By Bill W
July 18, 2012 – It was a great weekend for driver Kaley Gharst and the Jeremy Scadden Construction #6 team. They racked up a pair of wins in 360 competition. Their first was Friday night at the US36 Raceway near Cameron, Missouri with the ASCS-Midwest/Warrior regions. They followed that up with a win in their first 360 start of the year at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. This week will be busy, with five nights of racing planned.
The Decatur, Illinois driver won his heat on Friday night on the high banked US36 Raceway. “We were able to get a good draw for the heat and start outside the front row,” says Kaley. “The heat win gave us in the redraw for the feature, and we drew well for that too.”
The track was tricky, and favored the veteran driver. “One and two was a little rough and heavy and three and four was slick with a big cushion,” says Kaley. “You could pass, but it was tough getting through one and two stable. The car wanted to bounce around.”
Kaley would chase Jason Danley until making the winning pass on lap 13. “We didn’t get a great start,” he says. “We were running second. We got into some pretty heavy traffic there about halfway through the feature, and I was able to slip by Jason. We were able to hold on for the win after that. The car was running good, and the Singer motor was running great. It was good to put a win together at Cameron.”
Saturday saw the team testing and tuning at Knoxville. “We wanted to see what we needed for gear, fuel and motor there with the 360,” says Kaley. “We were a little bit off on fuel for qualifying (9th quick).”
A feature invert of eight worked in Kaley’s favor. “A couple cars didn’t transfer out of their heat, so that put us up front in the feature,” he says. “We dialed it in pretty well for the feature. We were able to get out in some clean air, and had a good car. The motor was really good again.”
Kaley had his hands full, but held off three-time and defending 360 track champion, Clint Garner much of the way for the win. “We were getting in a little higher than Clint, but we were able to get off the corners a little lower and straighter than he was,” he says. “I saw him getting under me a couple of times on the restarts, but there towards the end, I got a little loose on the bottom. So I ran the top of three and four for a couple of laps and tried not to make any mistakes. He’s pretty strong there. It was good to hold him off and get another win at Knoxville.”
The 410 was back in the frame rails on Sunday night at Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota. After qualifying fourth, tire issues plagued Kaley in the feature. “We started third,” he says. “I was running fourth or fifth, and burned my tire trying to hold off (Terry) McCarl. There was a red late, and on the restart, we just got eaten alive!”
Tonight, the team starts JSTS Speedweek at Sioux Speedway in Sioux Center, Iowa. Tomorrow night, the Redwood Speedway in Redwood Falls, Minnesota will host, before stops at Fairmont Speedway in Fairmont, Minnesota on Friday, and the Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minnesota Saturday. Sunday will mean a trip to Huset’s again. “It will be a good week to try some things out,” says Kaley. “We put a Maxim together to run. We’ll see if we can do some good in that.”
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 sprntcar@iowatelecom.net.
Kaley and the Jeremy Scadden #6 team would like to thank: Scadden Construction, CNS Homes, Adrenaline Sports Bar & Grill, LEV Wings, Singer Engines, J&J Auto Racing , DMI Components, Keizer Wheels , Schure Built Suspension Systems, Hoosier Tire North , Butlerbuilt Seating and Bell Helmets.