KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Aaron Reutzel turned his Knoxville Nationals around during Friday night’s FVP Hard Knox racing program at Knoxville Raceway.
After a heat-race crash on Wednesday night, Reutzel was forced to run the Friday night event and turned in a dominant performance, setting fast time and leading all 25 laps of the feature to gain the first of four starting spots in Saturday night’s $185,000-to-win main event for the 62nd annual event.
Reutzel held off a last-lap charge from David Gravel, who crashed on the same qualifying night as Reutzel, to claim his eighth Knoxville Raceway victory.
Gravel took the second spot in Saturday’s feature, while Scott Bogucki and Parker Price-Miller grabbed the final two guaranteed spots. The four Friday night transfers will start 21st through 24th in the 50-lap main event.
“It’s awesome,” Reutzel said to a round of boos from the crowd. “I love hearing those boos because that means I’m up here making money (expletive). We put another car together and my guys stayed behind me and we made it back into the Nationals.”
Gravel raced from seventh starting spot and got rolling on the top of the half-mile track during the closing laps and came up two car lengths short of victory.
“When they till the top here, it gets so easy to run and you are just running qualifying laps around the top,” Gravel said. “Aaron set a torrid pace and we’re just happy to get in the show. We’ve been plenty fast and we had a car fast enough to get in on our qualifying night, but just bad luck. That’s racing.”
Behind the two early week favorites to win the Nationals were two drivers, who were ecstatic to simply make the main event.
Bogucki, an Australian who moved to the United States in 2012 as a crew member for Johnny Herrera and has battled his way through the ranks, finished third. As well, he was disqualified during last week’s 360 Nationals and destroyed a car Monday at Southern Iowa Speedway.
It will be his first A-main start.
“It’s been a hell of a week, going from the lowest of lows last week with something that was out of my control,” Bogucki said. “Going to Osky and destroying a car and I’ve been so close so many times. I’ve run fifth in this race before. I was going to wreck it tonight or we were going to lock it in because no way I was running fifth again.”
Heskin charged from 10th starting position and passed Parker Price-Miller in the closing laps to claim the final locked-in position for Saturday. It will be his fourth Nationals A-main but first since 2012.
“It’s unreal. It is a blessing to have everything that you have,” said Heskin, who drives for former Knoxville racer Matt Moro. “Wednesday I was pretty down, but we came back. I think it was the most nervous I’ve ever been for a heat race and it kind of showed. It is unreal to lock in. Everybody up here knows how much time and effort we put into these things. To do it with your family and friends is just unreal.”
Price-Miller came home fifth and will start 11th in Saturday night’s B main.
The Boxscore
Fast Time Flight A: Aaron Reutzel, 15.425 seconds.
Fast Time Flight B: Scott Bogucki, 15.508 seconds.
First Heat (8 laps): David Gravel, Dylan Cisney, Aaron Reutzel, Shane Golobic, Blake Hahn, Christopher Thram, Colby Copeland, Sawyer Phillips, Brock Zearfoss, A.J. Moeller, Don Droud Jr., R.J. Johnson.
Second Heat (8 laps): Parker Price-Miller, Brandon Wimmer, Kaleb Johnson, Jamie Veal, Brady Bacon, Noah Gass, J.J. Hickle, Brenham Crouch, Chase Dietz, Harli White, Chris Martin, Terry McCarl, Jordan Goldesberry.
Third Heat (8 laps): Cory Eliason, Ryan Timms, Tim Shaffer, Brent Marks, Ayrton Gennetten, Brooke Tatnell, Kraig Kinser, Mark Dobmeier, Kevin Thomas Jr., Skylar Prochaska, Austin Bishop, Bill Rose, Matt Wasmund.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Chris Windom, Bill Balog, Scott Bogucki, Kyle Reinhardt, Lachlan McHugh, Clint Garner, Zeb Wise, Kalib Henry, Cody Ihlen, Cole Mincer, Landon Hansen, Carson McCarl.
Fifth Heat (8 laps): Tim Kaeding, Jamie Ball, Justin Henderson, Robbie Price, McKenna Haase, Tanner Holmes, Tanner Carrick, Jake Bubak, Kelby Watt, Ayden Gatewood, Trent Pigdon.
Sixth Heat (8 laps): Justin Sanders, Lynton Jeffrey, Davey Heskin, Sye Lynch, Kade Higday, Cap Henry, Matt Covington, Riley Goodno, Kevin Ingle, Frank Rodgers, Cole Macedo.
C Main (10 laps): Skylar Prochaska, Brock Zearfoss, Matt Covington, Terry McCarl, Zach Hampton, Austin Bishop, Chris Martin, McKenna Haase, R.J. Johnson, Landon Hansen, Cole Mincer, Frank Rodgers, Matt Wasmund, Jordan Goldesberry, Bill Rose.
First B Main (12 laps): Brent Marks, Brady Bacon, Shane Golobic, Ayrton Gennetten, Blake Hahn, Christopher Thram, Brenham Crouch, Sawyer Phillips, Harli White, Noah Gass, J.J. Hickle, Mark Dobmeier, Zach Hampton, Kraig Kinser, Chris Martin, Don Droud Jr., Colby Copeland, Matt Covington, Brooke Tatnell, Skylar Prochaska, Chase Dietz, A.J. Moeller, Kevin Thomas Jr., Jamie Veal.
Second B Main (12 laps): Sye Lynch, Zeb Wise, Robbie Price, Tanner Holmes, Clint Garner, Kelby Watt, Jake Bubak, Brock Zearfoss, Lachlan McHugh, Kade Higday, Riley Goodno, Kyle Reinhardt, Cap Henry, Kalib Henry, Cole Macedo, Tanner Carrick, McKenna Haase, Terry McCarl, Austin Bishop, Cody Ihlen, Trent Pigdon, Kevin Ingle.
Feature (25 laps): Aaron Reutzel, David Gravel, Scott Bogucki, Davey Heskin, Parker Price-Miller, Brent Marks, Brandon Wimmer, Ryan Timms, Justin Henderson, Cory Eliason, Zeb Wise, Kaleb Johnson, Brady Bacon, Jamie Ball, Tim Kaeding, Justin Sanders, Tim Shaffer, Lynton Jeffrey, Chris Windom, Dylan Cisney, Robbie Price, Shane Golobic, Bill Balog, Sye Lynch.
