YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Kyle Reinhardt was forced to change his schedule coming into the 2023 season. It wasn't by choice that he pulled off the road as much as a necessity in a sport that continues to get more expensive.
That doesn't mean Reinhardt hasn't improved. He seems to have more speed this season, and it's leading to better results, something he showed Thursday night at BAPS Motor Speedway.
Reinhardt, who moved from New Jersey to central Pennsylvania in 2019, started up front and fought off challenges from Dylan Norris and Jeff Halligan to capture the prestigious 30-Lap Hoseheads.com Greg Hodnett Foundation Race. The win was his first of the season and added $5,000 to his bank account.
"We've had really good speed here, lately," Reinhardt said. "Obviously, starting up front is a good thing for any 410 race. Everybody is so good, right now. I just wanted to get out front and control the race. The track actually got a lot wider than I thought it was going to, and it got wide really quick. It took me a while to get used to that, and getting around lapped cars, it kind of opened the door for those guys.
"I just have to thank my guys, Wayne Quackenbush at Capitol Renegade, Coors Beer ... it's cool to get a win for those guys ... Henry's Wrecker Service. My brother isn't here, but he works really hard. Mike, Kent, Lawton, everybody has a hand in this deal. The fans don't get to see that, but it's really cool to win and do it in a race in Greg's name, too."
Reinhardt started on the outside pole and blasted around the top of Turns 1 and 2 to grab the lead away from Dylan Norris on Lap 1. Behind the leaders, a three-car battle between Devon Borden, Chad Trout, and Kyle Moody took place for third with Trout winning out despite contact with Borden.
Norris stayed close and showed the nose to Reinhardt on the low side of Turn 4 on the ninth circuit. One lap later, Halligan charged into the mix and pulled even with Norris going down the backstretch.
Halligan continued to move forward on Lap 17. Norris tried to slide the leader, but Reinhardt ducked back under the attempt in the second corner to maintain the top spot. Halligan took advantage and shot under Norris going down the backstretch and into the third corner to take second.
Reinhardt continued to lead, with Halligan closing fast. The runner-up took his shot entering the third corner with three to go, pulling a huge slider. Reinhardt countered by ducking under his pursuer to hold on to the point by a slight margin.
Again, Halligan took the lead in the first and second corner with 11 laps to go. Reinhardt was up to the task and slid back into the lead through the third and fourth corner before the lap was complete.
This time, Reinhardt pulled away and looked like he was going to cruise to the win. That all changed when Norris stopped just past the exit of Turn 2. It only postponed the victory for Reinhardt, who drove away on the restart to claim his first win of the season.
"You can just feel them," Reinhardt said of Norris and Halligan. "I knew I was slowing down behind those lapped cars, and I couldn't do anything about it.
"It's not a good feeling, and I was looking at the screen because if they were showing me, I figured someone was close. I just did everything I could do, and we got it done."
Halligan settled for second, with Freddie Rahmer surging through the field to third after starting ninth. Chad Trout and Kyle Moody completed the top five in the main event.
"Yeah, I think we were the better car, but it was pretty top dominant," Halligan said. "Every time I felt like I had him, I got rolled up on the curb. I think that's just experience here and not having a lot of laps. It's pretty cool to run well in the Greg Hodnett Foundation Race. I always looked up to him, and he was one of my top three idols."
In the Meyers RV Super Sportsman main event, Mike Enders started on the outside pole and wired the field to capture the non-stop 25-Lap main event.
Daniel John lined up on the front row, but Enders was too much on the start. Tony Jackson started fourth and moved into third on the opening lap. On the next circuit, he blew by John and set his sights on the leader.
But Enders was in a race of his own running the bottom at each end of the speedway. He took the win by a hefty 3.487 seconds over Jackson, who fought off multiple challenges from Kenny Edkin. Troy Rhome and 10th-place starter Russ Mitten completed the top five.
