Watertown, CT’s  David Gravel is always a major contender on the World of Outlaws coast-to-coast dirt track circuit.

Courtesy of Area Auto Racing New of New Jersey

By Len Sammons Area Auto Racing News

David Gravel hates to lose, something common by big winners in motorsports.  Thus on a Thursday night he was bummed out after not winning the Word of Outlaws feature at Lincoln Speedway , but giving up the lead late in that 35 lap event.

“It really sucks,” said Gravel, showing his emotion, yet still standing by his car afterwards in the pit area greeting fans and signing autorgraph cards for those who walked by his CJB Motorsports No. 5.

Up until the features final caution, Gravel controlled the night.  He set the second fastest lap in qualifying and won his heat race.  After picking the pole for the dash, he won that two,earning the pole for the feature event.

When the green dropped, Gravel took off.  It took him just nine laps to catch the back of the 28 car field.  He then masterfully passed slower cars both high and low.

With a nice lead and several lapped cars in between him and the runner-up, Gravel appeared to be heading for the $10,000 win.  Then with just nine laps remaining the yellow waved.

“We worked so hard in lapped traffic to keep the lead and then the caution came out,” said Gravel

He had mixed emotions when the yellow waved.  While it cleared the track, it also sent the cars between himself and the second place runner to the rear by WoO rules.

“The lapped cars were gone, but that’s the way it is.  I got to thinking…’I can get through lapped traffic better than others’, but who knows, I thought it helped me at the time that the caution came out.”

Gravel was running for the far outside in turns one and two for the majority of the race. On the double-file restart, however, he took the bottom putting Freddy Rahmer alongside of him.

” I didn’t know what to do on that restart,” recalled Gravel.  “The track was really wide in one and two.  I didn’t think the cushion was the right thing to do.  You just don’t know what’s going on behind you when your leading,”. he said.

Rahmer, in search of his first ever WoO race win at his Saturday night home track, hit it perfect.He fired it at the same moment as Gravel did in turn four, kept him tight to the bottom in turn one then drove to lead off tun two

“I think I was a sitting duck in (turns) one and two,” said Gravel.  Gravel is from the northeast, a native of Watertown, CT.  Gravel won an amazing 18 times on the WoO circuit. His car owners, Chad and Jenn Clemens are from the area.

He’s still third in the standings.  “We’re out of the championship hunt,” admitted Gravel.  “We’re out now to win races.”