Third Winner, Familiar Face in Victory Lane on Second Night of SUPRS North Carolina Swing

Brad Keysor Wins Southern National, Rob Warren Finds Concord Victory Lane Again on Night 2 of SUPRS North Carolina Swing

October 23, 2019 – Concord, NC…RBrad Keysor became the third different winner in three races when he claimed the win at Southern National Motorsports Park on Wednesday and Rob Warren was back in victory lane at Concord Motorsports Park on Night 2 of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series’, (SUPRS), 16^th Annual North Carolina Swing.

Keysor Calm at Southern National

Liverpool, New York’s Brad Keysor, remained calm under pressure late in the race from two-time North Carolina Champion Rob Warren, and crossed the finish line .247 seconds ahead of Warren for the win at Southern National Motorsports Park.

“It was a great race,” said Keysor. “Rob was pretty much on my tail for most of the race, i got al ittle bit of a gap there for a while. thanfully i was able to hold on. been a little bit since i was in victory lane, but it’s nice to get back into rFactor and back into my groove a little bit.

Three cautions in the first 12 laps and the ensuing restarts only added to the pressure for Keysor, as he fought to keep his Southern Hills Storm Football “Lil’ Red Roadster” underneath him when the green flag came back out on what was an especially slick track. Looking more like a long-time supermodified sim racing veteran than the second year driver he is, Keysor, the 2018 Icings on Top Rookie of the Year had great restarts and then masterfully weaved his way through traffic, moving out to a solid six car-length lead at the midway point of the race.

Pressured with Ten to Go

Then, with ten laps to go, Warren was right to the rear nerf-bar of the red #3 driven by Keysor. Warren continually poked the nose of his 1st to Finish Race Servers “Rocket 35” to the outside of Keysor, but Keysor, a part-time football coach, took a play right from Warren’s playbook and kept his car glued to the low part of the track, never once allowing Warren to try the preferred bottom groove.

Keysor was helped by Keith Powell, who, with three laps to go, and unaware that he was being scored a lap down due to a pit stop earlier in the race, began to race with Warren allowing Keysor some breathing room and helping secure the Southern National 50 lap feature win. Warren finished second, and after the scoresheets were tallied, Bob Gangwer finished third over half of a track behind.

Warren Good Again at Concord

There’s no doubt that Rob Warren is good at Concord Motorsports Park. The facts speak for themselves. His five wins in six years is enough proof for anyone that he can rightfully be called “The King of Concord.” His performance Wednesday night has only helped add to the legend.

As is often the case by the time the North Carolina Swing gets to the fourth qualifying race held at Concord, Warren started near the back of the field. True to his modus operandi, he had made his way to the top two by lap 10. Then once in the lead, he pulled away to a two second advantage over a tight pack battling for the scraps behind him.

While his winning ways seem to come easy at Concord, Warren said, “Nothing about that is easy. I got a fairly happy, stable setup. It likes to hold the bottom.” He took a moment to elaborate on his thoughts and said, “It’s, (Concord), a thinking mans track. You can mess yourself up early by roughin’ up the neighbors and make for a long night, or, you can calmly, but aggressively, carve your way to the front. I think that’s what I did tonight.”

Big Battle Behind Warren

While Warren marched away out front, the battle behind him was instense. Steve Callahan, Bob Gangwer, Keith Powell, and Brad Keysor were fighting tooth and nail over second place. The only slow down to this action came on lap 31 when the first caution came out for a spin by Gangwer after the racing between him and Brad Keysor got a little close in turn four.

When the green flag came back out, Powell flew by his teammate for second with Gangwer close in tow and Keysor tagging along. As those three encountered the lapped car of Zach Sears, Gangwer used the outside groove to try to get by Powell. Powell and Gangwer were side by side and nearly three-wide through the dogleg with Powell able to hold Gangwer off after a couple of very exciting laps.

Powell Chops Warren’s Lead

With only ten laps left by the time Powell was able to shake Gangwer, there didn’t seem to be much of a chance that he could catch Warren to challenge, let alone steal the win. Everyone was wrong as Powell methodically chopped away at Warren’s lead and by the time lap 47 rolled around, Powell was right to the back of Warren forcing him to change his line.

“The #41, (Powell), was there right at the end,” With his axe on that 41, he just chopped the lead down.” Powell nearly had the lead with two to go as Warren struggled to get around a lapped car and Powell raced him down the frontstretch. When the white flag flew, Powell was setting Warren up on the outside. Coming out of turn two the Ohio driver was at Warren’s right rear and stayed there through the treacherous dogleg. Warren gained a slight advantage in turn three, but as they put the hammer down coming through turn four, Powell was nearly even, setting up an exciting drag race to the finish line which Warren ultimately won. Gangwer ended up third.

