News

“Showtime” Kaley Gharst became the all-time feature winner with the Sprint Invaders last Friday night at the Farley Speedway aboard the Plath Motorsports #14P. The Decatur, Illinois driver is only 21 years old, but now stands atop the all-time winners’ list with13 victories. His wins have come in only two years of competition (2007 and 2009). Tomorrow (Saturday), he’ll look to add another win to his resume on Season Championship for the series at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.

The Sprint Invaders made their first ever appearance at the Farley, Iowa ½ mile on Friday as part of the Yankee Dirt Track Classic. Joey Moughan and Dave Hall started on the front row of Kaley’s heat, while he posted inside row three. He could not catch the leaders for a dash spot, but did move up to third.

That put him inside row four for the feature. Jon Agan and Bobby Mincer swapped the lead in the first 13 laps before the latter retired with a flat tire. A restart saw Kaley line up second behind Agan with Dave Hall behind him. The restart would be the setting for the winning pass. "I was going to go to the bottom, but Jon headed that way, so I kept it straight,” he says. “When I cleared him, I saw Dave down on the bottom. This track is real wide and racy, there was plenty of room. It was a long ways around the top, but we made it work."

Winning the three-wide battle for the lead, Kaley would never look back, recording his name in the Sprint Invaders record books. "It's a real honor to know you've done that,” he says. “There have been so many great drivers that have competed with the Sprint Invaders. Who knows? Maybe Jerrod will come back and tie me again this week."

On Saturday, it was on to the World of Outlaws event at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minnesota. Despite never seeing the facility, Kaley took an immediate liking to it driving Bruce Williams #7K. A 14th quick effort amongst the 28-car field signaled good things to come. Unfortunately, the transfer in the heat was not made. Kaley came back to win the B, passing Chad Kemenah on the high side at the halfway mark and pulling away. “We qualified decent, but we were tight all night,” he says. “We were tight again in the heat and went backwards. We finally got it pretty close for the B main.”

Kaley lined up outside of row seven and began to battle with the best. “We left the car alone, and it worked out,” he says. “Things were going alright and we were moving forward there. I was happy with where we were, and I definitely think we had a top ten car at least.”

After moving up to twelfth by lap eight, disaster struck for Kaley. “I’m not sure what happened there, but I guess we got in (turn two) a touch too hard,” he says. “We hooked the cushion and started bouncing. We got into the wall and got the front end of the car pretty good, and that was the end of our night.”

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.

Kaley at Farley Speedway in Victory Lane again (Sandy Brockway Photo)

"Showtime" Kaley Gharst went into the three races billed as the Sprint Invaders "Triple Threat" weekend in Illinois with ideas of picking off some wins. He was able to secure another win at the Quincy Raceways, his second of the year there, and seventh overall in 2009. The Decatur, Illinois driver has won five times with the Sprint Invaders this year, and tied Jerrod Hull atop the all-time winners' list with twelve. This weekend, Kaley will mix in the World of Outlaws in Bruce Williams' #7K with a Sprint Invaders show in Farley, Iowa in the Plath Motorsports #14P.

The luck of the draw followed the #14P team all night long at Quincy on Sunday. He pulled away on the bullring from the pole to win the heat. He then drew the pole for the dash, but it was Bobby Mincer winning that. When Bobby rolled a six in Victory Lane, it put Kaley on the pole for the main event. "The car felt decent from the beginning," he says. "We were getting a little loose there with seven or eight to go, and I had the wing as far back as it would go. I felt like I was slipping a little bit, and really didn't know if someone was gaining on the top or bottom."

Donnie Steward was coming fast on the high side, and looked like he might overtake the lead, until a lapped car held him up. That cleared the way for Kaley's season sweep with the Sprint Invaders at Quincy and $1,500. "They tell me Donnie was running the top pretty well," he says. "We held on, I guess. I found a bit of a line in three and four. I didn't feel like it was our greatest night, but we'll take the win, that's for sure."

