Pocola, OK. (11/11/23) Aaron Reutzel would reign supreme to gain the $12K grand prize at the Tri-State Speedway Salute to Service with the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series on Veterans Day to notch his second career victory in an instant classic and thrilling thirty lap feature event.
Cruising onto the refreshed racing surface with twenty-six entrants of the POWRi 410 BOSS would see Aaron Reutzel set the new track record quick qualifying time of 12.966-second lap reaching speeds of one-hundred thirty miles per hour. Sam Hafertepe Jr, Cory Eliason, and Paul Nienhiser would each earn heat racing victories as notched the event high point qualifier award and pole starting position for the headlining feature with Gage Montgomery prevailing in the semi-feature.
Taking the track into the initial green flag start with record-breaking Aaron Reutzel and Brenham Crouch lined up in the front row, Aaron Reutzel would speed into the early racing advantage by throwing a slider for the lead on the opening lap as Brenham Crouch, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Landon Crawley, and Noah Gass all battled within the top five.
Setting a blistering pace around a finely prepared topside of Tri-State Speedway, Aaron Reutzel would appear to be on a rail by dealing with lap traffic within the first five laps of the main event with Brenham Crouch right in his leading tire tracks as Sam Hafertepe Jr closed in on the top two.
Showing the fastest line around the track while leading, Reutzel would change his line briefly to the low side as Hafertepe moved into second. Overtaking the lead briefly, Sam Hafertepe Jr would only lead for about ninety feet as Reutzel would charge back using a slide job in turns one and two for the event winning maneuver.
Lapping all the way into the top ten positions, Aaron Reutzel would continue leading the laps as the ticked off at a rapid rate with the lone caution of the feature appearing as the white flag was about to be displayed. With the field bunched back together for a two-lap shootout for the major payday.
Highly guarding the front of the field for the final restart of the main event, Aaron Reutzel would earn his second career POWRi 410 BOSS feature victory leading twenty-nine of the action-packed thirty-lap thriller.
“Get after it, that was my plan. I thought I was setting a good pace but when I started getting slid I knew I had to go and get after it,” said an elated Aaron Reutzel in the Pocola Oklahoma winner's circle ceremony celebrations. Adding, “I had a great restart after the caution coming to white when a lap car wanted to race. Phenomenal car this whole weekend and I can’t thank this team enough, I’m pumped about next year”.
Challenging closely behind the leader would find night one winner Sam Hafertepe Jr finishing runner-up from starting fourth with Cory Eliason flying forward to placing on the final podium placement from the starting sixth on the initial green flag.
Brenham Crouch would be among the frontrunners all feature to fourth as Noah Gass would move forward four spots to round out the top-five finishers for the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series at Tri-State Speedway on Night Two of the T2 Promotions Salute to Service.
Tri-State Speedway | POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series | 11/11/23:
Hoosier Racing Tire Quick Qualifying Time: 8X-Aaron Reutzel(12.966)
Advanced Racing Suspension Heat Race 1 Winner: 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr
Auto Meter Heat Race 2 Winner: 8-Cory Eliason
Schure Built Suspensions Heat Race 3 Winner: 9X-Paul Nienhiser
Max Papis Innovations Semi-Feature Winner: 79-Gage Montgomery
MVT Services High Point Qualifier: 8X-Aaron Reutzel
Super Clean Hard Charger: 22X-JJ Hickle(+10)
Toyota Racing Development Feature Winner: 8X-Aaron Reutzel
Toyota Racing Development A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 8X-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 8-Cory Eliason[5]; 4. 1-Brenham Crouch[2]; 5. 20G-Noah Gass[9]; 6. 7S-Landon Crawley[3]; 7. 87J-Jace Park[11]; 8. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[7]; 9. 6Z-Zane DeVault[16]; 10. 22X-JJ Hickle[20]; 11. 52-Blake Hahn[12]; 12. 17GP-Cole Duncan[13]; 13. 22-Riley Goodno[18]; 14. 84-Brandon Hanks[15]; 15. 51B-Joe B Miller[14]; 16. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 17. 79-Gage Montgomery[17]; 18. 37-Bryce Norris[19]; 19. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[8]; 20. 16TH-Kevin Newton[22]; 21. 11-Roger Crockett[10]; 22. G6-Cody Gardner[21].
Max Papis Innovations B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 79-Gage Montgomery[2]; 2. 22-Riley Goodno[1]; 3. 37-Bryce Norris[3]; 4. 22X-JJ Hickle[10]; 5. G6-Cody Gardner[7]; 6. 16TH-Kevin Newton[9]; 7. 67-Jonathan Hughes[4]; 8. 50K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 9. (DNS) 88R-Ryder Laplante; 10. (DNS) 91-Riley Kreisel.
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 8X-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 4. 87J-Jace Park[5]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[6]; 7. 67-Jonathan Hughes[9]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[7]; 9. 16TH-Kevin Newton[8].
Auto Meter Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Cory Eliason[2]; 2. 1-Brenham Crouch[4]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett[1]; 4. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[3]; 5. 6Z-Zane DeVault[5]; 6. 37-Bryce Norris[6]; 7. 50K-Kyle Bellm[7]; 8. G6-Cody Gardner[8]; 9. (DNS) 22X-JJ Hickle.
Schure Built Suspensions Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[1]; 2. 7S-Landon Crawley[4]; 3. 20G-Noah Gass[2]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks[6]; 6. 79-Gage Montgomery[7]; 7. 17GP-Cole Duncan[3]; 8. 91-Riley Kreisel[8].
Hoosier Racing Tire Qualifying 1: 1. 8X-Aaron Reutzel, 00:12.966[10]; 2. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:13.030[13]; 3. 7S-Landon Crawley, 00:13.270[14]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, 00:13.281[21]; 5. 19-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.334[23]; 6. 17GP-Cole Duncan, 00:13.386[5]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:13.395[6]; 8. 8-Cory Eliason, 00:13.395[26]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:13.395[12]; 10. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:13.479[8]; 11. 11-Roger Crockett, 00:13.481[22]; 12. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 00:13.529[24]; 13. 87J-Jace Park, 00:13.604[2]; 14. 6Z-Zane DeVault, 00:13.649[9]; 15. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:13.650[25]; 16. 22-Riley Goodno, 00:13.693[1]; 17. 37-Bryce Norris, 00:13.775[7]; 18. 84-Brandon Hanks, 00:13.781[18]; 19. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:14.019[19]; 20. 50K-Kyle Bellm, 00:14.048[15]; 21. 79-Gage Montgomery, 00:14.084[17]; 22. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 00:14.096[16]; 23. G6-Cody Gardner, 00:14.104[4]; 24. 91-Riley Kreisel, 00:14.127[3]; 25. 67-Jonathan Hughes, 00:14.481[11]; 26. 22X-JJ Hickle, 01:00.000[20].
Next up the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series will see action on Championship Night in the series season finale on November 12th at Tulsa Speedway for $7K to win.
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Photo Credit: Richard Bales