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Kyle Reinhardt wrapped up his ‘preseason’ outings with a top-10 run at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night in the Weldon Sterner Memorial aboard his familiar Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91.

It’s not really fair to refer to a string of tough races in Central PA as ‘preseason’.  Given the level of competition present, every race is a dogfight.  It was preseason in a sense though for Reinhardt, as he and his team have been working for the past few weeks to sharpen themselves and their equipment for their regular season with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions, which kicks off Friday, April 15th at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio.

April 9:  Weldon Sterner Memorial / Lincoln Speedway / Abbottstown, PA

      (43 cars, qualifying 2nd, heat 3rd, A-main 10th)

The lucrative Weldon Sterner Memorial event at Lincoln Speedway drew a quality field of 43 cars to compete for the $6,900 winner’s take.  Kyle Reinhardt was slotted 17th overall, part of group 1, for time trials.  He ripped off a lap of 13.851 to take the top spot on the chart.  Five cars later, Danny Dietrich knocked him from his perch, taking quick time by a mere 0.084 seconds.

The PA Speedweek format was in place for the night’s action, so four 10-lap heats were lined up with the four best times in each inverted for the start.  The top five from each race would transfer to the A-main, with two cars from each heat going to the redraw:  the winner and the fastest timer who transferred.

Reinhardt was able to advance from his number four starting spot to a 3rd place finish, thus transferring and putting himself in the redraw.  The results of the redraw made Reinhardt’s night a little tougher when he pulled the 8th starting spot.  

In the 35-lap feature event, Reinhardt moved into 7th at the drop of the green, but he slid backwards to 9th by the time the race had reached the halfway point.  He held his ground there until the final lap when Matt Campbell slipped by, relegating the Neptune City, NJ native to a 10th place finish.

“Time trials were something we definitely wanted to improve on from last year, so I feel like we’ve done that so far.  We’ve been timing really well and have had good speed early in the night.  Now we need to work on making the right decisions later in the night, so we can finish as well as we start“, Reinhardt explained.

Lincoln Speedway has been a challenging venue for Reinhardt in the past, so while the finish may have been a few spots shy of the goal Saturday night, it was a solid step forward for him and his team.  It also establishes a trend in the right direction when coupled with his 6th place finish there last August in the Kramer Klash with the All Stars.

Up Next

Reinhardt finally gets to hit the road this week.  The team will travel to Attica Raceway Park in Ohio to begin their Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions campaign.  The season launches there with shows on both Friday and Saturday, April 15th-16th.

“We struggled at Attica last year but I’m looking forward to kicking off our All Star season there.  I’d like to get a top-10 there.  We’re capable of it.  We just need to get a good lap down to start the night and we’ll be ok.  It’s a different type of track than we have been running so far this year, but a lot of the things we’ve improved will translate“, Reinhardt explained.

Following the 2-day All Star opener, Reinhardt will have the opportunity to return to his home state of NJ to compete in the special ‘Invasion of the Posse’ 410 sprint car show at Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Tuesday, April 19th.

Season Stats

5 races, 0 wins, 2 top 5’s, 3 top 10’s, 5 top 15’s

“Now is the time to figure out how to get better.  How to find speed.  To learn what I can do to the car and what I can’t“, Kyle Reinhardt said recently on the Sprint Car Unlimited podcast.

That is Reinhardt’s objective for March 2022 as he prepares for the upcoming Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions season.  Every choice, every decision since the end of last season has been aimed at being the absolute most-prepared he can be for the series’ tour.  Sometimes that meant being smart, staying home and saving his resources.   When mid-March arrived, it was time to get started.

For the second consecutive Friday night, Reinhardt and team rolled the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91 into the pit area at Williams Grove Speedway for another night of homework, so to speak.  The first outing was deemed a success when the team logged a top-5 finish.  Now they were back looking to continue building their notebook and their momentum.

March 25:  Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA

     (27 cars, Heat 1st, A-main 2nd)

The format for the 27 car field on week two at ‘The Grove’ called for three 10-lap heats, lined up by random draw.  The top six finishers of each would transfer to the night’s feature event, but only the top four would make the redraw.

Kyle Reinhardt lined up on the pole of heat number three and quickly showed strength, jumping out to a ten-car-length lead on the opening lap.  By lap nine he had built up a 3.5 second lead over Ryan Smith, but the caution lights flashed on for a slowing car.  The Neptune City, NJ native withstood a good restart by Smith and held on to win the heat race by 0.815 seconds.

The redraw put Reinhardt in the middle of the top ten to start the 25-lap A-main.  He looked strong, holding onto his 6th starting spot throughout the first ten laps.  In the middle of the event, Reinhardt picked up a couple spots on subsequent restarts and found himself in 3rd when the race entered the last ten laps.

At that stage, the Capitol Renegade No.91 got even quicker.  Reinhardt was rolling the bottom in turns 1 & 2 better than anyone else.  Not only was he gaining ground, he was staying out of trouble while the higher side of that end of the track was reaching out and biting some of the competition.  With 6 laps remaining, Reinhardt ripped off his fastest lap of the race, breaking into the 17 second bracket.  On the final lap, Reinhardt ran down Ryan Smith and wrestled 2nd away, capturing his first podium finish of 2022 and his second consecutive top-5 at Williams Grove.

“If it had gone without a caution and we could’ve raced in lapped traffic, I think we had a chance to get to the front, but it didn’t play out that way“, Reinhardt said.

After two solid outings at the Mechanicsburg, PA oval, Reinhardt sits 3rd in the season points close behind Dylan Norris and Justin Peck.  It could be a preview for the upcoming All Star season, where Peck and Reinhardt will be two of the top contenders this year.

“I feel really good after our first three races.  The car has really good balance.  We have a really good baseline for anywhere we go.  We know where we can make adjustments.  I’m making the calls myself this year and my guys are working really hard.  Can’t thank them enough.  We’re off to a good start”, Reinhardt shared.

Saturday’s planned trip to Reinhardt’s home state of NJ was scrapped when Bridgeport Motorsports Park cancelled due to weather, then ‘plan B’ at Port Royal Speedway fell victim to Mother Nature as well.  Sunday’s trip to Selinsgrove was also lost as a result of unseasonably cold weather.

“We have a couple more races remaining before the All Star schedule starts.  Our goal is to continue to run up front at The Grove and to go back to Port (Royal) and get up front by applying what we learned a few weeks ago up there.  If we can accomplish both, it will be a good weekend”, Reinhardt concluded.

Up Next

For their final tune-ups before kicking off the All Star Circuit of Champions season, Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team will make return trips to Williams Grove Speedway (PA) on Friday, April 1st and Port Royal Speedway (PA) the following night.  

Follow along at all the outlets listed below to keep up with Kyle’s season!