9/9/2012
Sprint Source
David Gravel Finishes Second in the Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal
Watertown, Conn.—Sept. 9, 2012 — David Gravel was part of history this weekend, as a UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions driver beat the famed Pennsylvania Posse for the first time ever in a series event on their home turf on Friday night at Port Royal Speedway, with Dale Blamey doing the honors. Gravel nearly made it a clean sweep for the All Stars on Saturday night as he finished second in the Tuscarora 50.
“To finish second and sixth against a quality field of cars was a great weekend for us,” said Gravel. “We worked hard all week and found a few things that really helped us at Port Royal. We’ve run really good there the last few times we’ve gone over there.”
Gravel rebounded from a broken rear end in hot laps on Saturday night that prevented him from turning a single lap during practice, and qualified ninth with a solid field of 39 cars checked in. He finished second in the first eight-lap heat race, which put him in the 12-car dash. Gravel lined up 12th in the dash and worked his way up to 10th, which put him on the outside of the fifth row for the 50-lap A-Feature.
The East Coast racer used a strong start to power his way up to sixth just four laps into the main event, when the second caution flag of the night flew. He was solidly in the fifth spot by the 15th go-around, and was up to fourth when the mandatory fuel stop took place on lap 24. After falling back to sixth in the second half of the race, Gravel made a charge over the final 10 laps. He worked his way up to second when the final caution of the night flew with two laps to-go. A pair of lapped cars separated himself from leader Doug Esh, who used a strong restart en route to taking the win. The runner-up finish for Gravel marked his best-career showing at Port Royal and his second podium finish of the season at the historic oval located at the Juniata County Fairgrounds.
“The car really came on late in the race,” he noted. “I wish those lapped car wouldn’t have been there, so we could have had a shot at Doug (Esh). We went with a 200-tire during the break and we lost a few spots on the restart, but it really came on as the race wore on. In an event like that, it’s better to lose a few spots early and have the car operating when the laps wind down, which is what we had.”
Gravel kicked off the weekend at Port Royal by earning his seventh fast time award of the season with the All Stars. He stopped the clock with a lap of 16.080-seconds to best the 46-car field. The native of Watertown, Conn., charged from the sixth starting spot in the first heat race to finish third, which put him in the dash, where he both started and finished fifth. Gravel took the grid for the 30-lap main event from the inside of the second row, and ran a steady race to come home sixth.
“All in all it was a great weekend,” shared Gravel. “To not get a single lap in hot laps and come back and qualifying ninth on Saturday, that is a testament to Tyler (Swank) and Kyle (Ripper) and how hard they work. They thrashed to change the rear end before qualifying and got me back out in time so I could get my two laps. It was a team effort for sure.”
The Tuscarora 50 weekend marked the final event of the 2012 Eastern Region portion of the schedule for the All Stars, with Gravel finishing third in points. He also remains third in the overall All Stars national championship standings on the strength of a win and 26 Top-10 finishes.
“We’ve been pretty good the last few races,” noted Gravel. “We’re working hard to get back to where we were earlier this summer when we were in contention for a bunch of wins. I definitely want to win another couple races before the year is up, and we’ll keep giving it everything we got.”
Gravel returns to action with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions next weekend at Fremont Speedway in Ohio, in the running of the two-night Jim Ford Classic. Just three nights of racing remain on the 2012 calendar for the All Stars.
David Gravel and DDR Motorsports would like to thank: J&J Chassis, JRC Transportation, Kistler Engines, Musco Fuels and P&M Transportation for their continued support.
Keep up-to-date with David Gravel and DDR Motorsports by visiting www.DavidGravel89.com. Follow David on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/DavidGravel89g. Like David on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Gravel-Racing/143538695709198.
Submitted By: Admin Account
