Brabant-Gerrits Racing has had a relatively up and down start to the 2021 season. Two extremely fast cars at Beaver Dam and no results to show for it, a Top 5 with Tyler Brabant at Gravity Park, but Will Gerrits didn’t qualify for the feature in Chilton. Finally it seems, they’re finding their stride.
Last Saturday night began with a bang for Will Gerrits in the Ditto #21 car. Starting 4th in his heat, “The Flying Dutchman” moved into 3rd after a quick bout with Ben Schmidt for 2nd. Gerrits’ attention then turned to a hard charging 4x MSA Champion Brandon McMullen bearing down on him.
“He showed me his nose once, and I knew I couldn’t let him get the bottom, so I tried to just run really consistent laps.” Gerrits said about the Heat race battle with McMullen. “It was really tough to keep him behind, but the car was great.” Gerrits would eventually drive away from McMullen on a late restart and hang onto 3rd. The 4th to 3rd run being enough to lock himself into the 25 lap feature later on.
Tyler Brabant also started 4th in his heat race, but fell to 5th on the start after Travis Arenz got by the Axel Racing #99. Brabant then had to deal with fellow #TeamMAS driver Jack Vanderboom for the remainder of the race. Battling hard on the bottom with Vanderboom up top, Brabant did all he could but couldn’t hold off the youngster from Dousman, and he would settle for a 6th place finish. The fall from 4th to 6th meant the 99 would head to the B Main.
The 15 lap B Feature started poorly for Brabant. His car getting caught in the middle of the already dry-slick ⅓ mile oval and falling to 9th from 6th on the grid. However, he didn’t stay there very long. Finding speed, Brabant began to slice his way through the field in the laps 5-12 stage of the last chance race. Over this 7 laps, Brabant passed 5 cars, working all the way from the tires to the cushion to get the job done. Then on a green-white-checkered restart, Brabant flew by the 5R of Matt Rechek on the final circuit to claim 3rd at the stripe, punching an emphatic ticket to the A Main.
Starting 19th in the A feature, Brabant would work as high as 14th before a bicycle on the technical cushion sent him back to 16th, where he would eventually finish. A solid recovery drive after his struggles in the heat race.
Meanwhile, Will Gerrits pushed off 13th for the 25 lap main event. Following Jack Vanderboom’s U2 car on the low side, the Ditto #21 started to charge through the field. Then, seeing Vanderboom switch to the high line, Gerrits followed suit and found an immense amount of speed and momentum.
“I went up top and thought, wow okay. This is fast!” Gerrits said about the feature. “I followed Jack for a bit then realized I could probably get by him and maybe even further.”
Gerrits did advance past the U2, and he wasn’t done there. Over the final stage of the race, Will would pass Kurt Davis, Vanderboom, Kevin Karnitz and finally use a wicked slide job on the 21H of Tim Haddy to claim a fantastic 5th place finish. A solid comeback after a lackluster showing at Gravity Park last week.
“The car just came alive in the feature.” Will Gerrits said about the night’s events. “It felt amazing to be able to pass top to bottom. We put both cars in the show this week and that’s a great result for us when that happens. We’ll get back at it this weekend at our home track, Beaver Dam on Friday and then at Plymouth on Saturday.”
The MSA tour moves into its first double header weekend of the season. First at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI on Friday then they’ll head back to The Dirt Track at Plymouth in Plymouth, WI for a regular PDTR Program on Saturday. Tickets will be available at both tracks this weekend.
You can follow Will Gerrits Racing on their social media’s, on Facebook at Brabant-Gerrits Racing, Instagram @brabantgerritsracing and on Twitter @brabantgerrits, along with Midwest AutoSports on Facebook at MAS AutoSports and Twitter @mas_autosports.
Brabant-Gerrits Racing would like to thank all of their sponsors for their continued support throughout the 2021 season.
Ditto
Axel Racing
NAPA MPEC
A.Glewen and Sons Excavation
The Rock Golf Club
Anything and Everything Home Maintenance
Amramp
Rock River Eyewear
Aaron Gerrits Rhemody Foundation
Midwest AutoSports
Horicon Bank
Edward Jones
📸: Casey Bollig Photography
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