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Kaley Gharst – Lucky Win #7!

(Bill W) – September 17, 2009 – “Showtime” Kaley Gharst went into the three races billed as the Sprint Invaders “Triple Threat” weekend in Illinois with ideas of picking off some wins.  He was able to secure another win at the Quincy Raceways, his second of the year there, and seventh overall in 2009.  The Decatur, Illinois driver has won five times with the Sprint Invaders this year, and tied Jerrod Hull atop the all-time winners’ list with twelve.  This weekend, Kaley will mix in the World of Outlaws in Bruce Williams’ #7K with a Sprint Invaders show in Farley, Iowa in the Plath Motorsports #14P. 

The luck of the draw followed the #14P team all night long at Quincy on Sunday.  He pulled away on the bullring from the pole to win the heat.   He then drew the pole for the dash, but it was Bobby Mincer winning that.  When Bobby rolled a six in Victory Lane, it put Kaley on the pole for the main event.  “The car felt decent from the beginning,” he says.  “We were getting a little loose there with seven or eight to go, and I had the wing as far back as it would go.  I felt like I was slipping a little bit, and really didn’t know if someone was gaining on the top or bottom.” 

Donnie Steward was coming fast on the high side, and looked like he might overtake the lead, until a lapped car held him up.  That cleared the way for Kaley’s season sweep with the Sprint Invaders at Quincy and $1,500.  “They tell me Donnie was running the top pretty well,” he says.  “We held on, I guess.  I found a bit of a line in three and four.  I didn’t feel like it was our greatest night, but we’ll take the win, that’s for sure.” 

It was the sixth win of the season for the Plath Motorsports team.  “Randy gives me a good car every week, and Nick Breuer has worked really hard on this motor, just so we can run it,” says Kaley.  “We’ve seemed to click real well together, and hopefully we can get a few more before the season is over.”  

The weekend started Friday at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville for the Herb Barlow Memorial with a sub par seventh place performance for Kaley.  “We ran pretty bad on Friday,” he says.  “We thought we had the car pretty close, but we weren’t where we thought we were.” 

The Tom Knowles Memorial hosted 31 sprinters on Saturday.  “The night didn’t start too well with a 70 pill, starting at the tail of the heat race,” says Kaley.  “We were just able to get the last transfer spot there on the last lap.” 

Some problems starting the feature helped Kaley, as it looked like it may be follow the leader.  “We were supposed to start 13^th, but those guys in front of us had problems, so that moved us up three rows,” he says.  “Even with the rubber laid down there, the car was a touch loose, but the car was good.  There wasn’t much we could do except wait for someone to mess up.” 

He was able to move forward steadily into fourth, and took third after a good battle with Ben Wagoner.  “We got underneath Ben there, and we were racing real tough and real close,” he says.  “I was able to get a better run coming out of two than he did there.  That got us up to third, and unfortunately, Joey (Moughan) blew a right rear there.  Second is not bad on a rubber-down track where you are supposed to be starting 13^th.” 

Wednesday, Kaley made the tow to Spencer, Iowa where the World of Outlaws were running at the Clay County Fair Speedway.  He qualified 27^th in the #7K, but found some issues that were preventing a good time on the following day.  “We took some stagger out after practice,” he says.  “We ended up taking too much out for qualifying.  On top of that, we took the stacks off the motor on Thursday, and found out the idle we set it on only allowed it to be open for ¾ throttle.” 

After floundering in the back of his heat race, Kaley started seventh in the B.  Needing a top four spot, he gained it from Seth Brahmer with two laps to go.  He would end up third.  He was credited with a 21^st place finish in the A.  “The car was really decent there (B),” he says.  “We started at the tail of the feature, and got down a lap early there.  We were passing guys, but after the caution, some of the passes didn’t count.  I was going really decent until I jumped the cushion in two.  It was hard to get up to speed after that.  The key was getting laps, and hopefully, we can improve at Deer Creek on Saturday.”

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.