Aaron Reutzel Earns His First Lucas Oil ASCS Texas World Dirt Track Championship
FT. WORTH, Texas (May 14, 2016) An emotional victory turns around a lackluster start to his Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network title defense as Aaron Reutzel captured his first National Tour victory of 2016 at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track for his first Texas World Dirt Track Championship win.
“Man that was awesome. You know, going out there we knew it was going to be rubber down, and you figured the pole guy would win that one, but they left us just enough top to get up there and get to them. Johnny, I really thing, was better than us and if we hadn’t had the restart we would have ran second but we were just good enough to get him on that restart,” commented Aaron in Victory Lane.
“I got a perfect start and ran the top perfect. After that I never did go back up there and just held on the rest of the night, but I really liked running the top in the beginning because I knew I was saving my right rear while the rest of those guys were burning theirs off so I knew I could go harder, longer, than the rest of those guys. This is kind of an emotional win. We’ve been struggling so hard lately and I’m just glad Marty hasn’t given up on me. I’ve pretty hard on him because I had a hell of a year last year, so it’s been tough. I also need to thank my wife, Shelbey. I just can’t thank her enough.”
Reutzel’s 11th career win with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, the win moved Aaron to sixth in tour standings, 88 markers away from series leader, Johnny Herrera. In six races on the National Tour in 2016, there have been just as many winners.
Giving chase the first eight laps from the seventh starting spot as Johnny Herrera ran from third to the lead through the first two turns, Aaron worked to second before the caution flew as the field worked Lap 9. Going back to the last fully complete lap, the single file restart saw the Dissolvalloy No. 87 roll top shelf to the race lead.
Able to keep the No. 45x at bay through traffic, the last five laps saw Herrera close the gap in a bid for the lead, but would come up short by 0.824 seconds at the drop of the checkered flag.
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. crossed third for a solid double podium weekend with Blake Hahn and Matt Covington completing the top-five.
From ninth, Harli White crossed sixth with Logan Forler seventh. Wayne Johnson was eighth with Seth Bergman ninth. Josh Baughman made up the top-ten.
Picking up drivers for the Saturday portion of the Texas World Dirt Track Championship, the final car count was 45. Excluding the Friday lock-ins, 41 drivers drew into five Heat Races with Steven Russell, Josh Baughman, Joe Wood, Jr., Seth Bergman, and Matt Covington picking up wins. Qualifiers were topped by Wayne Johnson, Harli White, and Aaron Reutzel. Twin B-Mains went to Ray Allen Kulhanek and Travis Rilat. A regional provisional went to Fred Mattox.
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network returns to action on June 1 at the Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth, Ind. This marks the first time the National Tour will be in action at the “Playground of Power”. The event will be co-sanctioned with the Great Lakes Super Sprints (GLSS).
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to the Regional Tours, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
ASCS National & ASCS Red River
Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track – Ft. Worth, Texas
Texas World Dirt Track Championship
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Car Count: 45
ButlerBuilt Heat Races (8 Laps, top 30 in passing points advance into Qualifiers.)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Steven Russell[3]; 2. 28-Tommy Bryant[4]; 3. 8M-Kade Morton[1]; 4. 17W-Harli White[7]; 5. 2X-Tucker Doughty[9]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox[5]; 7. 19-Wes Wofford[8]; 8. 12W-Dale Wester[6]; 9. 17G-Travis Elliott[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[2]; 2. 20G-Jake Greider[1]; 3. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton[7]; 6. 55-Brad Queen[3]; 7. 18-Lorne Wofford[6]; 8. 2P-Logan Payne[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Joe Wood Jr[1]; 2. 11M-Jason McDougal[3]; 3. 02-Brandon Long[8]; 4. 4J-John Carney II[2]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks[6]; 6. 1J-Danny Jennings[4]; 7. 2K-John Kelly[7]; (DNS) 33-Mark Huddleston
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 3. 76-Zane Lawrence[5]; 4. 14-Channin Tankersley[4]; 5. 7-Kevin Ramey[6]; 6. 3-Raven Culp[8]; 7. 36-John Pate[3]; 8. (DNF) 51-Caleb Martin[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 14K-Kyle Bellm[3]; 3. 29-Travis Rilat[6]; 4. 2C-Wayne Johnson[8]; 5. 12-James Mosher[4]; 6. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[5]; 7. 98-Ryan Padgett[7]; 8. 05M-Charles McManus[1]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (8 Laps, top 12 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature. Top 4 into the redraw with Friday lock-in drivers.)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[3]; 2. 2X-Tucker Doughty[1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[10]; 5. 91-Steven Russell[6]; 6. 76-Zane Lawrence[2]; 7. 11-Joe Wood Jr[4]; 8. 84-Brandon Hanks[8]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton[7]; 10. (DNF) 3-Raven Culp[9]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White[2]; 2. 02-Brandon Long[6]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 11M-Jason McDougal[3]; 5. 28-Tommy Bryant[5]; 6. 7-Kevin Ramey[8]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[1]; 8. 7M-Chance Morton[7]; 9. 12-James Mosher[9]; 10. 19-Wes Wofford[10]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 3. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[1]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman[6]; 5. 14-Channin Tankersley[7]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[3]; 7. 1J-Danny Jennings[10]; 8. 29-Travis Rilat[5]; 9. 4J-John Carney II[8]; 10. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[9]
