Following a difficult start to the All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek, Kyle Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade, Champion Racing Oil, Henry’s Wrecker Service team used the week’s only off day on June 13th to regroup and refocus.
Those words are used often in the sport, but what do people really mean when they use those terms? Often people are referring to problem solving, hard work, and attention to detail relating to the car. Sometimes the time is spent improving team communications and preparation. It takes all those things to succeed.
The off day was clearly well used by Reinhardt and his team. Their results the following two nights showed improvement, winning a heat race, making a dash, and qualifying for both main events. The key would be to sustain that improvement and continue that trend through the rest of the week and beyond.
6/16: Waynesfield Raceway Park – Waynesfield, OH
(Qualifying 9th overall / 2nd in group, Heat 3rd, A-main 19th)
Round five of Ohio Sprint Speedweek brought 42 teams to Waynesfield Raceway Park to take a shot at the $6,000 winner’s share. Kyle Reinhardt was the first to go under the clock in Group C for qualifying (19th overall). He registered the 2nd quickest lap in his group and 9th best overall, a good start to the night in Western Ohio.
After running second for most of the third heat race, Reinhardt ultimately finished 3rd, qualifying for the A-main but missing the dash. Cale Thomas won the heat race and Tyler Courtney, the group’s fastest qualifier, finished just ahead of Reinhardt, claiming the two available tickets to the dash.
Reinhardt started 16th in the A-main and worked his way to 14th by lap 10, but would fade slightly a few laps later. He settled into 18th for the middle portion of the race and ultimately crossed the line 19th at the conclusion of the 35-lap event.
“We were decent early but just missed it at the end of the night. We took a shot at it but it wasn’t quite what we needed. We learn from it and move on down the road“, Reinhardt shared.
6/17: Muskingum County Speedway – Dresden, OH
(Qualifying 8th overall / 4th in group, Heat 1st, Dash 5th, A-main 12th)
Move on down the road is exactly what they did, along with 38 other teams. About two hours southeast to be exact to Muskingum County Speedway for round six of Speedweek.
Once again drawing a pill that placed him in Group C, Reinhardt logged the 8th quickest time overall, 4th quickest in his group. The effort put him on the pole of the second heat. The Capitol Renegade, Champion Racing Oil, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.91 looked strong, pulling out to a lead that wasn’t challenged throughout the 8-lap race. The Neptune City, NJ native claimed the win over Cory Eliason by two seconds, earning a spot in the dash redraw for the night.
“We’ve qualified for two shows via our heat race, we’ve been in two B-mains and now we’ve made two dashes, so we’ve about covered it all this week!”, Reinhardt joked as he described the teams Speedweek experience thus far to series announcer, Blake Anderson, prior to making his pick. An unlucky draw put Reinhardt in the 5th starting spot of dash number two. It was tough to advance in the short, 4-lap event, which meant he would start the night’s A-main from outside row five in the 10th position.
It took several attempts to get the 25-lap feature event started successfully and complete a lap under green flag conditions. The initial attempts produced spinning cars and caution flags. The third attempt wasn’t much different and unfortunately for Reinhardt he was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the high side of turn one when Paul McMahon got sideways. Running 9th at the time, he was able to narrowly avoid McMahon but then found Cory Eliason on his side directly in his path. Reinhardt came to a stop with some minor front end damage. Members of several teams pitched in to help the Capitol Renegade crew make repairs in the work area so the No.91 could rejoin the field.
Reinhardt restarted 23rd after the incident and went right to work when the race resumed. He methodically worked his way forward, dicing through traffic while dealing with poor visibility due to the dry and dusty racing surface. Over the final half dozen laps, Reinhardt’s car was the fastest machine on the track as he surged forward, wheeling his J&J Chassis wherever he wanted to put it to make passes. His comeback came to a close with a 12th place finish, a solid recovery for the hand he had been dealt with the opening lap incident.
“We were rolling! The car was really, really good. Bob and Robbie gave me a great car tonight. It’s unfortunate what happened at the start. I think we were a top-5 car, maybe even a podium, if that had not happened.“, an energized Reinhardt said after the race. “I’ve never been here to Muskingum before. This is a fun track to race!“, he said.
6/18: Limaland Motorsports Park – Lima, OH (rained out)
Mother Nature claimed her one and only victim of the entire Ohio Speedweek on Friday when persistent rains and a bleak forecast forced the cancelation of the scheduled event at the 3-tenths mile oval.
