Aaron Reutzel won the ASCS stop at I-30 Speedway Saturday (Jimmy Jones Photo)
Bryan Hulbert – LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (March 26, 2022) Deciding to head to I-30 Speedway paid off for Aaron Reutzel, as the Ridge Development No. 8 topped the slide job filled battle at the Hammer Hill Showdown with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
"The car was phenomenal. When we left here last night, we had a game plan on what we were going to do if the track got the same, but it did kind of scare me because I thought the top would go away a lot faster, and it didn't. This is the I-30 I remember when I first started coming here. It was a lot of fun," stated Aaron on the front stretch.
Aaron's first win with the series since 2017, the I-30 triumph, is the 20th time the Clute, Texas shoe has topped the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series. Taking the green from fourth, Aaron held that position the opening 11 revolutions as Seth Bergman led the way. Into traffic working Lap 12, Seth made contact with Landon Britt's left rear tire, forcing the Evergreen Coffee Co. No. 23 around in turn four.
Handing the lead to Blake Hahn, the race went another lap before it was slowed again. Up to second on the Lap 11 restart, Reutzel set sights on Hahn for the lead before the red lights came on for Slater Helt with 14 laps to go.
Kicking off four laps to non-stop slide jobs, Reutzel and Hahn use every inch of the I-30 Speedway surface. Trying repeatedly to break the other's momentum, Aaron finally grabbed the lead on Lap 19. Having to fend off two more attempts at the point the following lap, Aaron was finally able to get away from the No. 52.
On the race for the lead, Aaron said, "It got a little wild with him. The sliders, the front stretch chops, it just made it wild but fun. It's a chess match. He did what he had to do, and I did what I had to do, but the way the track was, you had to pick your battles on when and how to slide, and luckily, we got through it."
Keeping around the top of the Arkansas quarter-mile, Aaron closed on traffic through the final laps but was unchallenged the rest of the way. Making up some time on Reutzel at the end, Howard Moore ended up second by 0.861-seconds. Exchanging the show position numerous times with Hahn, Matt Covington rolled the No. 95 to third with an engine on loan from Linda Howard. Making contact with the wall battling for the lead, Blake Hahn held on for a fourth-place finish, with Dale Howard moving up three spots to finish fifth.
Wayne Johnson went from ninth to sixth while fending off Garet Williamson on the closing lap. Making up 11 positions, Tim Crawley made it to eighth, followed by Derek Hagar in ninth. Oklahoma's Brandon Anderson completed the top ten.
A field of 49 was on hand Saturday night. The overall quick qualifier was Dylan Westbrook at 12.175-seconds. Setting up five SCE Gaskets Heat Races wins went to Garet Williamson, Aaron Reutzel, Matt Covington, Howard Moore, and Brandon Anderson. BMRS B-Feature wins went to Landon Britt and Ryan Timms. One provisional start was used by Travis Reber.
The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series is the $10,000 to win, Capital City Clash at Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram, Miss. on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2. Tickets are on sale at http://www.ascsracing.com/schedule.
The 2022 season will mark the 31st year of competition for the American Sprint Car Series. Spearheaded by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, the ASCS Nation includes Regional Tours that encompass both wing and non-wing competition.
For fans not able to attend, the series can be seen live on two platforms, with RaceOnTexas.com on FloRacing.com featuring National Tour events in tandem. Both are subscription-based sites. FloRacing.com is $20 per month, billed annually at $150 per year. RaceOnTexas.com All Access is $39.99 per month.
For other news, notes, and information on any of the tours under the ASCS banner, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Mid-South Region
I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, Ark.)
