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Kaley Gharst – Top Ten!
(Bill W) – May 29, 2008 – Outside of a couple of good runs early this year in Australia, Kaley Gharst has been struggling to finish races. He finally got it done at Knoxville Raceway last Saturday. On a fast track where it was hard to pass, the nineteen year old Decatur, Illinois driver held his own in the stout 33-car field, and brought home a top ten finish.
Qualifying was a problem for Kaley in 2007, and it played a big part in him winning the 410 Hard-charger Award at Knoxville. The award goes to the driver passing the most cars in feature events. Kaley would just as soon not repeat that performance. A 15th quick qualifying time trial lap on Saturday seemed acceptable considering the wet track conditions. "Going out a little later helped us a bit, I think," he says.
Lining up in the Bruce Williams' #7K inside row two, Kaley got in line and finished fourth to transfer to the main event. "We had some problems with the motor taking off there in the heat race," he says. "It never really got going until the flagstand on the starts, so we let Brooke Tatnell, who was starting outside of us, get the jump. We were a little 'lean' with the motor on the top end and the bottom end."
Though the track widened a bit in the non-stop 20-lap feature event, cars were still turning laps under 16 seconds, a rarity come feature time at Knoxville. Kaley would start 11th and finish in the tenth spot. "We kind of split the difference on some of the things we've been trying and what we had success with last year," he says of the team's setup going in. "It seemed to work a little bit better. We're going to stick with what we're doing right now and hopefully run up front a little before deciding to go with a completely different deal."
A week made a big difference. On May 17, Kaley got upside down in the heat and had to scramble just to make the B main on a dusty, rubber-down track. "It was definitely better than last weekend," he says. "It was obviously hard to pass and heavy, but we qualified better than we have been at Knoxville, and we're going to change some things to get even a little better this week."
Some of the changes will center on the motor. "We never could get the motor to run at full strength," says Kaley. "We may have had it set a little 'lean'. We're going to go back and give it a little more fuel, hopefully get a little wider track, and aim for the front. We're looking forward to Saturday!"
Keep an eye on Kaley's progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com!
Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips' Floors, Bell Racing, info2go, Parker Signs and Graphics, LWBJ Accounting, Community State Bank, Pro Shocks, QA1, VRP Shocks, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, WillCo Services and HostIowa.net - Your Complete Internet Solution.
If you would like to receive Kaley's weekly releases, send an e-mail with the subject line "Kaley" to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net.
Kaley at Knoxville Raceway (HeartlandMotorsports.com Photo)
Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IAUSA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net
www.hoseheads.com/billw.html
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