Park Jefferson All Stars/IRA Results and Stories

(Video Highlights from FloRacing.com) 5/30/20
 
Park Jefferson International Speedway
Jefferson, SD
 
All Stars/IRA
 
42 cars
 
This was the best night of racing overall that I’ve seen in some time, and definitely the best feature of the year, either in person, or on PPV.
 
Aaron Reutzel was the 42nd and last car to time, and set quick time at 12.989 seconds on the 3/8-mile oval.  Zeb Wise (35th car out) was second quick, followed by Tony Stewart (33rd), Danny Dietrich (27th), Brock Zearfoss (5th), Cory Eliason (3rd), Justin Henderson (18th), Paul McMahan (26th), Justin Peck (9th) and Austin McCarl (19th).  Zearfoss, Henderson, McMahan, Stewart and Reutzel were fastest in their heat groups.
 
Heat one (started): 1. Peck 70 (2) 2. Matt Juhl 09 (1) 3. Zearfoss 3z (4) 4. Eliason 26 (3) / 5. Cole Duncan 22 (6) 6. Jeremy Schultz 5J (5) 7. Jack Rouston 14m (7) 8. Cody Ledger 35L (8) 9. Tori Knutson 14K (9)
 
Peck led the 8-lap distance in a mostly single-file affair.  Zearfoss and Eliason had a good battle early.  Heats took the top four to the feature, and the winner to the Dash.  The top qualifier in each heat (starting fourth) also made the Dash if they didn’t win the heat.  The top two qualifiers overall, who didn’t win the heat or were not the fastest car, also qualified for the Dash.
 
Heat two (started): 1. Hunter Schuerenberg 55 (2) 2. Henderson 7 (4) 3. Scotty Neitzel 2w (6) 4. Bill Balog 17B (3) / 5. Russel Borland 23 (1) 6. Trey Starks 44 (5) 7. Brandon Stevenson 0s (7) 8. Johnny Fahl 0 (9) 9. Kevin Ingle 2K (8)
 
Schuerenberg led Henderson, Balog and a surging Neitzel early.  Ingle got over the berm in turn two five laps in and exited, bringing caution.  On the restart, Henderson spun his tires in the grease on the low side of four.  Balog’s momentum took him by Henderson before the fronstretch cone, as he was a victim of circumstance.  He was penalized two spots (much to the dismay of the crowd), but rebounded to gain the final transfer from Borland.
 
Heat three (started): 1. A. McCarl 17A (3) 2. Terry McCarl 4 (2) 3. Tim Kaeding 3 (5) 4. McMahan 13 (4) / 5. Skylar Gee 99 (7) 6. Josh Baughman 17 (1) 7. Jake Blackhurst 73 (6) 8. James Broty 33 (8)
 
Baughman spun in the grease on the bottom of turn four at the outset.  He restarted at the tail.  The McCarl’s started in the front row on the restart and A. McCarl pulled away to win by a big margin.
 
Heat four (started): 1. Stewart 14 (4) 2. Dietrich 48 (3) 3. Kyle Offill 88 (1) 4. Chris Martin 44m (6) / 5. Sawyer Phillips 3P (5) 6. McKenna Haase 55m (8) 7. Hunter Custer 29 (7) 8. Brinton Marvel 21 (2)
 
Stewart led Marvel, Dietrich and Offill early.  Dietrich took second on lap two.  Phillips got over the third turn berm with two lap sin the books.  Marvel got over the top as well while running third, and pulled in the infield.  Stewart won going away.
 
Heat five (started): 1. Chad Boespflug 2KS (1) 2. Reutzel 87 (4) 3. Greg Wilson w20 (5) 4. Wise 11 (3) / 5. Skylar Prochaska 35 (2) 6. Colin Smith o5 (6) 7. Jade Hastings 8H (7) 8. Alan Gilbertson 97 (8)
 
Boespflug led in the early going over Wise, Prochaska and Reutzel.  Reutzel would take third on lap two.  Gilbertson flipped after getting over the top of turn three on lap four.  He was o.k., but done for the night.  Boespflug led Wise, Reutzel, Prochaska and Wilson back to green.  Prochaska briefly moved into third, as Wise went over the top of turn four.  He was able to save it after dropping back to sixth.  Wilson moved into the final transfer with Wise’s misfortune, and he passed Prochaska for third with two to go.  Wise gained fourth coming for the white flag, saving his Dash spot.

