Cap Henry Holds Off Aaron Reutzel At Wayne Co. For First Career All Star Sprints Victory

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ORRVILLE, OH – Nearly sweeping the entire evening program, Republic, Ohio’s Cap Henry left Wayne County Speedway on Monday evening $5,000 richer, finally etching his name in sprint car racing history as an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner.

The driver of the Lane Racing/Beer Barrel Bourbon No. 4 accomplished his feat in exciting fashion, utilizing his pole position to lead all 30, non-stop circuits around Wayne County Speedway, all while holding off defending All Star Circuit of Champions title holder, Aaron Reutzel.

Impressive enough, Henry’s campaign at the front of the field was engulfed in slower traffic for much of the 30-lap distance. On top of that, the former All Star Circuit of Champions Rookie of the Year was forced to manhandle an ultra-fast, but tricky and choppy surface, nearly costing Henry his victory when steering issues became a factor in the final corner. In fact, Henry’s margin of victory over Reutzel was a mere 0.024 seconds.

Buddy Kofoid chased Reutzel and Henry to the final checkers, followed by Cory Eliason and Dean Jacobs.

“Man, this is awesome,” Cap Henry said in victory lane, who not only won the Rick Susong Memorial main event, but he also earned the fastest time during qualifying time trials, as well as victory during his respective dash. “I feel like we’ve been trying to do this for like ten years. I can’t thank the guys from Lane Racing enough. They work extremely hard and actually had to rebuild this car two weeks in a row after I crashed it. They are great to work for; a great team.”

Starting from the pole position, Henry set the pace early, instantly jumping out to a commanding lead over Aaron Reutzel, Greg Wilson and Buddy Kofoid. Lapped traffic entered the picture early with Henry reaching the back of the field with only six laps knocked off the scoreboard. Solidly in second at the time, Henry’s momentum downshift in traffic allowed Reutzel to close the gap, actually making a bid for the top spot on lap nine. The slider through turns one and two failed allowing Henry to escape into the distance.

By lap 15, Reutzel was pressuring Henry for the lead yet again, utilizing periods of even heavier traffic to chase down the former All Star full-timer. Despite running up on the leader, Henry seemed to find another gear, once again separating himself from the Clute, Texas-native in traffic.

Ten laps later, Reutzel was all over Henry one more time, this time battling nearly nose-to-tail as the lead pair diced through slower cars.

In the meantime, it was apparent that the rut that had formed between turns three and four was giving Henry some trouble. Lap after lap, Henry would hit the rut and find himself nearly losing his balance. Although Henry was able to power his way out of the near-mess, the final lap nearly proved otherwise.

As Henry drove into turn three for the final time, the rut at the bottom of the speedway struck again sending the familiar No. 4 up the track. Henry’s mishap was an opportunity for Reutzel, ultimately opening the bottom groove. In a desperate attempt to maintain the lead, Henry rocketed back down the track and drag raced Reutzel to the finish, actually making contact just before the flagstand. Suffice it to say, Henry came out victorious, finally kicking the All Star monkey off his back.

“When I hit that rut on the white flag lap, I messed the steering up. I felt bad about running Aaron (Reutzel) almost to the infield, but we wanted an All Star win and I wasn’t going to lift,” Cap Henry continued. “I kept trying to crash through that hole the entire race. That last lap, it about got me. I definitely panicked there.”

“He was able to maintain a nice pace the entire race,” Aaron Reutzel said of Cap Henry. “Lapped traffic wasn’t too bad for me, but there were a few cars that were trying to make it hard for us. I was just trying not to crash, honestly.”

Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions will continue their final month of competition with another round in Pennsylvania Posse Country, this time joining the best local competitors in the business for three straight nights on Thursday through Saturday, September 5-7. Action will commence on Thursday evening, September 5, at the Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The traveling All Stars were scheduled to appear at Bedford earlier in the season but Mother Nature had other plans.

The three-day weekend will conclude with the highest paying event on the 2019 All Star Circuit of Champions schedule: the 52nd Annual Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. The Central Pennsylvania showstopper will kick-off, officially, on Friday, September 6, with the Night Before The 50 program awarding a $5,000 top prize. The 52nd running of the Tuscarora 50 will follow on Saturday, September 7, awarding a $52,000 top prize.

Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway – September 2, 2019:
Event: Pete Jacobs Memorial/Rick Susong Memorial
Entries: 36
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Cap Henry – 15.116 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Cap Henry – 14.742
Ford Performance Heat #1: Chad Kemenah
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Buddy Kofoid
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Dean Jacobs
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Justin Peck
JE Pistons Dash #1: Cap Henry
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Greg Wilson
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting B-Main Winner: Brock Zearfoss
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Cap Henry
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Brock Zearfoss (+11)
Cometic Gasket Most A-Main Laps Led: Cap Henry (1-30)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Brandon Matus
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation, Cometic Gasket: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. W20-Greg Wilson, 15.378; 2. 45-Trevor Baker, 15.408; 3. K4-Chad Kemenah, 15.567; 4. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 15.659; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 15.845; 6. 40-George Hobaugh, 16.448; 7. 33-Brent Matus, 17.099; 8. 97-Max Stambaugh, 47.540; 9. 17V-William Aumend Jr., —

Group (B)
1. 13-Paul McMahan, 15.293; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 15.315; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 15.330; 4. 8-Cole Duncan, 15.634; 5. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 15.730; 6. G1-Tim Shaffer, 15.750; 7. 5H-Jordan Harble, 16.008; 8. 16M-Danny Mumaw, 16.309; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 16.734

Group (C)
1. 4-Cap Henry, 14.742; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 15.138; 3. 81-Lee Jacobs, 15.382; 4. 9-Dean Jacobs, 15.439; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 15.460; 6. 15-Mitch Harble, 16.054; 7. O66-Trey Jacobs, 16.126; 8. 9X-Ricky Peterson, 16.133; 9. 23-Carson Short, 16.325

Group (D)
1. 11-Dale Blaney, 15.238; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 15.334; 3. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 15.335; 4. 70X-Justin Peck, 15.454; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker, 15.548; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, 15.695; 7. 38k-Jordan Ryan, 15.953; 8. 13M-Brandon Matus, 16.182; 9. O8-Dan Kuriger, 16.241

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. K4-Chad Kemenah [2]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [4]; 3. 45-Trevor Baker [3]; 4. 97-Max Stambaugh [8]; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre [5]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [6]; 7. 70M-Henry Malcuit [1]; 8. 17V-William Aumend Jr. [9]; 9. 33-Brent Matus [7]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 4. G1-Tim Shaffer [6]; 5. 16M-Danny Mumaw [8]; 6. 8-Cole Duncan [1]; 7. 18J-RJ Jacobs [5]; 8. 5H-Jordan Harble [7]; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [9]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 9-Dean Jacobs [1]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [2]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 6. 23-Carson Short [9]; 7. O66-Trey Jacobs [7]; 8. 9X-Ricky Peterson [8]; 9. 15-Mitch Harble [6]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 70X-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 11-Dale Blaney [4]; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker [5]; 4. 38K-Jordan Ryan [7]; 5. O8-Dan Kuriger [9]; 6. 13M-Brandon Matus [8]; 7. 70-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 9. 22-Brandon Spithaler [3]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [5]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 4. K4-Chad Kemenah [2]; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 3. 70X-Justin Peck [3]; 4. 11-Dale Blaney [4]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler [1]; 3. 8-Cole Duncan [3]; 4. 23-Carson Short [5]; 5. 13M-Brandon Matus [4]; 6. 9X-Ricky Peterson [12]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee [10]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [6]; 9. 15-Mitch Harble [14]; 10. 5H-Jordan Harble [11]; 11. 18J-RJ Jacobs [8]; 12. 70M-Henry Malcuit [7]; 13. 17V-William Aumend Jr. [13]; 14. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [15]; 15. O66-Trey Jacobs [9]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [3]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs [9]; 6. 70X-Justin Peck [6]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 8. 11-Dale Blaney [8]; 9. 70-Brock Zearfoss [20]; 10. 13-Paul McMahan [11]; 11. K4-Chad Kemenah [7]; 12. G1-Tim Shaffer [13]; 13. 3-Jac Haudenschild [16]; 14. 38K-Jordan Ryan [14]; 15. 97-Max Stambaugh [15]; 16. O7-Gerard McIntyre [17]; 17. 22-Brandon Spithaler [21]; 18. 23-Carson Short [23]; 19. 8-Cole Duncan [22]; 20. 45-Trevor Baker [12]; 21. 16M-Danny Mumaw [19]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [24]; 23. 81-Lee Jacobs [10]; 24. O8-Dan Kuriger [18]; 25. 57X-Andrew Palker [25] Lap Leaders: Cap Henry (1-30)