Ray Sand, Jr. Holds off Myles Maxon to Win Second Billy Vukovich III Classic
Bakersfield, CA – March 2, 2015… Ray Sand, Jr. of Rochester, NY held off a hard charging Myles Maxon to win the 11th Annual Billy Vukovich III Classic for the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series Monday night at Mesa Marin Raceway. Two-time winner Steve Callahan crossed the finish line some distance behind Sand, Jr. and Maxon to claim third place.
“Man my heart is still beating out of my chest,” exclaimed the happy winner. He then added, “This is awesome to win this race again. This is just really an awesome league. It kills me that there was only six guys in here tonight for this race, but this is the core group and I just love running with these guys every week.”
Sand, Jr. took a moment to recognize second place finisher and arch rival Myles Maxon saying, “Typical Myles, he had to shave another year off of my life making me guard the bottom and hang on for this one.” When asked how concerned he was about Maxon being his main challenger, “The Sandman” said, “I knew he was going to be there by lap two, there was no time for a Budweiser at all for those 100 laps, but it sure tastes good now!”
Always a true champion and ever mindful of his fellow SUPRS online racers, Sand, Jr. felt compelled to continue his thoughts on Maxon. He stated, “I thought I was one up on Myles, then he pulled the bag of tricks out like he always does on me and pulled of an .066 in time trials, but that’s good old Myles he’s an awesome racer.”
Maxon’s 14.066 qualifying lap was enough to give him another New Track Record for the season. Looking for his first Billy Vukovich III Classic win, Maxon would have started on the pole for the 100 lap race after the redraw, but with a shot at 20 bonus points, and only six cars starting, the current point leader jumped at the chance to take the SUPRSChallenge, and he almost pulled it off, coming just short of the win at the checkered flag.
Starting at the tail of the grid, Maxon quickly worked his way into second place and stayed glued to Sand, Jr.’s rear nerf bar for most of the race. “It would be an honor to win this race, but I figured why not so I rolled the dice to see if I could get it done,” explained Maxon of taking the SUPRSChallenge.
“In the feature, the pack just broke the right way and I was able to move up,” Maxon said. “I don’t know what I did in time trials because i wasn’t that fast at any point in practice. I watched ray time trial and thought it would be cool if i could get my car to do that and I was able to pull it off for a lap.”
Maxon joined Sand, Jr. for a two car break-away that lapped every other car on the track. As hard as he tried, “Mighty” Myles Maxon just didn’t have enough power to get by Sand, Jr. for the win. “It was pretty tough to tell which of us had a better car because the car dropped of pretty fast the last quarter of the race, so I don’t know if my car was really better than Ray’s or it was just a bit of a draft that pulled me up to him. I wasn’t near good enough to get around him though. I was pushing him hard so I’ll definitely take second and move on to tomorrow night at Phoenix. Congratulations to Ray,” Maxon concluded.
All third place finisher Steve Callahan could do was watch the top two pull away as his hopes of joining John Davidson as a three-time winner of the race faded quickly. Callahan shared these thoughts, “First off congrats to Ray and Myles. I started in the back and tried to follow Myles for a little bit and I thought I could settle in and hang with those guys, (Sand & Maxon), but that plan went out the window real quick. It’s a real honor to run this race and I had a a lot fun here tonight and hope everyone else did too.”
The SUPRS Racers are on their way back over the mountains to the desert mile of Phoenix International Raceway for the SUPRS Copper World Classic X on March 3. They’ll strap into their wing and non-wing supermodifieds as well as tour type modifieds for a total of 150 feature laps. Practice gets underway at 8:00pm.
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:
- March 2, 2015
- 11th Annual Billy Vukovich III Classic 100
Mesa Marin Raceway
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)
- 79-Myles Maxon; Oswego, NY; Tamarack Golf Club, The Swamp: 14.128, 14.066♦
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; Rochester, NY; SandmanRacing.com: 14.079, 14.163
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cayuhoga Falls, OH; Ice Oil, CPR Motorsports: 14.252, 14.219
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, Ricky’s Sideline Shots: 14.358, 14.344
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Designs of Elegance: 14.484, 14.346
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Buffalo Bio-Diesel, Terry: 14.514, 14.565
Feature – 100 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; * ** 14.094
- 79-Myles Maxon; ! 14.084 | +0.175
- 55-Steve Callahan; 14.233 | +1 lap
- 25-Bob Gangwer; 14.208 | +2 laps
- 52-Dave Brigandi; * 14.377 | +2 laps
- 35-Rob Warren; 14.459 | +3 laps
Time of Race: 25:14.021
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
- ♦ Denotes New Track Record
