(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – SOMERTON, Ariz. (Jan. 10, 2015) – Aaron Reutzel capped the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown by accomplishing a goal that had evaded him throughout the first week and a half of the new year.
Reutzel led all but one lap on Saturday at Cocopah Speedway, where he recorded his first career 410ci sprint car feature victory during the final night of the five-race event.
“It’s unreal,” he said. “To come out of the box and lead the first two nights and then something happened. We were leading this deal and I was just waiting for something to happen.”
After earning a front row starting position for the first two Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown races last weekend only to have mechanical issues derail him, Reutzel took advantage of a similar opportunity on Saturday when he lined up on the inside of NASCAR star Kasey Kahne to start the 30-lap, $12,000-to-win feature.
Reutzel powered to the bottom groove entering turn one to take the lead during the third different race of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown.
Meanwhile, Craig Dollansky drove around Kahne exiting turn four on the second lap and he started to stalk Reutzel. Dollansky closed to the bumper of Reutzel entering turn one on Lap 9 before taking the lead with a power move on the outside of Reutzel in turn four.
Reutzel returned the favor on the ensuing lap by regaining the lead before his nose wing broke, which affected the handling for the final two thirds of the race.
“Craig drove around me through the middle,” he said. “I got the wing back a little farther and figured I was going to try to go back around him the same way. Luckily I got right back by him. Then the nose wing fell done so luckily I got by him that lap because we definitely wouldn’t have passed him with that nose wing down.”
Traffic entered the picture around the midpoint of the race, but it didn’t slow Reutzel as he hit his marks along the bottom groove of the track each lap. Dollansky stayed within striking distance, but it was David Gravel who maneuvered from fourth to second place on the final lap with a daring move.
“It was the last lap and I said screw it, I’m going to the top,” Gravel said. “The rubber held me to the center and then I picked up the grip coming off and it worked. I couldn’t believe I passed Dollansky, too. I got into the wall a little bit, but it was worth it.”
Dollansky settled for third place, which marked his first podium of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown.
“It was a long week, but we just kept digging,” he said. “Tonight I was trying to run conservative, but good enough to hopefully win the race. (Reutzel) did a great job winning tonight. We had a car that was in the game and that’s all you can ask for.”
Sam Hafertepe Jr. finished fourth with Kahne rounding out the top five.
Danny Lasoski, who won Friday’s main event, earned the Hard Charger Award on Saturday by rallying from 16th to sixth. He also earned the overall Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown championship and a $4,000 bonus thanks to Cometic Gasket, JE Pistons and K1 Technologies.
“That’s a credit to my team,” he said. “I’m just the guy who gets to drive.”
Christopher Bell placed seventh with Stevie Smith, who was tied with Lasoski in the championship standings but lost the tiebreaker because of Lasoski winning a feature, ending eighth. Kraig Kinser scored a ninth-place result with Henry Van Dam rallying for his fourth top 10 of the event.
Reutzel, Dollansky, Dale Blaney and Logan Forler each won a heat race with Steve Kinser, Kahne, Hafertepe and Mason Moore claiming qualifiers. Logan Schuchart was victorious in the B Main.
It was announced during Opening Ceremonies that the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown will return in 2016 to Cocopah Speedway. The 410ci sprint car races held on Jan. 1-2 and on Jan. 8-9 will each pay $12,000 to win and $1,000 to start with the midweek race on Jan. 5 giving $5,000 to the winner.
JAN. 10 RESULTS –
Heat Race 1 (8 laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel (2); 2. 33-Danny Lasoski (1); 3. 1s-Logan Schuchart (4); 4. 11c-Roger Crockett (6); 5. 3c-Willie Croft (3); 6. 77x-Wayne Johnson (5); 7. 74x-Josh Hodges (8); 8. 5h-Dakota Hendrickson (7).
Heat Race 2 (8 laps): 1. 7-Craig Dollansky (1); 2. 33v-Henry Van Dam (2); 3. 31b-Christopher Bell (3); 4. 82-Dusty Zomer (5); 5. 15h-Sam Hafertepe Jr. (4); 6. 9-Kasey Kahne (8); 7. 88n-D.J. Netto (7); 8. 99-Skylar Gee (6).
