SAUBLE BEACH, Ont. – August 22, 2017 – Andrew Gresel led 80 laps and dominated the back half of the second-annual Outlaw Super Late Model Gold Rush 100 at Flamboro Speedway to score the $5,000 winner’s payday for the second straight year.
It was only Gresel’s second night this season behind the wheel of the London Recreational Racing/CUSW/Gallinger Ford No.81 Ford Fusion Super Late Model.
“It’s awesome,” Gresel said. “Two years in a row to be able to win this race down here is phenomenal. The car was really good tonight and it held on pretty much the whole 100 laps. Near the end it got a little bit tight, but otherwise we were really good. I was really happy with it.”
Gresel time trialed fifth-quickest of the 21 cars in attendance, but held the fourth starting position after American Tyler Roahrig surrendered the pole to start at the rear of the field. Gresel quickly moved up into third position and made a pass for second just before a lap 20 caution that put him in prime position on the following restart.
“The car wanted to stay down low,” Gresel said. “It was digging hard, but it didn’t in until about 15 laps in then it started turning for me. It’s nice to drive once everything gets heated up and it comes into you.”
Gresel used the restart to power around the outside of Pete Shepherd III and take the lead. He never looked back from there and paced the remaining 80 laps to score the win. While Gresel was successful in getting to the front early, he was surprised at the pace over the first 20 laps.
“I go into it wanting to set a nice consistent pace, but once again I got shown that it doesn’t happen,” Gresel said. “It’s really up to the guys up front. If they want to push the car as hard as they want to. Some guys don’t have a choice. If you’re side-by-side with a guy and he wants to run hard, it’s hard to give up the spot. That’s kind of how this race started – they were running hard right off the bat.”
After running the first 20 laps behind the leaders and amongst lapped traffic, Gresel felt his car improve immediately when he was able to race in clean air after taking the lead.
“It was like night and day,” Gresel said of the difference. “I was basically following those guys off the corner and they were coming up so high they were missing the wall by a half or quarter of an inch and a lot of the time I was hitting in it. I think I hit it about three times, so that wasn’t working out for us at all.”
The big event victory is a major confidence boost for Gresel and his Sauble Falls Racing team heading into another big event, the Rankin Construction Late Model Summer Shootout at Jukasa Motor Speedway next weekend. Twin 75-lap Features are scheduled for the APC United Late Model Series and 75 laps for Outlaw Super Late Models. Gresel is set to tackle all 225 laps.
“We’ve been running half decent, but we haven’t been as good as we were last year or the years before,” Gresel said. “This is a big confidence boost. We still have a few races coming up. With the Pro Late, we’re going to have to work pretty hard on it because we were a little bit behind in testing at Jukasa.”
“I think the Supers going to do really well. Hopefully we can apply some of the stuff we’re learning with the Super back to the Pro Late. We have lots of time there on the weekend coming up to make changes. We want to make sure that we have just as good a run there as we did here.”
Qualifying will take place on Saturday, August 26 before a pair of APC United Late Model Series 75-lap Features and a 75-lap Outlaw Super Late Model event on Sunday, August 27. For additional information, visit www.jukasamotorspeedway.com.
SEASON STATS
Pro Late Model – 7 Starts: 0 Wins, 6 Top-5s, 7 Top-10s
Super Late Model – 3 Starts: 2 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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