Gabe Sommers Racing made the trip to Dells Raceway Park for the final race on their June schedule, the Dairyland 100. The third race of the Alive For 5 Series schedule would be a warm one, with unnaturally high temperatures putting the drivers and crews in some uncomfortable heat.
GSR would unload off the trailer ready for practice, and looking to continue their impressive performances throughout race events. The first practice session showed some promise, earning a third place spot on the leaderboard, only twenty two thousandths off of the fastest posted lap. Continuing to work on race pace, Sommers would post a ninth place in the second round. With just one more session left before qualifying, the Travis Sauter led crew would prepare the No. 15 Ford Mustang for a mock qualifying run. Gabe went out and immediately showcased the speed of his racecar, laying down a 13.421 second lap, good enough for first place on the time charts by over half a tenth of a second.
Qualifying was up next, with momentum on the GSR crew’s side. Gabe would roll off for time trials and put together a smoking lap time of 13.304 seconds, over a tenth quicker than his best practice time. The time would just narrowly miss out on the top spot, finishing the session only five thousandths off of quick time, in second place. A mandatory dash race would soon follow, with Sommers rolling off from the sixth position. A quick eight lap jaunt would see the No. 15 gain two spots in quick succession, keeping the nose clean and readying the team for the 100 lap feature.
Gabe would roll out for the Dairyland 100 in the fifth spot after a six car invert, with some fast racecars around him. A quick slip up by a driver in front of Sommers allowed him to slip into fourth place immediately, setting him up to go to work on the top three runners. A short battle ensued for third, with Gabe securing the spot by Lap 8/100. Less than fifteen laps later, Sommers would be up into second place, but it wouldn’t last for long. Mechanical woes began to take their toll on the speed of the No. 15, dropping back to third on Lap 45/100, followed by a few more lost spots before pulling off of the track on lap 57.
Another early exit in the Alive For 5 Series was unexpected and disheartening, but the team really rallied around a fast car, putting themselves in a position to win before bad luck intervened. They’ll look to shake the bad luck blues on Tuesday, July 8 in the 46th Annual Slinger Nationals!