This message was edited on
April 06, 2008 at
10:04:15 PM by Gary Thomas
Photo by Steve's Racing Photos
Andy Gregg finishes strong 2nd at Placerville
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – April 5, 2008… Team Guts Racing driver Andy Gregg competed in a pair of events this past weekend and continued his impressive performance at the start of the season. Gregg was extremely fast both nights and put himself near the front of the field during each of them.
The Placerville racer began the weekend by competing in the opening round of the Feather Falls Casino point season at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway. A very fast track greeted competitors and Gregg clicked off a 12.237 in qualifying to place the Guts Racing, Dale Miller Plumbing No. 16x seventh fastest in the 29 car field.
Gregg then lined-up inside the third row in his heat race and utilized a great start to move into second by the time a lap had even been completed. The driver known as the “Hurricane” then applied heavy pressure to the rear of leader Robby Whitchurch and after hounding him for several laps; Gregg gassed it up to the high side on lap six and went flying by for the lead.
He led the final two laps of the heat and the Silver Dollar Speedway crowd showed their appreciation with his exciting move and gave him a standing ovation as he came by on the cool down lap. When the six pill was drawn for the inversion Gregg found himself on the outside of the front row in the 25 lap main event.
The 28 year-old settled into the second spot at the waving of the green flag in the feature, but just like in the heat race he found the high side to his liking and hounded leader Jason York over the first few laps. A couple times it looked like Gregg was going to make the same move he did in the heat race, but a caution on lap four slowed his momentum. Unfortunately the night turned sour during this stoppage as Gregg got in the rough stuff in turn two and flipped upside down to put an end to the bid for his first Chico win.
Following the tough end to the night in Chico, the team made the short drive to the Placerville Speedway on Saturday for the second point race of the season at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds track. Last weekend saw Gregg break the all-time 360 track record at Placerville and he came back this past Saturday to score another fast time effort with a lap of 10.467, beating out 32 other competitors. Unlike last week however, he was able to make progress in his heat race and brought home a third place finish to transfer directly into the main event.
Gregg pulled the number eight pill for the inversion, lining him up in the fourth row outside. The initial green flag saw a false start by the front row and they were put to the rear of the field, which moved the Myers & Sons Drywall, Straight Line Roofing Maxim to the outside of the third row. Gregg made his way through the pack early on and got up into second, before doing battle with leader Andy Forsberg. When traffic came into play he was able to close in, but each time they reached it, yellows would come out and take the shot away. Gregg gave it hard run the rest of the race and brought home a second place finish at the checkered flag.
The Guts Racing team will be right back in action this coming Wednesday night at the Placerville Speedway for the California Civil War Series season opener. Then two nights later the 16x machine will be in Chico for the Tribute to Bill Brownell followed by another Civil War event on Saturday in Petaluma. Gregg will look to continue his strong start to the season during this upcoming busy week of action.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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