Aaron Reutzel (Video Highlights from Clay-Per-View)
1/25/26
Premier Speedway
Warrnambool, VIC, Aust.
53rd Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic
78 cars
The finale paid $60,000 to win. Eight drivers were locked in from prelims, leaving the other 70 in heats lined straight up by points. Points would again be added to add another eight. The final eight would come from two B mains.
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Hunter Schuerenberg V88 (2*) 2. Tate Frost T62 (1*) 3. Brendan Quinn S37 (5) 4. Randy Morgan Q54 (3) 5. Jody Rae D7 (4) 6. Parker Scott SA55 (6) 7. Ashley Cook VA36 (9) 8. Matthew Symons V70 (8) 9. Scott Enderl S11 (7) 10. Luke Thomas N15 (12) 11. David Aldersley V64 (10) 12. David Dennison V15 (11)
10-lap heats added points to drivers prelim night totals. A total of eight drivers joined the eight already locked in. Frost led lap one, but Schuerenberg shot by on the low side to lead by lap two. Quinn snagged third from Morgan on lap three.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dayne Kingshott W2 (1*) 2. Todd Moule V26 (2*) 3. Tim Hutchins T7 (5) 4. Luke Storer S98 (6) 5. Jordyn Charge NT11 (3) 6. Justin Whittall USA21 (8) 7. TJ Stutts N55 (4) 8. Brendan Guerin S96 (7) 9. Troy Hose V57 (10) 10. Steven Loader V10 (12) 11. Dennis Jones V17 (9) 12. Jason Wilson S6 (11)
Kingshott led wire to wire. Storer passed Charge for fourth on lap six.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Lachlan McHugh NQ7 (1*) 2. Peter Doukas V98 (3) 3. Daniel Sayre N16 (2) 4. Carson Macedo W60 (5) 5. Jessie Attard NS53 (7) 6. Ryan Newton Q66 (4) 7. Kobi Wright N78 (6) 8. Adam Butler Q10 (9) 9. Jack Williamson W24 (12) 10. Terry Rankin VA29 (8) 11. Stephen Spark V3 (10) 12. Grant Stansfield VA88 (11)
McHugh led the distance and pulled away in a mostly single-file affair.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Aaron Reutzel W17 (1*) 2. Marcus Dumesny N47 (2) 3. Tim Kaeding N88 (3) 4. Brett Milburn V68 (5) 5. Rusty Hickman V45 (4) 6. Dane Court V96 (6) 7. Ethan Wyllie T15 (7) 8. Matthew Dumesny N57 (8) 9. Bobby Daly V8 (11) 10. Andrew Hughes V28 (9) 11. Kevin Titman Q59 (12) 12. Kyle Jensen Q12 (10)
Reutzel led wire to wire. Dumesny closed late, but fell short.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Max Guilford NZ1 (1*) 2. Ben Morris S3 (2) 3. Will Carroll NT25 (5) 4. Callum Williamson W3 (6) 5. Ian Madsen S97 (3) 6. Kinser Claridge Q47 (10) 7. Glen Sutherland S20 (4) 8. Chad Gardner T45 (7) 9. Tarhlea Apelt Q97 (9) 10. Lachlan Caunt N9 (8) DNS – Dylan Menz Q46
Morris led at the outset. On lap five, Guilford slid Morris in turn two to take over the lead and go on to win.
Heat six (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Kaiden Manders W71 (1*) 2. Brodie Davis Q16 (5) 3. Daniel Pestka S27 (4) 4. Jackson Delamont N48 (2) 5. Xavier Doney USA16 (6) 6. Brett Hobson NS96 (8) 7. Travis Millar V32 (7) 8. Alex Attard N53 (11) 9. Leigh Mugavin V22 (10) 10. Adam Alexander T16 (9) 11. Ryan Timms V25 (3)
Manders led Timms Davis and Delamont early. Alexander spun a lap in. Timms was running second the whole way, but got a little hot and into the back of leader Manders with two to go. His car was disabled and he headed to the B.
C main (started): 1. Claridge (8) 2. Alexander (1) 3. Thomas (12) 4. Apelt (4) / 5. Daly (11) 6. Mugavin (5) 7. J. Williamson (13) 8. Aldersley (3) 9. Spark (6) 10. Jensen (7) 11. Wilson (9) 12. Titman (16) 13. A. Attard (10) 14. Loader (13) 15. Hose (2) 16. Stansfield (14) DNS – Menz
The 15-lapper took the top four to the two B mains. Alexander led Aldersley, Hose, Claridge and Apelt early. Claridge roared from fourth to second on lap two. Aldersley got into the wall and lost a few spots before Wilson spun two laps in. Apelt advanced to third on the restart. Hose then spun on lap three, collecting A. Attard who retired, and Loader, who got upside down. He was ok. Titman was also involved, but restarted. Alexander led Claridge, Apelt, Aldersley and Mugavin back to green. Mugavin advanced to fourth. The caution came out for Titman and Wilson, who collided on lap four. That negated a Claridge pass for the lead. Daly advanced to fifth on the restart. On lap eight, Mugavin passed Apelt for third. Apelt returned the favor on lap ten. Claridge banged the cushion to take the lead on lap 11. Thomas, who started in row six, grabbed the final transfer from Mugavin on lap 12, and then passed Apelt for third on lap 14.
