Lonnie Wheatley (July 16, 2022) – It had been since March 26 that David Gravel had reached World of Outlaws victory lane at California’s Perris Auto Speedway.
The Watertown, CT, racer changed that on Wednesday night by topping Eldora Speedway’s Joker’s Wild feature event.
And he backed that up by topping Saturday morning’s 25-lap “Knight before the Kings Royal” that was in reality the morning of the Kings Royal after a Friday night postponement due to rain.
After starting fourth, Gravel spent the early rounds chasing pacesetter Rico Abreu before sliding into the lead on the tenth circuit and leading the rest of the way to take the $10,000 winner’s share.
“We’ve been extremely average, but we’re right there,” Gravel explained in victory lane. “It’s the toughest it’s been in Sprint Car racing since I’ve been involved. I did what I had to do and it started rubbering up after that, so it worked out perfect.”
Gravel takes the momentum of two wins on the week into Saturday night’s $175,000-to-win 39th Kings Royal.
While Gravel kept his pursuers at bay, Abreu held down the runner-up position the rest of the way.
“We’ve got a good balance to the car and it’s a lot of fun to drive,” Abreu explained. “We’ll get this thing in victory lane sooner or later.”
Current WoO points leader filled out the podium in third, explaining that, “I just wasn’t good on the starts, I was spinning the tires a lot and it would take me a lap to get back going.”
Spencer Bayston was fourth with Hunter Schuerenberg rounding out the top five. Carson Macedo rallied from 24th to sixth with Giovanni Scelzi, Donny Schatz, Anthony Macri and Justin Peck completing the top ten.
The feature went red after just three laps when Kasey Kahne tagged the wall and got upside down in turn four with a ruptured fuel cell. Parker Price-Miller shredded a right rear tire directly in front of the leaders after 14 laps and was done for the race.
Daryn Pittman set the morning’s quick time of 12.943 seconds in qualifying before winning his heat race along with Bayston, Schuerenberg and Gravel topping the other heats. Brian Brown won the “B” Main.
World of Outlaws
Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH
Saturday, July 16, 2022
“The Knight Before the Kings Royal”
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[4]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston[5]; 5. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo[24]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[9]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 9. 39M-Anthony Macri[12]; 10. 13-Justin Peck[16]; 11. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart[25]; 13. 71-Cory Eliason[8]; 14. 48-Danny Dietrich[10]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[22]; 16. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[18]; 17. 39-Daryn Pittman[7]; 18. 83-James McFadden[23]; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser[15]; 20. 26-Zeb Wise[20]; 21. 11-Parker Price Miller[11]; 22. 21-Brian Brown[21]; 23. 1-Logan Wagner[13]; 24. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 25. 1A-Jacob Allen[26]; 26. 9-Kasey Kahne[27]; 27. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[19]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[1]; 3. 83-James McFadden[3]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 5. 101-Lachlan McHugh[6]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]; 7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny[5]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[12]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]; 10. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[17]; 11. 4-Cap Henry[16]; 12. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[11]; 13. 49X-Tanner Thorson[15]; 14. 70-Sammy Swindell[10]; 15. 55T-McKenna Haase[9]; 16. 7S-Robbie Price[18]; 17. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]; 18. 5T-Travis Philo[14]
C Feature (10 Laps): 1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]; 2. 7S-Robbie Price[1]; 3. 11T-TJ Stutts[6]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass[2]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[4]; 6. 6-Bill Rose[10]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[12]; 8. 2X-Stuart Brubaker[9]; 9. 19W-Chris Windom[3]; 10. 10-Dave Blaney[5]; 11. 97-Greg Wilson[8]; 12. 40-Logan Fenton[11]; 13. 81-Lee Jacobs[13]; 14. 19-Brent Marks[14]; 15. 57-Kyle Larson[15]; 16. 55-Alex Bowman[16]
DIRTVision FAST PASS Dash (6 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 3. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 4. 2-David Gravel[5]; 5. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 7. 39-Daryn Pittman[8]; 8. 71-Cory Eliason[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Daryn Pittman[1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 4. 1-Logan Wagner[5]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[10]; 6. 83-James McFadden[6]; 7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny[4]; 8. 55T-McKenna Haase[11]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Spencer Bayston[1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 11-Parker Price Miller[2]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[11]; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[8]; 9. 49X-Tanner Thorson[5]; 10. 7S-Robbie Price[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]; 2. 71-Cory Eliason[1]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich[6]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 5. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[3]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen[7]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[4]; 8. 70-Sammy Swindell[10]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo[9]; 10. 20G-Noah Gass[8]; 11. 99-Skylar Gee[11]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[4]; 5. 26-Zeb Wise[6]; 6. 101-Lachlan McHugh[5]; 7. 21H-Brady Bacon[7]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[10]; 9. 4-Cap Henry[11]; 10. 19W-Chris Windom[9]; 11. 10-Dave Blaney[8]
Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 39-Daryn Pittman, 00:12.943[20]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:12.996[18]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:13.001[9]; 4. 11-Parker Price Miller, 00:13.021[4]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:13.059[15]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:13.069[26]; 7. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny, 00:13.077[27]; 8. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:13.086[3]; 9. 1-Logan Wagner, 00:13.092[22]; 10. 49X-Tanner Thorson, 00:13.102[23]; 11. 83-James McFadden, 00:13.112[11]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 00:13.128[7]; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:13.150[13]; 14. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:13.153[6]; 15. 19-Brent Marks, 00:13.166[19]; 16. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.183[17]; 17. 57-Kyle Larson, 00:13.186[2]; 18. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:13.187[21]; 19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:13.226[1]; 20. 55-Alex Bowman, 00:13.318[16]; 21. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:13.328[10]; 22. 81-Lee Jacobs, 00:13.384[8]; 23. 11T-TJ Stutts, 00:13.419[12]; 24. 4-Cap Henry, 00:13.426[24]; 25. 6-Bill Rose, 00:13.453[14]; 26. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 00:13.480[25]; 27. 2X-Stuart Brubaker, 00:13.606[5]
Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 71-Cory Eliason, 00:12.951[8]; 2. 2-David Gravel, 00:12.968[26]; 3. 55W-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:12.989[11]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:13.038[10]; 5. 83JR-Kerry Madsen, 00:13.042[12]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri, 00:13.044[6]; 7. 21-Brian Brown, 00:13.053[27]; 8. 13-Justin Peck, 00:13.101[2]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:13.102[25]; 10. 101-Lachlan McHugh, 00:13.200[5]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:13.215[20]; 12. 26-Zeb Wise, 00:13.223[9]; 13. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:13.224[17]; 14. 21H-Brady Bacon, 00:13.228[1]; 15. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:13.251[18]; 16. 10-Dave Blaney, 00:13.260[13]; 17. 5T-Travis Philo, 00:13.268[22]; 18. 19W-Chris Windom, 00:13.284[7]; 19. 70-Sammy Swindell, 00:13.300[4]; 20. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:13.316[19]; 21. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:13.341[23]; 22. 55T-McKenna Haase, 00:13.410[21]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee, 00:13.490[16]; 24. 97-Greg Wilson, 00:13.651[14]; 25. 40-Logan Fenton, 00:14.419[15]
Non-Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 55T-McKenna Haase[4]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee[6]; 4. 4-Cap Henry[7]; 5. 11T-TJ Stutts[5]; 6. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[11]; 7. 97-Greg Wilson[8]; 8. 2X-Stuart Brubaker[12]; 9. 6-Bill Rose[9]; 10. 40-Logan Fenton[10]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 12. 81-Lee Jacobs[3]