It was the sixth win of the season for the Plath Motorsports team. "Randy gives me a good car every week, and Nick Breuer has worked really hard on this motor, just so we can run it," says Kaley. "We've seemed to click real well together, and hopefully we can get a few more before the season is over."

The weekend started Friday at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville for the Herb Barlow Memorial with a sub par seventh place performance for Kaley. "We ran pretty bad on Friday," he says. "We thought we had the car pretty close, but we weren't where we thought we were."

The Tom Knowles Memorial hosted 31 sprinters on Saturday. "The night didn't start too well with a 70 pill, starting at the tail of the heat race," says Kaley. "We were just able to get the last transfer spot there on the last lap."

Some problems starting the feature helped Kaley, as it looked like it may be follow the leader. "We were supposed to start 13th, but those guys in front of us had problems, so that moved us up three rows," he says. "Even with the rubber laid down there, the car was a touch loose, but the car was good. There wasn't much we could do except wait for someone to mess up."

He was able to move forward steadily into fourth, and took third after a good battle with Ben Wagoner. "We got underneath Ben there, and we were racing real tough and real close," he says. "I was able to get a better run coming out of two than he did there. That got us up to third, and unfortunately, Joey (Moughan) blew a right rear there. Second is not bad on a rubber-down track where you are supposed to be starting 13th."

Wednesday, Kaley made the tow to Spencer, Iowa where the World of Outlaws were running at the Clay County Fair Speedway. He qualified 27th in the #7K, but found some issues that were preventing a good time on the following day. "We took some stagger out after practice," he says. "We ended up taking too much out for qualifying. On top of that, we took the stacks off the motor on Thursday, and found out the idle we set it on only allowed it to be open for ¾ throttle."

After floundering in the back of his heat race, Kaley started seventh in the B. Needing a top four spot, he gained it from Seth Brahmer with two laps to go. He would end up third. He was credited with a 21st place finish in the A. "The car was really decent there (B)," he says. "We started at the tail of the feature, and got down a lap early there. We were passing guys, but after the caution, some of the passes didn't count. I was going really decent until I jumped the cushion in two. It was hard to get up to speed after that. The key was getting laps, and hopefully, we can improve at Deer Creek on Saturday."

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.

(Bill W) - "Showtime" Kaley Gharst spent another
weekend starting at the back of a pair of features, but did his usual charges through the field to complete a pair of top ten finishes. The Decatur, Illinois native drove the Bruce Williams #7K last weekend at Knoxville Raceway and the Lake Ozark Speedway. This weekend, he'll tackle three races in his home state with the Sprint Invaders.

With qualifying having been a struggle at Knoxville, Saturday saw Kaley grab the last heat invert qualifying spot (18th). Once the green flag flew, he left the rest behind from the pole in the 8-lapper. "We were lucky to make that invert," he says. "There was only two-tenths of a second difference between quick time and 14th quick. The track was fast. We've been struggling with the handling of the car a bit lately, but it was good there in the heat."

Lining up inside row eight for the Season Championship Night 25-lapper, Kaley started moving forward and was scored tenth at the checkers. "The track had a nice top and bottom to it," he says. "The car was really rolling well through the middle of one and two too. We were able to move up into the top ten, and to roll it back in the trailer in one piece...it was a pretty good night for us."

Sunday dawned with a long drive to the Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon, Missouri. The LOS 360 Nationals were in the offing, and 55 360 sprint cars waited. Of course, with the top three transferring out of six heats, Kaley couldn't have drawn well. "It was tough," he says. "They had a bunch of rain down there, and the heats were pretty much one-lane. We started seventh in the heat and were able to move up a couple of
spots. The harder tire we had on was burning a little more than I would have liked."

The fifth place finish lined him up in the third row of the B. With the top two transferring, and drivers such as Brian Brown starting towards the front it would be tough. Brown's unfortunate spin would collect Mitchell Moore, and Kaley found himself in the second and final transfer spot at the heckers. "That definitely helped us out," he says. "I
don't know that we could have made up much ground there. The track was still tough to pass on. The spot was basically given to us."

