By T.J. Buffenbarger
WARRNAMBOOL, VIC (January 25, 2026) – After a wild series of events unfolded Saturday night at Premier Speedway, Aaron Reutzel became a two-time champion of the Flying Horse Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic. Reutzel, from Clute, Texas, was able to capitalize on a incident that took out four of the top five cars to move up from 12th starting position, passing former Classic winner Brock Hallett for the lead and pulling away after a late race restart for his second classic title and $60,000 top prize.
The Classic trip capped off Reutzel’s trip down under on a high note after struggling at times with Monte Motorsports to find the handle on their race cars.
“It’s no secret that it’s been a pretty dismal trip. We’ve been struggling really, really bad, and it’s no one’s fault. Neil’s tried everything at least twice, it’s been a struggle,” said Reutzel of his winter down under before this weekend in Warrnambool. ” thought we were really good last night and we kind of just came back out with the exact same package but with some changes to make us just a little bit better, just fine tuning, and man we were on rails. I could run so much harder I felt like than everyone else.”
Despite the incident that eliminated several of the top contending cars, Reutzel had to drive a strong race to keep Hallett at bay and pull away during the final restart, feeling he had speed to contend with the drivers involved in the incident for the victory.
“It sucks that all that happened, because I still felt like, as good as our car was, we might have been able to come through there and still win,” said Reutzel in victory lane. “We got rolling really, really good there at the end. So, but hey, either way, I’ve been on the shit end of it, and I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
McFadden took the lead at the start rounding the top of the racetrack while Hallett fought back using the bottom of the racetrack. Cole Macedo quickly asserted himself into the mix circling Hallett for second position on lap four.
Just as Macedo was challenging for the lead, he got sideways in turns one and two and dropped back to second position. Macedo quickly recovered and went back to second position in a single lap pressuring McFadden for the lead.
Macedo, McFadden, and Jock Goodyer were entangled in a three-car race for the lead in heavy traffic until disaster struck with when Ian Madsen and Tim Kaeding tangled in front of the leaders and swept up four of the top five drivers in the running order including Macedo, McFadden, and Goodyer with Macedo getting upside down. Kerry Maden, who was running fifth, also was swept into the incident. Only McFadden and Goodyer were able to restart.
After the crash was cleaned up Brock Hallett moved back into the lead with Matt Egel, Max Guilford, and Reutzel behind him.
Following the restart Reutzel quickly moved up into third position on lap 11. Shortly after the red flag made another appearance when Bradley Vaughn got upside down in turn four. Vaughn exited the car under his own power.
Hallett continued to lead while Reutzel dropped Matt Egel back to second after the restart and closed quickly on Hallett for the lead. Lachlan McHugh followed Reutzel through the field one lap later and took third position from Egel.
On lap 22 Reutzel made what ended up being the winning move, passing Hallett for the lead. Reutzel started to pull away, but Hallett changed his line utilizing the bottom and closed in on Reutzel until being held up by a slower car on lap 31.
The final stoppage occurred when Carson Macedo got upside down after getting up in the fence.
That restart stalled Hallett’s momentum and Reutzel motored away to a 3.007 second advantage at the finish.
Lachlan McHugh was able to get by Hallet in the closing stages of the feature fo the second position with Hallet rounding out the podium.
Dayne Kingshott was fourth while Goodyer was able to come from the back of the field following the multi-car incident to round out the top five.
53rd Flying Horse Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic
Premier Speedway
Warrnambool, Victoria
Sunday, January 25, 2026
A-Main (40 Laps)
1. W17-Aaron Reutzel
2. NQ7-Lachlan McHugh
3. Q5-Brock Hallett
4. W2-Dayne Kingshott
5. T22-Jock Goodyer
6. W71-Kaiden Manders
7. S52-Matt Egel
8. NZ1-Max Guilford
9. D7-Jordy Rae
10. A1-James McFadden
11. V88-Hunter Schuerenberg
12. N47-Marcus Dumesney
13. S98-Luke Storer
14. V98-Peter Doukas
15. V60-Carson Macedo
16. V26-Todd Moule
17. T62-Tate Frost
18. S80-Bradley Vaughn
19. USA40-Cole Macedo
20. W95-Kerry Madsen
21. S97-Ian Madsen
22. N88-Tim Kaeding
23. N16-Daniel Sayre
24. NQ10-Jy Corbet