By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 16, 2022) – David Gravel made the overnight wait worthwhile to win the Knight Before the Kings Royal Saturday afternoon at Eldora Speedway. After rain showers pushed back the remainder of the program from Friday night to Saturday morning, Gravel drove by Rico Abreu in slower traffic on lap 10 and held on for the victory.
The win was the Watertown, Connecticut resident’s fourth victory of 2022 and second of the weekend, backing up his victory Wednesday night in the Joker’s Wild.
Abreu and Brad Sweet started on the front row for the 25-lap main event. Abreu slid to the lead with Brad Sweet, Gravel, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Spencer Bayston in tow. Schuerenberg and Bayston exchanged sliders back and forth with Schuerenburg holding that position on the opening lap.
As Abreu was driving away, the red flag came out on lap three when Kasey Kahne flipped hard into the fence in turn four. Kahne walked away from the accident, which caused an open red due to the amount of fuel that was spilled on the racetrack.
The race went right back to caution flag conditions when 2020 Kings Royal winner Tyler Courtney got loose in the dirt crumbs up in the cushion, came down the track, and made contact with Danny Dietrich, causing Dietrich to do a 360 degree spin to bring out the caution flag. The field was able to avoid contact, and Dietrich was able to blend back into the field per World of Outlaws rules.
Abreu and Gravel pulled away from the field after the restart with Abreu catching slower traffic on lap nine. One lap later Gravel made his move diving under Abreu and a lap car through turns three and four sliding up into the lead.
After a pair of cautions for a flat tire for Parker Price-Miller and debris on the racetrack Gravel was able to motor away from the field each time. The second caution came with just five laps to go, giving Gravel relief from overtaking slower cars just as he was approaching the tail of the field.
After the final restart Gravel cruised to victory over Abreu, Sweet, Bayton, and Schuerenberg.
the Knight Before the Kings Royal
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Friday, July 15-16, 2022
Qualifying Flight A:
1. 39-Daryn Pittman, 12.943[20]
2. 5-Spencer Bayston, 12.996[18]
3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 13.001[9]
4. 11-Parker Price Miller, 13.021[4]
5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.059[15]
6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.069[26]
7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny, 13.077[27]
8. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.086[3]
9. 1-Logan Wagner, 13.092[22]
10. 49X-Tanner Thorson, 13.102[23]
11. 83-James McFadden, 13.112[11]
12. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.128[7]
13. 9-Kasey Kahne, 13.150[13]
14. 7S-Robbie Price, 13.153[6]
15. 19-Brent Marks, 13.166[19]
16. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 13.183[17]
17. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.186[2]
18. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 13.187[21]
19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.226[1]
20. 55-Alex Bowman, 13.318[16]
21. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.328[10]
22. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.384[8]
23. 11T-TJ Stutts, 13.419[12]
24. 4-Cap Henry, 13.426[24]
25. 6-Bill Rose, 13.453[14]
26. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 13.480[25]
27. 2X-Stuart Brubaker, 13.606[5]
Qualifying Flight B:
1. 71-Cory Eliason, 12.951[8]
2. 2-David Gravel, 12.968[26]
3. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg, 12.989[11]
4. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.038[10]
5. 83JR-Kerry Madsen, 13.042[12]
6. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.044[6]
7. 21-Brian Brown, 13.053[27]
8. 13-Justin Peck, 13.101[2]
9. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.102[25]
10. 101-Lachlan McHugh, 13.200[5]
11. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.215[20]
12. 26-Zeb Wise, 13.223[9]
13. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.224[17]
14. 21H-Brady Bacon, 13.228[1]
15. 20G-Noah Gass, 13.251[18]
16. 10-Dave Blaney, 13.260[13]
17. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.268[22]
18. 19W-Chris Windom, 13.284[7]
19. 70-Sammy Swindell, 13.300[4]
20. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.316[19]
21. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.341[23]