Kaley took advantage of his opportunity, and started 22nd in the
30-lapper. "The track was building a tall cushion, and I about lost it all hitting it a time or two," he says. "We were able to get by someguys, and the car was running well."

His progress was steady, first advancing to the top 15, and then into the top ten. With ten laps to go, it seemed his run may come to an end. The race was plagued with a number of caution laps. "With about ten to go, the car started sputtering," says Kaley. "I was sure we were running out of fuel with all the laps we had run."

Despite the problem, Kaley had advanced to sixth with two to go, when the red flag was brought out. The open red at approximately 2:45 a.m. required taking on fuel. Kaley and the team thought the sputtering problem would be solved. They were wrong, though he held onto his sixth place standing. "I figured taking on the fuel would help us to take off," he says. "We found out later that the fuel line was pinched."

Kaley will pilot the Randy Plath Motorsports #14P this weekend in
Illinois with the Sprint Invaders. His four wins are tops with the series this season, and came despite missing three shows thus far. Tonight (Friday) he will hit the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville for the Herb Barlow Memorial, Saturday sees the series at the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton for the Tom Knowles Memorial, and the weekend concludes on Sunday at the Quincy Raceways. "It'll be nice to sleep in my own bed every night for a change," says Kaley.

Keep an eye on Kaley's progress this week and beyond at
www.KaleyGharst.com 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
mailto: 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.

Kaley at Knoxville Raceway (Danny Howk Photo)

(Bill W) – August 25, 2009 – “Showtime” Kaley Gharst picked up his sixth win of the year on Saturday night in Twin Features action with the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa as part of the 2nd Annual Brian Hetrick Tribute. A run from 15th to 5th in the second feature was great too, but none of it would have happened without the aid of Bruce Williams. This weekend, the Decatur, Illinois driver will compete in ASCS-Midwest/WOW action at the US36 Raceway near Osborn, Missouri on Friday before running Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in the 410 class.

On Friday night, at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois, Kaley drove the Plath Motorsports #14P to a strong second in the dash before the motor let go, ending his night. “Tearing up the motor was definitely unfortunate,” he says. “I felt like we had a pretty good shot at Jacksonville, but that’s something you can’t control.”

Something had to be lined up for Saturday night at the 34 Raceway. “Randy went up to Colfax (Iowa) to Bruce Williams’ (#7K owner) shop and picked up our 360 car with the motor in it,” says Kaley. “There was still some work to do on it. Originally, we had planned to go to Sedalia on Sunday with that, but we decided against it after running at Burlington. We’ll go to Cameron (US36 Raceway) on Friday instead.”

The #14P was strapped on top, and Kaley drove from third to win his heat. The feature was marred by several cautions, but Gharst was unaffected and undeterred in winning his fourth feature with the series in 2009, and his second this season at 34 Raceway. "The car felt decent," he says of leading the distance. "About halfway through, it started rolling up really hard. I thought I broke something, because I got into the corner hard, and the right rear bounced. The car didn't really feel that good the last half of the race. I had no idea how big our lead was. I knew there were some lapped cars in there though, so I thought we had a pretty good shot at holding them off."

All cars on the lead lap were inverted for the second main event of the night. Kaley picked his way forward, but his rhythm was disturbed several times. “We found a couple of things on the car, and freed it up for the second feature,” he says. “I never could get any momentum going around the top. I tried the bottom a couple of times, but it wouldn’t stick. We were decent up top, but every time we’d get a run, someone would slide up.”

Still, he managed to gain ten spots and finish with a solid top five. “I never could get the cars timed in front of me, but I guess 15th to 5th isn’t awful bad,” he says. “I just wish we could have been better. The Maxim chassis and Fisher motor worked really well. I have to thank Bruce (Williams) for letting us use the motor.”

