From Inside Line Promotions
Somerton, AZ — (January 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.