9/24/2014
Christopher Bell
Bell Ready for WoO Double after Busy Week of Dirt Work!
Lonnie Wheatley, NORMAN, Okla. (September 24, 2014) – It was just another typical week of racing for Christopher Bell with a varied mix of World of Outlaws 410-ci Sprint Cars, Midgets and Silver Crown over the course of six days.
The results weren’t quite what the 19-year-old from Norman, OK, is accustomed to though, with a runner-up finish in the USAC Midget portion of Eldora Speedway’s Four Crown Nationals the best of five events during the week.
This week, it’s back to World of Outlaws action aboard the Fox Brothers No. 53 at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway on Friday and then Michigan’s Berlin Raceway in Marne on Saturday.
“It wasn’t very good,” Bell says of the past week of action.
It started with three nights of World of Outlaws action before finishing off with Midget and Silver Crown competition at Four Crown Nationals.
Last Tuesday’s event kicked off two nights of World of Outlaws competition in Indiana before shifting to Eldora for opening night of the Four Crown Nationals on Friday. And, on each occasion, Bell found himself deep in the field after qualifying.
“We just didn’t qualify very good, we have to do better at that,” Bell says.
Bell marched forward each time, racing from 21st to finish 11th at Kokomo before moving on to the Terre Haute Action Track on Wednesday. Bell was on the march again from 15th, only to settle for 13th after a late bobble.
Bell finished off the set of World of Outlaws events much the same by racing from 22nd to 14th at Eldora Speedway on Friday, making it a total of 20 feature positions gained over three nights.
Saturday’s Four Crown Nationals started off in promising fashion with Bell fast in both Midget and Silver Crown hot laps before setting second quick time in Midget qualifying.
Bell then followed that up with quick time in the Silver Crown ranks, only to have the time disallowed after a change of wheels resulted in a car-width that violated regulations.
With the balance of the Four Crown Nationals pushed back to Sunday, Bell rebounded from an early crash in the Midget feature to salvage a runner-up finish in the Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota No. 71 Midget before blowing a tire and tagging the wall in the RPM/Gormly No. 99 Silver Crown car.
“We got caught up in that crash in the Midget feature, we were lucky to get back out and get back up to second,” Bell says.
“The track was good for the Midgets, but it started taking rubber in the Sprint Car feature and was locked-down by the time we got on it for the Silver Crown feature,” Bell explains. “It was rubbered up, we blew a tire and hit the wall.”
With another busy week of racing action in the books, Bell will try to add another notch to the World of Outlaws win column this weekend after scoring his first series win at Jacksonville, IL, earlier this year. And with that, he’ll also try to boost his overall win total of 20 for 2014.
2014 Quick Stats: 87 races, 20 wins, 45 top-fives, 57 top-tens.
Next Up:
Friday, Bloomington Speedway (Bloomington, IN) - Fox Brothers No. 53 winged Sprint Car (World of Outlaws)
Saturday, Berlin Raceway (Marne, MI) – Fox Brothers No. 53 winged Sprint Car (World of Outlaws)
Keep Track: Keep track of Christopher Bell’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.christopherbellracing.com/.
If you would like to keep up with all of Christopher Bell’s racing action by having press releases e-mailed directly to you, simply send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on racinboys.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
(Photo courtesy of Myka Walls)
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley
Submitted By: Lonnie Wheatley