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Car Count: 49
The Driver's Project Group Qualifying
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, 12.288[5]; 2. 1X-Tim Crawley, 12.332[9]; 3. 24-Garet Williamson, 12.375[1]; 4. 14-Jordon Mallett, 12.447[3]; 5. 24T-Christopher Thram, 12.493[10]; 6. 21B-Brandon Hinkle, 12.626[4]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 12.657[6]; 8. 99-Blake Jenkins, 12.664[8]; 9. X-Charlie Louden, 12.777[2]; 10. 38-Rick Pringle, 13.136[7]
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 12.242[6]; 2. 44-Chris Martin, 12.431[5]; 3. 71-Bradyn Baker, 12.471[2]; 4. 10-Landon Britt, 12.556[7]; 5. 47-Dale Howard, 12.602[10]; 6. 2-Chase Porter, 12.667[1]; 7. 98P-Miles Paulus, 12.706[9]; 8. 6-Dustin Gates, 12.732[4]; 9. 85-Josh McCord, 12.810[8]; 10. 2D-Dylan Opdahl, 12.877[3]
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 12.175[9]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 12.210[7]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, 12.245[5]; 4. 5T-Ryan Timms, 12.292[10]; 5. 22S-Slater Helt, 12.415[2]; 6. 21K-Kevin Hinkle, 12.579[3]; 7. 187-Landon Crawley, 12.607[8]; 8. 22-Riley Goodno, 12.685[4]; 9. 36-Jason Martin, 12.752[1]; 10. 10P-Dylan Postier, 12.887[6]
Qualifying 4 (3 Laps): 1. 3M-Howard Moore, 12.352[1]; 2. 14E-Kyle Bellm, 12.612[5]; 3. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 12.619[9]; 4. 13C-Chase Howard, 12.655[10]; 5. 27-Austin Wood, 12.764[3]; 6. 30-Joseph Miller, 12.827[6]; 7. 6T-Christopher Townsend, 13.077[7]; 8. 44R-Ronny Howard, 13.107[8]; 9. 88-Travis Reber, 13.107[2]; 10. G6-Cody Gardner, 13.107[4]
Qualifying 5 (3 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 12.375[2]; 2. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 12.709[6]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 12.793[3]; 4. 12-Jeffrey Newell, 12.918[7]; 5. 15J-Jeremy Middleton, 13.048[9]; 6. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, 13.066[4]; 7. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr, 13.125[1]; 8. 19-Jason Long, 13.166[8]; 9. 5L-Dusty Young, 13.418[5]
SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 16 in combined Qualifying and Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
SCE Gaskets Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett[1]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 5. 1X-Tim Crawley[3]; 6. 99-Blake Jenkins[8]; 7. 24T-Christopher Thram[5]; 8. X-Charlie Louden[9]; 9. 38-Rick Pringle[10]; 10. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[6]
SCE Gaskets Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 47-Dale Howard[5]; 3. 10-Landon Britt[1]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[3]; 5. 6-Dustin Gates[8]; 6. 85-Josh McCord[9]; 7. 71-Bradyn Baker[2]; 8. 2-Chase Porter[6]; 9. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[10]; 10. 98P-Miles Paulus[7]
SCE Gaskets Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[3]; 3. 5T-Ryan Timms[1]; 4. 22S-Slater Helt[5]; 5. 187-Landon Crawley[7]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[8]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[9]; 8. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]; 9. 10P-Dylan Postier[10]; 10. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[6]
SCE Gaskets Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3M-Howard Moore[4]; 2. 13C-Chase Howard[1]; 3. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]; 4. 14E-Kyle Bellm[3]; 5. 30-Joseph Miller[6]; 6. 44R-Ronny Howard[8]; 7. 6T-Christopher Townsend[7]; 8. 27-Austin Wood[5]; 9. G6-Cody Gardner[9]; 10. 88-Travis Reber[10]
SCE Gaskets Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 3. 12-Jeffrey Newell[1]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]; 5. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[5]; 6. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[6]; 7. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr[7]; 8. 19-Jason Long[8]; 9. 5L-Dusty Young[9]
