Aaron Reutzel Takes Screven’s Winter Freeze All Star Sprint Finale For New Team Saturday

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – SYLVANIA, GA – Although no longer a full-time traveler with “America’s Series,” three-time All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 champion, Aaron Reutzel, picked up right where he left off in 2020 and maneuvered his way back to All Star victory lane, this time scoring $10,000 in Screven Motor Speedway’s Winter Freeze All Star finale on Saturday, January 30.

The Clute, Texas-native earned his triumph from the outside of row two, forced to outduel Wooster, Ohio’s Sheldon Haudenschild, all before fending off a late charge by Neptune City, New Jersey’s Kyle Reinhardt.

The Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts victory bumped Reutzel’s All Star win total to 37; his first at Screven Motor Speedway.

“I can’t thank the entire Roth Motorsports team enough for allowing Dylan (Buswell) and I to come on board and bring our package with us. They took a big risk and we appreciate everything they’ve done for us,” Aaron Reutzel said in Screven victory lane. “We struggled a little bit in Arizona, but we took some time during the week to think about some things. We made a few fine changes and now I feel right at home. Everyone has done such a great job and I can’t say how excited I am enough.”

Taking off from the outside-pole position, Sheldon Haudenschild was the early leader, forced to withstand a caution on the initial start, as well as an ensuing red flag incident, all before the main event could officially get underway. It did not take long for Haudenschild to escape to a lengthy advantage, stretching his gap over KCP Racing’s Gio Scelzi to a near-straightaway by lap 15. It was at that time when Reutzel started to come alive on the bottom of the speedway, first working by Scelzi for the runner-up spot on lap 18.

Caution flags appeared again on lap 20 setting up a single file restart with Reutzel on the tail tank of Haudenschild. Keeping his focus on the bottom of the speedway, Reutzel stalked Haudenschild for four circuits, eventually making his move on lap 24 when the Stenhouse Jr Marshall Racing entry slipped up the track allowing Reutzel to squeeze through. Despite a few desperate attempts to regain the top spot, Haudenshild would eventually succumb to his own aggressiveness, spinning to a stop on lap 28.

Reutzel drove on to clinch the $10,000 payday, surviving one final caution on lap 33 and late pressure from 2021 All Star Circuit of Champions Rookie of the Year contender, Kyle Reinhardt.

Sam Hafertepe finished third on Saturday night, followed by a hard-charging Donny Schatz, who climbed from 21st to fourth after winning the evening’s B-Main, and Justin Peck. Schatz was forced to compete in the evening’s B-Main after missing the scales following his respective heat race.

“I really wanted to race Sheldon (Haudenschild) in traffic,” Reutzel added. “I wanted to catch him off guard and think I was just a lapped car that got by him. I knew on that restart that if I stuck my nose under him, he would assume that rubber was coming on the bottom. I tried to just hang back until the groove came in a little bit better for us, but the time came where I had to pull the trigger. I went for it and he didn’t have time to shut the door on us.”

The All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will enjoy an off day on Sunday, January 31, before returning to Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts competition on Monday evening, February 1, at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida. “America’s Series” will face-off for two straight nights at East Bay chasing a pair of $6,000 top prizes.

For those who can not make the journey to Tampa for the two-day East Bay visit, FloRacing, the official media partner and live broadcast provider of the All Star Circuit of Champions, has you covered. Each and every event on the 2021 All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 schedule will be broadcast live exclusively at www.floracing.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Screven Motor Speedway – January 30, 2021:
Event: Sugarlands Shine Southern Tour presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts | Winter Freeze XI
Entries: 38
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Donny Schatz | 12.921
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Donny Schatz | 12.810
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Carson Short
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Sheldon Haudenschild
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Gio Scelzi
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Sheldon Haudenschild
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Donny Schatz
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Tyler Ross
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Donny Schatz (+17)
Sugarlands Shine Lap 21 Leader: Sheldon Haudenschild

