Gas prices in Colorado Springs and elsewhere are trending downward as motorists head out for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, and could fall further as summer travel kicks into gear.

“It’s not too bad,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.com, the online service that tracks fuel prices nationwide.

A gallon of regular unleaded averaged $3.261 in Colorado Springs on Thursday, a drop of 12.2 cents from a week earlier, according to GasBuddy figures that are based on prices at 246 service stations, convenience stores and other local fuel outlets. Thursday’s price also was down 7.2 cents from the same time last year.

Though Springs’ prices have drifted lower the past week, motorists shouldn’t be surprised to see them tick up in the next several days, at least temporarily, De Haan said.

Like Denver and other markets around the country, Colorado Springs is caught in a rash of price cycling on the part of gas sellers — a pattern of up-and-down price changes over a relatively short period of time, De Haan said.

Essentially, some fuel outlets try to beat their competitors by lowering prices, which creates a ripple effect as other sellers match those cuts, he said.

“Stations are just playing this game of undercutting each other,” De Haan said. “Once they undercut too much, they start selling gasoline at or below cost. That’s when they raise prices back up and that’s when the game starts over.”

That cycle repeats every seven to 12 days, he said.

“They’re basically playing with their margin,” De Haan added. “They’re cutting their price, even though the wholesale cost may not move down. They continuously use this as a competitive advantage. One guy goes down a penny. When the competition matches, he goes down another penny. And another penny. Until, there’s no more margin. That’s when the first station raises. The competition then raises as well. And that’s when the undercutting starts all over again.”

That yo-yo pricing aside, De Haan still forecasts that Colorado Springs gas prices, like those elsewhere in the country, should decline over the long run heading into the summer.

GasBuddy’s summer travel and price forecast released this week says gas supplies are ample after refineries ramped up their output following the completion of equipment and facility maintenance.

As a result, GasBuddy forecasts gas prices should remain well below record highs and trend lower over the next six weeks heading to July 4.

The national average price should remain around the mid $3 per gallon range for much of the summer, with prices averaging $3.58 nationally between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to GasBuddy.

Those are average prices; at thousands of service stations and fuel outlets, prices potentially could fall below $3 a gallon, the GasBuddy forecast says.

Colorado Springs prices eventually should follow those trends — averaging in the mid $3 neighborhood, with some stations charging much lower, De Haan said.

In fact, GasBuddy’s daily price tracker showed a Shell station at 1590 S. Academy Blvd. and an Everyday convenience store at 1502 S. Tejon St. already selling gas Thursday for $2.99 per gallon.

“There will be windows of opportunity this summer, where some stations in Colorado Springs will probably fall below $3 a gallon,” De Haan said. “I don’t know that the average will get that low. … As the summer wears on, it is possible that, if we don’t get a hurricane (to disrupt refineries), I would say that by Labor Day, if everything goes well, the average could be below $3 a gallon, which would mean many stations under that $3 mark.

“There will be little windows here and there, more and more stations, as we progress, should be able to get below that $3 mark before they cycle back up,” he said.