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Kaley Gharst – A Tale of Two Nights!
(Bill W) – September 4, 2008 – It was another roller coaster weekend for sprint car driver, Kaley Gharst. After registering the quick time of the night with the IRA on Friday night in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, things went downhill there in the family "G" car. After another tough qualifying night Saturday at Knoxville in Marty Johnson's #81, the Decatur, Illinois 20 year old came back and registered another top ten finish. This weekend, Kaley and Johnson will team up to run the Jerry Richert Memorial race at Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond, Wisconsin.
Kaley's quick time Friday at the Dodge County Fairgrounds was 16.629 seconds, and nearly .15 of a second better than the second quick time of the night. It marked his first night of 2008 in the family car, and it could be the last for awhile. "The car was good," he says. "I thought we may be turning our season around at that point, getting quick time when we've been struggling all year. We had a fresh Fisher Engine and had put a new car together."
Trouble loomed in the heat race when Kaley tangled with another car. "We started sixth in the heat and had a decent start," he remembers. "We were up to fourth by turns one and two and got together with another guy. We got over the cushion and looped it sideways to keep it off the wall."
Unbeknownst to Kaley, there was trouble under the hood. "It turned out a clod had got up into the radiator and knocked a big hole in it," he says. "I went back to the fifth row in the heat, and I didn't know that the water had leaked out. It wasn't registering on the water gauge. We charged back up to fourth and hurt the motor with about a lap to go. That was the end of our night."
The motor problems weren't detected immediately, and the family team attempted to start the feature, lining up fourth in the grid. "We thought we may have just gotten water on the mag box or something, so we tried to get it back out there," says Kaley. "We went out to line up for the feature (starting fourth), but it was shaking pretty badly, so we knew we had more problems than we thought. Turns out there were holes in a few pistons, so that one's heading back to Charlie's (Fisher)."
Back at Knoxville on Saturday night, Kaley established the 18th quick time of the night. "It wasn't very good, but we did make the heat invert for a change!" he jokes. "It was horrible, I don't know how it was enough to make the invert, but it was."
Starting from the pole in his heat, Kaley succumbed to Brian Brown for a lap or two before taking command and winning the event. "We had a decent race there with 'Brownie'," he says. "We got out front there and felt pretty good, but the driveline started coming apart with a couple laps to go. Luckily, we got finished before it went."
The Marty Johnson crew went to work on the car. "We thrashed to get the driveline and rear-end in for the feature," says Kaley. "We had a decent car in the feature, but I made too many mistakes. I had a hard time getting by Skip (Jackson) for a few laps…I was making mistakes trying to get by him. That let a few other guys by me, and we got back past a few of them."
In the end, it was the latest chapter in a couple of seasons of hard-charging feature events. "We ended up tenth, which wasn't too bad for where we started, but I feel like we had a top five car," says Kaley. "It's nice to have a quality ride like the #81. I'd like to thank Marty for giving me a chance when I wasn't running too well, and nobody else wanted me in their car."
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 [email protected].
(www.HeartlandMotorsports.com Photo)
Bill WrightBill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[email protected]
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