After multiple Top 5 finishes for both Will Gerrits and Tyler Brabant so far in 2021, it seemed only a matter of time before one of them parked it in MSA Sprints victory lane.
Will Gerrits did just that this past Saturday night at the Plymouth Dirt Track, and did so in emphatic fashion.
The night began with both Brabant-Gerrits Racing drivers drawing in the same heat race, putting Tyler Brabant in the 5th starting position, with Will Gerrits starting on his outside in 6th. On the start, Gerrits used the hooked up top side to fly past Brabant, and pulled Ben Schmidt along with him. Just like that, Brabant found himself chasing 3 time 2021 A Main winner Schmidt for the rest of the 10 lap Heat Race, while Gerrits made quick work of 4th place, and ran in third now chasing down Matt Rechek and Justin Miller for a top 2 finish. Gerrits would get close, and Brabant tried everything to dispose of Schmidt, but to no avail. Will came home 3rd and Brabant in 7th.
“The car was a rocket ship in the heat race.” Will Gerrits said. “The track kind of became one lane towards lap 5 or 6, and I couldn’t get by Justin and Matt. Ty just got stuck on the bottom and behind some really fast guys. Just the way it goes sometimes.”
The 6th to 3rd run put Gerrits on the outside of row three in the A Main, while Brabant was forced to contest the 15 lap B Main from the 9th starting spot.
In a race where only the top 6 transfer, the field was absolutely stacked with former A Main winners and drivers that currently sit in the top 10 in points. Brabant had his work cut out for him. All of that, on top of the track being one lane on the bottom once again, meant Tyler was only able to advance to 8th, where his night ended. Brabant was understandably frustrated. An extremely fast car relegated to a “Did Not Qualify” result by simple luck of the draw and track conditions.
“Ty will be back with a vengeance next week.” Gerrits said. “He always seems to do really well after an off night.”
The team’s attention then turned to Gerrits and his 6th starting spot in the night’s 25 lap A Main. At the drop of the green, Gerrits followed his fellow Box3 Racing PR drivers Tyler Tischendorf and Jack Vanderboom around the top side of the now very much 2 lane Plymouth Dirt Track. Advancing to 5th on lap 1, and then 4th by lap 2. However, his progress was halted on lap 2 as the caution flag flew for a two car incident on the backstretch. Timing and scoring would revert to the previously completed lap, and Gerrits would restart in 5th, on the outside of the 2nd full row.
“When I lined up for the restart on the outside, I knew I had a really good chance.” Gerrits said. “I already could feel how fast the car was, and I saw Tyler and Jack fly past the guys on the bottom so I knew to just rip the top. I got a great restart and just sent it as high and fast as I could into 1 and 2. I went about half a lane higher than Jack who restarted in front of me, and just got a great run down the backstretch to get by him. I knew I had to make it stick up on the cushion for a while so I just buckled down at that point to try and catch Lance [Fassbender].”
Gerrits did buckle down, and then some. The Waupun, WI native railed the cushion lap after lap to close in on Fassbender, and eventually used the same move he put on Vanderboom to grab the lead of the race.
“Once I got out front, I could still hear someone behind me.” Gerrits said. “I thought it was Lance at first but then I saw it was Travis, so then I really started to push in lapped traffic.”
Unbeknownst to Gerrits, he had pulled series points leader Travis Arenz with him on the high side, and now had the 25T bearing down on his Ditto 21 in heavy lapped traffic. Gerrits was unfazed however, and made a daring three wide pass on Alex Pokorski and Tim Haddy to put them a lap down, and also to put 2 cars between himself and Arenz.
Then, as the laps wound down, Arenz made an uncharacteristic mistake while chasing Gerrits. Entering just a touch too high in turn 3, the 25T nearly looped around, but Arenz recovered, only losing one spot to Fassbender. However, Gerrits now had clear air and no threat from behind, and the young star cruised to his third career 360 Sprint Car A Main victory, and first of 2021.
“It feels awesome to go toe to toe with someone as talented as Travis and win.” Gerrits said. “Especially on a tricky track like that, where it didn’t take rubber until about halfway in three and four. This team has worked their tails off lately, and it’s shown with how fast both cars have been. This Ditto 21 car was on absolute rails all night long. Happy to get the win these guys and our partners deserve!”
With this weekend’s finishes, Will Gerrits moved into 7th in PDTR 360 Sprint points, and 5th in the overall MSA standings, while Brabant sits 15th in MSA points.
The MSA tour will head back to The Dirt Track at Plymouth in Plymouth, WI for a regular PDTR Program on Saturday. Tickets will be available at the track this weekend.
You can follow Brabant-Gerrits Racing on their social media’s, on Facebook at Brabant-Gerrits Racing, Instagram @brabantgerritsracing and on Twitter @brabantgerrits, along with Box3 Media on Facebook at @box3_racing and Twitter @box3_racing.
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
Box3 Racing
Horicon Bank
Edward Jones
RC Custom Design Photo
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