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Aaron Reutzel Starts 360 Nationals Defense with Thursday Prelim Win

By Bill Wright (Knoxville, IA) -- Aaron Reutzel began where he ended last year’s event Thursday on Night #1 of the Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank. The Clute, Texas driver wrestled the lead away with five to go and went on to win his ninth career 360 feature here. The defending champion also topped the point standings after night one, followed by Kelby Watt, Ryan Timms, Kaleb Johnson and Tanner Holmes (full point results under results).

PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Arch

Colby Copeland led arly over Reutzel, Jamie Ball, Jason Martin and Watt. Sam Hafertepe Jr. entered the top five by lap four, and Scott Bogucki had traveled from 15th to sixth at the same time. Timothy spun, bringing out the caution.

Hafertepe surged from fifth to third on the restart, and Bogucki entered the top five before Tasker Phillips tipped over in turn four. Phillips restarted at the tail. The restart saw Copeland leading Reutzel, Hafertepe, Ball and Bogucki back to green.

Bogucki continued his charge by passing Ball for fourth on lap nine. Up front, Copeland was stuck to the bottom with Reutzel in tow. On lap 14, he approached lapped traffic and struggled to get by Smith. On lap 15, Reutzel took advantage and Hafertepe followed him, as both bested Copeland at the line. A lap later, Bogucki moved into third.

Reutzel stayed out front to claim the $3,000 prize and 200 valuable points in the RSR #8, ahead of Hafertepe, hard-charger Bogucki, Randall and Copeland. Ball, Jason Martin, Austin McCarl, Watt and Justin Peck rounded out the top ten. Kaleb Johnson set quick time over the 50-car field, while Brenham Crouch, Tasker Phillips, Jason Martin, McCarl and Bogucki won heat races. Liam Martin took the C main and Ryan Leavitt claimed the B. Liam Martin flipped hard in the B main, but was uninjured.

“I needed (no yellows) and some lapped traffic,” said Reutzel of his pursuit of Copeland. “The bottom was too easy to hit. My car was great, he was just running a good race. It seemed like every time I got there and made a mistake, he’d slide up in front of me where I had to move a little. We got some lapped traffic, and I was finally able to seal the deal there. I can’t thank this team enough.”

“We had a really good racecar,” said Hafertepe. “Aaron runs here all the time and he knows where put his car in those situations. He did exactly what he needed to do. We had the better racecar, but he drove a really good race putting himself in the right place at the right time. We made a little charge on him the last couple laps, but couldn’t get it done. We salvaged a night going out as late as we did (for qualifying).”

“We’ve started on the front row of this before and run fourth,” said Bogucki. “I buried us after qualifying. I guess I just got pissed off and got up on the wheel. We made whatever we needed to happen happen. We got this thing rolling.”

Following post-race inspection, Bogucki was disqualified, surrendering all points and purse earned.

Join us Friday, August 4 for Night #2 of the 33rd Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank! For more information on the Knoxville Raceway, visit us online at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!

33rd Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank Night #1 Results

Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 22K, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (2), 16.389; 2. 18T, Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR (8), 16.401; 3. 5T, Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK (16), 16.552; 4. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (13), 16.579; 5. 8, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (4), 16.593; 6. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (7), 16.641; 7. 8M, Kade Morton, Coweta, OK (10), 16.714; 8. 17, Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa, IA (3), 16.718; 9. 41, Colton Hardy, Phoenix, AZ (19), 16.718; 10. 24R, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (32), 16.732; 11. 4W, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (33), 16.738; 12. 50YR, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (1), 16.789; 13. 36, Jason Martin, Liberal, KS (12), 16.791; 14. 16A, Colby Copeland, Roseville, CA (6), 16.800; 15. 24H, Kade Higday, Pleasant Hill, IA (23), 16.821; 16. 7A, Jack Anderson, Newton, IA (5), 16.822; 17. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (44), 16.824; 18. 8H, Jacob Hughes, Hartford, SD (14), 16.836; 19. 7M, Chance Morton, Coweta, OK (37), 16.857; 20. 83H, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (31), 16.868; 21. 1, Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX (26), 16.881; 22. 9, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (35), 16.902; 23. 83T, Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, CA (28), 16.932; 24. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (42), 16.940; 25. 20, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (30), 16.982; 26. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (40), 16.993; 27. 86, Timothy Smith, Rocheport, MO (29), 17.031; 28. 99, Tony Rost, Omaha, NE (36), 17.047; 29. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (49), 17.105; 30. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (18), 17.124; 31. 52, Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK (45), 17.151; 32. 6, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (47), 17.176; 33. 9M, Liam Martin, Binbrook, ONT, Can. (11), 17.183; 34. 35L, Cody Ledger, Omaha, NE (9), 17.206; 35. 75X, JT Imperial, Mesa, AZ (25), 17.228; 36. 11X, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (22), 17.257; 37. 18, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (43), 17.257; 38. 01, Sammy Swindell, Lakeland, TN (21), 17.270; 39. 2JR, Kelly Miller, Coaldale, ALB, Can. (24), 17.400; 40. 4C, Tuesday Calderwood, Goodyear, AZ (48), 17.475; 41. G5, Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, MN (20), 17.505; 42. 6T, Christopher Townsend, La Porte, TX (27), 17.582; 43. 55B, Brandon Anderson, Glenpool, OK (50), 17.628; 44. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (46), 17.678; 45. 105, Cody Ihlen, Pipestone, MN (17), 17.897; 46. 3, Howard Moore, Memphis, TN (39), 18.024; 47. 45X, Kyler Johnson, Quinter, KS (41), 18.053; 48. T4, Tyler Graves, Chariton, IA (34), 18.399; 49. 22W, Aaron Werner, Colman, SD (15), 19.909; DQ - 84, Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Au (38)

Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:19.9: 1. Brenham Crouch (2); 2. Justin Peck (1); 3. Kaleb Johnson (6); 4. Jamie Ball (4) / 5. Jack Anderson (3); 6. JT Imperial (8); 7. Ryan Leavitt (5); 8. Calvin Landis (7) / 9. Cody Ihlen (10); 10. Tuesday Calderwood (9)

Heat two (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1. Tasker Phillips (1); 2. Chase Randall (2); 3. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (3); 4. Tanner Holmes (6) / 5. JJ Hickle (4); 6. Blake Hahn (7); 7. Howard Moore (10); 8. Kade Morton (5) / 9. Gage Pulkrabek (9); 10. Ayrton Gennetten (8)

Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:18.6: 1. Jason Martin (4); 2. Timothy Smith (1); 3. Ryan Timms (6); 4. Tanner Carrick (2) / 5. Dustin Selvage (7); 6. Ryan Roberts (8); 7. Tyler Groenendyk (5); 8. Kyler Johnson (10) / 9. Christopher Townsend (9); 10. Jacob Hughes (3)

Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:17.5: 1. Austin McCarl (2); 2. Tony Rost (1); 3. Kelby Watt (6); 4. Colby Copeland (4) / 5. Chance Morton (3); 6. Colton Hardy (5); 7. Sammy Swindell (8); 8. Brandon Anderson (9) / 9. Liam Martin (7); 10. Tyler Graves (10)

Heat five (started), 8 Laps, 2:15.9: 1. Kade Higday (4); 2. Chris Martin (1); 3. Aaron Reutzel (6) / 4. Justin Henderson (3); 5. Rico Abreu (5); 6. Kelly Miller (8); 7. Alan Zoutte (9) / 8. Aaron Werner (10); 9. Cody Ledger (7) DQ - Scott Bogucki (2)

C main (started), 10 Laps, 2:55.0: 1. Liam Martin (2); 2. Jacob Hughes (1); 3. Ayrton Gennetten (4); 4. Cody Ledger (3) / 5. Christopher Townsend (7); 6. Tuesday Calderwood (5); 7. Gage Pulkrabek (6); 8. Cody Ihlen (8); 9. Tyler Graves (9); 10. Aaron Werner (10)

B main (started), 12 Laps, 6:21.0: 1. Ryan Leavitt (1); 2. Justin Henderson (9); 3. Rico Abreu (5); 4. Kade Morton (2) / 5. Tyler Groenendyk (3); 6. Blake Hahn (11); 7. Calvin Landis (10); 8. JJ Hickle (6); 9. Dustin Selvage (12); 10. Colton Hardy (4); 11. JT Imperial (13); 12. Ayrton Gennetten (23); 13. Ryan Roberts (14); 14. Sammy Swindell (15); 15. Brandon Anderson (17); 16. Jacob Hughes (22); 17. Kelly Miller (16); 18. Cody Ledger (24); 19. Kyler Johnson (20); 20. Alan Zoutte (18); 21. Howard Moore (19); 22. Liam Martin (21); 23. Chance Morton (8); 24. Jack Anderson (7)

A main (started), 20 Laps, NT: 1. Aaron Reutzel (4); 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (10); 3. Chase Randall (12); 4. Colby Copeland (1); 5. Jamie Ball (3); 6. Jason Martin (2); 7. Austin McCarl (14); 8. Kelby Watt (5); 9. Justin Peck (16); 10. Ryan Timms (6); 11. Tanner Holmes (7); 12. Kaleb Johnson (8); 13. Chris Martin (20); 14. Tasker Phillips (17); 15. Brenham Crouch (11); 16. Ryan Leavitt (21); 17. Rico Abreu (23); 18. Justin Henderson (22); 19. Tanner Carrick (13); 20. Kade Higday (9); 21. Tony Rost (19); 22. Kade Morton (24); 23. Timothy Smith (18); DQ (crossed third) - Scott Bogucki (15). Lap Leaders: Copeland 1-14, Reutzel 15-20.

33rd Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank Night #1 Points

1. Aaron Reutzel 486
2. Kelby Watt 474
3. Ryan Timms 472
4. Kaleb Johnson 472
5. Tanner Holmes 469
6. Jason Martin 466
7. Jamie Ball 463
8. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 460
9. Colby Copeland 459
10. Chase Randall 451
11. Austin McCarl 442
12. Ryan Leavitt 442
13. Rico Abreu 438
14. Kade Higday 434
15. Justin Peck 433
16. Brenham Crouch 432
17. Kade Morton 425
18. Tasker Phillips 424
19. Justin Henderson 419
20. Chris Martin 417
21. Tanner Carrick 411
22. Tyler Groenendyk 410
23. Tony Rost 403
24. JJ Hickle 402
25. Timothy Smith 401
26. Colton Hardy 401
27. Blake Hahn 365
28. Jack Anderson 362
29. Dustin Selvage 360
30. Calvin Landis 359
31. Jacob Hughes 359
32. Chance Morton 358
33. JT Imperial 347
34. Ryan Roberts 339
35. Sammy Swindell 332
36. Ayrton Gennetten 331
37. Kelly Miller 327
38. Cody Ledger 326
39. Liam Martin 320
40. Brandon Anderson 317
41. Alan Zoutte 308
42. Howard Moore 302
43. Kyler Johnson 301
44. Christopher Townsend 286
45. Tuesday Calderwood 285
46. Gage Pulkrabek 284
47. Cody Ihlen 274
48. Aaron Werner 265
49. Tyler Graves 263
50. Scott Bogucki 0

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