SAUBLE BEACH, Ont. – June 21, 2017 – Andrew Gresel extended his streak of top-five finishes with the APC United Late Model Series to three when he earned a third-place finish at Peterborough Speedway last Saturday night. It was also Gresel’s second straight podium result after a second-place finish at Flamboro Speedway one week earlier.
Gresel overcame a difficult set of circumstances throughout the day to have the strong run. A heavy afternoon rain shower limited the practice time to a single seven-minute session. Then, in qualifying, Gresel had issues with his transponder.
“It was a super rushed day. When it rains like that, there’s so much stuff to do and you don’t have time to do it,” Gresel said. “The transponder system wasn’t picking up our transponder. Ours only picked up three laps. The times were the exact same times so it wasn’t good for us. We ended up sixth.”
The outside lane starting position for the Hy-Grade Roofing 100 was not kind to Gresel off the initial start as he was nearly collected in an early accident.
“On the first lap going into turns one and two, (polesitter) Josh Stade’s brakes messed up,” Gresel said. “In turns three and four, he shot up high right in front of us. I smoked the brakes and had nowhere to go but high. I think eight cars got by us and we ended up starting the race about 10th. Everybody else had the chance to dive down low, but I was right there behind him. I played it a little more cautious.”
Gresel had his work cut out for him from that point on, but had a strong car at his disposal. During last year’s race at Peterborough, Gresel was not happy with his performance. However, this time around the McRobert Fuels No.81 Ford Fusion was strong in many aspects.
“From there on the car was working well,” Gresel said. “It was better than it was last year, so that was a big positive for us. There were a lot of good cars in front of us and you have to use up some equipment to get by them.”
The Sauble Falls Racing No.81 eventually found its way to the second spot. Gresel ran there behind leader Brandon Watson until a late-race restart when he was pinned to the outside lane, allowing Shawn McGlynn to take over the runner-up spot.
“The car’s working pretty good,” Gresel stated. “We restarted on the outside of the front row and had no way of getting down and he was right there. There wasn’t much more we could do. We ran a good race, we didn’t wreck and we finished the race. That’s the main thing.”
The top-three finish was special for Gresel and his Sauble Falls Racing group in the race sponsored by Hy-Grade Roofing, one of the team’s major supporters as well.
“The whole Hy-Grade family was there,” Gresel said. “It was good to get in the top-five for them. They’re huge for us and they’ve been with us for years.
Through three races, Gresel sits second in the APC Series championship standings behind Watson. Gresel is happy with his team’s start to the year, but is far from satisfied.
“Any time we’ve ever won a championship we’ve had a pretty good start to the year to get a jump on things,” Gresel said “That’s always nice to have, but that’s so hard to do.”
Gresel will now return to one of his home tracks, Delaware Speedway, on Canada Day for round four of the APC Series. A multi-time champion at Delaware, Gresel is looking forward to returning to the fast half-mile located just west of London, Ont. in Komoka.
“We’re going to go back there with what we know,” Gresel said. “I think if we are going to win a race, I think that’s going to be our best spot to get it done because I have a lot of laps there.”
Like the rest of the APC Series field, Gresel is looking to end Brandon Watson’s three-race win streak to start the season.
“The 9 car is obviously quick,” Gresel said. “We have something for him. We just have to figure a little bit out to keep the bite in the car the whole race.”
For additional event information on the July 1 Canada Day race at Delaware Speedway, visit www.delawarespeedway.com and www.apcracingseries.com.
SEASON STATS
81 Andrew Gresel – 3 Starts: 0 Wins, 3 Top-5s, 3 Top-10s
SAUBLE FALLS RACING MEDIA
Website: www.saublefallsracing.com
Facebook: facebook.com/saublefallsracing
Twitter: @SaubleFalls81
Andrew Gresel and the Sauble Falls Racing team are proud to partner with several dedicated marketing partners for the 2017 race season, including McRobert Fuels, Sauble Falls Tent & Trailer Park, CUSW – Canadian Union of Skilled Workers, Hy-Grade Roofing, London Recreational, Gallinger Ford Lincoln, F1 Freight Systems, Ron O’Brien Remax, Barry’s Construction and Raden Givari at Ehomes.
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