Aaron Reutzel Wins At Lernerville For Second All Star Victory Of 2018

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – SARVER, PA – Aaron Reutzel cruised to his second Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the 2018 season on Friday night at Lernerville Speedway, leading all but the first two circuits to ink his name on the $5,000 winner’s check.

Reutzel, who started second on the feature grid, nearly swept the entire evening program at the Sarver, Pa., 4/10-mile oval, not only recording the fastest time of the night during hot laps and qualifying time trials, but also earning a dash victory. The main event win allowed the Clute, Texas, native to extend his All Star driver championship point lead, now with a 28-point advantage over the “Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild.

The “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer used a late surge to power to second at the final checkers, followed by Parker Price-Miller, Carson Macedo, and defending Series champion, Chad Kemenah.

“We’ve been working really hard at getting our cars to go where other people can’t,” Reutzel said in victory lane, driver of the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports No. 87. “I knew it was going to take a really fast race car to beat us here tonight. I felt that if we didn’t make any mistakes, we were going to be really good. It’s really cool to come to a place you’ve never raced at before and get a win. We really didn’t know what to expect.”

Despite showing the way for the vast majority of the 30-lapper, it was pole sitter, Dave Blaney, who got the early jump, using the bottom line around Lernerville Speedway to lead the first two laps. Wasting little time before making his first, official bid for the top spot, Reutzel chased Blaney for the first two circuits, eventually squeezing underneath the former World of Outlaws champion at the entrance of turn one. The squeeze tactic worked, gaining the top spot to officially lead lap three.

“I knew the bottom was going to be good, but I also knew the top was going to stay good over here in turns three and four,” Reutzel continued. “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t bottom-dependent. I could even roll through the middle pretty good. I had to use the bottom to get by Blaney, but when I stayed down there, I was forced to slow down a lot. That’s when I decided to start rolling through the middle and top.”

Tim Shaffer’s charge to the runner-up spot started from the outside of row four. Strong right from the drop of the initial green, the nearby Aliquippa, Pa., native was solidly inside the top-five just before the midpoint of the 30-lap program, eventually driving around a pair of cars battling for position, Dave Blaney and Jac Haudenschild, to move into second on lap 16.

Forced to battle in traffic for the next four circuits, Shaffer and Haudenschild exchanged positions again on lap 20, just before the main event’s third and final caution appeared on lap 21. A sound restart attempt allowed Shaffer to battle back by Haudenschild, and that is where he stayed.

Parker Price-Miller also used the evening’s last caution to gain positions in the running order, bouncing ahead from fifth to third by the completion of lap 23.

The first two cautions of the main event appeared on the opening circuit and lap nine, respectively. The caution during the opening green involved seven competitors, ultimately forcing a complete restart.

The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude their two-race tour of the Keystone State with a stop at Bedford Speedway in Bedford, Pa., on Sunday, June 3. The $5,000-to-win Roy Morral Classic will headline action at the Bedford Fairgrounds half-mile; the first and only appearance by Tony Stewart’s All Stars in 2018.

Bedford Speedway in Bedford, Pa., will open pit gates at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 3. A mandatory All Star meeting will take shape at 5:30 p.m., followed by hot laps at 6 p.m. Those seeking additional news and notes regarding the Roy Morral Classic should visit Bedford Speedway on the Web at www.bedfordspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Lernerville Speedway – Friday, June 1, 2018:
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 36 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 13.451 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Aaron Reutzel – 13.126 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tim Shaffer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Dave Blaney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Carson Macedo
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Paul McMahan
JE Pistons Dash #1: Dave Blaney
Wix Filters Dash #2: Aaron Reutzel
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Brandon Spithaler
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Aaron Reutzel
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Brandon Spithaler (+8)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.126; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 13.322; 3. 98-Carl Bowser, 13.490; 4. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 13.546; 5. 7K-Cale Conley, 13.643; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 13.872; 7. 2-AJ Flick, 13.991; 8. 33-Brent Matus, 14.359; 9. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr., 15.064

