Steve Callahan Holds off Ray Sand, Jr. to Win First SUPRS All-Star Classic at All-Star Speedway
Epping, NH – April 7, 2015…Steve Callahan hustled his way to the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series All-Star Classic 200 win Tuesday night at All-Star Speedway. Callahan was able to stave off a race long challenge by defending winner Ray Sand, Jr. who ended up second while Myles Maxon finished close behind in third.
Steve Callahan crosses the finish line just ahead of Ray Sand, Jr. to claim his first SUPRS All-Star Classic 200.
Callahan, driving the CPR Motorsports “Double Nickle” online supermodified, won the closest SUPRS All-star Classic 200 in history with top four finishing within a second of each other.
“Oh man, I’m shaking, that was something, wow, yeah man this is cool, I’m just speechless,” exclaimed Callahan. “Everyone was running pretty close to the same speed and man let me tell you, that made it interesting.”
Callahan’s first win at the tight quarter-mile speedway came in a race that Ray Sand, Jr. dominated for three of the first four years and Sand, Jr. was there all the way this time too, hounding Callahan and waiting for the slightest mistake by the leader so that he could continue his domination of this event.
“I got nervous the minute I took the lead because Ray was there the whole race. I kept telling myself “look ahead look ahead,” and I just tried to focus,” he said. Part of Callahan’s stress came from working on getting around the lapped cars one at a time with “The Sandman” right on his tail. “Ray ran me very clean and I know I was probably frustrating him some,” explained the winner. “He gave me a couple of bumps, but I think he was trying to tell me “come on man let’s go, Myles is coming but it all just worked out.”
ENJOY THE 5th ANNUAL SUPRS ALL-STAR CLASSIC 200 PHOTO GALLERY
This victory keeps “Steady” Steve within striking distance of the SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Championship, but more notable was that he now has a shot at the 2015 SUPRS Triple Crown that also includes the upcoming Summit Classic 125 and ends with the 2015 Topless! 200 in August.
Steve Callahan and Ray Sand, Jr. tip toe through lapped traffic at 5th Annual SUPRS All-Star Classic 200
Masterfully weaving his way through traffic, Callahan was able to miss several close calls and keep his car in one piece to the finish. “The lapped traffic was a little tough at times, but I expected that and I just tried to keep my nose clean so it all just worked out, the car was awesome all 200 laps,” stated Callahan.
“Well, I’ll take a second to Steve,” began nine-time SUPRS Gold Crest Champion Ray Sand, Jr. “Man, Steve just did what he had to do. He was so consistent the 200 laps and he held the bottom and got the job done so congrats to him on a great win.”
Sand, Jr. who is a multi-time winner and champion in 600cc mini-sprint competition, as well as a competitor at Oswego Speedway in the Pathfinder SBS division, was noticeably animated after his second place run and declared, “You can probably tell by my voice that I’m shaking just like Steve. I don’t know if I get this stressed in the real race car. This online racing gets you worked up.”
As a three-time winner of the SUPRS All-Star Classic, Sand, Jr. offered his insight on what it takes to win at All-Star Speedway. “This place is hard because you just have to guard the bottom and if you do that, I think that you can hold your position so even though third and fourth caught up to us at the end, it was going to be tough for them to get by us.” He then concluded his interview saying, “I’ll tell you what though, when we move to rFactor I sure am going to miss nights like this man, this was a great race.”
Callahan got the jump on pole-sitter and current point leader, Myles Maxon then went on to lead all 200 laps. Maxon was making his first ever start at All-Star Speedway and closed in on Sand, Jr. in the waning laps to challenge for the second spot.
“I’m not going to lie I’m pretty satisfied with being on the podium,” related Maxon. “Congrats to Steve on the win and Ray and Bob on great runs as well.”
“Bob was pretty much pushing me the last half of the race, and those guys up front were fast,” he stated. Maxon then analyzed his race further saying, “I’ll chalk it up to experience for those guys since I’ve never run here before. I couldn’t’ quite get a handle on it. I screwed up the start and missed a shift then couldn’t figure out where I was going and couldn’t get a rhythm going. I dropped to third and I was a third place car tonight.”
The SUPRS racers start their trek west for Colorado National Speedway and the Tax Day Double Trouble Twins on April 14. Practice begins at 8:00pm with the green flag for the first heat race dropping at 9:00pm.
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:
- 5th Annual SUPRS All-Star Classic 200
- April 7, 2015
All-Star Speedway
Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.; Rochester, NY; SandmanRacing.com: 9.556, 9.562
- 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Ice Oil, CPR Motorsports: 9.602, 9.580
- 79-Myles Maxon; Oswego, NY; Tamarack Golf Club, The Swamp: 9.613, 9.629
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; Wing Side Up Enterprises, Ricky’s Sideline Shots: 9.776, 9.627
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 9.831, 9.679
- 23-Chris Meyers; Amherst, OH; Oswego Sub Shop, Burch’s Full Throttle Soda Blasting: 9.880, 9.727
- 52-Dave Brigandi; Syracuse, NY: Buffalo Bio-Fuels, Terry: 9.777, 9.850
- 84-Art Palmer; Wellington, OH: Ford Racing, XSTSR: 9.924, 9.979
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Docks & Hoists, Designs of Elegance: 10.850, 10.840
Feature – 200 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 55-Steve Callahan; * ** 9.509
- 18-Ray Sand, Jr.;! 9.506 | +0.288
- 79-Myles Maxon; 9.547 | +0.507
- 25-Bob Gangwer; 9.527 | +0.724
- 42-Carl Becker; 9.603 | +2 Laps
- 35-Rob Warren; 9.594 | +3 Laps
- 84-Art Palmer; 9.563| DNF
- 52-Dave Brigandi; 9.697 | DNF
- 23-Chris Meyers; 10.349 | DNF
Time of Race: 33:18.608
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
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