AARON REUTZEL WINS TOMMY HINNERSHITZ CLASSIC AT WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY
Chris Frank and Dylan Norris score 358 Sprint Car wins
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – In August, Aaron Reutzel became the first All Star Circuit of Champions regular to win a sanctioned event at Williams Grove Speedway.
Reutzel backed up that win with another one Friday night as the driver
from Clute, Texas, scored the Tommy Hinnershitz Classic for the sprint
cars earning $6,000.
“We’ve been working really hard on getting good when it’s slick and
20-second lap times around this place is unreal, hard,” Reutzel said.
“The car was really good. We hit on something.”
Reutzel and Giovanni Scelzi won the twin dashes and shared the front
row to start the 30-lap main event.
Reutzel grabbed the early lead. James McFadden raced by Scelzi and
into second. Fifth starter Lance Dewease passed Brian Montieth taking
fourth. An inside move by Scelzi in turn four moved Dewease into
third.
McFadden closed on the leader as they caught the rear of the field.
The yellow flew with eight laps completed giving Reutzel clean air
again.
The top three used three different grooves on the restart with Reutzel
blasting the top, Dewease in the middle and McFadden on the bottom.
Dewease caught McFadden for second and tried a frontstretch pass. They
made contact and nearly did again racing into turn three.
Meanwhile, Reutzel pulled away to a comfortable lead staying on the
outside as he began lapping cars.
McFadden put the pressure back on, but Reutzel dropped to the inside groove.
“I saw a lapped car start running the bottom and he kind of pulled me
one lap, but I missed the top,” Reutzel explained. “I tried to run it
harder the next lap to give it one more chance. I seen him pull me and
McFadden get under me at the same time, so I knew it was time to sit
on the bottom.”
McFadden and Dewease stayed close. McFadden took a shot on the top in
three and four, but slipped over the cushion allowing Dewease to drive
by and Scelzi into third.
Reutzel, the current All Star point leader and defending champion,
controlled the final laps winning his second Grove feature in the past
month and 14th on the season with the All Stars.
“I figured there wasn’t too much going on, but then I seen Dewease
move into second,” Reutzel said. “I could hear someone back there. I
was trying to run a little harder, but at the same time, I didn’t want
to catch those lapped cars.”
Dewease, Scelzi, McFadden and Brian Montieth completed the top five.
“I wish I could have cleared (McFadden) because I think I could have
done something with Aaron,” Dewease said. “I could race the middle and
I found a good lane in three and four, but that’s all part of it.”
Kerry Madsen, Cory Eliason, Brock Zearfoss, Danny Dietrich and Brian
Brown rounded out the top 10.
Scelzi set quick time over the 37-car field with a lap of 16.718.
Zearfoss, Madsen, Reutzel and Eliason won the heat races. Freddie
Rahmer won the B-main.
Teenager Dylan Norris won the 20-lap main event for the 358 sprints
over Doug Hammaker, Matt Findley, Todd Rittenhouse and Wyatt Hinkle.
He led every lap for his first career Grove win.
Norris and Findley won the heat races.
In the 25-lap Summer Series make-up feature for the 358 Sprints from
Aug. 2, it was second starter Chris Frank getting the jump on
polesitter Brett Wanner at the start. Frank controlled the race past
the half-way point. Wanner caught the leader with seven laps to go,
but couldn’t make the pass. Frank earned $1,500. Dylan Norris, Chad
Criswell and Glenndon Forsythe completed the top five. Doug Hammaker,
Matt Findley, Troy Wagaman Jr., Gregg Foster and Wyatt Hinkle rounded
out the top 10. Hammaker was the series champion.
Feature Finishes
Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial (30 laps): 1. Aaron Reutzel. 2. Lance Dewease. 3. Giovanni Scelzi. 4. James McFadden. 5. Brian Montieth. 6. Kerry Madsen. 7. Cory Eliason. 8. Brock Zearfoss. 9. Danny Dietrich. 10. Brian Brown. 11. Freddie Rahmer. 12. Ryan Smith. 13. Kyle Moody. 14. Cory Haas. 15. Matt Campbell. 16. Parker Price-Miller. 17. Anthony Macri. 18. Paul McMahan. 19. Steve Buckwalter. 20. Justin Peck. 21. Chad Trout. 22. Dale Blaney. 23. Skylar Gee. 24. Chris Arnold. 25. Trey Starks. 26 TJ Stutts. 27 Landon Myers.
B-main (12 laps): 1. Freddie Rahmer. 2. Anthony Macri. 3. Paul McMahan. 4. Trey Starks. 5. Steve Buckwalter. 6. Justin Peck. 7. Lucas Wolfe. 8. TJ Stutts. 9. Gerard McIntyre Jr. 10. Tyler Reeser. 11. Greg Wilson. 12. Jeff Halligan. 13. Troy Fraker. 14. Barry Shearer.
DNS: Jared Esh, Robbie Kendall, George Hobaugh.
358 Sprint Car Feature (20 laps): 1. Dylan Norris. 2. Doug Hammaker. 3. Matt Findley. 4. Todd Rittenhouse. 5. Wyatt Hinkle. 6. Troy Wagaman Jr. 7. Gregg Foster. 8. Chad Criswell. 9. Rich Eichelberger. 10. Tyler Brehm. 11. Chris Frank. 12. Glenndon Forsythe. 13. Brett Wanner. 14. Kyle Denmyer. 15. Cody Fletcher. 16. Mark Van Vorst. 17. Dan Rickcreek. 18. Kevin Nouse. DNS: Jay Krout.
358 Sprint Car Feature -makeup (25 laps): 1. Chris Frank. 2. Brett Wanner. 3. Dylan Norris. 4. Chad Criswell. 5. Glenndon Forsythe. 6. Doug Hammaker. 7. Matt Findley. 8. Troy Wagaman Jr. 9. Gregg Foster. 10. Wyatt Hinkle. 11. Todd Rittenhouse Jr. 12. Rich Eichelberger. 13. Aaron Eichelberger. 14. Kevin Nouse. DNS: Scott Fisher, Dwight Leppo, Troy Rhome, Travis Scott