410 Sprints 18 Entries
A Feature 1 30 Laps
- 91-Kyle Reinhardt[2]; 2. 45-Jeff Halligan[4]; 3. 51-Freddie Rahmer[9]; 4. 1X-Chad Trout[6]; 5. 99M-Kyle Moody[3]; 6. 23-Devon Borden[7]; 7. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5]; 8. 8D-Billy Dietrich[10]; 9. 75-Tyler Ross[14]; 10. 41-Logan Rumsey[8]; 11. 33-Riley Emig[12]; 12. 39T-Cameron Smith (MX)[11]; 13. 44-Dylan Norris[1]; 14. 4-Dwight Leppo[15]; 15. 47K-Kody Lehman[16]; 16. 9-Gordon Senft Jr[18]; 17. (DNF) 48-Danny Dietrich[13]; 18. (DNF) 55-Domenic Melair[17]
Heat 1 10 Laps
- 91-Kyle Reinhardt[1]; 2. 45-Jeff Halligan[4]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]; 4. 23-Devon Borden[6]; 5. 51-Freddie Rahmer[3]; 6. 39T-Cameron Smith (MX)[8]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[5]; 8. 4-Dwight Leppo[7]; 9. 55-Domenic Melair[9]
Heat 2 10 Laps
- 99M-Kyle Moody[1]; 2. 44-Dylan Norris[4]; 3. 1X-Chad Trout[3]; 4. 41-Logan Rumsey[2]; 5. 8D-Billy Dietrich[5]; 6. 33-Riley Emig[7]; 7. 75-Tyler Ross[6]; 8. 47K-Kody Lehman[8]; 9. 9-Gordon Senft Jr[9]
Qualifying 1 3 Laps
- 45-Jeff Halligan, 00:14.942[7]; 2. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 00:15.143[9]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 00:15.147[8]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 00:15.175[1]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:15.374[6]; 6. 23-Devon Borden, 00:15.385[3]; 7. 4-Dwight Leppo, 00:15.473[2]; 8. 39T-Cameron Smith (MX), 00:15.477[5]; 9. 55-Domenic Melair, 00:15.637[4]
Qualifying 2 3 Laps
- 44-Dylan Norris, 00:15.005[6]; 2. 1X-Chad Trout, 00:15.121[9]; 3. 41-Logan Rumsey, 00:15.182[1]; 4. 99M-Kyle Moody, 00:15.203[8]; 5. 8D-Billy Dietrich, 00:15.307[5]; 6. 75-Tyler Ross, 00:15.463[7]; 7. 33-Riley Emig, 00:15.478[3]; 8. 47K-Kody Lehman, 00:15.540[2]; 9. 9-Gordon Senft Jr, 00:18.209[4]
Meyer's RV Super Sportsman 18 Entries
A Feature 1 25 Laps
- 3B-Mike Enders[2]; 2. 88-Tony Jackson[4]; 3. 75-Kenny Edkin[9]; 4. 10-Troy Rhome[6]; 5. 77-Russ Mitten[10]; 6. 25-Tyler Wolford[5]; 7. 22-Daniel John[1]; 8. 30-Scott Dellinger[8]; 9. 35-John Edkin[7]; 10. 19R-Devin Beidel[14]; 11. 2M-Matt Ondek[12]; 12. 318-Steve Wilbur[11]; 13. 9B-Blake Brooks[17]; 14. 32-Gene Eppley[13]; 15. 16-Ryan Rutz[16]; 16. 6S-Shane McConnell[15]; 17. (DNF) 222-Jay Fannasy[3]; 18. (DNF) F14-Jason Fraker[18]
Heat 1 8 Laps
- 77-Russ Mitten[1]; 2. 35-John Edkin[8]; 3. 2M-Matt Ondek[7]; 4. 25-Tyler Wolford[6]; 5. 75-Kenny Edkin[9]; 6. 3B-Mike Enders[3]; 7. 32-Gene Eppley[4]; 8. 6S-Shane McConnell[2]; 9. 9B-Blake Brooks[5]
Heat 2 8 Laps
- 88-Tony Jackson[5]; 2. 318-Steve Wilbur[1]; 3. 222-Jay Fannasy[4]; 4. 10-Troy Rhome[7]; 5. 30-Scott Dellinger[8]; 6. 22-Daniel John[2]; 7. 19R-Devin Beidel[6]; 8. 16-Ryan Rutz[3]; 9. F14-Jason Fraker[9]
- administrator on Jun 29, 2023
- Article Date: 6/1/2023 by BAPS Motor Speedway