Gregg Races to 14th in Tulare
Saturday night in Tulare, CA, Andy Gregg piloted his Bret Ervin Racing/7 Industries/Eagle No. 53 to a 14th place finish after charging through the B-main and gridding the field in the 19th spot.
To kick off the day, Evan Suggs and Kyle Larson joined the Placerville native in the main grandstand, to greet fans as they arrived to the track and sign autographs and hand out pictures.
“I had a blast doing the autograph session,” said Gregg. “The race ended up getting over really late and I was able to hang out with a ton of fans before the race as many didn’t get a chance to come out in the pits after. This is a nice move by the KWS staff.”
Once business got underway, Gregg was one of the last cars out to qualify, and timed the Wheel Vintiques/College Cyclery/Ervin Sales backed entry in 19th quick missing the inversion.
“We went out late, but there was still speed in the track,” said Gregg. “I honestly didn’t get up on the wheel and messed up and really put us behind the ‘eight-ball’ all night.”
In heat race action, Andy had an excellent start in his Autism Awareness/The Hot Rod Shop/GUTS entry and was quickly running in the third spot after an aggressive pass on Bud Kaeding. Entering the next set of turns Gregg pushed up the racetrack and allowed Kaeding, and Brad Furr to sneak under the 53 car.
At the line it was Furr narrowly holding off Gregg for the fourth and final transfer spot, relegating Gregg to the seventh starting spot in the B-main.
In the B, Gregg quickly muscled the 7 Industries car into the third running spot, by utilizing the top of the slicked off racing surface. Once in the transfer spot, Gregg fell into line to assure himself the transfer into the feature.
“We were really good in the B, and once I got to third, I got in line rather then force to issue to continue forward because I knew we were in position to head to the feature,” remarked Gregg.
In the feature event, Gregg lined his Bret Ervin Racing machine up in the 19th position. As the green flag flew on the event, Andy fought through the pack and quickly began working his way toward the top ten.
As he reached the 11th spot, Gregg slid up the track to avoid a spinning car falling back to the 14th spot as the car was able to gather itself and not force out the caution flag.
As the feature event drew on the surface quickly began to take rubber and make passing very difficult. As Gregg continued to roll in the 14th spot, the red flag flew with just two circuits remaining. With tire ware a serious concern, King of the West officials elected to end the race early, and Gregg ended up 14th.
“The race being called early was actually a blessing in disguise for us, as we had a flat right rear tire,” said Gregg. “Other then that I really hurt us in qualifying and set us way behind, and we will head to Watsonville next week and hopefully have a better time trial and solid night. It was great to see all these fans here tonight though.”
The Bret Ervin Racing team will head to Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA on April 23,2011. On Friday April 22, 2011 the team will be featured in the first Fan Fest of the season at Watsonville Chevrolet. Please stay tuned for more details on this exciting event.
Bret Ervin Racing would like to thank 7industries.com, Ervin Sale Group, Wheel Vintiques, College Cyclery, The Hot Rod Shop, Autism Awareness, Guts Racing, King Racing Products, BR Motorsports, Jiffy-Tite, C&R Racing, Eagle Chassis, Meyer Motorsports, Hinchman Racing, and Bell.
To stay up to date with Bret Ervin Racing and receive updates check out www.facebook.com/bretervinracing, follow www.twitter.com/bretervinracing , or check out www.7industries.com
- Petersen Media on Apr 18, 2011
- Article Date: 4/18/2011