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.

(Bill W) – Kaley Gharst knows that everything has to work right to do well at the Knoxville Nationals. A small mechanical gremlin in the heat race ruined any chances of advancing to the “Big Dance” on Saturday, but he did walk away with one of the trophies after winning the D main in the Bruce Williams #7K. The Decatur, Illinois driver will switch over to the Plath Motorsports #14P this weekend and race with the Sprint Invaders, with whom he has won three features this season.

“Showtime” took the wings off for the first time at the Ultimate Challenge in Oskaloosa a week ago Tuesday. After being mired in the back of his heat and qualifier, he really got the hang of things in the B main. Kaley passed eight cars, but finished one spot out of a transfer to the main event. “It took awhile to get used to the car, but Bob Brooks, who has worked on non-wing cars before, was working on it all night,” he says. “I couldn’t give him much feedback, because I couldn’t tell him what the car needed. The car was pretty decent for the B, but we came up one spot short of a transfer. It was a lot of fun.”

Kaley set the 29th quick time of the night amongst the 59 cars gathered for Thursday qualifying at the Knoxville Nationals. Trouble in the heat set up a long week. “We ended up coming out late in qualifying, and ended up around where we normally do,” he says. “We had a caution and the motor was popping. I wanted to pull in the work area and fix it, but there wasn’t time. That put us in the C main, and when you’re there, your week is pretty much done.”

There was a transfer from the C, and a charge from 22nd to 15th in the B, but Kaley would be 74th in points and headed for the non-qualifiers program on Friday. After finishing seventh in the semi-feature, the 21 year old put on a show in the main event, earning hard-charger honors by passing ten cars and finishing eleventh. “There were a couple of things that we were trying to work out with the car on Thursday,” he shares. “We got those things figured out pretty good on Friday. About halfway through the feature, the car settled down, and we started passing some cars. That felt good.”

The 11th place finish put him on the pole for Saturday’s D main. He led from start to finish. “We missed the C, but that kind of worked out, I guess,” he says. “You never want to be in the D main, but if you are, you might as well win it. Hopefully, this can be the last streak of bad luck for us at the Nationals.”

An hour rain delay plagued things before the D could be completed and the C main started, creating a lightning fast racing surface. Starting 20th, Kaley would gain only one spot…not that he really saw anything. “It was lock down, follow the leader, at that point,” he says. “There was no time to put tear-offs on, so I was just kind of cruising around, trying not to run into anything. I think we got some things figured out on the car, so we’ll take that into the next race at Knoxville.”

This weekend the Sprint Invaders will compete at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois on Friday, and in Twin Features action at the 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa on Saturday.

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.

(Bill W) – “Showtime” Kaley Gharst provided the show in the Knoxville 360 Nationals driving to hard-charger honors, driving from 24th to 9th. A top ten finish in the 410 class on Saturday night at Knoxville was thwarted with a late spin, but the Decatur, Illinois driver is determined heading into his qualifying night this Thursday for the 49th Annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals.

Registering the 28th quick time of the night on Thursday could have taken some drivers out of the 360 Nationals chase, but not Kaley. “Our qualifying was off again, but that put us on the front row for the heat,” he says. “We were able to make the most of that, and win the heat.”

Kaley posted outside row seven and began his typical charge through the field. “The car was rolling well,” he says. “We were able to move our way forward, mostly on the bottom. It was unfortunate when we got to sixth, that the fifth place car (Dustin Daggett) was a good straightaway ahead of us. We were able to catch up with him, but we ran out of laps. We could have used a yellow there.”

With the tough qualifying effort, Kaley ended up five spots out of locking himself in Saturday night’s $10,000 to win finale. A good run in the B main got him in on Saturday, however. In the end, he surged from his 23rd starting spot to 9th at the finish. “We were able to follow (Brad) Sweet there into third, and get ourselves a transfer spot,” he says. “We had a pretty decent run there in the feature. Any time you can go from 23rd to 9th with the best 360 drivers in the country, you’re doing something right. I would have liked to see what we could have done from the front. I don’t know that we would have had anything for (Terry) McCarl or those guys, but it would have been nice to find out.”