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 73-Scotty Thiel, 13.028; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.176; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.193; 4. 21-Carson Short, 13.230; 5. 22C-Cole Duncan, 13.353; 6. 14-Tony Stewart, 13.356; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.415; 8. 5-Brent Marks, 13.520; 9. 33M-Mason Daniel, 13.682; 10. 40-Mark Imler, 14.423

Group (B)
1. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.810; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi, 12.965; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.051; 4. 101-Kerry Madsen, 13.096; 5. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.142; 6. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 13.286; 7. 1-Jamie Myers, 13.704; 8. 27-Carson McCarl, 13.758; 9. 70-Nick Tucker, 13.763; 10. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 13.972

Group (C)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 12.883; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 13.141; 3. 83-Aaron Reutzel, 13.162; 4. 13-Justin Peck, 13.188; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.278; 6. 49H-Bradley Howard, 13.415; 7. 75-Tyler Ross, 13.433; 8. 4-Danny Smith, 13.563; 9. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.718

Group (D)
1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.016; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.184; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.214; 4. 11-Ian Madsen, 13.248; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.596; 6. O8-Brandon Conkel, 13.669; 7. 25-Chris Myers, 13.974; 8. 27c-Craig Pellegrini, 14.422; 9. 28-Skylar Gee, 99.999

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 21-Carson Short [1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [3]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]; 4. 73-Scotty Thiel [4]; 5. 22C-Cole Duncan [5]; 6. 14-Tony Stewart [6]; 7. 33M-Mason Daniel [9]; 8. 5-Brent Marks [8]; 9. 48-Danny Dietrich [7]; 10. 40-Mark Imler [10]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 2. 101-Kerry Madsen [1]; 3. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 5. 18J-RJ Jacobs [6]; 6. 1-Jamie Myers [7]; 7. 27-Carson McCarl [8]; 8. 70-Nick Tucker [9]; 9. 14R-Sean Rayhall [10]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [4]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 83-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [1]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [3]; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [5]; 6. 49H-Bradley Howard [6]; 7. 3C-Cale Conley [9]; 8. 75-Tyler Ross [7]; 9. 4-Danny Smith [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [4]; 5. 25-Chris Myers [7]; 6. O8-Brandon Conkel [6]; 7. 27C-Craig Pellegrini [8]; 8. 11-Ian Madsen [1]; 9. 28-Skylar Gee [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [3]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [2]; 5. 101-Kerry Madsen [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 2. 83-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 3. 21-Carson Short [3]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [5]; 5. 73-Scotty Thiel [4]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 33M-Mason Daniel [7]; 3. 5-Brent Marks [12]; 4. O8-Brandon Conkel [5]; 5. 75-Tyler Ross [11]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 7. 27-Carson McCarl [9]; 8. 70-Nick Tucker [13]; 9. 1-Jamie Myers [6]; 10. 14R-Sean Rayhall [15]; 11. 40-Mark Imler [16]; 12. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 13. 27C-Craig Pellegrini [10]; 14. 49H-Bradley Howard [4]; 15. 4-Danny Smith [14]; 16. 11-Ian Madsen [2]; 17. 48-Danny Dietrich [17]; 18. 28-Skylar Gee [18]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 83-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [7]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [21]; 5. 13-Justin Peck [12]; 6. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 7. 101-Kerry Madsen [9]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [15]; 9. 39M-Anthony Macri [11]; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13]; 11. 26-Cory Eliason [16]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen [14]; 13. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 14. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 15. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [8]; 16. 73-Scotty Thiel [10]; 17. 5-Brent Marks [23]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [17]; 19. 18J-RJ Jacobs [18]; 20. 25-Chris Myers [20]; 21. O8-Brandon Conkel [24]; 22. 21-Carson Short [6]; 23. 33M-Mason Daniel [22]; 24. 22C-Cole Duncan [19] Lap Leaders: Sheldon Haudenschild (1-23), Aaron Reutzel (24-35)