Story By: A2DPR / KYLE REINHARDT RACING – YORK HAVEN, PA – Following a debut weekend with two top ten finishes in the Grove Racing No.45, Kyle Reinhardt and crew hit the road to Michigan with the All Star Circuit of Champions, aiming to apply what they had learned on their first weekend together and continue to gel as a team.
By Saturday night there seemed to be no doubt the combination was a good one and that a victory is probably not far away.
Reinhardt’s weekend started off strong with the 5th quickest qualifying lap in the 30 car field at Tri City Motor Speedway in Auburn, MI.
The effort earned Reinhardt the pole for the second heat race. He took command of from the drop of the green and appeared set to take the victory and claim a spot in the dash. Reinhardt survived the restart following a caution at the halfway mark.
Reinhardt was still in command as the flagman raised the white flag but before the field could be scored, the caution lights flashed on for a second time. The final restart didn’t go Reinhardt’s way and he fell to a 3rd place finish.
The 30-lap A-main rolled to the green with Reinhardt occupying the 9th starting spot. As the track slicked off, Reinhardt’s No.45 struggled. He ended the night in 17th.
Reinhardt and his team made the nearly three hour trek southwest through Michigan to Butler Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s All Star Circuit of Champions race.
With a stout field of 37 cars pit side for the $8,500 to win Mace Thomas Classic, Reinhardt ripped off the 2nd fastest lap in his group. The lap put him on the pole for his heat race and he didn’t let the opportunity slip away. He led every lap to put the Grove Racing team in the dash.
The redraw put Reinhardt outside row two for the 6-lap race. At the drop of the green he quickly surged into the runner up spot and set his sights on leader Zeb Wise. He brought home a 2nd place finish and the front row starting spot in the A-main.
Reinhardt was on point from the start in the 30-lap main event. He took the top spot on the opening lap and quickly put some distance between himself and 2nd place Zeb Wise.
During the opening laps, Reinhardt ‘biked’ on the turn four cushion, which knocked the right front tire off the rim.
It didn’t slow Reinhardt down. He stayed in the gas and maintained the top spot for another four laps before losing the lead to Wise just before the steering gear finally gave out from the earlier incident. A promising night turned into a 21st place finish.
With All Star competition finished for the weekend, Reinhardt hustled back to Pennsylvania to prepare his own Capitol Renegade, Coors Banquet Beer, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.91 to compete at BAPS Motor Speedway Sunday evening.
Once again Reinhardt was fast. He laid down the 2nd quickest lap in his group, then charged to a heat race win from his inside row two starting spot.
Starting 3rd in the 30-lap A-main, Reinhardt quickly claimed the 2nd spot and challenged Danny Dietrich for the lead on lap two. The Neptune City, NJ native was strong and was clearly going to be a factor in the race, until he looped the car entering turn three a lap later. Contact from another car during the spin brought an early end to his night.
“Definitely a weekend to forget.“, Reinhardt said. “Obviously Saturday was kind of out of my control, but Sunday I was just over-driving and got crossed up.”
“We will just take the positives that we had a lot of speed in both cars and move on to the next one!“
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Reinhardt and the Grove Racing No.45 team will tackle a four race Labor Day weekend schedule.
The team will travel to Attica Raceway Park in Ohio with the All Star Circuit of Champions for the two day Attica Ambush on September 1st and 2nd.
They will remain in Ohio on Sunday to compete in the $10,000 to win Pete Jacobs Memorial at Wayne County Speedway, then they will make the haul to Port Royal Speedway on Monday for the 72nd Annual Labor Day Classic, which offers a $6,000 payday to the winner.