The track differed on both ends for the main event. “The track was wide in one and two, and you could run wherever you wanted,” says Kaley. “That’s where we did the most passing. In three and four, it was still a little heavy. It was really racy, and if you were faster, you could pass people. The 360 Nationals went well for us. It was as good as we could have expected after our qualifying laps on Thursday.”

In 410 action, Kaley timed in 26th quick on Saturday. “Qualifying where we are qualifying puts us up front in the heats,” he says. “We seem to be winning those, but we should be winning them when we start up there.”

After winning his heat, Kaley’s time put him back outside of row nine. He picked off several cars throughout the race and made a bid for a top ten. “We were running pretty good, and I tried to slide in front of (Kerry) Madsen for tenth or eleventh,” he remembers. “I got into the infield berm a little bit and I tried to reset the car. I was already into the only slick spot there was in three and four, and it came back around on me. Unfortunately, there were only three or four laps to go. I was looking forward to maybe getting a top ten there, but we’ll see what we can do this week.”

Kaley picked off a few cars from the tail to finish 19th. A 35th quick time at the Front Row Challenge put him behind the 8-ball, and a fifth place finish in the B after a lengthy rain delay ended things. The Bruce Williams #7K team will take the wings off tonight and run the Casey’s Ultimate Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company.

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.

It looked like a top ten in the 410 feature on Saturday until the spin (IBRACN Photo)

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)

7/27/2009 - “Showtime” Kaley Gharst was able to grab his fourth victory of the 2009 season on Sunday, July 19 at the Quincy Raceways near Quincy, Illinois. The win came in exciting fashion aboard the Randy Plath #14P, and it was the third for the team in Sprint Invaders action this season. The Decatur, Illinois driver has had his struggles at the Knoxville Raceway the past two weeks, but the Bruce Williams #7K team will look to rectify that on Saturday.

Kaley started fifth in his heat and ran third at Quincy, one spot out of a dash opportunity. “We got up to third, but really we were lucky to finish,” he admits. “We got together with Houseman there. We were lucky the front end didn’t get knocked out, and it was just the front wing.”

The third place spot set him up outside of row four for the 25-lap main event. “We wanted an outside starting spot, so eighth worked for us,” says Kaley. “There weren’t many people up top, and it seemed like we had a wide open shot at the front.”

By lap nine, Kaley was up to fourth, and he was third by lap eleven. He grabbed second on lap 17, and took the lead from Jim Moughan Jr. two circuits later. “Jimmy came up after the race and said he wasn’t moving up until he saw someone pass him up there,” says Kaley. “He said by the time he saw me, it was too late. It worked out well for us running low in one and two, and high in three and four.”

On lap 21, the 2007 Sprint Invaders champ drove off the top of turns three and four, surrendering the lead back to Moughan. He emerged on the front straight in second, and was able to run the veteran back down and pass him a second time. “We got in there a little too hot, trying to get around another car,” he says of his trip. “I forgot to get on the brakes early enough and we drove straight off there. Luckily, we had a few laps to work our way back to the front, and we didn’t hook something and roll over.”

Although Kaley has made the feature at Knoxville the last two weekends amongst 30+ car fields, he has suffered two DNF’s in the main events. “We’ve had some steering problems, and we just haven’t been able to get going in that car,” he says. “We’ve been struggling to get the car right. I just haven’t been comfortable in it. I haven’t been able to get up in the seat like I need to, so we’re going to try a different car this week, and hopefully, that solves the problem. Maybe we’ve qualified a little better, but I think a lot had to do with us coming out early.”

The #7K team will try it again this Saturday as the Nationals draw closer.

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 Quincy (Sandy Brockway Photo)