Reinhardt Has Attica and Atomic on Tap This Weekend as Final Tune-up for Ohio Speedweek

Kyle Reinhardt and his Capitol Renegade team have shown a lot of progress on the bullrings around the Midwest so far this season, but one mystery they haven’t been able to solve the past couple seasons is the always slick Port Royal Speedway.

When they unloaded the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91 for the 2-day Bob Weikert Memorial this past weekend at ‘The Speed Palace’, they brought some new ideas in hopes of turning their luck around.

Weikert Memorial Format

Although the lucrative event is sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions, the Weikert Memorial uses its own, unique format.  Full details are included below, but here are the key points for the car counts at Port Royal Speedway’s event:

• single flight time trials, order determined by pill draw
• points awarded following time trials
• 10-lap heats, top 8 in each starting lineup is inverted 8 from time trials
• passing points awarded following heats
• top 10 in points after qualifying participate in a redraw for their A-main starting spot
• 11-20 in points after qualifying line up in A-main heads up by points
• remaining drivers race the B-main with the top 4 finishers tagging the back of 30-lap A-main

May 28:  Weikert Memorial Night 1, Port Royal Speedway / Port Royal, PA

      (41 cars, Qualifying 31st, Heat 5th, B-main 15th)

Saturday was a bit of an uphill battle from the start.  The Capitol Renegade team’s pill draw placed them 35th in the time trial order for the 41 cars on hand.  From that slot, Reinhardt mustered the 31st quickest time in the field and earned 60 points.

Reinhardt’s qualifying run put him on the pole of heat number three with a chance to add 100 points if he could hold off the field for 10 laps.  From the inside line, he wasn’t able to take control of the race on the opening lap, so Reinhardt held down second.  Fighting an ill-handling car, he slid backwards to a 5th place finish when the checkered flag fell, adding another 66 points to his total for the night.

Following the heat race, the team had a lot to get done before the B-main.  They replaced the steering box on the No.91 and made adjustments that would hopefully enable Reinhardt to race into a top four transfer position.  The 12-lap B-main was his final shot to earn his way into the A-main.  The adjustments would have to be spot on to get there from his 11st starting spot. 

Things quickly went from bad to worse when Reinhardt’s No.91 looped around in turn one on the start, completing a full 360-degreen spin and continuing on.  By All Star rules, he was required to restart the race from the rear of the field.  Reinhardt’s night ended with a 15th place finish in the B-main.

May 29:  Weikert Memorial Night 2, Port Royal Speedway / Port Royal, PA

      (44 cars, Qualifying 22nd, Heat 10th, B-main DNS)

Day two of the Weikert Memorial didn’t bring much better fortune for Reinhardt.  He went out late (32nd of 44 cars) and registered the 22nd quickest lap.  That was the good news.

Reinhardt started outside the second row in the fourth heat and was working to find a groove that would make his tight race car a little happier.  Instead, he found the outside wall in turn two, damaging the front axle.

The Capitol Renegade team, with assistance from multiple other teams, executed a front axle change in the work area to get Reinhardt back on the track.  He finished the qualifying race in 10th.

Following the heat race, the team found rear end damage from the earlier impact.  The damage would require a complete change of the rear assembly.  Reinhardt was scheduled to start 13th in the B-main, so the team made the decision to load up and call it a night.  

“We just have to move on and shake off the weekend.  We’ll keep digging and get this figured out“, Reinhardt said.

Up Next

Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team will head to Ohio for the weekend with the All Star Circuit of Champions.  The tour will make stops at Attica Raceway Park on Friday and Atomic Speedway on Saturday.  Both tracks will later be a part of the 9-race Ohio Speedweek that will take place June 10th-18th.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Attica and building on our improvement there.  Atomic will be a new track for me.  We’ve been getting better on these types of places, so we can use this weekend to get ourselves ready for Ohio Speedweek.“, Reinhardt commented.

Season Stats

22 races, 0 wins, 4 top 5’s, 5 top 10’s, 13 top 15’s, 9 top 20’s