5/17/2016
Gravel Grabs Class Track !!
Watertown, Connecticut Driver David Gravel led wire to wire this past Saturday at Tri-State Speedway located in the Haubstadt, Indiana to take home his second World of Outlaws Craftman Sprint Car Feature of the year. Tri-State is always referred to as the The Class Track due to its always running a tight program on one of the best manicured surfaces in the country. The track is a paper clip quarter mile which usually sets the stage for fast side by side racing with tons of wheelies. Gravel made it look easy this past weekend, he started off by setting quick time of the 30 sprint cars on hand by turning a lap time 12.155. He finished second in his heat, won the dash, and started on the pole and led all 40 laps.
He made all the right moves in his Barry Jackson prepared Sprinter. The CJB Motorsports team is sponsored by Big Game Treestands. It should be noted that this is the third year in a row for Barry Jackson and the CJB Motorsports team winning at Haubstadt, the previous two years were won by Paul McMahan. Even though Gravel led every lap, it wasn’t easy and he was pushed several times by Oklahoma native Brady Bacon. Gravel could not afford a mistake with Bacon on his heels and there were times in lapped traffic it looked like Bacon was going to pass the 2013 Rookie of the Year Gravel. Each time Bacon looked to make the move Gravel closed the door and never made a mistake. Bacon would finish runner-up in the feature in front of the capacity crowd on hand.
I was really impressed by third place finisher Parker Price Miller. I have watched this kid from micros to midgets, now to full blown 410 sprint cars. This kid is a talent to watch in the years to come. It was his best World of Outlaw finish and he had to hold off the best sprint car driver in the country Donny Schatz to do it. Miller drives a black and red #2x sponsored by Valvoline. It should also be mentioned that Kevin Swindell is involved in supporting Parker and was at the track on this special night, and Kevin was all smiles watching in his wheelchair pitside out of turn one. Schatz would come home fourth with the Wildman Kerry Madsen out of Australia rounding out the top five in his Keneric Motorsports entry.
Point leader Brad Sweet was sixth in the Kasey Kahne Racing Ollies Outlet Sprinter. Kraig Kinser was seventh after making the long tow from Pennsylvania after the cancellation of the All-Star event at Mercer. Steve Kinser was on hand supporting his son. Joey Saldana, Terry McCarl, and Shane Stewart rounded out the top ten. Heats were won by Miller, Schatz, and Madsen, and Logan Schuchart the grandson of Bobby Allen won the consi.
In closing, great job as always by the staff giving the fans a great show, and the checked flew before 10 pm.
Next week back on the late model trail as I will be at LaSalle for the Lucas Oil Late Model Special in Northern Illinois.