Gabe Sommers Racing returned to Dells Raceway Park for their second straight event at the ⅓
mile bullring last week, fresh off of a victory in the ASA Midwest Tour’s Jim Sauter Classic 200 in
their previous race. Switching gears to a 100 lapper during the day, the gameplan changed
some, but the end goal was the same as usual for Gabe and his crew.
Immediately after unloading for the National Short Track Championships with their familiar black
and grey No. 15 Ford Mustang, a quick inspection proved uneventful for GSR, allowing the
Travis Sauter led crew to focus their efforts on preparation for practice. Bringing a different car
than last time out at DRP, Sommers looked to get comfortable with the platform as quickly as
possible, opting for race pace adjustments and getting the heights right on his machine. Making
ten quick laps, Gabe would time in at the fourteenth spot, figuring out what was needed to make
a better run in the next session. After a flurry of changes, GSR turned Gabe loose for the
second and final round of practice, intrigued as to how much their driver would improve. The
result was positive, skipping up the board to a moderate eighth place after turning seventeen
laps.
Qualifying was up next, and Gabe looked for another strong performance, earning more than a
handful of podium efforts in 2025 during time trials across the Midwest. For only having an
eighteen car field, plenty of stiff competition was scattered throughout the entry list for the day’s
Badgerland Hugh Deery Classic 100. Rolling out onto the racing surface, Sommers wound up
his Ford Mustang and proceeded to put both himself and his steed through their paces. Lap 1
was a 13.148 second lap, quick enough for second place on the scoreboard. Lap 2, the money
lap, was a hair faster. A 13.106 second lap would be what stuck for Sommers, missing out on
quick time by a mere fifteen thousandths of a second. A quick heat race would follow, but with
drivers saving their equipment for the main event, not much was of note for the eight lap sprint.
Gabe started and finished in the sixth position with a scuff free racecar.
Rolling off from the sixth position for the Badgerland Hugh Deery Classic 100, the gameplan
was simple for GSR; go and go early. The current Hoosier Tire compounds have been hard to
hurt lately in Super Late Model racing, putting a premium on running hard laps from beginning to
end in the short to medium length. As the green flag flew, Sommers went top shelf digging,
rolling up to the fourth spot within five laps, and then to third with just thirteen laps complete.
With clean air and a heavy right foot, Gabe began to eat away at the distance between himself
and the second place runner. A quick caution on Lap 23/100 made life easier for the No. 15, and
then another on Lap 26 gave the field a chance to settle in and catch their breath. Once back
rolling, it took just four laps for Max Sommers to clear his brother Gabe into second place, and it
was time to put the hammer down. Big gaps opened up throughout the field as a long green flag
unraveled, finding lap traffic as a new factor just past halfway. Laps continued to click off without
any change in front of or behind the No. 15, and Gabe would bring it home in second place after
a very quiet final ⅔ of the race, unscathed after running virtually by himself for the latter half of
the feature.
Gabe Sommers Racing will continue to march forward in their dwindling 2025 schedule to Elko
Speedway on Saturday, September 20 for the ASA Midwest Tour’s Thunderstruck 93. If you can’t make it to the track you can watch it live on Track.tv or MidwestTour.tv.