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Kaley Gharst – Under the Radar!

8/6/2009 - One of the drivers seemingly flying under the radar for this week’s Cox Design and Fabrication Iowa Speedweeks is 21 year old, “Showtime” Kaley Gharst. It was just two years ago that the Decatur, Illinois driver won three races at Knoxville in this weekend alone. This time around, he’ll throw his hat in the ring for “Mr. Sprint Car” honors as the Bruce Williams #7K team plans on running all the shows, whether they require a wing or not.

He enters Speedweeks with some confidence gained from another win in the Plath Motorsports #14P team in unsanctioned action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. The win came on Wednesday, July 29. “We drew a bad number, but luckily there wasn’t a huge amount of cars there,” says Kaley. “We ended up third in the heat, and that put us in the redraw for the feature. Nick’s (Breuer) son Jake drew a one for us to give us a great starting spot.”

Kaley led flag to flag in the contest, garnering his fifth win of the season. “The car was really good and everything held up well,” he says. “It was a good feeling, because I felt I let one slip away there a few weeks earlier with the Sprint Invaders. The track was racy with a good top and bottom. It was slick in the middle. They did a good job as usual. I’d like to thank Randy Plath, Nick and Jake Breuer, John Plath, Lucas Glasgow and dad for all their hard work with that team.”

In anticipation of this week’s Knoxville 360 Nationals, the #7K team headed to Denison, Iowa and the Crawford County Speedway for ASCS regional action on Friday. Unfortunately, they watched the feature from the trailer. “We went there with high expectations,” says Kaley. “We wanted to shake down Bruce’s 360 motor before the Nationals. The car was decent for the heat race (third). We had the wrong gear, and we changed that. We drew the pole and the throttle linkage came loose while we were lining up. We had no time to fix it, so that was that.”

A new Maxim was ready for Knoxville’s 410 show on Saturday. “We put a new car together, but we did our usual qualifying towards the back (27th),” says Kaley. “We didn’t go anywhere from the back of the heat race, but the car felt pretty good in the B (4th to 1st).”

Starting inside row eleven for the 20-lap main event, Kaley would gain six spots and finish 15th. “We just didn’t get the car tight enough for the feature,” he relates. “We should have been better than we were, but the car was a little loose. I just couldn’t get any momentum going to get a run on the guys in front of me. It felt better than it has been, so we’ll try to get it dialed in on Saturday.”

Kaley qualifies in the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals tonight. He plans on running all of the events, including the non-wing ones during Speedweeks. Two years ago, he won his 360 Nationals prelim, the 410 feature on Saturday night, and the BRODIX Tournament of Champions. “A weekend like that would be great,” he says. “We’re going to do our best, and we’re hoping to get a win or two this week.”

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 car owner Randy Plath would like to thank Sebastian Powder Coating and Sandblasting, Scott Performance, Holtkamp's truck and trailer repair, Rockstar Graphics and all of their sponsors. The 7K team would like to thank Phillips Floors, Info2go, Wagner Excavating, Parker Signs, Redtail Painting, Rod End Supply, LWBJ, Community State Bank and Carlson Systems.

In Victory Lane at Donnellson (Dennis Krieger Imagery)

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