February 5, 2022 – Pensacola, FL…After a torrid battle to the finish of 50 lap supermodified sim racing feature Friday at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), Florida Speedweeks 2022 wrapped with Dave Ohh in victory lane, and Brad Keysor as Speedweeks Champion.
Ohh started on the outside of the front row and led all 50 laps after setting a new track record earlier in the night. Ohh battled with Brad Keysor all the way to the end, and beat him the the finish line first by just .154 seconds. Ryan Cloonan ended up in third, a second behind the winner.
Tough Race to Win
The 5-Flags feature winner said after the race, “It feels good to pick that up. Man, it was a tough race. I thought I had a gap but about the time after the first caution I started hearing him behind me and he was right on me. I think we just kinda stayed there. From there on he was right on my back bumper and it was just about navigating lapped traffic.”
At one point Ohh and Keysor had an “UH OH!” moment when two of those lapped cars came together right in front of them. “I think we were both being cautious, not really overdoing it, not being really aggressive coming down to the end of Speedweeks points” said Ohh. “It just got really tight there with the lapped cars as they were having some great battles.
“Unfortunately toward the end, we got up on Nelson and Keith as they were battling hard and misread the situation and all stacked up off of four. “I think Keith got loose, to be honest I think Brad thought there was a caution, but I don’t know. I was all over and was up into the wall, and i just didn’t see the yellow. So I kept my foot in it off of two and he, (Keysor), slowed down and wasn’t really going down the back stretch all that fast and I was able to get by there. I was just lucky holding him off.”
Leaving Florida Ohh feels that he had a good Speedweeks. “I felt good about it. It was just a hard race with Brad again,” he said. Tough racing Brad, and tough with the whole field, it was a close points battle for top three there, but we’ll try to regroup and get em next year, maybe the schedule will work out better net year.”
There was one thing though that didn’t set too well with the driver nicknamed “SpeedyMan.” “He definitely had the pace in qualifying again this year, he took four of the track records from me and I’ll have to get him back for that if I can,” noted Ohh with a chuckle.
Brad Keysor Sets Goals and Wins SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship
Even though Dave Ohh dominated with four wins in five, when SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2022 wrapped up Friday at 5 Flags Speedway, it wasn’t Ohh celebrating a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship. Brad Keysor’s goals, consistency all week long, and his win at USA International Speedway was enough to overcome Ohh’s feature win dominance as well as claim his first Speedweeks Championship.
So how does it feel to be a SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Champion? “It feels good,” said the BMK Logistics sponsored driver. “I had a shot a couple of years ago and then blundered it out and then last year was just an atrocious Speedweeks for me. I think I hit every wall and probably pulled an old Cole Trickle there and hit the pace car once or twice. This week I was focused and really wanted to make sure every single night I was on and hit my qualifying marks and was really fast all week.”
The big picture was never far from Keysor’s mind, especially when the urge to win was at the front of it going for victory against Ohh on the final circuit. “I got down into one there on the last lap, and the car started to slide so my logic was ‘if i come home second, I get the ten bonus points for Speedweeks, if i wreck and come home eighth, then Ryan or Dave is going to win Speedweeks so i will just concede and get in line’ and that was the night. Ya know? Sometimes you just have to look at the bigger picture.”
Happy about Week, but Wondering What If
While he was happy about how it week went, Keysor laments the two races he had a shot at winning but didn’t. “I kinda let one go at Dodge, and it was really a shame here. I lost two races to Dave in the waning laps,” he said “Tonight, Nelson and Keith were in a great battle, and you have to respect that they are in a great battle.”
“Dave and I are in a great battle. so we were two by two coming off of four something happened and it was all three of them got into a calamity and I miss them, and don’t touch anybody, but i stupidly thought the caution came out, and I was just rolling the back straightaway. Then Dave goes flying by me and I realized the caution hadn’t come out. I think if I had gotten around him and had gotten clean air, there’s no way he would have passed me”
Best Night Last
Keysor thinks his best night of racing was the last one. “Best night of racing for racing was tonight,” he said.”It was a great race tonight with Dave. Anyone of us could have taken that..” “There was lapped traffic, in a good way, lapped traffic, that threw kinks and curve balls at us so we had to plan passes. 5 flags tonight was outstanding.
“Obviously USA was outstanding because I won, but I don’t know how it would have been if Dave had been there. But this track, here, super exciting, and I like when you can do a little bit different grooves and you can do two wide. So it’s really a very unique track and it’s opened up a lot of different ways to get around it. So even though I took second, tonight, 5 Flags would be my track of the week.”
Keysor Always Grateful
As he always does, “The Coach” was thinking about other people as he stood basking in the accolades of his first Florida Speedweeks Championship.” I want to congratulate Dave, he ran a great race and really want to congratulate Anthony Corsoniti, he’s had a strong week finished top five in Florida Speedweeks. He’s really had a great, strong week and it’s been an absolute pleasure racing with him. Super respectful, great addition to the league,” Keysor said.
Obviously I have to thank 1st to Finish Race Servers, just a great job all week. BreezeGraphics.com, Hairbag Studios, everything has been good. Icings on Top, it’s a shame there’s no rookies right now, but we have to get some new blood in here, and obviously BMK Logistics for letting me do this here. But like I said, great week, glad it’s over. Now we get to look at Star and see if I can repeat there and prevent Dave from getting an Icings on Top Triple Crown.”
