Nelson Rodrigues Wins Dodge Raceway Stadium Speedweeks Feature for Third Year in a Row
February 6, 2019 – Maitland, FL…Nelson Rodrigues of Stoneham, MA held off a hard charging Dave Ohh to bag his third Florida Speedweeks feature win in a row at Dodge Raceway Stadium. Ohh hung on for second and maintains the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), 2019 Florida Speedweeks point lead. Brad Keysor, ran a smooth race, kept the car clean, and came home third.
It’s all in the Set Up
Rodrigues seemed to be able to find traction where others couldn’t, allowing him to run the car a little more free than his fellow competitors. In victory lane he alluded to that saying, “Well I tell ya, the past two years, I’ve been fortunate to have good set-ups,” said the soft-spoken New Englander. “This year I just saw that the competition here has gotten so much better, so I worked on my set up yesterday and all day to day and I;m glad I did because Dave Ohh had a really good set up and he worked me over really well. He was clean, I hope I didn’t chop him because I couldnt’ see him-I could hear him a couple of times. This was a lot of fun, this is a tough little track and I really appreciate having Dave behind me because it was an awesome race, he really made me work hard.”
SpeedyMan Hounds Hot Rod
Like he’s down previously at Dodge, Rodrigues matted the hammer at the drop of the green flag and went right to the lead. Unlike previous years, where he had the race well in hand until the end, this year he was pressured almost from the get-go by Monday night’s winner, “SpeedyMan” Dave Ohh.
With only one caution to slow his torrid pace, Rodrigues knew he had to take car of his car to make it to the finish. He could hardly afford to take it easy though, because the guy behind him, even though he was in his terms, “not pushing too hard,” was studying the leader looking for a weakness.
Ohh thought he had found it with less than five laps to go and made a move inside of Rodrigues. Ohh had his hands full though, nearly causing the second caution when the car got very loose on the exit of the turn. He gathered it up but not before Rodrigues was able to seal the deal on his third straight win at this 1/3 mile paved oval.
Becker Lucky
Carl Becker is lucky that he only races virtual supermodifieds, because after the crash he had, he’d, at the very least, be spending a boatload of money to fix a badly wrecked race car. Trying to be courteous to the faster racers that were lapping him, Becker was the victim of a nasty crash that saw him clip the end of pit wall with his right rear tire, ripping it off, and causing him to spin violently in front Rob Warren.
Warren, running in fourth at the time, had nowhere to go and plowed into Becker’s car sending them both pirouetting down the track. Somehow, Keith Powell was able to clear the carnage and hold position. Warren’s car wasn’t as bad as it first seemed and he finished the race.
Could Powell Three-peat?
With current Speedweeks point leader Dave Ohh already confirming that he will not be able to finish the week due to prior commitments with HeatFinder.net, Ohh will lose the battle and it looks like Keith Powell could bring home his third straight Florida Speedweeks title. With just two shows left, Powell is heading into two of his best tracks and sits fifteen points ahead of his teammate and twenty ahead of Rob Warren.
USA, USA, USA
The fourth of five nights of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2019 takes place at USA International Speedway Thursday, February 7 with a 25 lap feature. Last year, Keith Powell’s win pushed him ever closer to his second Speedweeks Championship.
USA International Speedway is one of two tracks that has hosted a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks race every year the swing has run and Ray Sand, Jr. is the all-time winner at this racetrack with three
Fan Fun
Fans can join in the Florida Speedweeks fun by watching SUPRS LIVE! all week-long night. It’s easy to keep up with your favorite SUPRS racer instantly with live streaming video, stats, and track telemetry by visiting www.SUPRS.net/site/live.
Watch our SPEEDWEEKS YouTube Playlist
Get Social with SUPRS
Fans can learn more about the original supermodified sim sanction, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, by visiting 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. See us live and join our chat on Twitch.
SUPRS RACE RESULTS:
- SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Night 3
- Race 26 of 46
- Wednesday, February 6, 2019
- SUPRS rFactor W v7.3 mod
- Dodge Raceway Stadium
- 50 laps
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)
- 7-Nelson Rodrigues; Stoneham, MA; Star Speedway: 11.407, 11.123
- 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 11.521, 11.382
- 11-Dave Ohh; Union, CT; TMS Wolfpack: 11:497, 11.453
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 11.772, 11.596
- 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Justice League: 11.813, 11.608
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 11.839, 17.113
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, RW Woodworking 11.810, 11.634
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 12.031, 14.369
- 38-Kyle Clark; Mexico, NY; Coors’ Light, Disturbed Motorsports: 12.582, 26.752
Feature 50 Laps (showing car number, driver name, sponsors, bonus, starting position, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 7-Nelson Rodrigues: * | ** | P2 | 11.284
- 11-Dave Ohh: ! | P4 | 11.280 | +1.398
- 3-Brad Keysor: P6 | 11.404 | +2.606
- 41-Keith Powell: P7 | 11.437 | +4.256
- 55-Steve Callahan: P5 | 11.474 | +5.944
- 35-Rob Warren: P8 | 11.483 | +8.917
- 25-Bob Gangwer: P3| 11.463 | +1 Lap
- 38-Kyle Clark: P9 | 11.537| + 2 Laps
- 42-Carl Becker: P1 | 11.962 | DNF (Accident)
Time of Race: 11:50.736
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
****2019 SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Schedule****
Thursday 02/07/2019
SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 4
- USA International Speedway-25 laps-3/4 Mile
- 8:00pm Practice
- 8:15pm Drivers Meeting
- 8:30pm Time Trials
- 9:00pm Racing
- Current Track Record: Joe Achzet; 14.707 sec. Set: 02/10/2016(rF)
- Defending Race Winner: Keith Powell
- rFactor platform SUPRS W v7.3 mod