Heat Race 3 (8 laps): 1. 57-Dale Blaney (1); 2. 26-Joey Saldana (4); 3. 83-David Gravel (2); 4. 21-Brian Brown (3); 5. 94-Ryan Smith (6); 6. 11-Steve Kinser (7); 7. 88-Brandon Rahmer (5); 8. 51-Paul McMahan (8).
Heat Race 4 (8 laps): 1. 2l-Logan Forler (1); 2. 1a-Jacob Allen (2); 3. 51s-Stevie Smith (5); 4. 11k-Kraig Kinser (6); 5. 22-Mason Moore (4); 6. 24-Rico Abreu (7); 7. 9r-Reece Goetz (8); 8. 98-Matt Jensen (3).
Qualifier 1 (10 laps): 1. 11-Steve Kinser (1); 2. 94-Ryan Smith (2); 3. 51s-Stevie Smith (3); 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel (6); 5. 1s-Logan Schuchart (4); 6. 51-Paul McMahan (8); 7. 2l-Logan Forler (5); 8. 74x-Josh Hodges (7).
Qualifier 2 (10 laps): 1. 9-Kasey Kahne (2); 2. 24-Rico Abreu (1); 3. 83-David Gravel (3); 4. 11c-Roger Crockett (4); 5. 33v-Henry Van Dam (5); 6. 26-Joey Saldana (6); 7. 5h-Dakota Hendrickson (8); 8. 9r-Reece Goetz (7).
Qualifier 3 (10 laps): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2); 2. 3c-Willie Croft (1); 3. 11k-Kraig Kinser (4); 4. 82-Dusty Zomer (3); 5. 7-Craig Dollansky (6); 6. 1a-Jacob Allen (5); 7. 99-Skylar Gee (8); 8. 88n-D.J. Netto (7).
Qualifier 4 (10 laps): 1. 22-Mason Moore (2); 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson (1); 3. 31b-Christopher Bell (4); 4. 21-Brian Brown (3); 5. 33-Danny Lasoski (5); 6. 57-Dale Blaney (6); 7. 88-Brandon Rahmer (7); 8. 98-Matt Jensen (8).
B Main (15 laps/8 transfer): 1. 1s-Logan Schuchart (1); 2. 82-Dusty Zomer (3); 3. 24-Rico Abreu (2); 4. 77x-Wayne Johnson (7); 5. 3c-Willie Croft (4); 6. 1a-Jacob Allen (5); 7. 2l-Logan Forler (6); 8. 21-Brian Brown (8); 9. 51-Paul McMahan (9); 10. 9r-Reece Goetz (13); 11. 88-Brandon Rahmer (10); 12. 99-Skylar Gee (14); 13. 88n-D.J. Netto (15); 14. 74x-Josh Hodges (11); 15. 98-Matt Jensen (16); 16. 5h-Dakota Hendrickson (12).
A Main (30 laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel (1); 2. 83-David Gravel (9); 3. 7-Craig Dollansky (4); 4. 15h-Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6); 5. 9-Kasey Kahne (2); 6. 33-Danny Lasoski (16); 7. 31b-Christopher Bell (5); 8. 51s-Stevie Smith (8); 9. 11k-Kraig Kinser (3); 10. 33v-Henry Van Dam (14); 11. 82-Dusty Zomer (18); 12. 11c-Roger Crockett (12); 13. 11-Steve Kinser (10); 14. 57-Dale Blaney (15); 15. 22-Mason Moore (7); 16. 24-Rico Abreu (19); 17. 26-Joey Saldana (13); 18. 77x-Wayne Johnson (20); 19. 21-Brian Brown (24); 20. 3c-Willie Croft (21); 21. 94-Ryan Smith (11); 22. 2l-Logan Forler (23); 23. 1a-Jacob Allen (22); 24. 1s-Logan Schuchart (17).
(Top 24 in passing and finishing points in the heat races were inverted in the qualifiers. The top 16 in passing and finishing points following the qualifiers locked into the A Main.)
