News

7/2/2009 - Kaley Gharst was victorious in the 25-lap Sprint Invaders main event last Sunday night at the Quad City Raceway in East Moline, Illinois. The Decatur, Illinois driver needed a boost after his recent 410 struggles. Saturday, he plans on racing with the Sprint Invaders at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, IA.

Kaley drew the pole for his heat on Sunday and cruised home for a dash spot by running second to Jack Dover. After backing up to third in the dash from the front row, he caught a break when dash winner, Ryan Jamison, drew a six, putting Kaley on the outside of row one. “It was an advantage to start on the outside,” says Kaley. “The fast way was definitely around the top.”

Kaley jumped out to the lead early, with Russ Hall and Dover trailing him. Before a lap 13 caution, Hall made at least two attempts to slide in front that came up short. “I didn’t know who it was, but I saw that black nose wing down there twice,” he says. “There were a couple times when I was getting held up in traffic, with cars on the top and the bottom. When I tried the middle to get by them…that’s when (Hall) got a run.”

Kaley was never seriously challenged the rest of the way, winning for the second time in Randy Plath’s #14P in three tries with the Invaders. “The cushion pretty much became the wall tonight,” he adds. “You can get around here pretty good for as small as it is. It’s a lot of fun.”

The 2007 Sprint Invaders champion also won at the high-banked ¼ mile when the series visited East Moline in September of that season. “The way the track was so dry, it reminded me of that night,” he says. “The only difference was that night, it laid rubber later on.”

Struggles continued in the 410. Hoping to win $3,500 at the Leon Smith Memorial on Friday night at the Morgan County Speedway, Kaley never got on the track for the finale. “We’re not sure what our issue is, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he assures.

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.

Kaley and the Plath Motorsports team in Victory Lane at East Moline (Sandy Brockway Photo)

6/21/2009 - Kaley Gharst drove from 17th to 9th in last Saturday’s Midwest All Star Series (MASS) show at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds in Danville, Illinois, but he didn’t see much of it. With a motor change consuming he and his father’s night, there was not much time for the little details like tear-offs. This weekend, Kaley will hit at least a pair of Ohio Speedweek shows in the Webb #51.

Tear-offs are a necessity when things are tacky, and that was the case on Saturday. “We knew it would be a heavy night,” says Kaley. “It rained about 45 minutes before the drivers’ meeting. The track was heavy all night long.”

If the Decatur, Illinois driver had known what was ahead, he would have spent the time changing motors instead of watching the rain. After qualifying 8th quick, a DNS in his heat race sent him to the back of the feature. “We lost oil pressure in practice, and we cut the oil filter open,” he says. “Nothing was in there, so we decided to put a new oil pressure gauge and qualify on it. The pressure was fine, but the motor was missing. We decided to go ahead and change the motor, so we missed our heat.”

Slated to start at the tail of the main event, the motor was changed just in time. “We were so busy with the motor, that I forgot to put my tear-offs on,” he admits. “I couldn’t see anything out there…I was too busy wiping my shield off to really drive like the car I had to.”

That wasn’t the only problem. “We didn’t really have time to change anything for the feature either,” says Kaley. “The car wasn’t very good, but we managed to pass a few of them. At least we kept the car together, and everything stayed together.”

Still, a drive from 17th to 9th on a fast track is nothing to sneeze at. “In the feature, the track developed a cushion, and you could run anywhere you wanted to,” he says. “It was definitely heavy. It was not a track you wanted to go out without tear-offs, that’s for sure.”

Missing out on the heat, and his feature finish cost Kaley the MASS series lead to Bill Rose. The series picks up again on June 27 at the Charleston Speedway in Charleston, Illinois. This weekend, Kaley will tow to Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio and Millstream Speedway in Findlay, Ohio for two legs of Ohio Speedweek on Saturday and Sunday. “We had planned to run the whole deal (Speedweek), but with the one motor, it would be tough,” he says. “If we win a race or two, we may keep going. Who knows?”

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.

5/14/2009 - (Bill W) – May 14, 2009 – Misfortune and a little bit of embarrassment at the 34 Raceway in Iowa on Friday night, turned into victory on Saturday at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway. The win came with the Midwest All Star Series (MASS), and was Kaley Gharst’s second of the season. Tomorrow he’ll head to Jacksonville, Illinois to try to increase his point lead in the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders series driving the Randy Plath #14P.

This is the second season of racing in Lawrenceburg with a new 3/8 mile high-banked configuration. Kaley and his father drove all night to get to southeastern Indiana. “It was the first place we’ve been there since they’ve redone it,” says the Decatur, Illinois 20 year old. “Other than driving all night, and not having much sleep, it went pretty well. We had a little work to do when we got to the track. It went pretty smoothly with just my dad and I over there.”

After registering the sixth quick time of the night, Kaley lined up inside row three for the heat. He advanced to third and stayed there, locked into the main event. “We had a really good start and we were running down the top two when the motor started smoking pretty bad,” he explains. “I was watching the gauge to make sure nothing was going wrong. It ended up being a small leak.”