Hustle Time

The qualifying races are now complete and the following drivers have received an invitation to The Hickory Hustle at Hickory Motor Speedway:

• Rob Warren
• Keith Powell
• Bob Gangwer
• Brad Keysor
• Steve Callahan
• Carl Becker
• Zach Sears

This year there are no alternates because there are less than eight drivers invited, but the seven that are will try to become the winner of the Hickory Hustle so that they can wear the 2019 North Carolina Swing Champion.

After practice, which goes from 8:30-8:45pm, the invited drivers will draw for their starting position in the 75 lap feature. The Hickory Hustle is slated to start at 9:05pm.

Get Your Hustle On

Supermodified, and sim racing fans alike, can view timing and scoring including track telemetry as SUPRS closes out the 16^th Annual North Carolina Swing with The Hickory Hustle on SUPRS LIVE! You’ll be able to keep up with your favorite SUPRS racer in an instant by going to www.SUPRS.net/site/live. The broadcast begins at 9pm ET.

Learn more about the original  supermodified sim racing sanction and read about real supermodified racing with a visit to 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.

SUPRS RACE RESULTS:

16^th Annual North Carolina Swing Race 3 of 5

• Race 6 of 43 for season
• SUPRS rFactor W v7.3 mod
• October 23, 2019
• Southern National Motorsports Park

Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap underlined)

1. 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Justice League: 11.444, 11.505
2. 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 11.649, 11.481
3. 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 11.519, 11.634
4. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; RW Woodworking, Wing Side Up Enterprises: 11.739, 11.531
5. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 11.687, 11.662
6. 22-Zach Sears(R); Round Lake Beach, IL; Midwest Supermodified Series, Adkin’s Glass: 12.005, 12.269
7. 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 12.860, 12.544

Feature-50 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 3-Brad Keysor; * / ** / P1 / 11.359
2. 35-Rob Warren; ! / P7/ 11.344 / +0247
3. 25-Bob Gangwer; P2 / 11.456 / +1.929
4. 41-Keith Powell; P6 / 11.451 / +1 Lap
5. 55-Steve Callahan; P4 / 11.517 / +1 Lap
6. 42-Carl Becker; P5 / 12.369/ +5 Laps
7. 22-Zach Sears(R); P3 / 12.120 / +6 Laps

Time of Race:  15:02.642

• * Denotes Lap Led
• ** Denotes Most Laps Led
• ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race

Race Notes:

• Brad Keysor had the fewest incidents-2
• Zach Sears had the most incidents-17
• Rob Warren had the top speed of the race-141.983 mph
• Carl Becker had the best consistency of lap times-70.48%
• There were three cautions for a total of 12 laps

16^th Annual North Carolina Swing Race 4 of 5

• Race 7 of 43 for season
• SUPRS rFactor W v7.3 mod
• October 23, 2019
• Concord Motorsports Park

Time Trials (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors, lap 1, lap 2-best lap highlighted)

1. 41-Keith Powell; Carrollton, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports: 12.800, 12.580
2. 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; RW Woodworking, Wing Side Up Enterprises: 12.904, 12.643
3. 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Justice League: 13.053, 12.804
4. 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1^st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance: 12.946, 12.848
5. 55-Steve Callahan; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Exide Battery, CPR Motorsports: 13.136, 12.923
6. 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: 13.746, 13.616
7. 22-Zach Sears(R); Round Lake Beach, IL; Midwest Supermodified Series, Adkin’s Glass: NT

Feature-50 Laps (showing car number, driver, name, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)

1. 35-Rob Warren; * / ** / P6 / 12.744
2. 41-Keith Powell; ! / P5 / 12.624 / +0.177
3. 25-Bob Gangwer; P4 / 12.708/ +2.417
4. 3-Brad Keysor; P3 / 12.743 / +3.055
5. 55-Steve Callahan; * / P2 / 12.829 / +8.858
6. 42-Carl Becker;  P1 / 13.120 / +1 Lap
7. 22-Zach Sears(R); P7 / 13.035 / +2 Laps

Time of Race:  13:33.237

• * Denotes Lap Led
• ** Denotes Most Laps Led
• ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race

Race Notes:

• Rob Warren had the fewest incidents-0
• Zach Sears had the most incidents-8
• Carl Becker had the top speed of the race-145.6494
• Bob Gangwer had the best consistency of lap times-68.19%
• There was one caution for a total of 5 laps

SUPRS

“Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons” since 2004