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Kaley Gharst – Big Weekend Leads to Another!

(Bill W) May 15, 2012 – It was a busy three-day weekend for the Jeremy Scadden Construction #6 team and driver, Kaley Gharst. After finishing sixth on Friday night in 410 competition at the River Cities Speedway near Grand Forks, North Dakota, they finished in the runner-up spot Saturday in the 360 at I-90 Speedway in Hartford, South Dakota. Unfortunately, motor issues sidelined the team before Sunday's 410 feature at Huset's Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota. This weekend, it will be three more events. On Friday, they will compete with the 410 at the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa. Saturday will find them in 360 competition at the Fairmont Speedway in Fairmont, Minnesota, and Sunday will see them back at Huset's with the 410.

The Decatur, Illinois driver finished fifth in his Friday heat at the River Cities bullring after starting tenth. "With their point system, we had to start in the back of the heat," says Kaley. "We had a pretty decent car, it was just a bit loose. But we were able to get up to fifth, I think it was. That got us in the A."

Starting fourteenth in his maiden voyage to the tough Grand Forks track he would charge to a sixth place finish. "We had a pretty decent car," says Kaley. "Again, a bit loose, but it was good. We were able to get up to sixth. That wasn't bad at all for our first time up there. It's a high-banked place, and you can really carry your speed around the place. You definitely don't want to go over the top of the turns."

Another bullring awaited in Hartford on Saturday night. Kaley ran second in his heat after starting sixth. "They ran six or seven heats," he says. "Our finish gave us enough passing points to get in the redraw there."

Starting fifth he advanced to the lead. "We were going pretty good in third and the yellow came out," says Kaley. "Chuck Swenson was running second, and he was able to get into the lead. I was able to get to second behind him. Then we got by Swenson for the lead and the yellow came out again."

The pass was called back, but Kaley regained the position on the restart. Ryan Bickett would find the rubber first and get by for the win, relegating him to second place at the checkers. "(Swenson) had seen where I went by him, and he got a little too high in turn four and spun out," says Kaley. "We were able to take the lead, and we were going decent until the last few laps. Someone found some rubber down lower than where we were running."

Sunday night, Kaley registered the eighth quick time of the night. "We got to Huset's and we were looking forward to getting some laps in with the 410," he says. "We were a little tight timing in."

The motor ills happened in the heat, and left the team watching the main event from their pit eager for next week's trio of races. "We were running third in the heat there when a rocker arm broke," explains Kaley. "(Mark) Dobmeier got by us. We finished the heat, but when we found the issue, we weren't able to run the feature. We were supposed to start third, so that was disappointing."

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 [email protected].

Kaley and the Jeremy Scadden #6 team would like to thank: Scadden Construction, CNS Homes, Adrenaline Sports Bar & Grill, LEV Wings, Singer Engines, J&J Auto Racing , DMI Components, Keizer Wheels , Schure Built Suspension Systems, Hoosier Tire North , Butlerbuilt Seating and Bell Helmets.

Kaley at Huset's Speedway (Jeff Bylsma Photo)

Bill W Media

[email protected]

Twitter: @BillWMedia

Monroe, IA USA

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@BillWMedia
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Personally I was a little bit disappointed as I'm sure other fans were with his River Cities finish last Friday night. While finishing 5th in his heat, he did not look like the driver I've read so much good stuff about and his 6th in the feature, same story. When I found out he was there, I was excited, expecting Dobmier to have a challenge but not to be. Mark wins every Friday night unless he has trouble which is rare. And it doesn't matter where he starts the feature, he gets to the front. There are a lot of good cars every Friday night but they fight for 2nd and 3rd. Hopefully he'll come back and then he'll have had experience on the fast bullring. He sure did stay on the bottom even though cars were using the 2nd and 3rd groove just fine.

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

Did Gharst ever race at Grand Forks prior to last Friday night?

The announcer said it was his first time at the track.

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

OMG ! Well , Let's see if this is so disappointing , Gharst Starts 10th in the heat on a 1/4 mile bullring with 8 laps and makes it to 5th. Has to start the main in 15th and makes it to 6th. Dobs starts 9th and wins . With there format newcomers star in the back with no points .

Gharst passes 9 cars. Dobs passes 8 cars. Now as to racing the bottom, seems to me there must of been 9 cars runing in the 2nd an 3rd groves. So i guess if you follow those other cars how you gonna pass them, need to be where there not! JMO GIT UR DONE how ever you can!

First, you apparently didn't read my first post. I said, "Hopefully he'll come back and then he'll have had some experience on the fast bullring? So your first question(post) was out to lunch because I had already told you he hadn't been there before, but as a gentlement, I answered it without pointing out how stupid it was, but that ship sailed.

2nd, Grand Forks does not have the class of sprints say Husets or Knoxville does on a weekend basis, though they do have one of the greatest weekly shows on the planet with unlimited late models and Outlaw Sprints. Mark Dobmeier could start from the back in a heat or a feature in Forks and be leading in 8 or 89 laps if no cautions. Dobmeier has top ten finishes in the feature at Knoxville and Huset each and every weekend if he has no mechanical problems, half the tim top five finishes. I expected, after all the hype in the magazines and internet that Gharst would give us a good race for first but he couldn't even win his heat. Any WoO member this year, if racing in Grand Forks and starting 10th in an 8 lap race would get to the front pretty damned quick. I love the racing in Forks, but they are all racing for 2nd thru 20th? place. Actually, the racing in Grand Forks would be a lot more fun if they forced Mark to start from the rear and pay him a bonus if he won, but problem would be, he'd win the bonus all the time---no one would question that.

The biggest problem the other drivers have in competing with dobs is the fact that he has WoO equipment thru his sponsor/owner Lunstra Motorsports of the Sioux Falls area. And it doesn't hurt that he has one hell of a driver. Let the other Grand Forks guys in that car and they's see what a rocket ship it was.

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

Well there ya go ! big bucks. dont think the 6 car has that kind of money. But i think the kid does a fine job with what they have . Looks like they got a nice 360 program though. Looks like they had trouble with the 410 motor at husets. We'll just have to wait an see.