JACKSON, Minn. — Aaron Reutzel and Blaine Stegenga scored victories on Friday night at Jackson Motorplex, which hosted the Tweeter Contracting 360 Challenge presented by GRP Motorsports.
Reutzel captured the $3,000 top prize by topping the Gunderson Racing Inc. Midwest Sprint Touring Series and the QualityFreightRate.com Midwest Power Series 360ci winged sprint cars 25-lap main event.
Reutzel led every lap, quickly rocketing to the lead on the opening lap by using the top groove from his outside front row starting position. He entered traffic on lap five and hustled around four drivers in turns one and two. Reutzel continued to slice through traffic as he lapped half of the field before the lone caution on lap 15. By that point the bottom was the preferred lane.
“The top was open there,” he said. “I don’t know if it was starting to lay rubber that early and that’s why those guys weren’t up there or what. I knew the rubber was coming. Luckily, I saw one or two guys on the bottom. I really didn’t gain on them. I noticed that’s where the rubber was coming, on the bottom. That probably would have cost us there. I moved down and then I found the rubber all the way down on the bottom.”
Reutzel launched on the restart and had a comfortable lead until he was mired in traffic during the final three laps. Chase Randall closed to less than a quarter of a second on the final lap, but Reutzel made a move around the outside while lapping a driver in turn three to secure the victory by 1.162 seconds.
Randall, Chris Martin, Kaleb Johnson and Brooke Tatnell rounded out the top five, respectively.
Stegenga led all 20 laps of a caution-free Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series feature to earn his first career sprint car victory at Jackson Motorplex.
Stegenga cruised on the bottom as he built more than a four-second lead within the first seven laps before hitting traffic on Lap 8. Dusty Ballenger battled into the runner-up position on lap 12 and reeled in Stegenga in traffic, closing to less than two tenths of a second on lap 16 when Stegenga missed the groove in turns one and two. However, he hit his marks throughout the waning laps to win by 0.760 seconds.
“It feels good to get this first one out of the way,” he said. “I was just trying to look forward, just kind of judge, see where those lapped cars were going to go. I felt a little bit better up top. The bottom kinda slicked out a bit here coming out of turn four. I figured those guys were coming so I better get up top.”
Ballenger finished second with Trevor Serbus rallying from 12 th to third. Luke Nellis was fourth and Trevor Smith placed fifth.
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