Reutzel Gets Third Grove Win In All Stars Gunn Memorial Dirt Classic Qualifier
Hanson claims 305s
(Dan De Marco Photo)
Reutzel Gets Third Grove Win In All Stars Gunn Memorial Dirt Classic Qualifier
Hanson claims 305s
Mechanicsburg – All Stars point leader Aaron Reutzel of Clute, Texas, scored the $5,000 victory in the Jack Gunn Memorial Dirt Classic Qualifier for sprint cars on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.
Reutzel took the lead from Gio Scelzi one lap shy of the halfway point in the 30-lap main event to notch his third career victory at the famed oval where he became the first-ever All Stars circuit regular to win a sanctioned event last season.
With the win Reutzel continues to be the only All Stars driver to ever win at the track after what was the 40th outing for the circuit at Williams Grove on Friday night.
Fresno, California’s Gio Scelzi started second in the field and nabbed the lead with a massive slider over polesitter Brian Brown on the initial green when the field roared into the first corner.
Scelzi was then off and running with the lead as Brown raced second until lap six when fourth starter Reutzel made his first bid for the runner up spot with an attempted slider in the first and second turns.
However Brown rallied back to reclaim the spot only to again fall victim two laps later and this time Reutzel made the move stick.
Leader Scelzi entered the rear of the field on lap 10 of the contest and then lost significant ground to Reutzel on lap 13 when he lost the handle on the cushion in turn two and nearly spun out.
This allowed Reutzel to close drastically before he was able to drive under Scelzi for control on lap 14.
With Scelzi on the cushion, Reutzel took the low line through the first and second turns and then drag raced Scelzi onto the backstretch to emerge with control.
Once Reutzel was at the front, attention shifted to the battle for third between Brown and fifth starter Kyle Larson.
The pair raced hard for the spot with Larson working the top before he took the position only to see Brown work his magic and drive back by with 12 laps to go.
Larson refused to give up his runs on the high side until late in the race, continuing to rally for third to no avail.
A lone caution flag with two laps to go settled the non-stop pace when fifth runner Zeb Wise slowed in the second corner.
Reutzel walked off on the restart for the win by 1.514 seconds over Scelzi.
Brown blew a right rear on the final circuit, falling off of the pace.
Larson rode home third followed by Paul McMahan and Brent Marks.
Sixth through 10th went to Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Kerry Madsen, Freddie Rahmer and Dylan Cisney.
The win was Reutzel’s 10th on the All Stars tour this season and his 14th overall in 2020 competition.
“Our car was phenomenal tonight,” Reutzel said.
“I could blow in on the top, move through the middle and run the bottom.”
Heats went to Brown, Wise, McMahan and Reutzel with twin dashes going to Brown and Scelzi.
Chat Trout won the B Main.
Scelzi set quick time over the field with a lap of 16.742 seconds.
Jaremi Hanson started on the pole and won the 20-lap 305 sprint main to close the night.
Eighth starter Ken Duke Jr. rode home second followed by John Walp, Derek Hauck and Dave Brown Jr.
Heats went to Jake McLain, Jared Zienkoaski, Kirsten Hess and Duke with twin consolations going to Dominic Melair and Landon Price.
Feature Finishes, 9/18/20:
410 sprints, 30 laps: 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi [2]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson [5]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 5-Brent Marks [11]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [14]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich [17]; 8. 2M-Kerry Madsen [7]; 9. 51-Freddie Rahmer [12]; 10. 5C-Dylan Cisney [10]; 11. 17-Ian Madsen [8]; 12. 26-Cory Eliason [9]; 13. 27S-Adrian Shaffer [19]; 14. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [21]; 15. 24-Rico Abreu [15]; 16. 14-Tony Stewart [18]; 17. 1X-Chad Trout [20]; 18. 24w-Lucas Wolfe [25]; 19. 21M-Brian Montieth [22]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee [16]; 21. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [13]; 22. 21-Brian Brown [1]; 23. 11-Zeb Wise [6]; 24. 1W-Matt Campbell [23]; 25. 11T-TJ Stutts [24]; 26. 55K-Robbie Kendall [26]
DNQ: Brent Shearer, Troy Fraker, Zach Newlin, Greg Wilson, Brett Michalski, Kyle Moody, Justin Peck
305 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Jaremi Hanson, 2., Ken Duke Jr., 3. John Walp, 4. Derek Hauck, 5. Dave Brown Jr., 6. Larry McVey, 7. Erin Statler, 8. Kassidy Kreitz, 9. Tom Carberry,10. Austin Graby, 11. Dave Grube, 12. Dylan Smith, 13. Landon Price, 14. Jake Frye, 15. Dominic Melair, 16. Reed Thompson, 17. Jared Zionkoaski, 18. Jason Roush, 19. Donovan Knokey, 20. Jake McLain, 21. Devin Adams, 22. John Scarborough, 23. Kirsten Hess, 24. Dustin Young, 25. Garrett Bard, 26. Ian Detweiler
DNQ: Dave Wickham, Todd Lynn, Branson Shue, Ryan Lynn, Mike Melair, Jimmy White, Eric Mathiot, Donald Wise, Fred Arnold, Aaron Jacobus, Kurt Knepper, Kyle Purks, Doug Dodson, Andrew Jacobus, Josh Spicer, Ron Aurand, Ben McCall, Mike McGee
