Gabe Sommers Racing has been on a roll so far in 2023. In their eight starts since the conclusion of Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway, GSR has been able to maintain an average finish of 4.0 across eight starts with the ASA STARS National Tour, ASA Midwest Tour, and Alive for 5 Series, among select other independently sanctioned Super Late Model races. No finishes worse than ninth, and five top-5 finishes have helped solidify Gabe Sommers and the No. 15 as a consistent contender wherever the team goes. Sommers has also been able to complete every single lap in every race entered in 2023, a feat hard to achieve for many drivers while traveling cross country to multiple venues.
Friday’s “Capitol 100” twin 50-lap features would see Sommers continue the trend of consistency. The Alive for 5’s standalone event at Madison International Speedway saw a top heavy field of twenty cars roll through the gates to battle it out on the high banked half mile. Gabe was able to time in at a 17.836 in qualifying, good enough to put the No. 15 fourth on the time charts.
Rolling off from fifth in the first 50 lap feature after an eight car invert, Gabe was able to slowly pick his way up the order, able to solidify himself in a podium position by lap 29. Wasting no time to find another spot, Sommers moved up to second in just five more laps, where he would remain until the checkered flag. Part two of the “Capitol 100” had Sommers start from sixth on the grid, making the task at hand slightly more challenging for the second feature. Tight racing and changing track conditions proved more difficult for GSR, but they were able to work their way up into fourth place by the end, missing another podium by just 0.213 seconds to Jeff Storm at the line.
“I’m fairly happy with how we ran at Madison on Friday night. The car felt great most of the night, but just needed a little bit more to get it done,” Gabe said. “I feel good heading into Kaukana for the “Red Race” at Wisconsin International Speedway, we had moderate success there last year in the Red, White, and Blue Series as well as in the Dixieland 250.”
In four starts last year at WIR, Sommers was able to complete three races without incident, earning a trio of top-5 finishes, his worst being a fourth place effort in the 2022 edition of the “Red Race”. If trends continue as they have in 2023, the No. 15 GSR Super Late Model should be a contender on Thursday June 8th at Wisconsin Int’l Raceway. On track action will kick off at 6:30 PM, make sure to head on out and support the GSR No. 15 and all of our wonderful partners!