Reinhardt Captures First Career 410 Sprint Car Victory In Labor Day Classic At Port Royal

Story By: JUSTIN SNYDER / PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY – PORT ROYAL, PA – Earlier this year, Kyle Reinhardt quit his job as an engineer and uprooted his life from New Jersey to live in Pennsylvania. To some it sounded crazy. He was making good money and he was living a pretty good life racing part-time.

But that wasn’t his dream. Sure, it was comfortable and it paid the bills. But it didn’t fulfill him. Reinhardt wanted to race 410 Sprint Cars and he wanted to win in them. To do that, he needed to run more often and he needed laps. So he went all in and made the move.

That decision finally paid off and that dream became a reality as Reinhardt picked up his first career 410 Sprint Car victory at the Port Royal Speedway during the 67th running of the Foss Jewelers Labor Day Classic Monday evening as he bested AJ Flick and Logan Wagner to claim the trophy and the $4000 prize.

“This is pretty awesome! I was crying on my way to the scales,” said Reinhardt. “I came here to do this and it’s crazy that I’m standing here in victory lane. This is what it’s all about.”

But it wouldn’t come easy. He’d have to fight off Mother Nature, which pushed back the races starting time an hour to 2pm after rains hit the Juniata County oval Sunday night. He also would have to best a field of hungry drivers, one of them being a hard charging Danny Dietrich, who took the promoters ‘Keith Kauffman Challenge’ in attempt to gain $4000 extra thanks to a couple of his faithful sponsors.

When Dietrich won the feature event Friday night at the Williams Grove Speedway in an race honoring Kauffman from the front row, Kauffman made the joke in victory lane that back in his day they used to do it from 18th.

As a result, the track and his sponsors offered him the chance to make $4000 if he’d give up his fifth starting spot and try and win it from 18th. If he finished second he’d get $2500 and if he managed only a top-10, he’d get an extra $1500. Dietrich boldly accepted and set the stage for an eventful feature event.

Tyler Bear and Reinhardt led the field to the green flag with Reinhardt jumping out to the lead right away using the outside of turn’s one and two. The Neptune City, N.J native set a blistering pace with AJ Flick moving into second on the opening lap. However, the caution would come out as Tyler Reeser slowed on the backstretch two laps later with a flat tire.

On the restart, it was Reinhardt again jumping out to a large lead. However all eyes were on Dietrich, who had advanced seven positions to 11th before the caution and by lap four was sitting in the seventh spot.

Two laps later, the field would once again be brought to a slow when Freddie Rahmer and Jared Esh made contact on the backstretch. Rahmer would tag onto the rear right away and Esh would join re-join the field as well after making various repairs in the pits.

Reinhardt once again jumped out to the lead using the high side of the speedway, with ninth-place starter Logan Wagner making it known he’d be a contender by moving into the fifth spot on the restart. Dietrich also was continuing his march forward, sliding into the sixth position in turn’s three and four.

Four laps later Reinhardt hit lap traffic and on lap 12, Wagner passed Saturday’s winner Anthony Macri and the following lap he slid under Bear for third coming out of turn four.

However, Reinhardt was checking out and held a nearly 2.0 second lead over Flick.

On lap 17, Dietrich attempted to pass Bear for the fourth position with a head of steam entering the bottom of turn three and he had to check up and got sideways, temporarily ending his march forward as he brought out the caution.

With his 2.452 second lead wiped out, Reinhardt once again hit the cushion of the speedway hard. Flick tried to pull a slidejob entering turn’s one and two, but couldn’t make it stick and settled back into second.

Over the final eight laps, Flick and Wagner would battle each other for the second position but neither of them would have anything for Reinhardt. The only thing that could stop him would be bad luck, and it nearly struck.

Entering the final turn on the white flag lap, Reinhardt felt power in the car go. He thought he might be out of gas, but managed to have just enough power to ride to the finish line by a distance of 1.232 seconds over Flick, Wagner, Macri and Brian Brown, who came from 20th to be the race hard charger.

Dylan Cisney, Mike Wagner, Dietrich, Bear and Rahmer rounded out the top ten. As a result of charging back to finish inside the top 10, Dietrich got the $1500 bonus. In total he passed 21 cars during the race.

However, the night was Reinhardt’s, who gladly climbed on top of the wing and saluted the fans in victory lane.

“I felt the car stumble and I about threw up in the car,” said Reinhardt. “I was just blasting the top of the speedway and we had an extremely fast racecar.”

“I mean we have had a fast car here all year, but we finally pulled it off. I’m honestly speechless,” he added.

For Flick, he thought the final restart was his chance to win the race, but ultimately he didn’t have enough to best Reinhardt.

“We were a bit top dependent and I knew he was going to have to make a mistake or something to have a chance,” said Flick. “I honestly thought we had him on that restart and I was surprised when he got back around me there, That was the best chance I had.”

With his third-place finish, Wagner not only obtained his 11th podium finish of the season, but he clinched his second consecutive Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Car championship at the speedway. He became the first person to repeat as champion since Todd Shaffer did it in 2008-09.

“This Zemco car is so much fun to drive and my guys are consistently giving me a car capable of winning,” said Wagner. “It’s truly a blessing to be in this position and I couldn’t do it without all my guys. Now we’ll focus on winning the big one here next week.”