His qualifying effort put him on the pole for the feature. “Sixth quick usually works out pretty well with the All Star format,” says Kaley. “That puts you right up front in the feature. That’s the second time we’ve done that with them.”

When the green fell, it was all Kaley Gharst, who was driving the Webb #51. “We pretty much took off from the get-go,” he says modestly. “We had some close calls in lapped traffic. We had a couple cars get sideways in front of us, but we avoided them. Unfortunately, Danny Smith got taken out that way.”

In the end, Kaley lapped up to the fifth place car. “I had a couple of close calls racing between lapped cars, but overall the car was awesome,” he says. “With a fast track like that and that many cars, you expect to have some run-ins.”

On Friday night, the Interstate Racing Association was at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington. Kaley was 7th quick in the 42 car field, and ran second in his heat. He spun in front of everyone when the 30-lap finale went green, ending his night early. “We had a different steering gear in with a different ratio and different torsion bar than what I’m used to,” he says. “It reacts a lot quicker than what I’m used to. I was o.k. running on my own qualifying and in the heat, but I spun it out right there on the first lap right in front of everybody in the feature.”

The mishap took out a couple of other competitors. “I feel really bad that it took a couple cars out,” he says. “It was definitely nothing intentional. I was kind of racing on instinct, and the steering wasn’t cooperating. Randy Plath loaned us another steering gear for Lawrenceburg, so that helped, obviously.”

The 2007 Sprint Invaders champion leads the series into Jacksonville and the Morgan County Speedway tomorrow 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.

Kaley in Victory Lane at Lawrenceburg (Dave Merritt Pitpass Photo)

Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IAUSA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net

5/9/2009 - Camargo, IL (5-9-09) by Kelly Brown - Public Relations Director – From the moment Kaley Gharst put a wheel on Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday night, it was as if his 51 Webb 410 winged sprint car was on auto-pilot. The young talent drove a flawless race which saw him score his second O’Reilly Midwest All Star victory.

Starting beside Gharst on the front row was Ronnie Blair, but before the field could take the Green Flag the 71 of Paul May pulled off the course with a left flat tire. He was able to start the feature at the back of the field. When the Green Flag was unfurled, Gharst got the early advantage and ran away from the field in a rampage, with Blair in tow.

The first caution period came out midway through the event as Tiffany Wyzard’s 5w sprinter encountered engine troubles. Almost simultaneously Paul May encountered his second flat tire of the night as his right tire lost pressure; once again he was able to continue on.

When the race commenced, Gharst sprinted out in front of the field and continued to put cars a lap down left and right. The racing action would come to a halt again on Lap 21 when Danny Smith brought out the Red Flag.

4/23/2009 - (Bill W) – It was a great start to the U.S. sprint car season for Kaley Gharst, as he captured the 34 Raceway Sprint Invaders Spring Nationals opener last Friday night. Unfortunately, Saturday’s finale was rained out. The 2007 Sprint Invaders champion’s win has him atop the early point standings for the series.

The track slicked off in hot laps and Kaley registered the seventh quick time of the night. Was he sandbagging? “I didn’t have time for any of that. Lately, we’ve had a hard time qualifying anyway. I held it to the floor and turned the best lap I could. It wasn’t the best I could have done, but it worked out.”

The 20 year old lined up sixth in his heat race, and surged to a second place finish. “We were caught behind some cars in the beginning there,” says Kaley. “As soon as we cleared them, we ran down Ben Wagoner, but we ran out of laps. It didn’t really matter; we were locked into the feature either way.”

When dust kicked up as early as hot laps, Kaley worried about the future of the 3/8 mile banked oval. “It was dusty in practice, so I was afraid it may lay rubber in the feature,” he says. “They ended up reworking the track a couple of times, and it ended up perfect for us with a good top and bottom. I think we put on some good racing for the fans.”

Starting inside of Brian Brown in row three, it took awhile for Kaley to advance. “We kind of got off to a bad start there,” he says. “I got ahead of Brown, but he worked back by me. When he moved back to the top, I was able to get back underneath him, and started picking off positions one by one.”

The run to the front was a steady one, and by the time the yellow flag flew with seven laps in the books, he was in the runner-up spot behind Jamison. “We were able to get up to second by the time the caution came out,” he remembers. “When it went back green, we were able to get by (Ryan) Jamison on the top. I saw him down there on the bottom for a few laps, so I held my line up top. We were able to hold him off in the end, and get the win.”

The caution gave Kaley the opportunity to make an adjustment as well. "The caution gave me an opportunity to move my wing back," he says. "I couldn't do it under green. We're glad to start the year with a win. We got there and checked out the track. We threw a setup on it, and it worked."

This weekend’s plans to run Lake Ozark Speedway were curtailed with the passing of racing icon, Bud Taeger. The funeral will be 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.

Bill Wright
Bill W Media
Monroe, IAUSA
sprntcar@iowatelecom.net