PLOVER, WI – Gabe Sommers Racing made the short trek to Golden Sands Speedway for a shakedown of a fresh build this past Friday. Looking to work out the bugs, the No. 15 crew went in without many expectations, but were pleasantly surprised with the results.
Heading back to their designated hometrack has been long overdue, and a welcome addition to their schedule after a last minute decision upon the completion of their fresh chassis. A spotty
forecast wouldn’t deter the crew, and the hauler pointed its way towards town for some early practice sessions. No problems were found during a thorough shakedown of the car, and was deemed ready to take on the opening night of the 2024 season at Golden Sands.
Once official practice sessions began rolling, the No. 15 showed early speed against the first on track competition of the day, winding up P3 of 18 in the opening practice session, followed by some quick changes to better the feel for Gabe, and hopefully gain some speed in the process. The time spent on the car between sessions paid off, as Sommers would find his way to the top
of the board by almost a tenth and a half over the next closest competitor as they turned their attention to qualifying trim.
Scattered showers peppered qualifying across the local divisions, forcing a pause in the action to dry the track after the precipitation had ceased. Once the track had tried and time trials had wrapped up, Gabe would slot himself into the 8th position on the charts of the 18 cars, setting
himself up for a second place starting spot in the heat race. An uneventful sprint to the checkered flag saw no change in position for the No. 15 on track, winding up only 0.277 seconds away from a heat race win.
The night time sky would move in slowly above the ⅓ mile bullring, setting the tone for an ultra competitive feature event. Rolling off from the third row, Gabe would set up for an honest day’s work in the 50 lap main event, moving inside of the top five by lap two and getting his bearings. Laps clicked off quickly, and by lap 22/50 Sommers would break into a podium position, and
began tracking down the lead pair. The checkered flag would soon fly on the feature event, with Gabe running down to within six tenths of a second behind the leader, still in third place and ahead of the next competitor by almost three seconds.
A solid night back at their hometrack gave Gabe and the crew a boost of confidence with a fresh build, amping up their excitement for a return to Jefferson Speedway on May 25th, a race they came very close to winning in 2023. You can join GSR in person, or watch live on TrackTV.com!