Last Oswego Non-Wing Supermodified Win Nearly 2 Years Ago, Joins Port City Kick-Off 3-Time Winners Club
June 1, 2021 – Oswego, NY…You have to go back to July 2, 2019 in the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), record books to find the last time Rob Warren’s name was recorded as a winner in a non-wing supermodified at Oswego Speedway. Tuesday night, the all-time SUPRS winner at Oswego broke that winless streak by taking the checkered flag first in the 50 lap Port City Kick-Off and joined Myles Maxon in the three-time winners club of this marquee supermodified sim racing event at Oswego Speedway.
Fellow New Yorker, Ryan Cloonan got his second SUPRS season, (his first in the non-wing supers), off to a good start with a strong second place finish, while 2-Time Port City Kick-Off winner, Keith Powell, clawed his way to podium for a third place finish after starting in tenth.
“Good to be Back”
A a long dry spell at his home track, due largely in part to the domination of reigning champion Dave Ohh, Warren was happy to put the 1st to Finish Race Servers #35 “Rocket Roadster” back into Oswego’s virtual Victory Lane. “Man, this feels good to be back here,” he exclaimed. “Just unbelievable after the last couple of years. Thanks to all of our sponsors and to everyone for coming out. We had a good field of cars to start the season, just an awesome race.”
Not Easy
Warren took the lead on lap 13 of the 50 lapper from Steven Vincent after Vincent had inherited it from Bob Gangwer. He then had to hold off 2020 Topless! 200 champion Brad Keysor who had stayed glued to Warren’s rear nerf bar from drop of the green flag until lap 16 when Keysor crashed out of the race.
It wasn’t long before a hard charging Cloonan was the next challenger to Warren’s lead. Cloonan had worked his way back to the front after a lap nine incident with Bob Gangwer who was leading at the time.
“It wasn’t easy,” admitted Warren. “Brad, (Keysor), then Ryan (Cloonan), was right there and so was Keith (Powell) and Steven (Vincent), there’s a lot of great racers here in SUPRS,” he said. “I tried to drive a relatively conservative race, trying to keep the car under me and the car held on fairly well.”
Gangwer, Vincent Duel
After clearing some carnage at the start of the race that claimed front row starter Gary Waldron on lap one, and Waldron’s Michigan Hill Gang teammate on lap two, Bob Gangwer and Steven Vincent put on a thrilling duel for the lead running side by side for the better part of five laps as each tried to find an advantage over the other. This back and forth battle at the front allowed Rob Warren, Brad Keysor, Ryan Cloonan and Keith Powell, who had been having their own fierce battle, to catch up to the lead duo in short order. Gangwer was able to gain the advantage when Vincent had a huge washout in Turn four and lost four places. Gangwer then did the same in turn two just a lap latter, allowing Warren and Keysor to cruise by before he would see his shot at a second Port City Kick-Off win end against the fourth turn wall after a bump by Cloonan, who was in fourth place at the time.
Keysor Kills the Car
On the restart, and with Gangwer and Cloonan sent to the back, Warren held the lead and got a great jump on Keysor, but after a couple of laps Keysor was stuck like glue to the back Warren’s car, looking high and low for a way around as Powell pressured Vincent for a spot on the dance floor with the top two.
Keysor ran out of race track coming out of turn two on lap 16 when he got loose, then was along for the ride when the car snapped to the left resulting in a hard hit to the inside hub rail at the exit of the pits. “I was just trying to find a way around Rob,” Keysor said. “I knew he wasn’t going to give me the bottom so I went high and at the same time I was hard in the throttle and is just took off. I’m glad it’s sim racing, because there’s nothing left of the car, and I probably killed my shot at the championship along with the Chasing Cameras #3.”
Breen, Corsoniti Make First SUPRS Start
Two of the 15 starters in the Port City Kick-Off were rookies making their first SUPRS feature start. Greg Breen of Liverpool, NY and Anthony Corsoniti of N. Syracuse, NY ran races. Breen up to seventh place at one point before a crash put him out of the show with less than 15 laps to go. Corsoniti, driving the T’s Forecast #12, played the “steady as she goes” game and wound up just outside of the top five, running as high as fifth and received the SUPRSCharger Award for advancing the most places after starting last out of 15 drivers. “I tried to stay clean and avoid the wreckage,” said Corsoniti. “It feels good to finish, I’m going to try to get faster and be more consistent.”
NASCAR Heat 45 Lapper Next
The next race for SUPRS is a ‘regular’ 45 lap affair on June 9 at Oswego Speedway. Drivers will strap into their NASCAR Heat sim racing supermodifieds for the first three events this summer season using one of the original sim racing platforms. As such, the race is open to the public to anyone that has registered to run at SUPRS.net by submitting the Join Form, and has taken advantage of the public downloads available to registered sim racers.
