Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (May 26, 2016) – In less than one week, things pick up in a big way for Aaron Reutzel as he continues his defense of the Lucas Oil ASCS National championship with a month of June that includes a dozen scheduled events.
But, with one more idle weekend before that ramps up, Reutzel and the Shark-powered Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/BC Fundz No. 87 Triple-X Sprint Car team will take in a three-race Memorial Day weekend of 410-ci events in Ohio and Indiana.
This weekend will find the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions entry in All Star Circuit of Champions competition at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park on Friday, a $5,000-to-win card at Ohio’s Fremont Speedway on Saturday night and then World of Outlaws competition at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway on Monday night.
It will be the first time for Reutzel to compete at all three tracks as he looks to pick up his first 410-ci win of the year in the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
He has already picked off three 360-ci wins this season in the Wright Way Logistics/Walker Performance Filtration entry, most recently in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action at Texas Motor Speedway on May 14.
Reutzel comes off a weekend in the Northern Plains aboard Shane Liebig’s No. 55L Triple-X entry that showed great promise without the desired end results.
“Overall, it was a disappointing weekend,” Reutzel said of the triple that included NSL action at Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex on Friday night followed by two nights at Badlands Speedway in South Dakota.
“We definitely had a lot more speed than our results show,” Reutzel said of the weekend. “I am happy to know though that we have Shane’s car going good, now we just need a little luck to go with it.”
A little luck that was lacking this past weekend; as indicated by a cut tire while racing for second, getting tangled up on the opening lap of a 35-lapper and then a late spin after racing through the field.
It was one of those weekends.
Reutzel started the weekend by timing in third with the NSL at Jackson.
“We qualified good, then we missed it a little in the heat and missed it a little in the Dash,” Reutzel said.
The team got it dialed in for the feature though, with Reutzel working his way towards the front.
“We got to racing hard with (Bill) Balog and then (Kerry) Madsen, sliding each other back and forth,” Reutzel explains. “I probably used my left rear up a little too much early.”
Up to fourth and with second in sight, Reutzel popped a left rear tire. Reutzel returned at the tail of the field and rallied back to 11th in the final eight laps.
“We had just got up to the third and second place cars,” Reutzel says. “We didn’t have anything for (Craig) Dollansky, I never even saw him, but we definitely had a second place car.”
Reutzel and Liebig’s No. 55L team made the trek to Brandon, South Dakota for Saturday night’s Silver Shootout that offered more than $25,000 in silver bars to the winner of the Badlands Speedway season opener.
And Reutzel surprised himself with a qualifying lap that was fifth-quick.
“I was shocked,” Reutzel said of the qualifying effort. “I jumped the cushion and had to get out of the gas, I thought I killed the lap.”
Earning a feature spot through heat race action, Reutzel drew the two for a front row outside starting position. “We were looking good for the feature,” Reutzel says.
Those high hopes were dashed before a lap was in the books.
“McCarl took off early, I wasn’t really ready for that and wasn’t in a good position to start,” Reutzel recalls. “Lynton (Jeffrey) got a good run and ran over me on the frontstretch, then goes into the first corner and spins in front of me.”
Reutzel kept his momentum going but fell back to 13th in the scrum. “We just rode around the rest of the way and finished eighth,” Reutzel said after his machine suffered suspension damage from the contact that adversely affected the handling the rest of the way.
“It was disappointing to get run over on the first lap of a 35 lap race,” Reutzel surmises.
It was back to Badlands on Sunday night, but this time with the 360-ci powerplant in place.
Heat races offered little opportunity for passing. “You pretty much finished where you started,” Reutzel commented.
Gridding the feature field 18th, Reutzel was on the move.
“We ran all the way up to fourth and then spun out,” Reutzel says. “There was just a few laps left, so we pulled in.”
Reutzel looks for similar speed and hopefully the strong results that go along with it as he takes to the Attica, Fremont and Lawrenceburg ovals for the first time this weekend.
2016 Quick Stats: 35 races, 3 wins, 10 top-fives, 18 top-tens.
Up Next:
Friday – All Star Circuit of Champions 410-ci Sprint Cars at Attica (OH) Raceway Park
Saturday - $5,000-to-win 410-ci Sprint Cars at Fremont (OH) Speedway
Monday – World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
- administrator on May 26, 2016
- Article Date: 5/26/2016 by Lonnie Wheatley