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(Bill W) – August 11, 2009 – “Showtime” Kaley Gharst provided the show in the Knoxville 360 Nationals driving to hard-charger honors, driving from 24th to 9th. A top ten finish in the 410 class on Saturday night at Knoxville was thwarted with a late spin, but the Decatur, Illinois driver is determined heading into his qualifying night this Thursday for the 49th Annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals. Registering the 28th quick time of the night on Thursday could have taken some drivers out of the 360 Nationals chase, but not Kaley. “Our qualifying was off again, but that put us on the front row for the heat,” he says. “We were able to make the most of that, and win the heat.” Kaley posted outside row seven and began his typical charge through the field. “The car was rolling well,” he says. “We were able to move our way forward, mostly on the bottom. It was unfortunate when we got to sixth, that the fifth place car (Dustin Daggett) was a good straightaway ahead of us. We were able to catch up with him, but we ran out of laps. We could have used a yellow there.” With the tough qualifying effort, Kaley ended up five spots out of locking himself in Saturday night’s $10,000 to win finale. A good run in the B main got him in on Saturday, however. In the end, he surged from his 23rd starting spot to 9th at the finish. “We were able to follow (Brad) Sweet there into third, and get ourselves a transfer spot,” he says. “We had a pretty decent run there in the feature. Any time you can go from 23rd to 9th with the best 360 drivers in the country, you’re doing something right. I would have liked to see what we could have done from the front. I don’t know that we would have had anything for (Terry) McCarl or those guys, but it would have been nice to find out.” The track differed on both ends for the main event. “The track was wide in one and two, and you could run wherever you wanted,” says Kaley. “That’s where we did the most passing. In three and four, it was still a little heavy. It was really racy, and if you were faster, you could pass people. The 360 Nationals went well for us. It was as good as we could have expected after our qualifying laps on Thursday.” In 410 action, Kaley timed in 26th quick on Saturday. “Qualifying where we are qualifying puts us up front in the heats,” he says. “We seem to be winning those, but we should be winning them when we start up there.” After winning his heat, Kaley’s time put him back outside of row nine. He picked off several cars throughout the race and made a bid for a top ten. “We were running pretty good, and I tried to slide in front of (Kerry) Madsen for tenth or eleventh,” he remembers. “I got into the infield berm a little bit and I tried to reset the car. I was already into the only slick spot there was in three and four, and it came back around on me. Unfortunately, there were only three or four laps to go. I was looking forward to maybe getting a top ten there, but we’ll see what we can do this week.” Kaley picked off a few cars from the tail to finish 19th. A 35th quick time at the Front Row Challenge put him behind the 8-ball, and a fifth place finish in the B after a lengthy rain delay ended things. The Bruce Williams #7K team will take the wings off tonight and run the Casey’s Ultimate Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company. 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@iowatelecom.net. Kaley and car owner Randy Plath would like to thank Sebastian Powder Coating and Sandblasting, Scott Performance, Holtkamp's truck and trailer repair, Rockstar Graphics and all of their sponsors. The 7K team would like to thank Phillips Floors, Info2go, Wagner Excavating, Parker Signs, Redtail Painting, Rod End Supply, LWBJ, Community State Bank and Carlson Systems.
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