Results- 1. Kyle Reinhardt 2. AJ Flick 3. Logan Wagner 4. Anthony Macri 5. Brian Brown 6. Dylan Cisney 7. Mike Wagner 8. Danny Dietrich 9. Tyler Bear 10. Freddie Rahmer 11. Sye Lynch 12. Justin Whittall 13. TJ Stutts 14. Jared Esh 15. Chase Dietz 16. Jason Shultz 17. Kyle Smith 18. Brett Michalski 19. Nicole Bower 20. Joe Kata DNF- Dan Shetler, Ryan Linder, Tyler Reeser, Tyler Walton

Late Models

Andrew Yoder continued his domination of the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Model division as he picked up his fifth A-Main feature event victory with a last turn pass of Greg Moore to claim the checkered flag and the $1300 prize.

“Just like Saturday, we found a line that worked and we were just really good,” said Yoder. “This car is just amazing. It’s fun to drive when you know you have a car capable of winning each night.”

Moore and Drew Weisser led the field to the green flag with Weisser taking the early lead from the outside line. Devin Hart, who started sixth quickly worked his way through the field as well and by lap three he was sitting in second.

Three laps later the caution flew for the first time when a car got turned around in turn four.

On the restart, Hart dove deep into turn one and slid up in front of Weisser to take the lead. Weisser tired to get back by him and drove up over the back of Hart’s car, causing him to fall to third and allowing Hart to lead lap seven.

Three laps later, Yoder showed he would be a force to be reckoned with as he entered the fifth position in turn’s one and two. Yoder started the race from the ninth position.

The caution flew again on lap 12 when Jake Buck spun out in turn two, setting up a 10 lap dash for the win.

On the restart, everyone stayed in line. But entering turn three, Yoder made a daring move through the middle of the speedway to split the third and fourth place cars to move into the third position at the line.

It looked like if the race stayed green, nobody would have anything for Hart, who was hitting the high side of the speedway and pulling away. However, on lap 16 Hart’s night came to an end when he broke a shock and got into the turn two outside guard rail, handing the lead to Moore.

On the restart, Moore held off a slidejob attempt by Yoder and the two cars would battle side by side over the next two laps. Heading to the white flag, Yoder settled in behind Morre and plotted his move.

As Moore entered turn four, he tried to use the bottom of the speedway to take away the preferred line of Yoder. However, it haulted momentum he had been getting using the top of the speedway and allowed Yoder to pull under him in the middle of turn’s three and four. The two cars banged off each other, with Yoder pulling ahead exiting turn four and claiming the checkered flag by .93 seconds for his second win in three days.

Weisser, Dillan Stake and Kyle Lear rounded out rhe top five with Kenny Yoder, Donnie Farling, Derick Garman, Erich Hohol and Taylor Farling completing the top 10.

“That’s racing. I didn’t wreck him and I think he’d have done the same thing if he was in my position,” said Yoder of his winning pass. “I don’t think either of us had anything for Devin if he doesnlt get into the fence. So I’m thankful to even have a shot to win and I’m glad we made it work.”

Moore understood the move and reluctantly agreed that it was the right thing to do to win the race.

“I was a bit frustrated at first, but honestly I’d have done it too if that was me,” said Moore. “I agree it was Devin’s race to win, so I’m happy to be here on the podium.”

Results- 1. Andrew Yoder 2. Greg Moore 3. Drew Weisser 4. Dillan Stake 5. Kyle Lear 6. Kenny Yoder 7. Donnie Farling 8. Derick Garman 9. Eric Hohol 10. Taylor Farling 11. Tim Krape 12. Jakob Peters 13. Steve Kent 14. Curt Dunn 15. Doug Legum 16. Danny Sollers 17. Jake Buck 18. Ethan Beasom DNF- Devin Hart, Cory Lawler, Derrick Gahagan

4 Cylinders

Eric Boozel held off Colton Wagner and Ricky Weaver in a three-wide drag race to the finish line to pick up the win in the 4-Cylindrr Pro Stock feature.

Kent Leonard jumped out to the early lead form his pole position starting spot and he led the race early. Eight-place starter Matt Chronister was on the move early and he slid into the fifth starting spot and was challenging for fourth before a caution came out on lap four for a spinning Latavin Spriggs.

On the restart, it was once again Leanoard taking the lead with Chronister moving into fourth. However a caution would come out after one lap when Justin Williamson slowed on the backstretch.

Following the restart, action was hot and heavy. On lap 12, Chronister overtook Leonard for the lead using the extreme high line of the speedway and Leonard would then slow and pull off the track with an issue.

The final caution would come out on lap 17 when two cars got hooked together in turn’s one and two. During the caution, something broke on Chronister’s car. He contnued to race around in hope’s of making to the finish.

On the restart, Chronister stumbled right away, allowing Boozel to take the lead, with the rest of the field in tow. Weaver took the lead with two laps to go and Wagner moved into second.

The three cars jockeyed for position heading to the white f;ag with Weaver leading Wagner and Boozel. As he entered turn three Weaver drifted up the track, halting any mometum for Wagner and allowing Boozel to take lead. Boozel led a three wide drag race to the checkered, taking the checkered flag and the $300 prize by half a car length over Wagner and Weaver Jr.

“That was incredible and I don’t know what to say,” said Boozel. “I just let it all hang out and we managed to pull it out. That was fun.”

Results- 1. Eric Boozel 2. Colton Wagner 3. Ricky Weaver Jr. 4. Rusty Garlock 5. Adam Campbell 6. Dylan Allen 7. Nathan Hostler 8. Matt Chronister 9. Zach Baxter 10. Latavin Spriggs 11. Clayton Spade 12. Andrew Moist 13. Tim Raup 14. Jeff Foster 15. Kent Leonard 16. Zach Wright 17.Noah Swank 18. Jarred Rudy 19. Jason Goss 20. Justin Williamson DNS- Derick Casner, Travis Brown, Rob Williams, Adam Bailor