Port Royal, PA -- July 30th, 2021 was the last time that Aaron Reutzel was able to pick up a win against a national touring series, and he was able to put that drought to an end on Friday night's Night Before the 50 at Port Royal Speedway against Kubota High Limit Racing.
2023's winner of the Tuscarora 50 Brian Brown and 2022's winner Anthony Macri would make up the front row for the 25-lap A-main event.
Brown would take the early lead over the first 2 laps, but Reutzel would get by him off of turn 2 and would begin to run away with the lead.
With 11 laps remaining, Logan Wagner was charging through the field and was up into 3rd from his original 6th starting spot. While running the topside of turns 1 and 2, Wagner jumped the cushion and rode on two wheels against the outside wheel. When the 69K returned all four tires to the track, the front end was broken on the 5-time track champions ride and would end his night.
The restart would see Macri go to battle with Justin Whittall for the runner-up while Reutzel would again begin to open up his lead.
2 laps after the restart, Macri would face the same fate as Logan Wagner, except he would go flipping down the back straightaway ending his night.
Reutzel would restart with the lead and 9 laps remaining and would hold on for his first Kubota High Limit Racing win.
"It's been a while since I've won on a big stage," said Reutzel in victory lane. "This place is so much fun. There's no other place like it in the country. I love this place."
Reutzel has locked himself in to Saturday's A-main event that pays $2,000 to start and $57,000 to win.
Justin Whittall and Chase Dietz would round out the top 3.
With Logan Wagner not being able to finish the A-main, Mike Wagner would claim the 2024 track championship making it the 3rd in his career.
In Selinsgrove Ford super late model competition, the Butch Renninger Memorial would take the stage with the winner's share increasing to $8,333 to win courtesy of Fleet Reps.
Kyle Lee would start on the pole and lead all 33 laps on the way to victory lane.
He would face a late challenge as Mason Ziegler, who started in 6th would look to run him down in lapped traffic, but Lee was able to navigate around the slower cars to give himself enough of a gap to pick up his first Renninger Memorial of his career and his 3rd career win at Port Royal Speedway.
Ziegler would finish in 2nd and Hayes Mattern would round out the podium.
Dylan Yoder and Rick Eckert would go into the A-main only separated by 25 points in the points championship.
Just 8 laps in to the 33 lap feature event, the 0 of Rick Eckert would break down on the back straightaway and would be unable to finish the event which would allow Dylan Yoder to claim his 3rd track championship in just 6 years.
Port Royal Speedway and Kubota High Limit Racing will be back in competition on Saturday for the 57th Annual Tuscarora 50 presented by Packer's Concessions and Ramsey's Car Wash.
For more information, visit portroyalspeedway.com or follow along on social media at Port Royal Speedway Trackside Media on Facebook or @PortRoyalSpdway on X/Twitter.
Full Results:
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:15:39.181 | Kubota
- 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 67-Justin Whittall[3]; 3. 1Z-Chase Dietz[11]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet[10]; 5. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[9]; 7. 8-Cory Eliason[7]; 8. 83-James McFadden[13]; 9. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[8]; 10. 14-Corey Day[21]; 11. 13-Justin Peck[16]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen[12]; 13. 12-Lance Dewease[22]; 14. 24-Rico Abreu[17]; 15. 26-Zeb Wise[15]; 16. 9P-Parker Price Miller[18]; 17. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[25]; 18. 88-Sye Lynch[5]; 19. 19-Brent Marks[20]; 20. 2KS-Hunter Schuerenberg[23]; 21. 55-Chris Windom[29]; 22. 55W-Mike Wagner[26]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee[19]; 24. 35-Austin Bishop[28]; 25. 9-Kasey Kahne[27]; 26. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]; 27. 48-Danny Dietrich[24]; 28. 51-Freddie Rahmer[14]; 29. 69K-Logan Wagner[6]
B Feature 12 Laps | 00:03:39.045 | FK Rod Ends
- 14-Corey Day[4]; 2. 12-Lance Dewease[3]; 3. 2KS-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[8]; 5. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 6. 6-Ryan Smith[1]; 7. 27H-Ryan Timms[6]; 8. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr[10]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[15]; 10. 55W-Mike Wagner[5]; 11. 27S-Robbie Kendall[9]; 12. 55-Chris Windom[16]; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne[11]; 14. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[13]; 15. 11-TJ Stutts[14]; 16. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[20]; 17. 35-Austin Bishop[17]; 18. 99A-Devin Adams[18]; 19. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[12]; 20. 47K-Kody Lehman[19]
LM A Feature 33 Laps | 00:15:21.098
- 100-Kyle Lee[1]; 2. 25-Mason Zeigler[6]; 3. 9-Hayes Mattern[3]; 4. 2J-Justin Weaver[2]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[9]; 6. 24-Dylan Yoder[4]; 7. 7S-Ross Robinson[11]; 8. 91-Coleby Frye[15]; 9. 32J-Shaun Jones[12]; 10. 92-Jeff Rine[14]; 11. 11H-Devin Hart[8]; 12. 1-Gene Knaub[19]; 13. 58-Drake Troutman[17]; 14. 57-Jeff Miller[20]; 15. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[25]; 16. 4-Gary Stuhler[16]; 17. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[10]; 18. 11-Jason Schmidt[22]; 19. 1W-Mike Walls[13]; 20. 3-Tim Wilson[18]; 21. 8-Matt Sponaugle[21]; 22. 4S-Danny Snyder[23]; 23. C33-Chris Casner[24]; 24. 20-Trever Feathers[7]; 25. 0-Rick Eckert[5]
Photo Credit: Jeremy Zarfos
- Brad Strawser on Sep 07, 2024
- Article Date: 9/7/2024 by Brad Strawser