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Photo by Joe Martinez
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Andy Gregg scores pair of fifth place finishes with Civil War and GSC over weekend
By Gary Thomas
Antioch, CA – July 20, 2009…Running with two of California's top winged sprint car organizations this past weekend Placerville, CA's Andy Gregg continued his consistent season and brought home a pair of top five finishes at the helm of the Team Guts Racing No. 16x sprinter.
The '09 season has seen Gregg focus on having fun as he picks and chooses where he goes on a given weekend competing with a number of different organizations and tracks. "It's been a really good year for us and we've had a great time racing with a wide variety of different drivers throughout the season," he said. "We've been really fast pretty much each and every night and the guys have been giving me some great cars."
This most recent weekend began with a California Sprint Car Civil War Series/GLR Investments co-sanctioned event at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. A 39 car field was on hand for the night and Gregg kicked it off by timing in eighth fastest overall and then driving the Myers & Sons Drywall, Dale Miller Plumbing, BR Motorsports Maxim to a runner-up finish in the fourth and final heat race.
When the number six pill was drawn for the A-main inversion it put Gregg in the second row for the 30 lap contest and at the waving of the green flag he would move into the runner-up spot in no time. With traffic coming into play the "Hurricane" hounded leader Wes Gutierrez, but around the halfway point lost a position when young Kyle Larson made the move by both he and Gutierrez for the lead. The remaining laps saw Gregg battle amongst the top five cars and cross under the checkered flag in the fifth position.
The following night Gregg and the Guts Racing team made the tow over to the Antioch Speedway for the 19th Round of the Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series season. So far this year the 29 year-old driver has been very solid in limited starts with the traveling 410 tour and that continued at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds facility on Saturday.
Gregg opened up the event by qualifying fifth fastest in the field and then charging to a dominating victory in the first heat race. He then drew the number four pill for the dash and brought home a fifth place finish in the six lap event to set him up with an inside row three starting spot for the 30 lap feature.
During the warm up lap for the main event however, third starting Shane Golobic slid into the wall and was forced to go to the work area, which bumped the RPS Performance, Circle Racing Wheels, Roughcut Construction No. 16x up to the second row. When the green lights came on Gregg immediately moved into the second position just like the night before and began to put pressure on leader Jason Statler.
Cautions early kept the field bunched up though and on lap eight Gregg would lose the second spot to a hard-charging Jonathan Allard. As the race went on he would dice it up with drivers such as Brent Kaeding, Kyle Larson and Tyler Walker as the slicked off surface made for some exciting on the Antioch bullring. Gregg was holding down the fourth spot with the laps winding down until Walker made a late pass to take the position, pushing the 16x machine back to fifth by the finish.
This coming week will find Gregg right back in action with the California Sprint Car Civil War Series in the second Wild Winged Wednesday of the season at the Placerville Speedway on Wednesday night. Following Wild Winged Wednesday he'll then head north for the weekend to compete aboard the Bret Ervin owned Bullet Racing No. 53 sprinter with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon. "I'm really looking forward to this week and just hope we can continue running up front and maybe get a win," Gregg said. "It'll be a really competitive week and should be a good challenge so that's always fun."
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After a pair of fifth place finishes this past weekend Andy Gregg will head for a trio of races this week beginning with Wild Winged Wednesday at the Placerville Speedway on Wednesday evening, followed by a double-header with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon on Friday and Saturday. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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