Aaron Reutzel Beats Shaffer & Abreu For OH Sprint Speedweek Victory At Wayne County

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ORRVILLE, OH – With Mother Nature throwing a curveball in All Star plans to visit Chillicothe’s Atomic Speedway on Wednesday evening, the Series made an early morning venue swap and switched their focus to Wayne County Speedway in Orrville.

The Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing destination change proved to be all the better for Clute, Texas’ Aaron Reutzel, ultimately ending his evening at ‘Orrville’s Historic Oval’ $5,000 richer, as well as officially back on top of the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 driver championship standings.

Reutzel, the defending All Star champion in addition to being the current Series point leader, led all 30 circuits at Wayne County Speedway on Wednesday evening, forced to outduel the ‘Steel City Outlaw’ Tim Shaffer and St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu in the process. Joining Kyle Larson and Dale Blaney, Reutzel now owns one Speedweek victory in 2019, adding to his overall All Star wins list that now includes 12 total, three of which occurring in 2019.

“We were fortunate enough to pull the front row for the dash and get a starting spot up front. Capitalizing on a solid pill draw is important, but the guys gave me a great car, as well,” Aaron Reutzel said in Wayne County Speedway victory lane, driver of the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports/Folkens Brothers Trucking/Fischer Body Shop/Hollywood Coating and Blasting/No. 87 sprint car. “Grant, Jim-Bob, Cheeseburger; these guys worked hard all night and gave me a great race car. It was a total team effort.”

Although forced to withstand three cautions during the first seven circuits, one of which a red flag incident just after the initial start, Reutzel remained the class of the field, keeping Tim Shaffer and Rico Abreu in his rearview mirror during the first ten laps. Strong in clean air, it was not until when slower traffic entered the picture for the first time that Shaffer and Abreu were able to chop away at Reutzel’s advantage.

By lap 13, Shaffer was hot on Reutzel’s heels, knocking down the leader’s advantage to a mere-car length. Despite Reutzel’s ability to navigate slower traffic, Shaffer kept the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports entry in check, pressuring the familiar No. 87 for the lead on multiple occasions between laps 15 and 18 while nearly driving under Reutzel at the exit of turn four on lap 17.

Feeling the pressure from Shaffer, Reutzel immediately increased his pace, picking off slower cars one by one while simultaneously growing his command over Shaffer and Abreu.

By the time Reutzel received the five-to-go signal from the flagstand, the race was already over, eventually crossing under the final checkers with a near-straightaway advantage.

“Getting the jump was really important. The last thing I wanted to do was have to drive really hard and have to catch Tim [Shaffer],” Aaron Reutzel continued. “I was able to set my own pace. I did make a mistake here and there which allowed Shaffer to sneak under me, but I was able to get my pace back up again. I don’t think he was as good as I was through traffic.”

Brock Zearfoss finished fourth at Wayne County Speedway, followed by Ohio veteran, Dean Jacobs.

Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing will continue Thursday evening, June 20, at Mansfield Motor Speedway in Mansfield, Ohio. Action will then resume on Friday, June 21, at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The 37th edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek will come to a close on Saturday evening, June 22, back at ‘Orrville’s Historic Oval’ – Wayne County Speedway. The Speedweek finale will award a $10,000 top prize. If weather becomes a factor on Saturday, the Ohio Sprint Speedweek finale will be pushed to Sunday, June 23.

Speed Shift TV, the official online broadcast partner of the All Star Circuit of Champions in 2019, will be conducting live video broadcasts during the next three Ohio Sprint Speedweek programs: Mansfield Motor Speedway – 6/20, Limaland Motorsports Park – 6/21, Wayne County Speedway – 6/22.

Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway – Wednesday, June 19, 2019:
Event: 37th Annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing
Entries: 37
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: 14.626
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Andrew Palker – 14.691
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tim Shaffer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Cory Eliason
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Brock Zearfoss
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Aaron Reutzel
JE Pistons Dash #1 Tim Shaffer
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Aaron Reutzel
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Jac Haudenschild
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Aaron Reutzel
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Jac Haudenschild (+6)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Spencer Bayston
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 57X-Andrew Palker, 14.691; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.748; 3. 13-Paul McMahan, 14.857; 4. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 14.887; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh, 14.943; 6. 45-Trevor Baker, 15.049; 7. 3C-Cale Conley, 15.353; 8. 40-George Hobaugh, 15.560; 9. 29-Steve Butler, 15.879; 10. 21-Brinton Marvel, 15.896

Group (B)
1. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 14.830; 2. 17-Josh Baughman, 14.881; 3. 26-Cory Eliason, 14.994; 4. 9-Dean Jacobs, 15.041; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 15.078; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 15.170; 7. 16-DJ Foos, 15.178; 8. 81-Lee Jacobs, 15.322; 9. 38K-Clay Riney, 15.346

Group (C)
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 14.869; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 14.908; 3. 11-Dale Blaney, 15.003; 4. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 15.035; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.052; 6. 8M-TJ Michael, 15.129; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, 15.399; 8. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 15.502; 9. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux, 15.505

Group (D)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.976; 2. 70X-Spencer Bayston, 15.103; 3. W20-Greg Wilson, 15.314; 4. 19-Mitch Harble, 15.372; 5. 16M-Danny Mumaw, 15.494; 6. 2-Ricky Peterson, 15.494; 7. K4-Chad Kemenah, 15.709; 8. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 15.838; 9. OOH-Hunter Lynch, NT

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker [4]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh [5]; 6. 45-Trevor Baker [6]; 7. 3C-Cale Conley [7]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [8]; 9. 21-Brinton Marvel [10]; 10. 29-Steve Butler [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 2. 9-Dean Jacobs [1]; 3. O7-Gerard McIntyre [4]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [3]; 5. 16-DJ Foos [7]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [8]; 8. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 9. 38K-Clay Riney [9]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [2]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 5. 8M-TJ Michael [6]; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs [8]; 7. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux [9]; 8. 3-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [7]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 3. 19-Mitch Harble [1]; 4. 16M-Danny Mumaw [5]; 5. K4-Chad Kemenah [7]; 6. 2-Ricky Peterson [6]; 7. 70M-Henry Malcuit [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 2. 9-Dean Jacobs [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [4]; 5. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 70-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker [3]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [1]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 2. 45-Trevor Baker [2]; 3. 2-Ricky Peterson [4]; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]; 5. 70X-Spencer Bayston [16]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [7]; 7. 21-Brinton Marvel [14]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee [13]; 9. 70M-Henry Malcuit [9]; 10. 5T-Travis Philo [10]; 11. 38K-Clay Riney [12]; 12. 40-George Hobaugh [11]; 13. 3J-Trey Jacobs [5]; 14. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux [8]; 15. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 16. 29-Steve Butler [15]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 4. 70-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs [3]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [8]; 7. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [9]; 8. 57X-Andrew Palker [6]; 9. O7-Gerard McIntyre [11]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 11. 11-Dale Blaney [12]; 12. 13-Paul McMahan [10]; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich [15]; 14. 16M-Danny Mumaw [18]; 15. 3-Jac Haudenschild [21]; 16. 97-Max Stambaugh [16]; 17. 17-Josh Baughman [14]; 18. 8M-TJ Michael [17]; 19. K4-Chad Kemenah [20]; 20. 45-Trevor Baker [22]; 21. 16-DJ Foos [19]; 22. 19-Mitch Harble [13]; 23. 81-Lee Jacobs [23]; 24. 2-Ricky Peterson [24]; 25. 40-George Hobaugh [26]; 26. 70X-Spencer Bayston [25] Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel (1-30)