(Photo Credit: Mike Spivey)
Lonnie Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 22, 2014) – Aaron Reutzel has taken a liking to I-30 Speedway. Or, perhaps, I-30 Speedway has taken a liking to Aaron Reutzel.
Either way, the Clute, TX, racer remained perfect atop the high-banked, ¼-mile clay oval in 2014 by besting a field of 66 competitors in Wednesday night’s Second Annual STN Open that kicked off the track’s 27th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires.
Reutzel earned $2,000 for his third I-30 Speedway victory of the year in as many tries and also earned first option at a provisional into Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win, $2,500-to-start STN championship finale.
Should Reutzel race into the STN finale on his own, the provisional option will fall in order to STN runner-up Stevie Smith, third-place Dalton Davis and then fourth-place Derek Hagar.
“I can’t believe it, to win three in a row here and win this one is awesome,” the driver of the BC Fundz/Wren Motorsports No. 87 Triple-X exclaimed in victory lane. “Bob (Miller) has backed us all year and this is one of the first nights he’s been able to be with us, I won this one for him.”
Racing from fifth to make a critical pass of Tim Crawley in the night’s eighth and final heat race netted Reutzel the second row inside starting spot behind front row starters Eric Riggins, Jr., of North Carolina and Ohio’s Shawn Dancer.
While Riggins gunned into the early lead, Reutzel disposed of Dancer in short order and was pressuring for the point when Riggins looped it getting into turn one on the fourth lap. Reutzel dodged the spinning machine then kept the field at bay the rest of the way for his seventh overall win of the year.
“We were fortunate he didn’t take us out when he was spinning,” Reutzel commented.
With Reutzel setting the pace, A.J. Bruns and Dalton Davis led the host of chasers with tenth-starter Jason Johnson disposing of Stevie Smith for fourth by the fifth round.
Seeking his first ASCS National Tour win of the year, Johnson got loose and spun to a stop in turn four with 14 laps in the books to bring out the race’s only caution.
Reutzel took off on the restart with Stevie Smith racing past both Davis and Bruns within a lap to take over second aboard Shawn Petersen’s No. 4 machine.
With traffic in play over the final circuits, Smith had Reutzel within his sights until the leader made a nimble move around a pair of lapped cars on the white flag that essentially sealed his third ASCS National win of the year.
“I was too tight to roll the bottom the way I need to those last few laps, but we made it work,” Reutzel said.
Smith flashed across the stripe in second with Memphis-area darkhorse Davis claiming the show position. One of the pre-STN favorites with 15 wins on the season, Marion, AR, shoe Derek Hagar advanced from the 12th starting position to snare fourth.
Zach Pringle edged Kevin Swindell at the line to round out the top five, with Swindell settling for sixth after rallying from the 18th starting position. Bruns slipped to seventh over the final rounds with Ray Allen Kulhanek, 17th-starter Johnny Herrera and 20th-starter Brian Brown completing the top ten.
Josh Baughman, Jason Johnson, Dustin Morgan, Pringle, Hagar, Kulhanek, Eric Lutz and Smith topped heat race action for the 66 car field.
Shane Golobic edged Cody Gardner to win the first “C” Main with Ryan Bickett topping the second “B” Main. Herrera and Kevin Swindell won the “B” Mains.
The night got off to a wild start with Taylor Tidmore clipping another car then sliding into the infield tires entering turn one and flipping in the night’s opening heat race. Dusty Zomer nailed the same tire later in the sixth heat race. Both drivers were uninjured but done for the night.
The 27th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals gets under way on Thursday night with approximately half of loaded field of competitors taking to the ¼-mile clay oval for a full card of heat races, qualifying races, “B” Mains and “A” Main with the top three finishers locked into Saturday’s finale. Thursday’s action gets under way with hot laps at 7:00 p.m.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real
I-30 Speedway - Little Rock, Ark.
2nd annual Short Track Open
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Car Count: 66
SpeedMart Heat Races (8 laps)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 2. 47-Eric Riggins Jr[7]; 3. 49-Shawn Dancer[9]; 4. 99J-Blake Jenkins[4]; 5. 17B-Ryan Bickett[3]; 6. 00-Dane Lorenc[2]; 7. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington[5]; 8. (DNF) 32B-Taylor Tidmore[6]; DNS 199-Ryan Bowers
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[1]; 2. 40-Howard Moore[2]; 3. 99H-Jerrod Hull[4]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell[5]; 6. 12W-Dale Wester[7]; 7. 23M-Lance Moss[8]; 8. 9$-Kyle Clark[9]; 9. (DNF) 75-Brock Elliott[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[2]; 2. 10M-Morgan Turpen[4]; 3. 21B-Brian Brown[5]; 4. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 5. 91-Shane Golobic[1]; 6. 17T-Channin Tankersley[8]; 7. 26-Marshall Skinner[7]; 8. 44R-Ronny Howard[6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14Z-Zach Pringle[1]; 2. 01-Kevin Swindell[3]; 3. 19-Klint Angelette[2]; 4. 77X-Wayne Johnson[8]; 5. 87B-Jason Barney[6]; 6. 17G-Cody Gardner[7]; 7. 21-Kevin Hinkle[5]; 8. 21BX-Brandon Hinkle[4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[1]; 2. 16-Anthony Nicholson[3]; 3. 44-A.J. Bruns[7]; 4. 3A-A.G. Rains[8]; 5. 31B-Christopher Bell[6]; 6. 14M-Jordon Mallett[4]; 7. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton[2]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[1]; 2. 4J-Gary Taylor[2]; 3. 12D-Dalton Davis[7]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[8]; 5. 1M-Sean McClelland[6]; 6. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[4]; 7. (DNF) 10-Terry Gray[3]; 8. (DNF) 82Z-Dusty Zomer[5]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Eric Lutz[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 3. 5R-Jerod Roller[3]; 4. 3H-Brandon Hanks[7]; 5. 43-Matthew Bauldwin[4]; 6. 17W-Harli White[6]; 7. 0-Glenn Styres[8]; 8. 51B-Joe B. Miller[5]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Stevie Smith[2]; 2. 87R-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 3. 88-Tim Crawley[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 5. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[7]; 6. 10B-Mitch Brown[6]; 7. 74E-Claud Estes III[8]; 8. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton[1]
Speedway Motors C-Features (10 Laps): Taking top 3 to B-Features.
C Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 91-Shane Golobic[2]; 2. 17G-Cody Gardner[1]; 3. 10B-Mitch Brown[3]; 4. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 5. 14M-Jordon Mallett[5]; 6. 00-Dane Lorenc[6]; 7. 51B-Joe B. Miller[11]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton[12]; 9. 21-Kevin Hinkle[8]; 10. 75-Brock Elliott[13]; DNS 32B-Taylor Tidmore; DNS 10-Terry Gray; DNS 95-Matt Covington
C Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 17B-Ryan Bickett[1]; 2. 17W-Harli White[2]; 3. 14K-Kyle Bellm[8]; 4. 74E-Claud Estes III[4]; 5. 23M-Lance Moss[3]; 6. 7M-Chance Morton[12]; 7. 21BX-Brandon Hinkle[11]; 8. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[5]; 9. 44R-Ronny Howard[9]; DNS 26-Marshall Skinner; DNS 82Z-Dusty Zomer; DNS 199-Ryan Bowers; 13. DQ 9$-Kyle Clark[7]
Smiley's Racing Products B-Features (12 Laps): Taking top 3 to A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 3H-Brandon Hanks[3]; 3. 4J-Gary Taylor[4]; 4. 16-Anthony Nicholson[2]; 5. 99H-Jerrod Hull[5]; 6. 91-Shane Golobic[13]; 7. 10B-Mitch Brown[15]; 8. 94-Jeff Swindell[9]; 9. 5R-Jerod Roller[6]; 10. 99J-Blake Jenkins[8]; 11. 17T-Channin Tankersley[11]; 12. 43-Matthew Bauldwin[12]; 13. (DNF) 31B-Christopher Bell[10]; 14. (DNF) 17G-Cody Gardner[14]; 15. (DNF) 19-Klint Angelette[7]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 01-Kevin Swindell[1]; 2. 21B-Brian Brown[2]; 3. 88-Tim Crawley[6]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[8]; 5. 40-Howard Moore[3]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 7. 87B-Jason Barney[9]; 8. 17B-Ryan Bickett[13]; 9. 8-Alex Sewell[11]; 10. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[7]; 11. 1M-Sean McClelland[10]; 12. 12W-Dale Wester[12]; 13. 14K-Kyle Bellm[15]; 14. 17W-Harli White[14]; 15. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn[5]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (25 Laps):
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 87R-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 2. 4-Stevie Smith[7]; 3. 12D-Dalton Davis[5]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[12]; 5. 14Z-Zach Pringle[11]; 6. 01-Kevin Swindell[18]; 7. 44-A.J. Bruns[4]; 8. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[13]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera[17]; 10. 21B-Brian Brown[20]; 11. 3A-A.G. Rains[16]; 12. 77X-Wayne Johnson[15]; 13. 4J-Gary Taylor[21]; 14. 93-Dustin Morgan[6]; 15. 17-Josh Baughman[9]; 16. 88-Tim Crawley[22]; 17. 41-Jason Johnson[10]; 18. 10M-Morgan Turpen[8]; 19. 3H-Brandon Hanks[19]; 20. 5-Eric Lutz[14]; 21. 49-Shawn Dancer[2]; 22. 47-Eric Riggins Jr[1]
Lap Leader(s): Eric Riggins 1-3; Aaron Reutzel 3-25
KSE Hard Charger: Kevin Swindell +12
FSR High Point: Eric Riggins, Jr.
Provisional(s): N/A
=======================================================
2014 A-Feature Winner(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. - 4. Brad Loyet - 3, Jeff Swindell - 3, Tony Bruce, Jr. - 3, Aaron Reutzel -3, Rico Abreu - 2, Christopher Bell - 2, Brian Brown - 2, Seth Bergman - 2, Wayne Johnson - 2, Derek Hagar - 2, Matt Covington - 2, Patrick Stasa - 1, Sammy Swindell - 1, Davey Heskin - 1, Tim Crawley - 1
2014 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Brad Loyet 3,740; 2. Jeff Swindell 3,704; 3. Johnny Herrera 3,689; 4. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 3,687; 5. Jason Johnson 3,668; 6. Seth Bergman 3,487; 7. Matt Covington 3,455; 8. Tony Bruce, Jr. 3,400; 9. Aaron Reutzel 3,199; 10. Blake Hahn 3,141;
=======================================================
The 2014 season marks the twenty-third year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation. Anchored by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix.
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, iON Camera, Smokey Mountain Moonshine, C&R Radiator, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, SpeedMart, Competition Suspension, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Saldana Racing Products, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, The Joie of Seating, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley's Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News by texting ASCS to 22828 with any mobile device.
- Bryan Hulbert on Oct 23, 2014
- Article Date: 10/23/2014