12.256, 12.361
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, Ricky’s Sideline Shots: 12.291, 12.376
- 23-Chris Meyers; Amherst, OH; Burch’s Full Throttle Soda Blasting, Oswego Sub Shop: 12.322, 12.349
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Pizza Hut, Terry: 12.256, 12.361
Reindeer Dash-4 Laps (showing finish, car number, driver name)
- 35-Rob Warren
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.
- 55-Steve Callahan
- 42-Carl Becker
Feature-25 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 35-Rob Warren; * ** 12.278
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; 12.245 | +0.153
- 55-Steve Callahan; ! 12.233 | +1.057
- 42-Carl Becker; 12.317 | +1.715
- 25-Bob Gangwer; 12.265 | +1.830
- 23-Chris Meyers; * 12.275 | +2.356
- 52-Dave Brigandi; 12.271 | +2.676
Time of Race: 06:11.890
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