Skylar Gee Dash one (started): 1. Stewart (2) 2. Dietrich (1) 3. Zearfoss (6) 4. Boespflug (4) 5. McMahan (3) 6. Wise (5)
 
This 4-lap Dash set the inside starting spots in the feature for rows one through six.  The Dashes were the most entertaining we’ve seen in some time.  Stewart led the distance, but was hounded by Dietrich the whole way.  Zearfoss pressured Boespflug before passing him for third on the final lap.
 
Dash two (started): 1. A. McCarl (4) 2. Eliason (3) 3. Peck (1) 4. Reutzel (5) 5. Schuerenberg (2) 6. Henderson (6)
 
Eliason led early, ahead of Peck and A. McCarl.  A. McCarl took second on lap two and ran down Eliason.  A. McCarl shot around the high side of three and four on the last lap and beat Eliason to the line by half a car length.
 
B main (started): 1. Gee (6) 2. Duncan (4) 3. Prochaska (1) 4. Starks (9) / 5. Baughman (2) 6. Schultz (7) 7. Blackhurst (11) 8. Haase (10) 9. Ledger (18) 10. Borland (3) 11. Smith (8) 12. Phillips (5) 13. Marvel (16) 14. Custer (15) 15. Ingle (20) 16. Stevenson (14) 17. Broty (17) 18. Rouston (13) 19. Fahl (19) 20. Knutson (21) 21. Hastings (12) DNS – Gilbertson
 
Prochaska led the 12-lapper early over Duncan, Baughman and Gee.  Duncan passed Prochaska for the lead in a good battle on lap two.  Gee got Baughman for third on the same lap.  Prochaska worked back by Duncan in another lead change on lap three.  The yellow flag came out for Rouston who did a 360 spin five laps in.  Duncan claimed the lead from Prochaska again on the restart, while Gee moved into second.  Starks had moved from row five to fifth by lap seven.  Rouston spun again on lap ten, collecting Fahl, who exited.  Duncan led Gee, Prochaska, Baughman and Starks back to green.  Starks was able to use the middle of turns one and two to get around Baughman for the final transfer, while Gee used the same corner to claim the lead from Duncan.

Austin McCarl won a thriller Saturday at Park Jefferson A main (started): 1. A. McCarl (2) 2. Reutzel (8) 3. Dietrich (3) 4. Stewart (1) 5. McMahan (9) 6. Zearfoss (5) 7. Juhl (13) 8. Peck (6) 9. Kaeding (15) 10. Wise (11) 11. Boespflug (7) 12. Henderson (12) 13. Wilson (16) 14. T. McCarl (14) 15. Schuerenberg (10) 16. Duncan (22) 17. Blackhurst (27, prov.) 18. Offill (17) 19. Starks (24) 20. Balog (19) 21. Neitzel (18) 22. Gee (21) 23. Martin (20) 24. Prochaska (23) 25. Schultz (26, prov.) 26. Baughman (25, prov.) 27. Eliason (4)
 
The 25-lapper will go down as one of the best of the year for sure.  Stewart led from the pole early over Eliason, A. McCarl and Reutzel.  The leaders headed into lapped traffic on lap six, and Eliason tracked down Stewart, who got caught behind a lapper.  Eliason took the lead on the high side, while A. McCarl snuck low for second.  Stewart battled back to second on lap eight, and Reutzel shot by A. McCarl for third a lap later.  On lap 13, Stewart was able to get under Eliason to lead again, while A. McCarl, who was locked on the bottom, took back third from Reutzel.  Eliason contacted the lapped car of Neitzel and spun out of the race with 13 down.  Stewart led A. McCarl, Reutzel, Dietrich and McMahan back to green on the only caution of the race.  A. McCarl ducked under Stewart in turn four to take the lead on lap 14, while Reutzel moved into second on lap 15.  Dietrich was up to third by lap 16.  On lap 19, the leaders were back in heavy lapped traffic.  A. McCarl had a $1,000 bonus from Kolthoff Electric on the line for the win, while Reutzel had a $2,000 bonus from Folkens Brothers Trucking.  With Reutzel mainly setup for the high side, and A. McCarl set up down low, it would be a showdown the rest of the way.  Reutzel took the lead when A. McCarl was slowed in traffic on lap 20.  On lap 21, A. McCarl put a monster slider on Reutzel in turn three to lead that lap.  The battle continued, with Reutzel taking the lead on the high side again with two to go.  Coming for the white flag, it was A. McCarl shooting under to lead off turn four.  Reutzel would get back around in one and two, but A. McCarl nailed the bottom of three and four again to take a $7,900 payday and his first All Star win!  IRA provisional Blackhurst was the hard-charger.