Story By: RICH WATTS / KYLE REINHARDT RACING – PORT ROYAL, PA – Kyle Reinhardt kicked off his 2023 season with a two-race weekend at Lincoln Speedway and Port Royal Speedway.
It was the first opportunity of the year for the new team to work together at the track and to find out if they could build on the baseline they had established with the same equipment at the end of last season.
Lincoln Speedway’s Saturday afternoon race, their final scheduled daytime show of the season, saw 29 teams sign in for action. The lineups for three 10-lap heat races were set by a random draw. The top six finishers from each would transfer to the A-main, with the remainder of the field moving to the B-main for a final shot to make the show.
Reinhardt’s day got off to a less than desirable start with a high draw that placed him 10th in the starting lineup for his heat race. An 8th place finish wasn’t quite enough to put him in the show, but he later advanced through the B-main.
Reinhardt started 23rd in the 30-lap A-main and was able to make some forward progress during the race, recording a 16th place finish at the end of the day.
“We were a lot better at the end of the day. We were just buried too deep in traffic to do a lot with what we had.”, Reinhardt commented.
The lid-lifter for the 2023 season at ‘The Speed Palace’ drew 29 sprint car teams to chase the newly announced $5,000 winner’s share for weekly shows. The format lined up three 10-lap heat races by pill draw, with the top six finishers from each transferring directly to the feature event. Only the top three would make the invert redraw.
For the second day in a row, Reinhardt’s draw wasn’t a friendly one. He lined up 7th in his heat race and battled his way to 5th on the tricky daytime surface. He was in the show, but once again would start deep in the field.
Reinhardt rolled to the green for the 25-lap A-main from his starting spot inside row eight. Forward progress was minimal for the Neptune City, NJ native Sunday afternoon, and he ultimately crossed the line with a 13th place finish.
“Overall, it was just good to shake the rust off. I had a few new guys helping, so we needed this weekend to start learning to work together at the track and to get everyone working in the same direction.“, Reinhardt said.
“Our results weren’t the best but starting in row 4 and 5 in the heats doesn’t help. We need to get better at passing cars in the heats to set us up better for feature time at draw shows.“
With this weekend’s World of Outlaw action in Pennsylvania scrapped due to weather, next up for Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade, Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers, Henry’s Wrecker No.91 will be battles against the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove Speedway and Lincoln Speedway on Friday and Saturday, March 17th and 18th.