BMRS B-Features (Top 3 from each advance)
BMRS B-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt[1]; 2. 1X-Tim Crawley[4]; 3. 22S-Slater Helt[2]; 4. G6-Cody Gardner[15]; 5. 12-Jeffrey Newell[3]; 6. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[7]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[6]; 8. 24T-Christopher Thram[10]; 9. X-Charlie Louden[11]; 10. 98P-Miles Paulus[16]; 11. 6T-Christopher Townsend[9]; 12. 2-Chase Porter[12]; 13. 10P-Dylan Postier[14]; 14. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[17]; 15. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[8]; 16. 38-Rick Pringle[13]; 17. 30-Joseph Miller[5]
BMRS B-Main 2 (12 Laps): 1. 5T-Ryan Timms[2]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[8]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[7]; 4. 6-Dustin Gates[1]; 5. 187-Landon Crawley[3]; 6. 85-Josh McCord[4]; 7. 27-Austin Wood[12]; 8. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr[9]; 9. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[13]; 10. 88-Travis Reber[15]; 11. 19-Jason Long[11]; 12. 44R-Ronny Howard[6]; 13. 71-Bradyn Baker[10]; 14. 99-Blake Jenkins[5]; 15. 5L-Dusty Young[14]; 16. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[16]
A-Feature
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 3M-Howard Moore[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 5. 47-Dale Howard[8]; 6. 2C-Wayne Johnson[9]; 7. 24-Garet Williamson[5]; 8. 1X-Tim Crawley[19]; 9. 9JR-Derek Hagar[11]; 10. 55B-Brandon Anderson[7]; 11. 36-Jason Martin[22]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[18]; 13. 13C-Chase Howard[10]; 14. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[20]; 15. 17B-Ryan Bickett[12]; 16. 10-Landon Britt[17]; 17. 14-Jordon Mallett[16]; 18. 44-Chris Martin[13]; 19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[15]; 20. 14E-Kyle Bellm[14]; 21. 22S-Slater Helt[21]; 22. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 23. 88-Travis Reber[23]
Lap Leader(s): Seth Bergman 1-11; Blake Hahn 12-18; Aaron Reutzel 19-30
Hard Charger: Tim Crawley +11
Quick Time: Dylan Westbrook, 12.175
High Point Driver: Aaron Reutzel
Provisional(s): Travis Reber (Points)
2022 Race Winners: Wayne Johnson – 1 (3/18 – Devil's Bowl Speedway); Seth Bergman – 1 (3/19 – Devil's Bowl Speedway); Derek Hagar – 1 (3/25 – I-30 Speedway); Aaron Reutzel – 1 (3/26 – I-30 Speedway);
2022 Driver Points (Top 10): 1. Wayne Johnson 527; 2. Blake Hahn 491; 3. Seth Bergman 478; 4. Jason Martin 448; 5. Dylan Westbrook 444; 6. Ryan Timms 441; 7. Garet Williamson 436; 8. Tim Crawley 416; 9. Landon Britt 394; 10. Brandon Anderson 384;
ASCS Online:
American Sprint Car Series: http://www.ascsracing.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lucasoilascs
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lucasoilascs [@lucasoilascs]
Instagram: LucasOilASCS
Broadcast: RaceOnTexas.com on FloRacing.com
Live-Scoring [Where Applicable]: MRP Live
ASCS National Tour Drivers:
2p - Chase Porter (St. Joseph, MO) (R)
10 - Landon Britt (Atoka, TN) (R)
10p - Dylan Postier (Stillwater, OK) (R)
17b - Ryan Bickett (Romona, SD)
23 - Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA)
24 - Garet Williamson (Columbia, MO)
36 - Jason Martin (Liberal, KS) (R)
45x - Kyler Johnson (Quinter, KS) (R)
47x - Dylan Westbrook (Scotland, ONT. Can)
52 - Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, OK)
55b - Brandon Anderson (Glenpool, OK)
95 - Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK)
Sponsors:
The American Sprint Car Series is brought to you by Lucas Oil Products (https://lucasoil.com) and presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network (https://www.mavtv.com). Heat Races are presented by SCE Gaskets (https://www.scegaskets.com), B-Features are sponsored by BMRS (https://www.bmrs.net).
All Champions of the American Sprint Car Series, from National to Regional Tours, will receive a new Superior Steering Wheel (https://superiorsteeringwheel.com)