Sears Win at 5-Flags Not Enough as Keysor Takes Speedweeks Championship

Zach Sears Wins at 5-Flags Speedway but Brad Keysor Takes Second SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship on Tie-Breaker

February 9, 2024 – Pensacola, FL…After staying in the hunt all week long, current Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), season points leader, Zach Sears, did everything in his power to claim the overall SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024 Championship by winning on Friday in the 50 lap supermodified sim racing feature at 5-Flags Speedway. But after Brad Keysor finished third making it tie in Speedweeks points, Sears’ second career Speedweeks win wasn’t wasn’t enough to overcome the tie-breaker of most wins, (Keysor had two to Sears one), and Keysor claimed his second SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship.

Two-time 5 Flags winner and Speedweeks Champion, Dave Ohh of Union, CT hounded Sears for nearly the entire race and ended up in second at the finish, with the aforementioned Keysor clicking off the fastest lap of the race and coming home third.

Ryan Cloonan continued his streak of fine finishes in Pensacola with a fourth place run after leading five laps in the feature, while Anthony Corsoniti who, like Cloonan, had a real up and down Speedweeks, finished the swing through the “Sunshine State” in fifth one lap down.

Held on Despite Challenges

Sears didn’t have an easy go in the 50 lap feature and had to hold off both Ohh and Keysor after passing “Rapid” Ryan Cloonan on the fifth circuit. Part of the struggle for Sears was selecting the wrong gear ratio for the feature. “I had the wrong gear in,” he said. “I really had to back it down because I realized I put the wrong gear in and my engine wear was high.”

Sears was turning very high RPMs, leading to increased engine wear and potential engine failure. The gearing was advantageous in that it allowed him to pull the other hot dogs off the corners, but his big block Chevy was out of breath at the end of the straights. “I could get off the corners, but Dave and Brad just ate me up at the end of the straights,” he explained. “Then I saw a bunch of smoke when someone had an engine let go and I didn’t want to end up like that.”

The engine he saw go up in a big black cloud was the one in the Steven Vincent machine after Vincent blew it up in spectacular fashion exiting turn four.

Beyond that, Sears said the other big moment of the race also came on the front stretch when he encountered the slowing Bobby Hayduk. “The biggest scare was when Hayduk got into the front stretch wall and he bounced up and didn’t know which way he was going to go, but fortunately I got by.”

Sears Pleased with Effort

While the win may have seemed somewhat hollow for the Elyria, OH sim racer, it did mark the twelfth time this season that Sears has parked the #22 in Victory Lane after a SUPRS feature, and even though he didn’t come up with his first SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship, he remained pleased with his efforts in the attempt to claim it.

“This whole week is tough on everyone,” he began. “You really have to plan out your week and just try to be consistent. It was nice to be able to run the whole week, because I used to have to work on Friday nights and I think this is the first time I’ve been able to run a feature here.” It was actually the second time that Sears had put the Adkins Glass sponsored machine on the track at 5 Flags, with his first start coming in 2020 when he actually led laps.

“Overall it was predictable and I’d just like to thank all the SUPRS sponsors for putting this on. Thanks to 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Hairbag Studios, BreezeGraphics.com, Icings on Top and of course The Mod Squad and Heatfinder.net for helping me out.”

Keysor Sixth Multi-Time Speedweeks Champ

Brad Keysor joins Ray Sand, Jr., Myles Maxon, Rob Warren, Keith Powell, and Dave Ohh as the sixth driver on the short list of multi-time SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Champions.

Keysor made all five nights of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks, and he made every one of those nights count. With wins at Desoto on Monday, and Thursday at USA, his worst finish was fifth on the second night at Black Creek. He was the fastest qualifier on three of the five nights, and out of 200 feature laps run, Keysor led 52 of them at three of the five tracks. He also had the fastest lap in the feature at two of the five tracks.

Knew What He Had to Do

Brad Keysor came into the final night of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024 with a small 10 point lead over Zach Sears and knew that the easiest way to wrap up his second SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship was to finish in front of Sears. He also knew that if Sears could win the feature at 5 Flags, he would have to finish no worse than two places behind the Ohio driver.

“Zach gave it his all, all week,” began Keysor. “But I knew what I had to do to win (the Speedweeks Championship). I really wanted to pass Dave and go after Zach, but I knew that I could also go for it and lose it all, so I thought twice.”

Keysor may have come across realized that discretion is the better part of valor when he sailed it into turn one and nearly walloped the wall at the turn two exit near the half-way point of the race. “Yeah, that was close,” he admitted. “I had gotten by Ryan and I was going after Dave and I went in and the car just slid up the track and I thought that’s it.”

“It was so bad in fact, that both Bob(Gangwer), and Ryan(Cloonan), both whispered me in TeamSpeak. Bob asked if I had bent the car and Ryan asked what happened. I really had to battle Ryan back there since he caught up. Let’s just say it made me think.”

The wins at DeSoto Super Speedway on the opening night of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024, and his win on Night 4 of Speedweeks at USA International Speedway are what helped him come out on top in the tie-breaker with Sears. Having two wins to Sears one was the key to unlocking his second Speedweeks Championship. “It all really came down to the wins at DeSoto and USA,” he said. “Zach was quick all week, but after USA, I knew that even if Zach won here at 5 Flags and we somehow tied in points, I’d have him on the win tie-breaker since I had two.”

Good Week

“All in all it was a good week,” the BMK Logistics sponsored driver stated. “Thanks to everyone for showing up to this grind, we had good car counts all week and really, some really good, close racing at all of the tracks.”

“It’s not an easy week, but it was nice to see no issues other than a little bit of lag on the last night so thanks to 1st to Finish Servers, Hairbag Studios, Breeze Graphics, and Icings on Top. Of course I want to thank BMK Logistics and Chasing Cameras for letting me to do this.”

Bonus Points Help

Keysor continues to chip away at the point lead that Zach Sears has in the SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Supermodified Championship XX and with the 20 bonus points he gets for the winning the SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024 Championship, he’s found himself cutting the deficit down to 69 after entering the week over 150 points behind. That points bonus certainly helps Keysor hopes for a second winged supermodified championship at SUPRS, but he was very philosophical about what it’s going to take to get past Sears in the second half of the 48 race season, and stay there.

“No doubt, the bonus points help,” he agreed. “20 points is huge, but if Zach stays consistent like he has been, it’s going to be pretty tough from here on out. Ryan and and Anthony had rough weeks so that helped me gap them some, but they’ve been right there all season. Not that I wish any bad luck on anyone, but I need those two and Zach to have some off nights at the same time I can put it in the winners circle.”

All the Speedweeks Action in Our Screenshot Slideshow!

Mid-Winter Break

After a grueling “Gator Grind” and an incredible week of thrilling supermodified sim racing in Florida, the SUPRS drivers and officials will get a a much needed week of rest and relaxation starting on February 10 and lasting through February 17. SUPRS next race is the BMK Logistics Presidents’ Day Special at Lee USA Speedway on February 20.

“Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons” since 2004