Avondale, AZ – February 27, 2016…The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), will take up residence at Phoenix International Raceway March 1, 2016 for the SUPRS Copper World Classic XII.
BreezeGraphics.com posters always look as good as this!
This annual event features winged supermodified, non-wing supermodified sim racing on the one mile paved oval in Arizona. With 50 laps of feature racing plus time trials and heats, this event is modeled after the popular Copper World Classic held annually at PIR from 1977-2009.
Here’s the full #supermodified field on their warm-up lap for the 2001 Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway.(B&G Racing Photos-Bob Gangwer)
The supermodifieds were a part of the Copper World Classic from 1984 to 2002 with one year off in 1991. Davey Hamilton has the most Copper World Classic wins with five and Troy Regier has the record for most wins in a row at three. Doug Saunier was the very first winner and Lonnie Adamson was the last supermodified winner of the Copper World Classic.
Curt Kern of Kern Motorsports, the sponsor of the SUPRS Copper World Classic was involved as an official for the supermodifieds for several years. “Some years I was on the ground in the pit area and a couple of years in the tower running race control for the supers,” explained the Washington state native.
“For me, then, it was a pretty stressful position, but I looked forward to the five days in Phoenix every year. I also dreaded it at the same time,” he said.
“It was a pretty high-speed joint for us and I was always fearful of a “Rex Beach” type of accident. I went from loving the cars on the mile to be believing as an official, that it was too big of a track, but I doubt you’d convince very many drivers of that.”
Here’s Curt Kern at an NSRA race. Curt is a SUPRS Member as well as former president of the NSRA.
While Kern’s involvement with the real supermodified division wound down to an end in the late 1990’s, he continues to support the online version. “I’m honored to still be involved with SUPRS and their version of the Copper World Classic and consider Bobby and John both good friends,” he said. “I only wish I could get set up and come back and get in everyone’s way again,” joked Kern. “The event at the time was the supermodified community’s version of the Indy 500 and to have SUPRS continue to run that event is pretty cool. Good luck to all and thank you for allowing me to be a part of the show.”
Last year Myles Maxon finally got his first win at the SUPRS Copper World Classic after many years of trying and set a New Track Record, (his ninth of the 2014-15 season) in the wing supermodifieds, stopping the clocks with a 22.744 and besting Ray Sand, Jr.’s six year old record of 22.750. Sand, Jr. then qualified fastest of the non-wing supermodifieds at 23.061.
Steve Callahan was once again a major factor on the “Desert Mile” and after winning the non-wing sim supermodified race in 2014, he came back last year to claim the wing sim supermodified race. Steve said, “This is a tough track with three different turns and you have to be perfect in every corner and keep the momentum up.”
Although he’s won at Phoenix International Speedway in a modified, Rob Warren is looking for his first SUPRS Copper World Classic supermodified win. It’s something that has eluded him and something he hopes to change in 2016. “It would be difficult to say how much a win would mean here,” began the Pulaski, NY driver. “Any win, at the stout level of competition in this league is special but Phoenix would be a little more special to me because while I’ve done very well in a modified here, I would really like a supermodified win here too.”
Warren believes his particular style of driving is well suited to the fast one mile track, “Everybody has a few tracks that they ‘expect’ to do well at. Places where their driving style lines up better. I tend to be off throttle earlier than most, roll through the center and get a good exit hard on he go pedal so just the way I drive, that works great at Phoenix,” he said.
This year, SUPRS officials will combine feature finish points for the wing and non-wing races to decide an overall SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion. Unlike earlier seasons, the driver that wears that crown will have to be proficient not only in both types of sim supermodified cars, but will also need to be consistent across two different gaming platforms and versions of the online track.
SUPRS will use the tried and true NASCAR Heat SUPRS V6 wing supermodified on the stock Phoenix International Raceway, then will switch to the SUPRS NWV1 non-wing supermodified and use ThePits.US version of PIR. Creating even more of a challenge will be the rFactor, ThePits.US track is the updated and more modern version of PIR, where, the NASCAR Heat example is the original PIR layout.
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-“Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons”
SUPRS Copper World Classic-Winged-Phoenix International Raceway
- 2005 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: JP Curry
- 2006 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: John Davidson
- 2007 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Chuck Russell
- 2008 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Kris Heveron
- 2009 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Bobby Gangwer
- 2010 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Chad Phelps
- 2011 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Jeff Weber
- 2012 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Ray Sand, Jr.
- 2013 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: John Davidson
- 2014 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Ray Sand, Jr.
- 2015 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Steve Callahan
SUPRS Copper World Classic-Non-Winged-Phoenix International Raceway
- 2014 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Steve Callahan
- 2015 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Myles Maxon
