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Kaley Gharst – Rolling at Jackson!

Kaley Gharst and the Sandvig #7 team registered their first win of the year at Jackson Speedway in Minnesota on Saturday, June 28. They followed that up with a strong fourth place run in the Jackson Spring Sprint Nationals last Thursday. Saturday, the Decatur, Illinois driver was leading the feature when he suffered a broken wheel. The team plans on racing at Park Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, South Dakota this Friday with the Nebraska 360 Sprint Car Series before returning to Jackson on Saturday.

Friday, June 27 saw the first of two nights featuring the UMSS and JSTS series facing off at Redwood Speedway in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. “There were a good turnout of cars with the UMSS sanctioning along with the JSTS,” says Kaley. “We ran fourth at Redwood Speedway. We started second and we were running the high-side. We found the rubber there a little late. It was coming in on the bottom and middle. We stayed up top just a little bit too long.”

At Jackson on June 28, Kaley drove from fourth to second in his heat among the stout field, and drew a starting spot inside row two for the main event. “The first few laps we were riding in third,” he says. “We got going pretty decent on the bottom, and got by (Matt) Wasmund. We had a restart a few laps later, and we were able to get by (Dusty) Ballenger there. We were able to keep it on the bottom and get through traffic decent.”

The win was a welcome one for the team. “It was good to get our first win of the year,” says Kaley. “We’ve been having kind of an up and down year, so it was good to finally get one.”

The field only got tougher for the Jackson Spring Sprint Nationals last Thursday. Kaley would finish his heat second and earn a trip to the Dash, starting on the pole. “We were able to win the Dash,” he says. “The car was pretty decent. We had been having an issue with the motor up to that point. We got something figured out with it.”

He would start on the pole of the main event alongside Brian Brown. “Brown had a really good start and got by us,” says Kaley. “We were running second behind him for quite a while. I tried the middle to get around him, and lost a lot of ground. I let Jason (Johnson) and Danny (Lasoski) both get by me. After that, we settled into fourth.”

A stoppage allowed the team to make some changes. “We had a red flag where we were able to work on the car and get it a little better,” says Kaley. “We were actually catching Jason for a little bit, but then it started taking some rubber. We were hoping for a little better finish, but fourth behind those guys is nothing to be ashamed of. We just need to get a little better to beat them there in August (Jackson Nationals).”

In weekly action at Jackson last Saturday night, things started with a heat race win. “Lee Grosz actually got the jump on us, but he ended up having problems,” says Kaley. “We were able to win the heat, and we drew well again, starting on the pole of the feature.”

Kaley was out in the lead when mechanical issues sidelined him. “We were pretty decent,” he says. “I felt Russ (Hall) on our rear bumper right before our wheel broke. It probably would have been a decent race had that not happened, but that put an end to the night. We’ll be ready this weekend.”

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