Kaley knocked off the rust at Devil’s Bowl last weekend (Carey Akin – www.ManvelMotorsports.com)
(Bill W) March 22, 2017 – Kaley Gharst and the Sandvig #7 team knocked the rust off with a trip to Texas last weekend’s Spring Nationals at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite featuring the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series. Though the majority of the stout 48-car field watched the feature at the end of the night, the team made both shows, with a high feature finish of 13th on Friday’s opening night. This weekend the Decatur, Illinois driver will tackle 81 Speedway near Wichita, Kansas for the first time with an eye towards Saturday’s $15,000 to win finale.
It had been some time since Kaley had run at Devil’s Bowl. “I hadn’t been there in over ten years, and I had forgot how unique that place really was,” he says. “The track was really heavy on Friday, especially in the heats and Qualifiers.”
He would finish third in both his heat and in his Qualifier, setting him up inside row eight for the feature. “It widened out a bit, but the groove stayed pretty much around the top,” says Kaley. “We dropped back a little bit on the start. Then we were able to get our momentum going, and we were on a roll through the middle.”
The cushion would move up the track and Kaley would have to adjust his line. “As the cushion moved up, it was like learning all over again going around the top,” he says. “We were able to pick a few more spots up and I think we ended up 13th, which wasn’t bad in as big a field as we had there.”
In Saturday’s finale, he won his heat from outside row one. “I thought we should have been a lot better the second night,” says Kaley. “We were doing well on points after the heats. I didn’t do the best in the Qualifier and I got shuffled back to sixth (from fifth).”
Kaley would bounce back to finish second in the B. “We were able to make some changes to the car for the B, and things went well there,” he says. “They worked the track right before we went out and it was a little quicker than I thought it would be. We got in line there in second and we were pretty quick.”
He started the feature 19th. “We were o.k.,” says Kaley. “Once things got locked down later on, we pulled it off (finishing 17th) and saved our equipment for another day. We’re loading up in the morning and heading down to 81 Speedway. I’ve never raced there and we’re looking forward to that.”
Keep an eye on Kaley's progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!
If you would like to receive Kaley's weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line "Kaley" to sprntcar@hotmail.com.
Kaley and the Sandvig #7 team would like to thank A+ Power Washing, DeBerg Flooring, Paplow Harvesting and Trucking of Worthington, Minnesota, Morton Buildings and Jamie Brosnahan of Spencer, Iowa and Hinchman Racewear!
Photo: Kaley knocked off the rust at Devil’s Bowl last weekend (Carey Akin – www.ManvelMotorsports.com)
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