Oh So Close: David Gravel Earns Podium Finish in Brad Doty Classic, Fast Time Honor at Eldora

David Gravel. - Bill Miller Photo

By DDR Motorsports PR

Watertown, Conn.—July 15, 2012 — David Gravel has been knocking on the door of picking up his second-career World of Outlaws win all season long. The 20-year-old came up very close again last week, as he made a late race charge to finish third in the Ohio Logistics 24th Annual Brad Doty Classic Presented by Racing Optics at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio, to kick off the “Month of Money,” on Wednesday, July 11.

“We had a pretty good shot at it,” said Gravel after the Brad Doty Classic. “A podium finish with all of these cars is great, especially after running the B-main. I can’t complain. My crew chief Tyler Swank is doing an amazing job along with Kyle Ripper. We’ll all just keep working hard and continuing to do what we’re doing. I’m pretty pumped right now.”

Gravel lined up 13th for the 40-lap main event at the quarter-mile bullring, after racing his way into the A-Feature through the B-main. The native of Watertown, Conn., found himself in fourth on a restart with six laps to go. He was penalized two positions for jumping that start, which put him back to sixth. He was able to gain those spots back and was up to third with two laps remaining, and would finish in that position to earn his third podium finish of the season with the World of Outlaws and second in a three-race span.

“It was a very racy track tonight,” shared Gravel. “The curb in (turns) three and four was tough to run. My car was pretty tight, so it was better in the slick. Everyone was trying to slide each other and I was just rolling the bottom. We got around a lot of cars on that one restart and it really went out way.”

Gravel made his third start of the season with the World of Outlaws at Eldora Speedway on Friday, July 13, in the traditional Knight Before the Kings Royal and for the third straight time at the famed half-mile, he turned the fastest lap in time trials, which was the fourth time this season he has been quickest in qualifying with the series. A stout field of 48 cars were in attendance, which at the time marked a season-high, and was surpassed by 50 entries on Saturday night.

“We had a new car for tonight and a fresh engine, which helped,” said Gravel after time trials on Friday night. “We had a good pill draw and went out early, which was a benefit as well. Being aggressive on the starts of the heats, dash and feature are important. We had some good notes from last time we were, which was big. You just always try to keep up your speed when you are on the track here.”

The East Coast driver lined up 10th in the 30-lap main event and would finish just outside of the Top-10 in the 12th position. He ran third in the first eight-lap heat race of the night, which put him in the dash, where he started eighth and finished 10th to earn a starting spot on the outside of the fifth row for the A-Feature.

On Saturday night in the Kings Royal, Gravel was 25th in time trials, which was just one spot short of making the heat race inversion, which would have put him on the pole of the sixth heat race. He wound up in the first heat race, where he started and finished fifth. With only the Top-Three finishers in each of the six heat races making it into the feature, Gravel found himself in the B-Main. He lined up seventh and ended up sixth, two spot shorts of earning a spot in the 40-lap finale.

Gravel returns to action this week with a trio of races with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions, beginning on Wednesday, July 18, at Brewerton Speedway in New York, followed by a stop at Fonda Speedway, also in New York on Thursday, July 19. The All Stars then heads back to the Midwest for an event at Wilmot Raceway in Wisconsin on Saturday, July 21.

David Gravel and DDR Motorsports would like to thank: J&J Chassis, JRC Transportation, Kistler Engines, Musco Fuels and P&M Transportation for their continued support.

Keep up-to-date with David Gravel and DDR Motorsports by visiting www.DavidGravel89.com. Follow David on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/DavidGravel89g. Like David on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Gravel-Racing/143538695709198