By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 3, 2023) – Aaron Reutzel started defense of his Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank title by winning the Wednesday preliminary feature event.
Reutzel made an incredible save bouncing through the cushion through turns three and four, still carrying enough momentum to drive around Colby Copeland for the lead in turns one and two.
“I almost wrecked the thing over there because I was committed to driving off (Copeland’s) right rear and he slid up just enough for I got dirty air, got up and about got over the cushion and crashed,” said Reutzel of his close call racing for the lead. “Luckily it came down on all fours, got some lap traffic and was able to finally seal the deal.”
By virtue of winning Reutzel also secured the top point position on opening night of the 360 Knoxville Nationals.
Colby Copeland and Jason Martin started on the front row for the 20-lap preliminary feature.
Copeland leads as Reutzel splits through the middle of Jamie Ball and Jason Martin to take second. Ball took third while Martin was under fire from Kelby Watt early on for fourth until Watt dropped back through the field.
The first caution flag appeared with four laps complete when Timothy Smith ended up backwards in turn two. Smith was able to continue at the tail of the field.
Copeland continued to lead Reutzel while Hafertepe was able to go from fifth to third position through turns one and two after the restart. One lap later the red flag appeared when Tasker Phillips tipped over in turn four. Phillips was able to join the back of the field for the restart.
Copeland started to feel pressure from Reutzel on lap eight for the lead. Scott Bogucki also made his presence felt taking over fourth from Ball on lap 10.
Retuzel hung to Copeland’s back bumper while Hafertepe closed in to create a three-car race for the lead. Further back in the field Knoxville Raceway 360 sprint car
Copeland traffic lap 15, Reutzel pounced, jumped the cushion in turn four, bounced, and managed to hold on to second position. Even with the save, Reutzel managed to build up enough momentum to take lead through turns one and two on lap 16 with Hafetertpe driving by for second. Copeland continued to drop through the field back to fourth.
Hafertepe started to close in but was unable to mount a challenge as Reutzel secured his ninth career victory at Knoxville Raceway. Hafertepe, Bogucki charging from 15th starting position, Randall from 12th, and Copeland rounded out the top five.
During post race inspection, Bogucki’s ASCS Mandated heads were found to be out of spec and he was disqualified.
Hafertepe was content after a late qualifying draw to end up runner up on the podium.
“We had a really good race car,” said Haferetpe. “(Reutzel) runs here all the time so he knows where to put his car and in those situations. He did exactly what he needed to do. We had to better race car but he drove a really good race and put himself in the right spots at the right time. I made a little charge the last couple of laps but couldn’t get it done.”
Kaleb Johnson was the fastest qualifier over the 50-car field with a lap of 16.389 seconds. Brenham Crouch, Phillips, Martin, Austin McCarl, and Scott Bogucki won heat race events. Liam Martin won the C-main event before getting upside down in the B-Main, which was won by Ryan Leavitt.
33rd Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank – Night #1
ASCS National Tour
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Qualifying
1. 22K-Kaleb Johnson, 16.389[2]
2. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 16.401[8]
3. 5T-Ryan Timms, 16.552[16]
4. 1K-Kelby Watt, 16.579[13]
5. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 16.593[4]
6. 22-Ryan Leavitt, 16.641[7]
7. 8M-Kade Morton, 16.714[10]
8. 17-Tyler Groenendyk, 16.718[3]
9. 41-Colton Hardy, 16.718[19]
10. 24R-Rico Abreu, 16.732[32]
11. 4W-Jamie Ball, 16.738[33]
12. 50YR-JJ Hickle, 16.789[1]
13. 36-Jason Martin, 16.791[12]
14. 16A-Colby Copeland, 16.800[6]
15. 24H-Kade Higday, 16.821[23]
16. 7A-Jack Anderson, 16.822[5]
17. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 16.824[44]
18. 8H-Jacob Hughes, 16.836[14]
19. 7M-Chance Morton, 16.857[37]
20. 83H-Justin Henderson, 16.868[31]
21. 1-Brenham Crouch, 16.881[26]
22. 9-Chase Randall, 16.902[35]
23. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 16.932[28]
24. 88-Austin McCarl, 16.940[42]
25. 20-Justin Peck, 16.982[30]
26. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips, 16.993[40]
27. 86-Timothy Smith, 17.031[29]
28. 99-Tony Rost, 17.047[36]
29. 44-Chris Martin, 17.105[49]
30. 70-Calvin Landis, 17.124[18]
31. 52-Blake Hahn, 17.151[45]
32. 6-Dustin Selvage, 17.176[47]
33. 9M-Liam Martin, 17.183[11]
34. 35L-Cody Ledger, 17.206[9]
35. 75X-JT Imperial, 17.228[25]
36. 11X-Ayrton Gennetten, 17.257[22]
37. 18-Ryan Roberts, 17.257[43]
38. 01-Sammy Swindell, 17.270[21]
39. 2JR-Kelly Miller, 17.400[24]
40. 4C-Tuesday Calderwood, 17.475[48]
41. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 17.505[20]
42. 6T-Christopher Townsend, 17.582[27]
43. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 17.628[50]
44. 33-Alan Zoutte, 17.678[46]
45. 105-Cody Ihlen, 17.897[17]
46. 3-Howard Moore, 18.024[39]
47. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 18.053[41]
48. T4-Tyler Graves, 18.399[34]
49. 22W-Aaron Werner, 19.909[15]
50. (DQ) 84-Scott Bogucki, 16.942[38]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 1-Brenham Crouch[2]
2. 20-Justin Peck[1]
3. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[6]
4. 4W-Jamie Ball[4]
5. 7A-Jack Anderson[3]
6. 75X-JT Imperial[8]
7. 22-Ryan Leavitt[5]
8. 70-Calvin Landis[7]
9. 105-Cody Ihlen[10]
10. 4C-Tuesday Calderwood[9]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[1]
2. 9-Chase Randall[2]
3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]
4. 18T-Tanner Holmes[6]
5. 50YR-JJ Hickle[4]
6. 52-Blake Hahn[7]
7. 3-Howard Moore[10]
8. 8M-Kade Morton[5]
9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[9]
10. 11X-Ayrton Gennetten[8]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 36-Jason Martin[4]
2. 86-Timothy Smith[1]
3. 5T-Ryan Timms[6]
4. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]
5. 6-Dustin Selvage[7]
6. 18-Ryan Roberts[8]
7. 17-Tyler Groenendyk[5]
8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]
9. 6T-Christopher Townsend[9]
10. 8H-Jacob Hughes[3]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 88-Austin McCarl[2]
2. 99-Tony Rost[1]
3. 1K-Kelby Watt[6]
4. 16A-Colby Copeland[4]
5. 7M-Chance Morton[3]
6. 41-Colton Hardy[5]
7. 01-Sammy Swindell[8]
8. 55B-Brandon Anderson[9]
9. 9M-Liam Martin[7]
10. T4-Tyler Graves[10]
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 24H-Kade Higday[4]
2. 44-Chris Martin[1]
3. 8-Aaron Reutzel[6]
4. 83H-Justin Henderson[3]
5. 24R-Rico Abreu[5]
6. 2JR-Kelly Miller[8]
7. 33-Alan Zoutte[9]
8. 22W-Aaron Werner[10]
9. 35L-Cody Ledger[7]
10. (DQ) 84-Scott Bogucki[2]
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 9M-Liam Martin[2]
2. 8H-Jacob Hughes[1]
3. 11X-Ayrton Gennetten[4]
4. 35L-Cody Ledger[3]
5. 6T-Christopher Townsend[7]
6. 4C-Tuesday Calderwood[5]
7. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[6]
8. 105-Cody Ihlen[8]
9. T4-Tyler Graves[9]
10. 22W-Aaron Werner[10]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 22-Ryan Leavitt[1]
2. 83H-Justin Henderson[9]
3. 24R-Rico Abreu[5]
4. 8M-Kade Morton[2]
5. 17-Tyler Groenendyk[3]
6. 52-Blake Hahn[11]
7. 70-Calvin Landis[10]
8. 50YR-JJ Hickle[6]
9. 6-Dustin Selvage[12]
10. 41-Colton Hardy[4]
11. 75X-JT Imperial[13]
12. 11X-Ayrton Gennetten[23]
13. 18-Ryan Roberts[14]
14. 01-Sammy Swindell[15]
15. 55B-Brandon Anderson[17]
16. 8H-Jacob Hughes[22]
17. 2JR-Kelly Miller[16]
18. 35L-Cody Ledger[24]
19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[20]
20. 33-Alan Zoutte[18]
21. 3-Howard Moore[19]
22. 9M-Liam Martin[21]
23. 7M-Chance Morton[8]
24. 7A-Jack Anderson[7]
A-Main (20 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]
2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]
3. 9-Chase Randall[12]
4. 16A-Colby Copeland[1]
5. 4W-Jamie Ball[3]
6. 36-Jason Martin[2]
7. 88-Austin McCarl[14]
8. 1K-Kelby Watt[5]
9. 20-Justin Peck[16]
10. 5T-Ryan Timms[6]
11. 18T-Tanner Holmes[7]
12. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[8]
13. 44-Chris Martin[20]
14. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[17]
15. 1-Brenham Crouch[11]
16. 22-Ryan Leavitt[21]
17. 24R-Rico Abreu[23]
18. 83H-Justin Henderson[22]
19. 83T-Tanner Carrick[13]
20. 24H-Kade Higday[9]
21. 99-Tony Rost[19]
22. 8M-Kade Morton[24]
23. 86-Timothy Smith[18]
24. (DQ) 84-Scott Bogucki[15]