B main one (started): 1. I. Madsen (5) 2. Mar. Dumesny (1) 3. Ca. Macedo (9) 4. L. Storer (11) / 5. Morris (2) 6. Pestka (6) 7. Delamont (3) 8. Morgan (4) 9. C. Williamson (12) 10. Carroll (8) 11. Milburn (10) 12. Scott (13) 13. Matt Dumesny (19) 14. Cook (20) 15. Wyllie (16) 16. Butler (21) 17. Court (14) 18. Hobson (18) 19. Jones (22) 20. Miller (17) 21. Thomas (24) 22. Hutchins (7) 23. J. Attard (15) 24. Claridge (23)
The 20-lap B’s took the top four in each to the A. Mar. Dumesny led Morris, Delamont and Morgan early. I. Madsen used the low side to get by Morgan for the final transfer spot on lap three before Claridge flipped in turn one. He was unhurt. Dumesny led Morris Delamont, I. Madsen and Morgan back to green. J. Attard hit the wall on the restart, ending his night. Hutchins also exited. Hobson spoun seven laps in, and Thomas exited. The restart for that saw Dumesny leading Morris, Delamont, and I Madsen. Car. Macedo restarted sixth and shot to fourth on the restart. I Madsen moved up to third and then second on lap 14. Ca. Macedo got by Morris for third on lap 15 and Storer passed Morris for the last transfer with two to go.
B main two (started): 1. Doukas (2) 2. Sayre (1) 3. Kaeding (3) 4. Rae (5) / 5. Charge (4) 6. Doney (12) 7. Newton (9) 8. Symons (18) 9. Stutts (10) 10. Caunt (22) 11. Wright (14) 12. Gardner (19) 13. Guerin (15) 14. Apelt (24) 15. Hughes (21) 16. Sutherland (11) 17. Alexander (23) 18. Quinn (6) 19. Rankin (20) 20. Whittall (17) 21. Timms (13) 22. Davis (7) 23. Enderl (16) 24. Hickman (8)
After contact with Quinn, Hickman broke something and spun, collecting Enderl. One lap in, Davis flipped hard on the frontstretch. He was ok. Doukas led Sayre, Charge, Rae and Kaeding back to geen. Rae jumped to third on the restart. On lap four, Kaeding passed Charge for the final transfer spot. Doukas was in lapped traffic on lap seven. Whittall got into the back of a slowing Stutts in an incident that also collected fellow American Timms, who ended a tough weekend with another DNF. Sutherland was also involved, but continued. Dougkas now led Sayre, Rae, Kaeding and Charge back to green. Kaeding moved by Rae for third on lap 12. Doukas was back in lapped traffic on lap 15. Alexander then spun with three to go to bring out the final caution.
A main (started): 1. Reutzel (12) 2. McHugh (11) 3. Hallett (2) 4. Kingshott (10) 5. Goodyer (5) 6. Manders (14) 7. Egel (4) 8. Guilford (13) 9. Rae (24) 10. McFadden (1) 11. Schuerenberg (15) 12. Mar. Dumesny (17) 13. L. Storer (23) 14. Doukas (18) 15. Ca. Macedo (21) 16. Moule (16) 17. Frost (9) 18. Vaughan (6) 19. Co. Macedo (3) 20. K. Madsen (8) 21. I. Madsen (19) 22. Kaeding (22) 23. Sayre (20) 24. Corbet (7)
The 40-lapper paid $60,000 to win. 2027 will pay $75,000 and 2028 will pay $100,000. McFadden led early over Hallett, Egel and Co. Macedo. Co. Macedo was fast and took third from Egel on lap two, and second from Hallett on lap five. On lap seven, Co. Macedo nearly spun and lost a couple of spots, but gained them back quickly. Goodyer got by Guilford into the top five. A nine-car pileup on lap nine ended the night for six cars. I. Madsen and Kaeding contacted in front of the leaders. That collected Co. Macedo, Corbet, Sayre, K. Madsen, who were done, and McFadden and Goodyer, who restarted at the tai. The new top five was Hallett, Egel, McHugh, Guilford and Reutzel. Reutzel quickly moved into fourth before Vaughan flipped when something broke on lap 15. Frost exited at that point also while running seventh. Reutzel jumped up to second on the restart with a slider in four. McHugh moved by Egel for the third spot, only to give it back on lap 19. McHugh took the spot back on lap 20, while Kingshott moved into the top five. Reutzel would make his winning pass, getting by Hallett with a slider in turn four with eight to go. Kingshott passed Egel for fourth on lap 23 before Ca. Macedo hit the turn two wall and flipped. He was unhurt. The restart saw Reutzel pull away form Hallett, McHugh. Kingshott and Egel. Goodyer had moved form restarting at the back to the top five in the laste stages, while McHugh gained second from Hallett. Rae was the hard-charger.