22. 55T-McKenna Haase, 13.410[21]
23. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.490[16]
24. 97-Greg Wilson, 13.651[14]
25. 40-Logan Fenton, 14.419[15]
Non-Qualifiers Race (8 Laps)
1. 55-McKenna Hasse
2. 41-Carson Macedo
3. 99-Skylar Gee
4. 4-Cap Henry
5. 11T-T.J. Stutts
6. 47X-Dylan Westbrook
7. 97-Greg Wilson
8. 2X-Stuart Brubaker
9. 6-Bill Rose
DNS: 1S-Logan Schuchart
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 39-Daryn Pittman[1]
2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]
3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
4. 1-Logan Wagner[5]
5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[10]
6. 83-James McFadden[6]
7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny[4]
8. 55T-McKenna Haase[11]
9. 9-Kasey Kahne[7]
(First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 5-Spencer Bayston[1]
2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]
3. 11-Parker Price Miller[2]
4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]
5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]
6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]
7. 41-Carson Macedo[11]
8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[8]
9. 49X-Tanner Thorson[5]
10. 7S-Robbie Price[7]
(First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]
2. 71-Cory Eliason[1]
3. 48-Danny Dietrich[6]
4. 15-Donny Schatz[5]
5. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[3]
6. 1A-Jacob Allen[7]
7. 21-Brian Brown[4]
8. 70-Sammy Swindell[10]
9. 5T-Travis Philo[9]
10. 20G-Noah Gass[8]
11. 99-Skylar Gee[11]
(First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]
2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]
3. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]
4. 13-Justin Peck[4]
5. 26-Zeb Wise[6]
6. 101-Lachlan McHugh[5]
7. 21H-Brady Bacon[7]
8. 17B-Bill Balog[10]
9. 4-Cap Henry[11]
10. 19W-Chris Windom[9]
11. 10-Dave Blaney[8]
(First five finishers transferred to the A-Main)
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]
2. 7S-Robbie Price[1]
3. 11T-TJ Stutts[6]
4. 20G-Noah Gass[2]
5. 99-Skylar Gee[4]
6. 6-Bill Rose[10]
7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[12]
8. 2X-Stuart Brubaker[9]
9. 19W-Chris Windom[3]
10. 10-Dave Blaney[5]
11. 97-Greg Wilson[8]
12. 40-Logan Fenton[11]
13. 81-Lee Jacobs[13]
14. 19-Brent Marks[14]
15. 57-Kyle Larson[15]
16. 55-Alex Bowman[16]
(First two finishers transferred to the B-Main)
DIRTVision FAST PASS Dash (6 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]
2. 49-Brad Sweet[2]
3. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]
4. 2-David Gravel[5]
5. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]
6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]
7. 39-Daryn Pittman[8]
8. 71-Cory Eliason[7]
(Finish determined the first eight starting positions for the A-Main)
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 21-Brian Brown[2]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[1]
3. 83-James McFadden[3]
4. 41-Carson Macedo[7]
5. 101-Lachlan McHugh[6]
6. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]
7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny[5]
8. 17B-Bill Balog[12]
9. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]
10. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[17]
11. 4-Cap Henry[16]
12. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[11]
13. 49X-Tanner Thorson[15]
14. 70-Sammy Swindell[10]
15. 55T-McKenna Haase[9]
16. 7S-Robbie Price[18]
17. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]
18. 5T-Travis Philo[14]
(First four finishers will transfer to the A-Main)
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[4]
2. 24-Rico Abreu[1]
3. 49-Brad Sweet[2]
4. 5-Spencer Bayston[5]
5. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]
6. 41-Carson Macedo[24]
7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[9]
8. 15-Donny Schatz[14]
9. 39M-Anthony Macri[12]
10. 13-Justin Peck[16]
11. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]
12. 1S-Logan Schuchart[25]
13. 71-Cory Eliason[8]
14. 48-Danny Dietrich[10]
15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[22]
16. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[18]
17. 39-Daryn Pittman[7]
18. 83-James McFadden[23]
19. 11K-Kraig Kinser[15]
20. 26-Zeb Wise[20]
21. 11-Parker Price Miller[11]
22. 21-Brian Brown[21]
23. 1-Logan Wagner[13]
24. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]
25. 1A-Jacob Allen[26]
26. 9-Kasey Kahne[27]
27. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[19]