Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Getting off to a good start can be big for any driver, and a driver whom is looking to accomplish such feat is Britney Gresel. She is hoping to start off her season with a strong run in the Sunset Speedway season opener on April 30.
“We’re excited for this season to get started,” she commented. “We got a new crew coming in, and we’re excited to get going and I’m excited to see how it’ll play out. We have a stacked field again and new drivers coming up, and everything like that, so we’re getting ready to get going here and bring it on.”
A stronger campaign than last year is on the mind for the Sauble Falls, Ontario native after posting three top-10s last season.
“Last year was a rough go,” she admitted. “It started not as planned. We flipped the rear-end in it 10 laps into our first race, and we just had tough luck last year. I just felt like our season didn’t go as we wanted with having a brand new car in the mix, so I’m hoping this year we will come out on top and not have those mechanical issues right smack in the season.”
Gresel hopes this year goes much smoother, while also featuring her first career Sunset Speedway feature victory along the way.
“I think every driver says they want to go for a championship and it’s no different with us,” she said. “We want to get out there and get some checkers under our name, hopefully. A championship would be absolutely amazing. But it takes a lot of work to get that. I have an awesome crew to get me there so now it’s up to me to do that.
“That’s my expectations – to get some wins, get numerous top-fives, do good in qualifying and get ‘er done.”
Gresel says the key to being successful this season will be developing a good sense of chemistry with the team, by working on communication and balancing having fun and being serious.
“I have an awesome team, personally I do,” she commented. “But we need to come together and to be a team and to communicate like I said and I think that the main thing. I need to communicate to them – tell them what my car is doing, and working together. That’s what make an awesome team.”
The success is going to be no easy feat for the driver of the No. 81 Sauble Falls Tent & Trailer Park, Brittney’s Hair Studio, Walkerton Toyota, Spira Fire Protection and Cabral Racing Promotions Late Model with the caliber of competition that Sunset Speedway brings to the forefront each week.
“I don’t even know where to start,” she commented. “People say we have the best in Ontario and we have the best in Ontario right here at Sunset Speedway. I can’t go to another track where we have this group of drivers that we do. We are all on our A-Game here. I can’t think of another track that has this level of competition right here, and it’s so close to home it’s awesome.”
She added that you realize just how tough it is when you think you have a wicked car, and then someone else goes out and picks up another tenth, sending you back to the drawing board in search of more speed.
“The level of competition is phenomenal,” she continued. “(Mark) Dilley and the owner’s group have done a great job of that.”
There’s also the fact that the game has changed a little this year, as tire doping has been outlawed this season.
“Hats off to Mark Dilley on that one and everyone that was able to make that come into play,” she said. “Personally, I am relieved there’s no doping. The amount of time and unnecessary money, it doesn’t need to happen. So thank God. I love the punishment to it, everything to it.”
Currently any driver that is caught tire doping will face a minimum five week suspension, with possibly the suspension being extended up to a full yaer. Additionally, the driver is not just suspended from Sunset Speedway, but four other asphalt tracks in Ontario, the APC Series and the Avenue Super Late Series.
“My biggest concern is that it sticks,” Gresel continued. “Like if someone comes out here and they’re doping and they find it, and they let them off on a warning, then everything they said goes out the window. So I hope they stick to what they said and make the punishments come true to those who are in violation to the tire doping rule.”
