SUPRS Back at Dover Downs International Speedway for St. Patrick’s Day Grab 0′ the Green
March 12, 2017 – Goshen, IN….After a year away, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), is returning to Dover Downs International Speedway for the popular St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green supermodified sim race.
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In 2016, the race moved to Mosport Speedway to take advantage of SUPRS rFactor based non-wing supermodified mod. Rookie Clinton Cyr of Florida won his first SUPRS career feature in a 50 lap feature that went 37 laps before the first caution flag flew. Joe Achzet and Ray Sand, Jr. finished on the podium the only time the race ran north of the US border.
This year SUPRS returns to the track that has hosted more St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green races than any other, Dover Downs International Speedway. A full slate of supermodified sim racing concludes with a 25 lap feature.
St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green History
In the first three years of the race Dover Downs played host to the online supermodifieds with wins going to Kevin Marine, Randy Ritskes and Kris Heveron.
For the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, after a three-year run on the mile, SUPRS officials decided to move away from the longer tracks and the St. Patrick’s day event moved to Stafford Mountain Speedway as part of the Empire State Super Series races. Bud Flath and Ray Sand, Jr. picked up the wins at the high-banked half-mile New York venue.
Continuing with a focus on short tracks, the race moved west of the Mississippi to Buckley Speedway in California. Canadian Jamie Hartley was victorious in the one and only time the St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green ran there.
From 2011-2013 SUPRS dropped the race simply due to a shorter schedule. It then returned in 2014 to Dover and Steve Callahan became the seventh different winner of the race.
In fact, there’s never been a repeat winner of the St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green and that is likely to continue this year with only the aforementioned Callahan, and Rob Warren, (2015), being the only former winners expected to compete. Both have struggled in pre-race testing, leaving the door open for one of the other hard-charging SUPRS drivers to score their first St. Patrick’s Day win.
Critical Juncture in Points Battle
With just 10 races left in the SUPRS Gold Crest Wing Championship XIII campaign, the SUPRS racers have a lot to lay on the line as they take on the “Monster Mile” at Dover Downs International Speedway. Rob Warren has led the chase most of the season and continues to hold a 136 point advantage. However, at one point in the last five races, Joe Achzet had whittled that lead down to as little as 36 points.
Because he’s 197 points out of first place, it will be tough for Keith Powell to win the championship. He still has a mathematical chance though and certainly has a shot at moving past Achzet who is just 61 points ahead. At the same time, Powell, who is the 2016 SUPRS Gold Crest Non-Wing Champion, will have to keep an eye on Bob Gangwer who is fourth and only 91 points behind him.
Further back, there’s several drivers that will need to have good finishes if they want to move up in the standings, including Kyle Clark, who sits 53 points behind Steve Callahan and just out of the top five. Meanwhile, Carl Becker and Domenic Gioia have just 18 points separating them in the battle for seventh overall and there’s not many points separating positions 10-13.
Fun for Fans
Because this year the St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green is rFactor based, fans can catch the action via SUPRS LIVE! as drivers challenge the “Monster Mile” in their wing supermodifieds. Fans, friends, and family members can view live timing, scoring and track telemetry and see which of their favorite SUPRS racer finds the pot of gold by visiting www.SUPRS.net/site/live.
Practice for the SUPRS St. Patrick’s Day Grab o’ the Green at Dover Downs International Speedway begins at 8pm. Time Trials will take place at 8:30pm while Racing begins with heat races at 8:45pm. The field takes the green flag for the feature around 9:00pm.
SUPRS St. Patrick’s Day Grab O’ the Green History:
- 2005: Kevin Marine-Dover Downs International Speedway
- 2006: Randy Ritskes-Dover Downs International Speedway
- 2007: Kris Heveron-Dover Downs International Speedway
- 2008: Bud Flath-Stafford Mountain Raceway
- 2009: Ray Sand, Jr.-Stafford Mountain Raceway
- 2010: Jamie Hartley-Buckley Speedway
- 2011-2013: No Race
- 2014: Steve Callahan-Dover Downs International Speedway
- 2015: Rob Warren-Dover Downs International Speedway
- 2016: Clinton Cyr-Mosport Speedway
