Mother Nature Ends Paul Gilardi’s Saturday Before The Feature At Lebanon Valley

Story By: BOBBY CHALMERS / GILARDI MOTORSPORTS – PITTSFIELD, MA – Paul Gilardi and his Superior Seamless Gutters #87x team have been working very hard after recent troubles to finish their season on a high note. Saturday night, they were on their way to doing just that, until Mother Nature decided to rain on their parade.

With just four laps left in the 358-Modified feature, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour coated the speedway, forcing officials to cancel the remainder of the night’s action.

“It’s okay that we got rained out,” Gilardi said. “We were still working on the car to try and get things right for me, but the extra time helps. I need to be confident that I can charge hard into turn one on that first lap starting on the front row.”

Gilardi came back pretty strong on Saturday night after two tough weeks in a row. He ran well in his heat race, finishing third behind Kolby Schroder and Brett Hearn. While he’s still getting comfortable to his backup machine, after several long nights in the shop, the progress is showing.

“Not racing this car all year, it’s taken us a little bit to get things figured out,” he said. “We’re getting there, that’s for sure, but it’s taking us a little bit to make it happen.”

The driver from Pittsfield, MA made changes to the steering box inside the #87x Bicknell machine before his heat race. They’ve since made more adjustments and should be good to go this weekend when the Valley holds double features for the Big Block Modifieds. Gates open at 5pm.