Watch, Listen, Chat, Enjoy
Supermodified and online sim racing fans can watch live video streaming, listen to the race call, chat with fellow fans, and enjoy timing, scoring, and track telemetry for race 2 of the 2021 summer season. Tune in at 9pm ET on race night to SUPRS LIVE! where you’ll have fun keeping up with your favorite SUPRS racer while making new friends when you visit www.SUPRS.net/site/live.
Get Social with SUPRS
Fans can learn more about the supermodified division and 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, enjoying our Instagram account, and viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube. See us live and join our chat on Twitch.
SUPRS RACE RESULTS:
- SUPRS 17th Annual Port City Kickoff
- June 1, 2021
- Oswego Speedway
- Oswego, NY
- Race 1 of 13
- SUPRS rFactor NW v1.3 mod
Supermodified Heat Race 1 – 10 Laps (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors-Top 4 eligible for feature invert)
- 3-Brad Keysor; Liverpool, NY; Southern Hills Storm Football, Chasing Cameras
- 27-Erich Becker; Shelby, MI; Mahle Pistons, Plante Moran Tax
- 14-Bobby Hayduk; Brook Park, OH; American Heart Assoc., American Diabetes Assoc.
- 28-Steven Vincent; Cicero, NY; Creative Assistant
- 12-Anthony Corsoniti(R); N. Syracuse, NY; T’s Forecast
- 02-Kyle Perry; Fulton, NY; Bellinger Auto, Orange Crate Brewing: DNF
- 42-Carl Becker; Lansing, MI; Wholesale Diamond Exchange, Michigan Hill Gang: DNF
- 56-Dick Schuler; Chisago City, MN; Gubby Beer, Schu Racing: DNF
Time of Race: 04:43.693
Supermodified Heat Race 2 – 10 Laps (showing car number, driver name, hometown, sponsors-Top 4 eligible for feature invert)
- 13-Ryan Cloonan; Oswego, NY; Simability
- 35-Rob Warren; Pulaski, NY; 1st to Finish Race Servers, Designs of Elegance
- 10-Gary Waldron; Wyoming, MI; Kenowa Auto Supply, Michigan Hill Gang
- 25-Bob Gangwer; Goshen, IN; B&G Racing Photos, RW Woodworking
- 41-Keith Powell; Crestline, OH; Icings on Top, CPR Motorsports
- 14-Bobby Hayduk; Brook Park, OH; American Heart Assoc., American Diabetes Assoc.
- 26-Greg Breen(R); Liverpool, NY; No Sponsors
- 08-Danny Ray; Goshen, IN; White Lightening Transportation, Smokie Bone’s Down Home Kitchen
Feature 50 Laps (showing car number, driver name, starting place, bonus, fastest lap, distance behind winner)
- 35-Rob Warren; * | ** | P7 | 16.159
- 13-Ryan Cloonan; P8 | 15.978 | +0.134
- 41-Keith Powell; P10 | 16.125 | +0.588
- 02-Kyle Perry; P6 | 16.158 | +4.086
- 25-Bob Gangwer; * | P3 | 16.273 | +5.466
- 12-Anthony Corsoniti(R); ⇑ | P15 | 16.381 | +6.924
- 28-Steven Vincent; * | P4 | 16.171 | +12.333
- 14-Bobby Hayduk; P1 | 16.606 | +19.386
- 08-Danny Ray; P12 | 16.682 | +26.795
- 26-Greg Breen(R); P14 | 16.491| DNF-Suspension Failure-34 Laps Completed
- 27-Erich Becker; P6 | 16.441 | DNF-Accident-27 Laps Completed
- 56-Dick Schuler; P13 | 17.167 | DNF-Suspension Failure-17 Laps Completed
- 3-Brad Keysor; ! | P7 | 15.869 | DNF-Accident-17 Laps Completed
- 42-Carl Becker; P11 | 18.919 | DNF-Suspension Failure-2 Laps Completed
- 10-Gary Waldron; P2 | 19.743 | DNF-Accident-1 Lap Completed
Time of Race: 26:05.568
- * Denotes Lap Led
- ** Denotes Most Laps Led
- ! Denotes Fastest Lap of Race
- ⇑ Denotes SUPRSCharger
RACE NOTES:
- Two drivers made their very first SUPRS feature start
- There were seven caution periods for a total of 25 laps
- The longest green flag stretch was 13 laps coming at the end of the race
- Anthony Corsoniti advanced nine places from his starting spot and received the SUPRSCharger Award
- Anthony Corsoniti and Brad Keysor had the lowest incident rating-0
- Bobby Hayduk had the highest incident rating-12
- Carl Becker had the best lap time consistency at 72.58%
- Keith Powell had the fastest speed of the race at 165.7 mph
- Brad Keysor recorded the fastest lap of the race of 15.869
