Belleville, IL. – Christopher Bell of Norman, Oklahoma battled defending Chili Bowl Champion Bryan Clauson and non-wing sprint car star Kevin Thomas, Jr., at the high-banked 1/5th mile Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois to take his fifth win of the 2014 season and Joe B. Miller stole the checkers from Aaron Andruskevitch on the last lap to take his second POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series Victory of 2014.
At the drop of the green flag, pole-sitter Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois would jump into the early lead of the POWRi/USAC co-sanctioned event. Driving the DRC Chassis, RFMS entry, Windom would be chased down by the Esslinger-powered Boss Chassis of Kevin Thomas, Jr. Just as Thomas, Jr., would begin to challenge Windom for the lead, Justin Peck and Darren Hagen would tangle, bringing out the caution. When green flag racing resumed, Thomas, Jr., would take the lead from Windom, but a caution for the slowed machine of Dereck King would delay his pull from the field. Just as Thomas, Jr. led the field back to the green, a pile up would occur including the cars of Jake Blackhurst, Dereck King, Justin Peck, Daniel Robinson, and Colten Cottle.
Once the cars were lined back up and the field took the green, caution would fly again for the fourth time of the feature for the cluster of cars including Rico Abreu, Austin Brown, Zach Daum, and Tracy Hines. Following the restart, Christopher Bell and Kevin Thomas, Jr., would engage in classic dirt track battle throwing slide jobs with Bell coming out ahead. Two laps later, the caution would fly for Michael Pickens who hit the infield wall going into turn three and looped it. Thomas, Jr., would be given multiple chances at reclaiming the lead from Bell due to cautions, but on lap 28 would suffer mechanical problems, ending his night.
Riding in a Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports’ Toyota-powered Bullet, Bell would only be slightly challenged the remainder of the event by second place finisher Bryan Clauson. “I had to run the B-main tonight, but I don’t really think that was a bad deal because we got some more seat time,” explained Christopher Bell. “It turned out to be typical Belleville, right up on the fence which made for a good race.”
With 34 laps complete, the 50 minute USAC feature time limit had been reached and per USAC rules the race was red flagged, allowing teams to add fuel to their cars. When racing resumed, Bell pulled away from the field, finishing a second and a half ahead of Bryan Clauson and third place finisher Rico Abreu. “I had a good Keith Kunz Motorsports Bullet tonight,” explained Abreu. “I can’t thank my sponsors and everyone that is a part of this enough.”
Driving his Speed Shack Performance-powered Hyper Chassis, Joe B. Miller pulled a last lap move on Aaron Andruskevitch to take the win in the 20 lap POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series feature. “We had a couple good breaks with the cautions and were able to pick off the lap cars,” explained Miller. “We were able to tune on the car during the cautions in between those short green flag runs and were able to capitalize on it with a few laps to go.”
Second place finisher Aaron Andruskevitch of Riverton, Illinois checked out from the field, leading all but the final lap. “I changed my line around, just getting into protection mode and that’s kind of what happens; you get snookered on the last lap,” explains a disappointed Andruskevitch. “But I’ll take a top three. Just being able to run consistent in the top three is the main goal.”
Rounding out the top three in the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series feature was Jeremy Camp of Blue Mound, Illinois driving the Chad Bartosik owned, Engler injected-Sawyer Chassis. “It was another good points night, but it would be nice to get the win” explained the ever-consistent Camp.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series/USAC co-sanctioned Results:
40 Lap Feature: 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Rico Abreu, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Daniel Robinson, 6. Andrew Felker, 7. Austin Brown, 8. Jake Blackhurst, 9. Justin Peck, 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Spencer Bayston, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Darren Hagen, 14. Danny Stratton, 15. Parker Price-Miller, 16. Zach Daum, 17. Terry Babb, 18. Nick Knepper, 19. Kevin Thomas, 20. Chris Windom, 21. Michael Pickens, 22. Colten Cottle, 23. Dereck King, 24. Seth Motsinger
POWRi Speedway Motors Outlaw Micro Series Results:
20 Lap Feature: 1. Joe B. Miller, 2. Aaron Andruskevitch, 3. Jeremy Camp, 4. Nathan Benson, 5. Matt Ponder, 6. Shelby Bosie, 7. Dereck King, 8. Nic Harris, 9. Chris Openshaw, 10. Devin Feger, 11. Austin Stewart, 12. Joey Wirth, 13. Lucas Pejakovich, 14. Zac Taylor, 15. Carlee Gress, 16. Mike Hudson, 17. Evan Turner, 18. Jason Harms, 19. Jake Neuman, 20. Kyle Schuett, 21. Lucas Hanning, 22. Kurt Westerfield
For more information, visit www.powri.com
Contact:
Derek Schuett
POWRi Media