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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Andy Gregg heads for Marysville after career best run at Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals this past weekend
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – October 7, 2009…Already having one of the more successful seasons of his sprint car career Placerville, CA's Andy Gregg went into the 18th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals hoping for good things and the veteran driver was able to accomplish that by charging through the field on his prelim night and then bringing home an eighth place finish on Saturday, at an event that saw 74 total drivers in competition at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
The result marked Gregg's career best result at the Fall Nationals and came at the helm of the Bret Ervin owned, LRB Manufacturing, M&M Structures Inc. No. 53 sprinter. "It feels awesome to finally get a good finish at this event because it seems like every year we qualify well, but fall into problems after that," Gregg said. "Most of all though I'm excited to get Bret Ervin a good run here this weekend and just can't thank him enough for giving me the opportunity to drive this car."
Prior to the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals Gregg scored a sixth place finish place during the Civil War Series season finale the previous week in Placerville as he's continued to get more comfortable while driving the No. 53 mount. At the Fall Nationals he took part in Friday's preliminary action and started off the evening by qualifying solidly in the ninth position among the 39-car field. A fourth place finish then transferred him out of the heat race, but engine issues in the second dash left him with a last place result and having to swap power-plants prior to the feature.
Starting back in 16th Gregg would have to get the "elbows up" to move his way forward as each car passed meant more points towards Saturday's starting positions. With phenomenal track conditions present he quickly began to cut through the field and after 30-laps of racing crossed the checkered flag in the sixth position, just behind fifth place Brad Furr. "That was a fun race tonight and we have to give props to the track crew because that's the best surface we've seen here this year," said Gregg. "I got around a lot of guys early on and then just tried to be smart and hang on during those final laps to get a good finish."
Out of the 74-cars that were in competition over the two prelim nights Gregg had earned the 11th most points going into Saturday and it put the No. 53 machine in the sixth row for the 40-lap A-main. With very windy conditions progressing as the night went on the track had become "rubber-down" by feature time and it made tire wear become a critical factor in the outcome. With multiple drivers changing tires during different parts of the race Gregg found himself sitting in the top-10 as the laps wound down.
What was seen as a fairly uneventful first half of the race turned into an exciting final 15 or so laps with the intensity level heating up throughout the pack. Fighting it out with a number of drivers over the closing laps Gregg would hold off the advancements of Kyle Hirst and Jonathan Allard to conclude the feature with an eighth place finish. "It was a tough main event because early on you had to be aware of your tires, but at the end everyone was going for it and tire conservation was pretty much thrown out the window for all but the guy leading the race," Gregg said. "I want to congratulate Sean Becker on his win because he's a great competitor and friend."
Next up for Gregg and the Bret Ervin owned No. 53 team will be this Saturday's Sherm Toller Gold Fever Open at the Marysville Raceway Park. The event will pay $2,500 to win and the 29-year-old racer looks forward to getting back to the quarter-mile bullring. "I'm definitely excited for Marysville this weekend because it should be a great show and hopefully we can get this car up front," said Gregg, who won a main event at the track back in May. "The facility has had a bunch of improvements and the track itself is really fun to drive and can be really racy so hopefully everyone comes out to support the night."
More info on the Sherm Toller Gold Fever Open can be found at http://www.marysvilleracewaypark.com
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After scoring an eighth place finish at the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals Placerville's Andy Gregg will head next for the Sherm Toller Gold Fever Open at the Marysville Raceway Park this Saturday. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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