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Kaley Gharst – Fresh Power!

5/8/2008 - (Bill W) – May 8, 2008 – The rainouts have been tough on everyone, but maybe Kaley Gharst could have used another week. A new Fisher powerplant has arrived this week to replace the tired family motor his sprint car team struggled with last weekend. The Decatur, Illinois driver hurt the motor in practice on Thursday and had no shot at competing with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. He’ll look to rebound this weekend as the Interstate Racing Association visits Iowa this weekend.

With a new look and a new number, Kaley and the Bruce Williams #7K team towed to practice at Knoxville Thursday. “We hurt the motor in practice…we could never get it to run right, so that hurt our chances of running on Saturday with the Outlaws,” says Kaley. “We kept throwing gears at it and leaning it down to get RPM’s, but we couldn’t get it to run. We stuck it on the dyno on Saturday morning, and finally got it to turn some RPM’s, but it didn’t last long. So, we qualified and took our show points at Knoxville.”

The experience was obviously a disappointment for Kaley, but he’s looking forward to this weekend. “We were looking forward to going out there and doing well,” he says. “Unfortunately, things didn’t go right last week. I think we’ll be good this week with a new Fisher motor in the car, with a new Maxim chassis and (crew chief) Bob Brooks working on it. We’ve wanted to try some new things, and I think things will work out for us this weekend.”

The extent of the damage to the Gharst motor is still unknown, but with the arrival of the new motor, the team’s attention will shift. “We at least blew a head gasket,” says Kaley. “Someone said we blew a sleeve out of it as well. I’m not real sure what all went wrong with it. Our Fisher motor was delivered on Thursday, so we should be full steam ahead this weekend.”

Kaley’s plans of running at Tri-City Speedway this Friday were dashed with the motor problems. He was looking forward to returning to the track he won the Bob Wente Classic at last October. “We had originally planned on running Granite City with the Outlaws using the family motor, but obviously, that’s not going to happen.”

The IRA will visit Iowa this weekend. They will head to the 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa on Friday and to the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. Two years ago at the Knoxville IRA show, Kaley got one of the biggest wins of his career by holding off Danny Lasoski on two late restarts to claim the win.

The team is still undecided on whether they’ll be running Friday. “I’d like to just get some seat time at Burlington,” says Kaley. “It’s really been awhile since I had any time in the car.”

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.

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