5/13/2015
Kaley Gharst
Kaley Gharst – Back on Familiar Ground!
Kaley Gharst – Back on Familiar Ground!
(Bill W) May 13, 2015 – When the FVP National Sprint League ventures to the Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois this Friday night, Kaley Gharst will be racing at a place where he has graced Victory Lane. The Mike Sandvig #7 team is hoping to repeat that in this week’s event that pits the NSL vs. the MOWA series. The team is hoping a couple of mechanical issues they experienced last weekend will be left behind.
Things started last Friday at Eagle Raceway with the NSL. Kaley would time in 25th quick, one spot out of the heat invert. “We made a mistake with the gearing at Eagle,” he says. “We knew it in hot laps, and being the tenth car out to qualify, we didn’t think we had enough time to change it. We stuck with it for time trials, and that killed us. Looking back, we should have just changed it, even if we had to miss our spot. We probably still would have been better overall.”
Unfortunately, being one spot short was a trend for the night. “From there, we ended up finishing one spot out of everything,” says Kaley. “We were sixth in the heat, which sent us to the B, and we finished fifth. We were always one spot out. Overall, it was just a tough go-around. We had been looking forward to Eagle. We’ve had some good finishes there. It just wasn’t meant to be on Friday.”
Despite some motor issues, Kaley did make the heat invert at Knoxville when 38 cars assembled. “We barely made the invert,” he says. “We were struggling with the motor in hot laps and in time trials. After time trials, we had some time to look at it. We had lost a screw in one of the butterflies. Luckily, it didn’t hurt anything down in there, but it wasn’t running right for sure. (Josh) Schneiderman had an extra one and loaned one for us to use, so we’d like to thank them. That got the motor running right for the heat race.”
He would come home second in his heat. “We got a good start there in the heat,” says Kaley. “We were leading for about a lap before (Dusty) Zomer got by us. We just kind of fell in back behind him, and got a transfer spot into the feature. We’ve been struggling a bit with the car being loose the first three races making that transition back into 410’s.”
Kaley would start 22nd in the main event and checker 17th. “We started in the back and really didn’t have much to lose,” he says. “We tried a few things with the car. Luckily, we missed the big crash on the second lap. We got going decent and started battling with (Logan) Forler there for a while. (Leader) Wayne (Johnson) got by me and we got a lap down. At that point, I was just kind of maintaining my spot and getting some laps in. We were able to get a couple more spots on that late yellow. I felt better about racing hard without the leaders around me.”
The Decatur, Illinois driver is looking forward to getting back to his home state. “All in all, it wasn’t as good as we hoped, but we made some improvements on the car,” he says of last weekend. “We’re headed in the right direction headed for Jacksonville. We’re looking forward to getting back in some familiar territory down there.”
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 sprntcar@hotmail.com.
Kaley and the Sandvig #7 team would like to thank: A+ Power Washing, Hinchman Racewear, Butlerbuilt, DeBerg Concrete and DeBerg Floors.
Kaley in action at Eagle Raceway Friday (Rob Kocak Photo)
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Submitted By: Bill Wright