Group (B)
1. 70-Dave Blaney, 13.564; 2. 51-John Garvin, 13.885; 3. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.990; 4. 8-Jared Zimbardi, 14.158; 5. 29-Scott Barris, 14.245; 6. O8-Dan Kuriger, 14.443; 7. 24-Jeremy Hill, 15.392; 8. 91-Sadie Siegel, 99.120; 9. 23-Darren Pifer, NT

Group (C)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 13.557; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 13.579; 3. 7KS-Dan Shetler, 13.640; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.831; 5. 55-Gary Kriess, 13.881; 6. D4-Danny Holtgraver, 13.898; 7. 35-Tyler Esh, 13.949; 8. 4N-Jim Morris, 14.239; 9. C1-Clay Riney, 14.241

Group (D)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.501; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.538; 3. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 13.834; 4. 2L-Sye Lynch, 13.895; 5. 13M-Brandon Matus, 13.956; 6. 11-Ryan Smith, 13.973; 7. 46-Michael Bauer, 14.211; 8. 76-David Jones, 14.367; 9. 4K-William Kiley, 15.250

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 3. 98-Carl Bowser [2]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [5]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [6]; 7. 2-AJ Flick [7]; 8. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr. [9]; 9. 33-Brent Matus [8]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 70-Dave Blaney [4]; 2. 8-Jared Zimbardi [1]; 3. 40-George Hobaugh [2]; 4. 51-John Garvin [3]; 5. 29-Scott Barris [5]; 6. O8-Dan Kuriger [6]; 7. 91-Sadie Siegel [8]; 8. 24-Jeremy Hill [7]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 4. D4-Danny Holtgraver [6]; 5. 35-Tyler Esh [7]; 6. 7KS-Dan Shetler [2]; 7. 4N-Jim Morris [8]; 8. 55-Gary Kriess [5]; 9. C1-Clay Riney [9]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 2. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 11-Ryan Smith [6]; 5. 13M-Brandon Matus [5]; 6. 2L-Sye Lynch [1]; 7. 46-Michael Bauer [7]; 8. 76-David Jones [8]; 9. 4K-William Kiley [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 70-Dave Blaney [1]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 3. 98-Carl Bowser [3]; 4. 8-Jared Zimbardi [2]; 5. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild [4]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo [3]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 5. 4-Parker Price-Miller [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 22-Brandon Spithaler [2]; 2. 7KS-Dan Shetler [1]; 3. 2-AJ Flick [5]; 4. 2L-Sye Lynch [3]; 5. 4N-Jim Morris [7]; 6. 33-Brent Matus [14]; 7. 46-Michael Bauer [6]; 8. O8-Dan Kuriger [4]; 9. 76-David Jones [10]; 10. C1-Clay Riney [13]; 11. 91-Sadie Siegel [8]; 12. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr. [11]; 13. 24-Jeremy Hill [12]; 14. 4K-William Kiley [15]; 15. 55-Gary Kriess [9]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [8]; 3. 4-Parker Price-Miller [10]; 4. 3G-Carson Macedo [6]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [11]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild [4]; 7. 70-Dave Blaney [1]; 8. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [12]; 10. 51-John Garvin [14]; 11. 98-Carl Bowser [5]; 12. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [9]; 13. 22-Brandon Spithaler [21]; 14. 8-Jared Zimbardi [7]; 15. 13M-Brandon Matus [19]; 16. 35-Tyler Esh [18]; 17. 7K-Cale Conley [17]; 18. 40-George Hobaugh [13]; 19. 29-Scott Barris [20]; 20. 2-AJ Flick [23]; 21. 11-Ryan Smith [16]; 22. D4-Danny Holtgraver [15]; 23. 2L-Sye Lynch [24]; 24. 7KS-Dan Shetler [22] Lap Leaders: Dave Blaney (1-2) Aaron Reutzel (3-30)