Reutzel Kicks Off All Star title pursuit this weekend

[NickHolt]

Reutzel Kicks Off All Star Title Pursuit this Weekend

by Lonnie Wheatley

CLUTE, Texas (April 12, 2018) – It begins for real this weekend.

After fervently working over the last several months to establish a new team and getting in some early season race action with the World of Outlaws, Aaron Reutzel and the newly-formed Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports No. 87 Sprint Car team begin the pursuit of the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car championship with a set of events this weekend.

And, after last weekend’s pair of scheduled All Star cards in Ohio were washed out, it all begins in Posse territory for the driver of the Folkens Brothers Tucking/Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution Triple-X Sprint Car.

“I love racing there, the fans are incredible and the competition is tough,” Reutzel says.

The weekend kicks off at Central Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg on Friday before moving on to Port Royal Speedway on Saturday and then shifting westward to Bedford Speedway on Sunday.

Opening the season with a handful of World of Outlaws events on a rain-plagued West Coast, Reutzel picked off his first career WoO win along the way before making a last-minute decision to take in three Posse territory races last weekend at Williams Grove, Port Royal and BAPS Motor Speedway.

“It was a last minute decision,” Reutzel says.  “The weather cleared up enough and we left Friday morning.”

The Precision Catalyst/Hollywood Blasting & Coating/Beard Equipment entry showed good speed each night that wasn’t necessarily reflected in finishes of 16th, 12th and 17th.

With a points handicap format in effect at Williams Grove, Reutzel started at the tail of the final heat race in his first visit of the season to the storied half-mile clay oval.  “I felt like we were fast at the Grove,” the driver of the Nattress Construction/Momentum Racing Suspensions entry says.

Being in the final heat race proved to be problematic on this night though.  “The motor started missing, then there was a quick intermission before the feature and we didn’t have time to figure out what the problem was,” Reutzel explains.  “It just turned out to be a broken spark plug, but that cost us the night.”

After drawing the last position for his Saturday night heat race at Port Royal, Reutzel was once again on the move.  Reutzel advanced in his heat race and then raced into fifth in the feature before spinning after trying to slide into fourth position.

“We were really good, I just made a mistake,” Reutzel said of the Port Royal outcome.

The former ASCS National champion came out strong at BAPS Motor Speedway as well, winning his heat race and then leading the early portion of the feature.

“We led quite a few laps, and then I chose the bottom on a restart,” Reutzel recalls.  “If I had known it was Lance (Dewease) in second, I probably would have taken the outside instead.”

While Dewease took advantage of the outside, Reutzel kept pace.

“I stayed with him for a while, then I got to racing some other cars and wrecked it,” Reutzel says.  “Hopefully we have that out of our system.”

Reutzel gets right back at it this weekend by returning to Williams Grove and Port Royal before making his first visit to Bedford Speedway.

“I’m just ready to get back to racing every week, we’ve had enough of the bad weather,” Reutzel wraps up.

A busy season awaits Reutzel and the BRM No. 87 Sprint Car team with a full slate of nearly 50 All Star Circuit of Champions events along with a healthy dose of World of Outlaws competition mixed in as well.

2018 Quick Stats:  8 races, 1 win, 2 top-fives, 2 top-tens.

Up Next: All Star Circuit of Champions at Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, PA) on Friday, Port Royal (PA) Speedway on Saturday and Bedford (PA) Speedway on Sunday.  For those unable to catch the action in person, it is available via PPV on https://www.speedshifttv.com/.

Keep Track:  Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel.  You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.

If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.