Ray Sand, Jr. Makes History Again-Wins First Ever SUPRS rFactor Sanctioned Race
Oswego, NY – June 2, 2015…As much as things change, they stay the same and that statement was never more obvious when three-time Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series Gold Crest Non-Wing Champion Ray Sand, Jr. of Rochester, NY dominated the 75 lap Port City Kick-Off. Sand, Jr. won a night that featured the début of the SUPRS rFactor non-wing supermodified mod and Oswego Speedway for rFactor. Rob Warren and Chris Meyers finished nearly 10 seconds behind Sand, Jr. and the only time they were close to him is when they all stood on the podium together at the end of the race.
Ray Sand, Jr. captured the first ever SUPRS rFactor race.
The win was the 90th of Sand, Jr.’s SUPRS career but only the second time he’d captured the Port City Kick-Off. His dominating performance was a shock even to the three-time SUPRS Non-Wing Champion himself.
“I don’t know really what to say,” began the winner. “This is awesome just to be a part of this whole deal and be able to race with everyone.”
While his competitors struggled with ill-handling race cars, Sand, Jr. didn’t seem fazed by the way the car handled for the 75 lap feature. He said, “The car didn’t really change at all throughout the race. I talked to my teammate Chris to figure out what I was going to do with fuel and his number was right on the money so thanks to him. Really, I just made sure that I didn’t slide the car and I think that helped a lot. I think if you can focus on staying around 17.2s the whole feature you’re going to be alright.”
“The Sandman” as he’s known to friends and fellow competitors is a second generation real-world racer. He was concerned about making the move to a new gaming platform and explained his worries saying, “I was a little worried about going to rFactor. There’s a lot that goes into it with files and settings. I’ve run a lot of online races, but I was new to rFactor and even though I did a lot of iRacing and obviously NASCAR Heat, I was a little skeptical.” That skepticism has now apparently gone right out the window with Sand, Jr. saying “I feel pretty comfortable now and I think I’m in good shape at this place.”
Click play button to hear more of Ray Sand, Jr.’s thoughts on SUPRS and Oswego Speedway by Doug “Flash” Forgue.
While Sand, Jr. may not have a lot of experience racing rFactor, the driver that he beat by over nine seconds and came home in second position, Rob Warren, has plenty. That experience was used more to hold off a hard charging Chris Meyers from behind, than it was reeling in the leader of the race.
The top three finishers of the Port City Kick-Off 75. June
“First of all congrats to Ray Sand, he was gone, gone, gone and I had absolutely nothing for him,” said Warren. “Awesome, awesome race with Chris Meyers. I don’t know if my line was giving him too much dirty air, but I think if he could have gotten into some clean air he may have got by me and maybe could have caught Ray.”
Warren may have thought third place finisher Chris Meyers had enough to win, but Meyers himself sure didn’t.
“Ray definitely was the class of the field here tonight and I definitely had nothing for him,” said the rFactor veteran.
Meyers battled a race car that was unpredictable. He explained, “The car was OK for the first 30-35 laps of the race and it was right where I wanted it to be. But then it was pushing on exit and loose on entry. I like driving a loose race car, but that was a little too loose for me. I saw that Rob had a push at the end of the race, and I thought maybe I could get by him, but when I caught up to him, the push got worse.”
Listen to fourth place finisher Steve Callahan’s post race Port City Kick-Off interview.
Click play button to find out what Ohio “hotshot” Art Palmer said about his fifth place finish in the Port City Kick-Off.
The next race on the schedule is the 1oth Annual SUPRS 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 to follow at 8:45pm which will lock in the Elite 8 qualifiers. 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 10th Annual Jim Shampine Memorial 80 feature race is 9:30pm.
Supermodified and online racing fans can view timing and scoring of every SUPRS race this season with SUPRS LIVE! You’ll be able to keep up with your favorite SUPRS racer in an instant by going to www.SUPRS.net/site/live.
All fans can learn more about the original and oldest online supermodified sim sanction, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, when they visit www.SUPRS.net. Join SUPRS active and vibrant Social Media channels by “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Circling SUPRS on Google+, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube.
SUPRS RACE RESULTS:
- Port City Kick-Off 75
- June 2, 2015
- SUPRS rFactor NW V1 mod
Oswego Speedway
Heat Race 1 – 12 Laps (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors)
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; Rochester, NY; RPM, SandmanRacing.com
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, B&G Racing Photos
- 84-Art Palmer; Wellington, OH; Ford Racing, XSTSR
- 23-Chris Meyers; Amherst, OH; Adkins Glass, Euphoria Vapors
- 29-Dave Soja; Amherst, OH; XSTSR
- 85-Perry Vance; Pataskala, OH; AWOL, Ground Zero w/ Clyde Lewis
- 9-Domenic Gioia; Oswego, NY; Genesee Beer
- 5-John Davidson; San Diego, CA; Supermodified Scorecard
Heat Race 2 – 12 Laps (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors)
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Syracuse Time and Alarm
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; CPR Motorsports, Exide Battery
- 58-Dave Vance; Pataskala, OH; None
- 61 Dan Shupe; Vermillion, OH; Crown Royal
- 41-Keith Powell; Geneva, OH; CPR Motorsports, Icing’s on Top
- 15-Joey Callahan; Robinson, IL; CPR Motorsports, Fisher’s Performance
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY; Buffalo Bio Fuel, Terry
Feature – 75 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, starting position/fastest lap/distance behind winner)
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; * ** !; 1/16.941
- 35-Rob Warren; 3/17.061/+9.29
- 23-Chris Meyers; 4/16.991/+10.197
- 55-Steve Callahan; 5/17.100/+12.177
- 84-Art Palmer; 6/17.038/+14.098
- 85-Perry Vance; 11/17.004/+16.034
- 61-Dan Shupe; 10/17.043/+1 Lap
- 41-Keith Powell; ^; 12/17.003/+2 Laps
- 9-Domenic Gioia; 8/17.174/+2 Laps
- 29-Dave Soja; 7/17.131/+ 36 Laps (incident-DNF)
- 5-John Davidson; 13/18.688/+39 Laps (incident-DNF)
- 58-Dave Vance; 9/17.845/+48 Laps (incident-DNF)
- 25-Bob Gangwer; 2/19.917/+79 Laps (incident-DNF)
- 52-Dave Brigandi; DNS
Time of Race: 24:46.701
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
- ^ Denotes SUPRSCharger
Notes: Tony Reiner and Jarrett Emmerich both hot lapped, but were unable to race. There were two cautions for a total of 5 laps. Caution #1 was for Bob Gangwer on lap two when he spun then made contact with the backstretch wall and flipped. Caution #2 was for Dave Soja on lap 36 when he spun and made minor contact with the turn three wall.