6/19: Portsmouth Raceway Park – Portsmouth, OH
(Qualifying 13th overall / 3rd in group, Heat 1st, Dash 1st, A-main 20th)
Following the unplanned night off, 37 teams rolled into Portsmouth Raceway Park in southern Ohio for the Speedweek finale, the Dean Knittle Memorial, which would pay $17,554 to the victor.
Once again, Reinhardt’s qualifying effort was good, logging the 3rd best time in his group and 13th overall. Making the most of the front row starting spot the time trial run provided, Reinhardt flexed his muscle a little, winning the heat race over Zeb Wise by 2.6 seconds and earning a spot in the dash redraw for the second consecutive night.
In the dash redraw, Reinhardt once again gave himself a front row starting spot, this time next to Rico Abreu. On the initial start, Abreu executed a slide job in turn one, but Reinhardt crossed over and drove back under the No.24 of Abreu. Rico pulled even with Kyle in turn three but Reinhardt kept his foot to the floor and powered back around Abreu on the high side to take the lead for good. With that, Reinhardt had given himself his third front row starting spot of the night, and this time it would be for the top prize in the 30-lap A-main.
Once again, Reinhardt showed his strength by powering around the high side of the 3/8th mile oval, building momentum until he was close enough to strike with a slide job on leader Danny Dietrich in turn three. Reinhardt powered to the lead off turn four and would settle into the top spot for the first six laps.
Zeb Wise and Tyler Courtney were breathing down Reinhardt’s neck the entire time, and eventually each took their shot at the front of the field as well. The trio sliced and diced, running within inches of each other for several laps that had fans on their feet and holding their breath.
The caution lights flashed on with 19 laps remaining. On the ensuing restart, Reinhardt generated a huge run off turn two and down the backstretch. As he was about to overtake the No.10 of Zeb Wise, Reinhardt brushed the outside wall and deflected into Wise, causing the pair to crash.
Reinhard was able to rejoin the field and restart 16th after some quick repairs, however three laps later, with 15 to go, he came to a stop in turn four with his right rear tire going down. All Star rules do not provide for any guaranteed time in the work area once the race reaches the halfway point, so the flat tire brought an end to the night for the Capitol Renegade No.91.
“Racing hard and clipped the wall and it sent me down the track into Zeb. I feel terrible for him, his crew, and my guys. We spoke after the accident and the most important thing is that he is ok“, Reinhardt tweeted at the end of the night regarding the crash.
After wrapping up his first career Ohio Speedweek, Reinhardt summarized the team’s week. “We definitely improved all week long. We won our last two heat races, we made 3 dashes in our last 5 races, and we led some laps in the A-main, so we feel really confident about our improvements and direction“, Reinhardt commented. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the feature finishes to show how much better we were, but we definitely made gains on the dry-slick surfaces that were giving us so much trouble.“
“Bob and I are gelling more with time. We’ve only been racing together for a few months, so that’s just part of it. We’ve been racing a lot the past month. That has helped. We’re getting on the same page“, Reinhardt explained while discussing his new crew chief.
Having already garnered one victory in Reinhardt’s rookie campaign on the All Star tour, the team sits 9th in the point standings at the halfway point of the season with 4 heat wins and 2 dash wins. Given the team accomplished those things while working through their struggles, the recent improvements should make for an exciting and competitive second half of the season for Reinhardt aboard the Capitol Renegade No.91.
RQM Motorsports would like to thank Capitol Renegade, Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers, Champion Brands, Fibreworks Composites, Henry’s Wrecker Service, J&J Auto Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Kelly Racing Fuel, B.C. Walter Trucking, Arai Americas, Auto Meter, KSE Racing Products, InTech Trailers, Fel-Pro, Taylor Ignition Wires, Miller Welders, K&N Filters, Mettec, AL Driveline, Jesel Valvetrain, DMI, All-Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads, ISC Racers Tape, HMS Motorsports, Ultra Lite Brakes & Components, Rider Racing Engines, Saldana Racing Products and HP Engines for their support during the 2021 racing season.
UP NEXT:
All Star Circuit of Champions’ teams get a well-deserved break following the grueling Ohio Sprint Speedweek. Series action will resume on July 9th at Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY, followed by the 2-day Lou Blaney Memorial event at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH on July 10th-11th.
In the meantime, Reinhardt and team will participate in at least a portion of Pennsylvania Speedweek to remain sharp and continue their momentum. While the Capitol Renegade team plans to keep some of their primary equipment fresh, they will run the first three races of the PA series at Williams Grove Speedway, Lincoln Speedway and BAPS Motor Speedway June 25-27, then make a decision regarding the remaining events in the 10-day, 10-race summer tradition in PA.