BMRS B-Feature (12 laps, taking top 3 from each.)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[1]; 2. 14-Channin Tankersley[2]; 3. 7-Kevin Ramey[4]; 4. 76-Zane Lawrence[3]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton[6]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox[9]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[5]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton[7]; 9. 12-James Mosher[8]; 10. 12W-Dale Wester[13]; 11. 05M-Charles McManus[14]; 12. (DNF) 18-Lorne Wofford[11]; 13. (DNF) 36-John Pate[12]; 14. (DNF) 55-Brad Queen[10]; (DNS) 17G-Travis Elliott
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat[4]; 2. 14K-Kyle Bellm[2]; 3. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[1]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[6]; 5. 1J-Danny Jennings[5]; 6. 11-Joe Wood Jr[3]; 7. 4J-John Carney II[7]; 8. 2K-John Kelly[11]; 9. 33-Mark Huddleston[14]; 10. 98-Ryan Padgett[10]; 11. (DNF) 2P-Logan Payne[13]; 12. (DNF) 3-Raven Culp[8]; 13. (DNF) 19-Wes Wofford[9]; 14. (DNF) 51-Caleb Martin[12]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (30 Laps)
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 6. 17W-Harli White[9]; 7. 2L-Logan Forler[2]; 8. 2C-Wayne Johnson[6]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 10. 17-Josh Baughman[10]; 11. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[17]; 12. 28-Tommy Bryant[16]; 13. 02-Brandon Long[8]; 14. 29-Travis Rilat[18]; 15. 14-Channin Tankersley[19]; 16. 14K-Kyle Bellm[20]; 17. 11M-Jason McDougal[15]; 18. 91-Steven Russell[12]; 19. (DNF) 7-Kevin Ramey[21]; 20. (DNF) 05-Brad Loyet[13]; 21. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[23]; 22. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty[14]; 23. (DNF) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[22]
Lap Leader(s): Johnny Herrera 1-8; Aaron Reutzel 9-30
FSR High Point Driver: Brandon Long
KSE Hard Charger: Aaron Reutzel +6
Provisional(s): Fred Mattox (Regional)
2016 ASCS National Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Johnny Herrera 909; 2. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 875; 3. Matt Covington 864; 4. Logan Forler 828; 5. Blake Hahn 828; 6. Aaron Reutzel 821; 7. Wayne Johnson 802; 8. Seth Bergman 780; 89. Brad Loyet 744; 10. Josh Baughman 740;
2016 ASCS National Winner(s): Johnny Herrera 1- (3/17-Heart O’ Texas Speedway); Wayne Johnson 1 (3/19-Devil’s Bowl Speedway); Brandon Hanks 1 (3/25-Cotton Bowl Speedway); Josh Baughman 1 (3/26 – Bronco Raceway Park); Brian Brown 1 (5/5-Lakeside Speedway); Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1 (5/13 – Texas Motor Speedway Prelim); Aaron Reutzel 1 (5/14 – Texas Motor Speedway Finale)
ASCS National Drivers Online:
Josh Baughman: http://www.joshbaughman.com
Kyle Bellm: http://www.kylebellm.com
Seth Bergman: http://www.sethbergmanracing.com
Matt Covington: http://www.mattcovingtonracing.com
Sam Hafertepe, Jr.: http://www.sam15.com
Blake Hahn: http://www.blakehahnracing.com
Johnny Herrera: http://www.johnnyherreraracing.com
Wayne Johnson: https://www.facebook.com/WayneJohnsonRacing?fref=ts
Logan Forler: https://twitter.com/ForlerRacing
Brad Loyet: http://www.loyetmotorsports.com
Aaron Reutzel: http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com
Steven Russell: https://www.facebook.com/steven.russell.71066?fref=ts
ASCS Online:
American Sprint Car Series: http://www.ascsracing.com
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Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lucasoilascs (@lucasoilascs)
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Audio Broadcast: http://www.racinboys.com
Live Scoring (Where Applicable): http://www.ascsracing.com/live and the Race Monitor App
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 Motorsports Network 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 the MAVTV Motorsports Network include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix. All Heat Races are brought to you by ButlerBuilt Professional Seating Systems. All B-Features are presented by BMRS.
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, LucasOilRacing.tv, Carlyle Tools, and General Tire.
Communications for the American Sprint Car Series is provided by Racing Electronics. All events are broadcast online at http://www.racinboys.com.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, Fuel Safe, DMI Rear Ends, BMRS, SpeedMart, Competition Suspension, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley’s Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection.
Sources: Bryan Hulbert/American Sprint Car Series PR