POINTS FINISH –
T1. 33-Danny Lasoski 880; T1. 51s-Stevie Smith 880; 3. 26-Joey Saldana 876; 4. 51-Paul McMahan 873; 5. 11c-Roger Crockett 836; 6. 31b-Christopher Bell 835; T7. 83-David Gravel 815; T7. 11k-Kraig Kinser 815; T9. 33v-Henry Van Dam 805; T9. 9-Kasey Kahne 805; 11. 21-Brian Brown 795; 12. 11-Steve Kinser 793; 13. 7-Craig Dollansky 792; 14. 57-Dale Blaney 768; 15. 1s-Logan Schuchart 767; 16. 82-Dusty Zomer 763; 17. 87-Aaron Reutzel 757; 18. 3c-Willie Croft 755; 19. 15h-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 726; 20. 22-Mason Moore 724; 21. 2l-Logan Forler 711; 22. 94-Ryan Smith 708; 23. 9r-Reece Goetz 694; 24. 1a-Jacob Allen 648; 25. 99n-D.J. Netto 630; 26. 5h-Dakota Hendrickson 626; 27. 99-Skylar Gee 594; 28. 77x-Wayne Johnson 586; 29. 42-Kyle Larson 523; 30. 51r-Freddie Rahmer 450; 31. 98-Matt Jensen 441; 32. 74x-Josh Hodges 337; 33. 24-Rico Abreu 297; 34. 23-Seth Bergman 279; 35. 88-Brandon Rahmer 238; 26. 55-Bud Walberg 107.
WINTER HEAT SPRINT CAR SHOWDOWN –
Dates: Jan. 2-3, 6, 9-10, 2015
Track: Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz.
Prize: $12,000-to-win, $1,000-to-start each night (Jan. 2-3, 9-10); $5,000-to-win (Jan. 6); approximately $250,000 total prize money
Type: 410ci sprint cars
Times: Pit gate opens at 11 a.m.; main gates open at 2 p.m.; hot laps at 6:30 p.m.; Opening Ceremonies at 7 p.m.
TICKETS –
Fans can purchase tickets by clicking https://secure.pivotalracing.com/venues/cocopah-speedway.
PAY-PER-VIEW –
SPEED SPORT Productions will be broadcasting live Pay-Per-View video of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown for $27.95 per night. Visit http://www.SPEEDSPORT.TV/live for more information. The event will also be taped for a pair of one-hour delayed television broadcasts via MAVTV.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.CocopahSpeedway.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CocopahShowdown
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WinterHeatSprintCarShowdown
THE EVENT –
The inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown will showcase the top sprint car drivers in the world in sunny Southwest Arizona during the first two weekends of January in 2015. The four weekend races pay $12,000 to the winner and at least $1,000 to every driver who advances to the main event with the midweek show paying $5,000 to win.
POINTS FUND –
A $10,000 points fund will be split among the top-five finishers. The champion will receive a $4,000 bonus with drivers finishing second through fifth each offered $1,500. A driver will earn points throughout heat races, qualifying races and main events during the five events. A competitor must attempt to race in all five Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown races to be eligible for the points fund.
COCOPAH SPEEDWAY –
Cocopah Speedway is a semi-banked, 3/8-mile dirt track located in Somerton, Ariz. It has a concrete wall perimeter, television-quality lighting and the pits are located outside turns three and four. There is also dry camping free of charge on the property. For more information, visit http://www.CocopahSpeedway.com.
COMETIC GASKET –
Cometic Gasket, Inc., is a leading worldwide supplier of shelf stock, custom and short-run gaskets for the performance aftermarket, original equipment and motor sports industries. The company, which is located in Concord, Ohio, was created in 1989 and ships out more than 5,000 types of gaskets to customers worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.Cometic.com.
JE PISTONS –
JE Pistons is the leader in high performance forged pistons. Based in Irvine, Calif., the company has more than 60 years of experience and has a history of manufacturing the highest quality pistons and components that professional engine builders, race teams and high-performance enthusiasts trust and rely on. For more information, visit http://www.JEPistons.com.
K1 TECHNOLOGIES –
K1 Technologies, which is located in Mentor, Ohio, has many years in the field of designing, engineering and manufacturing connecting rods and crankshafts. For more information, visit http://www.K1Technologies.com.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jan 11, 2015
- Article Date: 1/11/2015 by Inside Line Promotions