Keysor is now the eighth different driver in 15 Speedweeks to wear the crown, edging out Ryan Cloonan by 20 points, while Ohh was 29 back. Keysor made all five nights of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks, and he made every one of those nights count. With a win on the fourth night at USA, he finished second in three other features and no lower than fifth all week. He set three new track records, and out of 200 feature laps run, Keysor led 45 of them. He also had the fastest lap in the feature at three of the five tracks
Cloonan Close
Ryan Cloonan was close top picking up his first Florida Speedweeks Championship and entered the final night just 15 points behind Keysor. In the end, he came up 20 points short of taking home the Speedweeks crown. After being on the podium every night but one, Cloonan was pleased with his week of racing. “Overall it was a good week,” he said “You can never complain when you have four out of five podiums, and you still finish fourth in the other one. I just have to push a little harder and try to beat the other two. Brad and Dave, they’re kind of untouchable, it’s a real challenge chasing them.”
Cloonan who drives the Simability supermodified knows where he needs to focus if he wants the 2023 Speedweeks title. He said, “I feel a little bit more practice would have helped me. I didn’t get a lot going into this week, and just ran a off of set ups from last year and I think maybe I could have etched out a little bit there.”
Speedweeks by the Numbers
- 2: Different Speedweeks Feature Winners
- 3: Different Drivers were Fast Qualifiers
- 4: New Track Records set
- 4: Different Drivers to Lead a lap during Speedweeks
- 5: Total Hours of Live Speedweeks Video
- 7: Total Caution Periods for Speedweeks
- 8: Drivers with Perfect Speedweeks Attendance
- 13: Different Drivers to Compete During 2021 Florida Speedweeks
- 25: Total Laps under Yellow Flag
- 58 minutes 10 seconds Combined Total Time to Complete All Speedweeks Features
- 200: Total Green Flag Speedweeks Feature Laps
Mid-Winter Break
After a grueling “Gator Grind” and a week that saw some fantastic supermodified sim racing in Florida, the SUPRS drivers and officials will get a a much needed week of rest and relaxation starting on February 5 and lasting through February 12. SUPRS next race is the 12th Annual SUPRS All-Star Classic 200, the first race of the Triple Crown of Supermodified Sim Racing presented by Icings on Top.
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 and come hang out with us on Discord.
SUPRS RACE RESULTS
- SUPRS 2022 Florida Speedweeks
- Night 5
- February 4, 2022
- 5 Flags Speedway
- Pensacola, FL
- Race 26 of season
- SUPRS rFactor W v7.3 mod
- 50 Laps
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap highlighted, Elite 8 eligible for Feature Inversion)
- 11-Dave Ohh; Union, CT; TMS Wolfpack: 13.505, 13.442 NTR
- 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Justice League: 13.461, 13.450
- 13-Ryan Cloonan; Oswego, NY; Simability: 14.022, 13.880
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; RW Woodworking, B&G Racing Photos: 14.536, 14.176
- 12-Anthony Corsoniti; N. Syracuse, NY; TsForecast.com: 14.310, 14.117
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 14.257, 14.237
- 41-Keith Powell; Crestline, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 14.361, 14.272
- 10-Gary Waldron; Wyoming, MI; Kenowa Auto Supply, Michigan Hill Gang: 14.447, 14.311
- 14-Bobby Hayduk; Brook Park, OH; Gannon Auto Sales, Draime Engines: 14.793, 14.478
- 7-Nelson Rodrigues; Stoneham, MA; Star Speedway: 14.524, 14.639
- 08-Danny Ray; Goshen, IN; Smokie Bone’s Downhome Kitchen, Masterbrand: 14.897, 14.714
- 28-Steven Vincent; Cicero, NY; Creative Assistant: NT
Feature-50 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, starting place/best lap time/distance behind winner)
- 11-Dave Ohh; * | ** | P2 | 13.599
- 3-Brad Keysor; ! | P4 | 13.475 | +0.154
- 13-Ryan Cloonan; P3 | 13.855 | +1.544
- 25-Bob Gangwer; P5 | 14.128 | +1 Lap
- 12-Anthony Corsoniti; P1 | 14.130 | +1 Lap
- 35-Rob Warren; P6 | 13.952 | +1 Lap
- 14-Bobby Hayduk; P9 | 14.222 | +2 Lap
- 10-Gary Waldron; P8 | 14.491 | +2 Laps
- 08-Danny Ray; P11 | 14.640 | +4 Laps
- 7-Nelson Rodrigues; P10 | 14.110 | DNF: Accident
- 41-Keith Powell; P7 | 14.091 | DNF: Accident
- 28-Steven Vincent; P12 | 14.203 | DNF: Suspension Damage
Time of Race: 15:51.998
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
- R Denotes Icings on Top Rookie of the Year Contender
Race Notes:
-
- Lap Leaders: Dave Ohh; Lap 1-50
- Cautions: 2 for 7 laps
- Keith Powell had the fastest speed of the race-160.1mph
- Gary Waldron had the best lap consistency of 62.56%
- Rob Warren had the most incidents of the race – 10
- Brad Keysor, Ryan Cloonan, Bob Gangwer, Anthony Corsoniti, and Danny Ray and the least incidents of the race at 0
- Dave Ohh is the first driver to win more than one SUPRS main event at 5 Flags Speedway
Next Race:
SUPRS 12th Annual All-Star Classic 200
