Kaley finished eighth in the Folkens Bros. Silver Shootout (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
(Bill W) May 17, 2017 – Kaley Gharst and the Sandvig #7 racing team returned to action for the first time in almost two months last Friday and Saturday night. After finishing 14th at the Jackson Motorplex Spring Nationals in Minnesota Friday, they contended for a top five at Badlands Motor Speedway’s Folkens Bros. Trucking “Silver Shootout” before checkering eighth. This Saturday, the team is planning on towing to Knoxville Raceway.
The team’s last action was Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Texas back in March. “We were kind of waiting on the 410 stuff to start, and we were rained out a time or two,” says Kaley. “We weren’t the greatest at Jackson Friday. We were off in hot laps. We were a little better in time trials and qualified fifth in our group.”
The Decatur, Illinois driver finished fifth in his heat, locking him into a 17th starting spot for the main event. “We moved up a little bit in the feature,” says Kaley. “We were able to move up to 14th. We started out with some used tires and it started taking rubber about ten laps in. We were just staying in line and trying to keep the tires under us and get a finish. We were able to do that.”
Saturday’s “Silver Shootout” in South Dakota saw Kaley start out well. “We started off pretty decent,” he says. “We timed in seventh quick, despite being a little tight. We might have been a few spots better if we were a little freer, but for our first short track run of the season, that was pretty good.”
He started outside row one in his heat. “We had a decent start,” says Kaley. “TK (Tim Kaeding) was on the pole and we ran the first two or three laps side by side. We got to the lead on the top and I started seeing Tim underneath me. I stayed up top with a lapped car coming that was down there. Tim got to him a little sooner than I could, and I got hung in the middle. That let he and (Mark) Dobmeier by us and we ended up third in the heat.”
The event used a point system combining qualifying and heat points, and Kaley ended up just short of the redraw. “We missed the redraw by a half point and started ninth in the feature,” he says. “The car was really good early on. We were up to sixth, and we were running down Ryan Bickett for fifth. There were just so many cautions, and our tires were cooling down. It would take a few laps to get going forward again. We were loose on the starts until we got about five laps in. At the end, we let (Danny) Lasoski and (Justin) Henderson by us and we ended up eighth.”
He was glad the race ended when it did. “I was glad it was 30 laps and not 35,” says Kaley. “We just got looser and looser. Still, it was a good finish for our first race on a short track this year. We’re excited to get to Knoxville.”
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Kaley and the Sandvig #7 team would like to thank A+ Power Washing, DeBerg Flooring, Paplow Harvesting and Trucking of Worthington, Minnesota, Morton Buildings and Jamie Brosnahan of Spencer, Iowa and Hinchman Racewear!
Photo: Kaley finished eighth in the Folkens Bros. Silver Shootout (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
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