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| Gharst wins number five at Bloomfield, Alley second. | | |
Gharst wins number five at Bloomfield
By Jake Croxton - jakecroxton@yahoo.com
Bloomfield, Iowa (September 8, 2007) - Kaley Gharst
worked lapped traffic to perfection and maneuvered his
Hostiowa.net / Bell Helmets / Wesmar / Maxim into
victory lane for the fifth time in Ideal Ready Mix
Sprint Invaders competition in 2007. The win marked
Gharst's second victory at the Bloomfield Speedway
after his win during the Davis County Fair in July.
"It's another win.hopefully we'll get a few more
before the year's out," said the Decatur, Ill. driver.
"I look forward to lapped traffic. You can't get
there soon enough for me. I've always seemed to do
good in lapped traffic."
The 25-lapper got off to a wild start as outside front
row starter Dustin Selvage went end over end in turn
three. The starting field was able to avoid the
Indianola, Iowa youngster, but Selvage was uninjured
and done for the night.
On the second attempt at a start, pole starter Josh
Schneiderman assumed command and led for the first ten
laps. A lap four restart for Bart Andrews' stalled car
bunched the field up and brought Billy Alley and
Gharst to Schneiderman's tail tank.
As the leaders approached traffic, Gharst drove inside
of Schneiderman and it was academic from there.
"We had the car working pretty good there early," said
the new points leader. "A lot of guys were getting in
high and bouncing. I was going in below the stuff and
kind of cheating there and getting away with it. I got
by the 65 [Goldesberry] and the 3G [Gullo] and then
Alley on the restart. I tracked down the 49
[Schneiderman] in lapped traffic and got by him."
As the field took the white flag, Alley dove Mark
Burch's powerful entry underneath Schneiderman and
stole the runner-up spot.
"My race team ran first all night," said the Lincoln,
Nebraska driver. "They had a clean sweep and I just
ran second in that feature. I made a couple mistakes
and it cost me the win. But I'll tell you what, it's
been a lot better than it's been going all year. I
guess you look at the positives at times like this. It
hasn't been the most fun racing year, but everything's
gravy. I've just got to keep my head up and going
forward."
Alley nearly was not around to see the finish after
jumping way above the cushion near half way.
"Just a little brain fade I guess. I got to thinking
too much. I tried to make things happen and it cost me
a lot of time. At the end of that race, they were
within striking distance. I just let them get too far
out in front of me. You can't count on a yellow all
the time and it's definitely a bummer deal. We
definitely had a racecar that could win here tonight."
Jordan Goldesberry earned his best career Invaders
finish in fourth, while John Schulz rounded out the
top five. Lance Gullo also earned a career-best in
sixth, while Matt Sutton, Russ Hall, Rager Phillips,
and Nick Eastin rounded out the top five.
Tonight, the series moves to Quad City Raceway. Hot
Laps begin at 5:30 at the Rock Island County
Fairgrounds quarter-mile.
Results
Car Count - 25
Cautions - 2 - L0 (RED - Selvage flip), 4
Leaders - Schneiderman 1-10, Gharst 11-25
Laps Led - Gharst 15, Schneiderman 10
Highest Finishing Rookie - Jordan Goldesberry (4th)
***Selvage flipped on the first lap of the feature -
he was uninjured
Contingency:
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger - Russ Hall (Started
14th, Finished 8th)
Rod End Supply - Russ Hall
Rod End Supply - Rager Phillips
Saldana Racing Product - Matt Harms
Ultra Shield - Bart Andrews
Diversified Machine - Jordan Goldesberry
MPD - Jerrod Hull
The Brake Man - Manny Rockhold
M&W Aluminum Products - Josh Schneiderman
Hepfner Racing Products - Matt Rogerson
Staats Awards Heat Race #1 (Top 5 advance) -- 1. 7
Dustin Selvage, Indianola; 2. 49 Josh Schneiderman, W.
Burlington; 2. 24 Jarod Smith, Altoona; 4. 53H Matt
Harms, Chillicothe, IL; 5. 15 Bobby Mincer,
Burlington; 6. 9X Bart Andrews, Muscatine; 7. 51J Ryan
Jamison, Mediapolis; 8. 99W Korey Weyant, Springfield,
IL; 9. 29 Matt Rogerson, Burlington
Budweiser Heat Race #2 (Top 5 advance) -- 1. 1M Billy
Alley, Lincoln, NE; 2. 3* Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL;
3. 2 John Schulz, W. Burlington; 4. 14P Rager
Phillips, Pleasantville; 5. 29X Russ Hall, Des Moines;
6. 22X Nick Eastin, Burlington; 7. 4M Mark Tischer,
Hannibal, MO; 8. 53 Joe Beaver, Knoxville
Storm Steel / Abrasive Jet Technologies Heat Race #3
(Top 5 advance) -- 1. 3G Lance Gullo, Springfield; 2.
65 Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL; 3. 99 Manny
Rockhold, Pekin, IL; 4. 3 Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL; 5.
12 Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO; 6. 36 Justin Newberry,
Burlington; 7. 70 Brian Stansberry, Moulton; 8. 18A
Dan Avery, Burlington
Crop Service of Drakesville / Spillman Auto Parts /
KDMU 106.9 / Prevo Auction Services Shake-up Dash - 1.
Alley; 2. Gullo; 3. Gharst; 4. Goldesberry; 5.
Schneiderman; 6. Selvage
B-Main (Top 5 advance) -- 1. Eastin; 2. Jamison; 3.
Beaver; 4. Andrews; 5. Rogerson; 6. Weyant; 7.
Newberry; 8. Tischer; 9. Stansberry; 10. Avery
Kollision Korner / DC Diesel 25 -- 1. Gharst (5); 2.
Alley (3); 3. Schneiderman (1); 4. Goldesberry (6); 5.
Schulz (8); 6. Gullo (4); 7. Sutton (12); 8. Hall
(14); 9. Phillips (9); 10. Eastin (16); 11. Harms
(10); 12. Beaver (18); 13. Mincer (11); 14. Jamison
(15); 15. Rogerson (20); 16. Weyant (19); 17. Rockhold
(7); 18. Hull (13); 19. Andrews (17); 20. Selvage (2)
Note: Jarod Smith was scheduled to start 7th and
scratched - Weyant was the first alternate
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