[i Bill W - August 20, 2009]
Kaley Gharst knows that everything has to work right to do well at the Knoxville Nationals. A small mechanical gremlin in the heat race ruined any chances of advancing to the “Big Dance” on Saturday, but he did walk away with one of the trophies after winning the D main in the Bruce Williams #7K. The Decatur, Illinois driver will switch over to the Plath Motorsports #14P this weekend and race with the Sprint Invaders, with whom he has won three features this season.
“Showtime” took the wings off for the first time at the Ultimate Challenge in Oskaloosa a week ago Tuesday. After being mired in the back of his heat and qualifier, he really got the hang of things in the B main. Kaley passed eight cars, but finished one spot out of a transfer to the main event. “It took awhile to get used to the car, but Bob Brooks, who has worked on non-wing cars before, was working on it all night,” he says. “I couldn’t give him much feedback, because I couldn’t tell him what the car needed. The car was pretty decent for the B, but we came up one spot short of a transfer. It was a lot of fun.”
Kaley set the 29th quick time of the night amongst the 59 cars gathered for Thursday qualifying at the Knoxville Nationals. Trouble in the heat set up a long week. “We ended up coming out late in qualifying, and ended up around where we normally do,” he says. “We had a caution and the motor was popping. I wanted to pull in the work area and fix it, but there wasn’t time. That put us in the C main, and when you’re there, your week is pretty much done.”
There was a transfer from the C, and a charge from 22nd to 15th in the B, but Kaley would be 74th in points and headed for the non-qualifiers program on Friday. After finishing seventh in the semi-feature, the 21 year old put on a show in the main event, earning hard-charger honors by passing ten cars and finishing eleventh. “There were a couple of things that we were trying to work out with the car on Thursday,” he shares.
“We got those things figured out pretty good on Friday. About halfway through the feature, the car settled down, and we started passing some cars. That felt good.”
The 11th place finish put him on the pole for Saturday’s D main. He led from start to finish. “We missed the C, but that kind of worked out, I guess,” he says. “You never want to be in the D main, but if you are, you might as well win it. Hopefully, this can be the last streak of bad luck for us at the Nationals.”
An hour rain delay plagued things before the D could be completed and the C main started, creating a lightning fast racing surface. Starting 20th, Kaley would gain only one spot…not that he really saw anything.
“It was lock down, follow the leader, at that point,” he says. “There was no time to put tear-offs on, so I was just kind of cruising around, trying not to run into anything. I think we got some things figured out on the car, so we’ll take that into the next race at Knoxville.”
This weekend the Sprint Invaders will compete at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois on Friday, and in Twin Features action at the 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa on Saturday.
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@iowatelecom.net.
Kaley and car owner Randy Plath would like to thank Sebastian Powder Coating and Sandblasting, Scott Performance, Holtkamp's truck and trailer repair, Rockstar Graphics and all of their sponsors. The 7K team would like to thank Phillips Floors, Info2go, Wagner Excavating, Parker Signs, Redtail Painting, Rod End Supply, LWBJ, Community State Bank and Carlson Systems.
[b Photo By - Kaley races with Tim Kaeding (83) and Clint Garner (40) on Thursday (Mike Campbell Photo)]
- Bill Wright on Aug 20, 2009
- Article Date: 8/20/2009