Mid-Race Crash Derails Gresham In Cordele ASA Battle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cordele, GA (June 7, 2009) – Max Gresham appeared to be in position to win his third American Speed Association (ASA) Southeast Asphalt Tour race of the season Saturday, but a mid-race crash saddled the impressive young driver with a 23rd-place finish in the Watermelon 100 at Watermelon Capital Speedway.
“We had a miscommunication,” said Gresham, who was leading the event in his No. 7-11 ASA stock car at the time of the mishap. “Two people got to talking on the radio. Paul Kelley was outside of us, but I really didn’t know he was out there. My spotter was trying to tell me, but because we had two people talking at once, I didn’t hear him. I wound up coming up on Paul and got spun out. The car swapped ends and I wound up hitting driver’s side hard in Turn 1. I’m okay – I did bruise my knee and foot. It was just disappointing because we could have won the race.”
The 16-year-old Griffin, GA driver proved early he’d be among the favorites to win on the 3/8-mile, D-shaped Cordele oval just missing the pole position with a 16.097-second clocking in qualifying.
“We had a new car this week and it was fast,” said Gresham. “We qualified second behind T.J. Reaid missing the pole by just six thousands of a second. The car was good and we were happy with it. We thought we had a great shot to win the race.”
Gresham, who had won the most recent ASA Southeast Tour event at Dillon (SC) Motor Speedway on April 25, put himself in even better position to come home with another victory when he pulled the No. 1 pill in the qualifying redraw. Now starting from the inside of the first row, Gresham made the most of the prime starting spot.
“The draw worked out to our favor again and we started from the pole,” said Gresham. “We didn’t lead the first lap, there were a bunch of cautions in the first 10 laps or so and it was hard to get going. Finally, we got a chance to run a little bit and I got out front. I was just saving my tires riding around when we had our problem. I think we had the car to beat.”
The plan seemed to be working to perfection until the dust up with Kelley near the 40-lap mark of the 100-circuit test derailed Gresham’s plans of winning.
“Sure, I’m disappointed,” said Gresham. “We were doing what we needed to be doing. All we can do is make sure we don’t have that problem again and go on to the next race at Montgomery (AL) this week. We’ll go there, do our best and try to win just like we do every week.”
Gresham and the rest of the ASA Southeast Tour regulars will return to action at Montgomery Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 20. The sixth event of the 2009 ASA Southeast campaign will take the green flag at 7:30 p.m.
To learn more about Max Gresham and Gresham Motorsports, please log on to www.greshammotorsports.com.
For information about sponsorship/partnering with Max Gresham and Gresham Motorsports, please contact Tony Gresham at tgresham@greshaminc.com