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Kaley Gharst – Year in Review!

(Bill W) – November 20, 2007 – The 2007 season brought a new team and a new outlook for sprint car driver, Kaley Gharst. From the beginning of the season in Florida to the end of the season in Charlotte, the 19 year old driver did not disappoint. Kaley racked up the biggest win to this point of his young career, captured his first championship and seemed to gain steam as the year went on!

Campaigning in both 360 and 410 action, Kaley was adept at both, grabbing a dozen wins in 2007. In 51 feature events run in 2007, Kaley won 12 (24%), posted 28 (55%) top fives, and finished in the top ten 36 (71%) times. The biggest wins to date for Kaley occurred in August in the Brodix Tournament of Champions and the 410 feature prior to the Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. "The 410 win was right up there with the Brodix since it was our only 410 win there this year," he says.

Kaley also grabbed a 360 Nationals preliminary win with plenty of competition on hand, giving him an amazing three feature wins in four tries. The weekend was special for the Decatur, Illinois driver and a little luck didn't hurt either. "That whole weekend, to get three wins there was great!" he remembers. "We also had a top five in the 360 Nationals, so next year we can aim for the sweep! Luck was on our side. With Randy Martin and Brian Brown wrecking in the 360 prelim, and Jeff Mitrisin and Tim Kaeding wrecking in the 410 feature, luck was on our side a little bit there. Finally, we raced our way to the win in the Brodix on Sunday, by using traffic to get around Chuck Swenson. (Crew Chief) Bob Brooks had the car working perfect. Everything seemed to fall in place that weekend."

A championship with the 360 Sprint Invaders Association was another highlight of the season for Kaley. He ran a lot of new tracks, but that didn't seem to faze him as he took a club record seven wins with the series. "It seems on the new tracks, until I wreck at least, I tend to do pretty well," he says. "We seem to adapt well. Some of the tracks I hadn't been to, but Bob had, and he'd seen them before so that helped us out. I went around and talked to people to get some pointers too. Everything seemed to click all year long with the Sprint Invaders. Our 360 motor held up well all year long."

Kaley has a respect for his fellow Sprint Invaders competitors. "Quite a few of those drivers have been running those tracks for years, and it was nice to come out on top there in our first year. I haven't run with a lot of those guys before, so hopefully I made a little bit of a name for myself with the Sprint Invaders."

At Knoxville Raceway, Kaley finished a career high seventh in the 410 point standings and took home the "Lyle Boyd Hard Charger Award" for passing the most cars in A main competition. "Getting the award was kind of a surprise," says Kaley. "I guess next year we need to improve on our qualifying so we aren't starting so far back! It was nice to get the award, but next year we want the championship!"

Despite the seventh place finish, Kaley looks back on a couple points in the season that knocked the team back a bit. "We should have been better there (Knoxville); we were leading the points for a couple weeks. Our motor program went downhill, and with that went our season a bit. We got a decent motor before the Nationals and were able to win that race. Unfortunately, we had more problems at the Nationals and didn't get to finish the season strong."

Despite late season problems with the 410s, you can count on Kaley coming back to Knoxville stronger than ever. Next year, the family will team with Bruce Williams and have a new number (7K). "We're going to have a little better motor program for Knoxville, and hopefully we can win races and get a championship," says the determined driver. Don't be surprised if that is exactly what we get from Kaley Gharst in 2008.

Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips' Floors, Bell Racing, ProShocks, McKenna Truck Center, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, Wilco Heating and Air Conditioning 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 [email protected].

Kaley is already "tuning up" for 2008! (Jason McConnell Photo)

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