Bell Sweeps The City
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume VI, No. 3
Lonnie Wheatley, OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (March 24, 2018) – A better homecoming couldn’t have been scripted.
It was a packed house at I-44 Riverside Speedway and another Christopher Bell triumph after battling past teammate and race-long leader Logan Seavey 19 laps into Saturday night’s 30-lapper to finish off a sweep of the Fifth Annual POWRi Midget “Turnpike Challenge”.
“This is home,” Bell said after posting the victory aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota-powered JBL No. 21. “It makes my heart happy to see such a great turnout, let’s do this again.”
The victory extended Bell’s mastery of “Turnpike Challenge” action to eight wins in the special event’s ten-race history.
Bell’s Midget wizardry has extended beyond the “Turnpike Challenge” though. Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the current NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year contender has stormed to victory lane in 14 of his last 17 Midget starts including a pair of Chili Bowl triumphs. It’s an incredible .875 win clip.
This one found the Norman, OK, native elbows up to add another piece to the trophy room.
“That was hard work,” Bell said in victory lane. “That Logan Seavey is gonna be great one of these days. Heck, he already is.”
With Bell gridding the field outside the third row, Seavey gunned into the lead from the outside front row and set a torrid pace in the KKM No. 67. Bell was on the move in short order though, reaching third within a pair of laps and into second a handful of laps in.
Bell kept pace with Seavey after a lap eleven caution with Seavey countering a Bell slider on the lap 12 restart to retain command. But, as the leaders approached traffic, Bell pounced into the lead on the 19th circuit.
Seavey tried to rally back, attempting a slide for the lead when a caution flew with eight rounds remaining. Following one more interruption two laps later, Bell kept Seavey at bay by three car-lengths over the final half-dozen circuits to score the popular win at his hometown track.
Seavey settled for runner-up honors for the second night in a row with Ryan Robinson giving KKM a podium sweep by taking the show position. Zach Daum raced to a fourth-place finish with Tyler Thomas advancing from “B” Main action to round out the top five from 15th.
Jake Neuman, Tanner Carrick, Cannon McIntosh, Holly Shelton, Tyler Courtney, Daum, Terry Babb and Jason McDougal scored heat race wins amongst the 64-car field. Cody Brewer and Ace McCarthy won “C” Mains with Andrew Felker and Blake Hahn topping “B” Mains.
After winning his heat race to earn the fourth-starting position in the “A” Main, Courtney surrendered his mount to teammate Zeb Wise who responded by rallying from 24th to finish sixth.
The Vitals
Series: POWRi National / POWRi West Midgets
Track: I-44 Riverside Speedway (Oklahoma City, OK)
Car Count: 64
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Neuman (4), T. Carrick (2), McIntosh (2), Shelton (1), Courtney (4), Daum (3), Babb (2), McDougal (6).
“C” Main Winners: C. Brewer (4), McCarthy (3).
“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Felker (1), Hahn (2).
“A” Main Cautions: Three
11 Laps – Andrew Felker and Cannon McIntosh get tangled up in turn two. Both return to action.
22 Laps – Chance Morton comes to a stop in turn two.
24 Laps – McIntosh spins in turn two.
“A” Main Hard Charger: Zeb Wise rallied 18 positions from 24th to sixth.
The Box Score…
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 3n-Jake Neuman, 2. 15-Alison Slaton, 3. 51b-Joe B. Miller, 4. 5T-Presley Truedson, 5. 721-Bredon Wiseley, 6. 77-Payton Pierce, 7. 5m-Alex DeCamp, 8. 9h-Emilio Hoover.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 71k-Tanner Carrick, 2. 67-Logan Seavey, 3. 9-Matt Moore, 4. 21h-Scott Sawyer, 5. 44-Wesley Smith, 6. 14x-Jody Rosenboom, 7. 00c-Chris Cochran, 8. 14r-Randy Brands.
Heat Thee (8 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 2. 32-Trey Marcham, 3. 71-Ryan Robinson, 4. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 5. 42-Hank Davis, 6. 28m-Ace McCarthy, 7. 21ks-Karter Sarff, 8. 23-Hannah Adair.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 67k-Holly Shelton, 2. 4m-Michelle Decker, 3. 28-Kory Schudy, 4. 10-Lance Bennett, 5. 19-Pierce Urbanosky, 6. 96-Cody Brewer, 7. 88-Dustin Weland, 8. 17e-Blake Edwards.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 7bc-Tyler Courtney, 2. 2-Luke Icke, 3. 79-Blake Carrick, 4. 9u-Doug McCune, 5. 24-Hunter Fischer, 6. 5b-Bobby Brewer, 7. 72-Sam Johnson, 8. 00-Grady Chandler.
Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 5d-Zach Daum, 2. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 3. 7F-Andrew Felker, 4. 7jr-Holley Hollan, 5. 27b-A.J. Burns, 6. 77w-Joey Wirth, 7. 2s-Travis Scott, 8. 59-Austin Shores.
Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 37-Terry Babb, 2. 80-Josh Hawkins, 3. 21-Christopher Bell, 4. 37x-Michael Faccinto, 5. 14-Harley Hollan, 6. 8m-Kade Morton, 7. 4b-Ty Hulsey, 8. 97F-Jesse Fernandez.
Heat Eight (8 Laps): 1. 73-Jason McDougal, 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 3. 52-Blake Hahn, 4. 7m-Chance Morton, 5. 39bc-Zeb Wise, 6. 71T-Zac Taylor, 7. 84-Shaun Shapel, 8. 10b-Blaze Bennett.
“C” Feature One (8 Laps – 2 Transfer): 1. 96-Cody Brewer, 2. 5m-Alex DeCamp, 3. 23-Hannah Adair, 4. 84-Shaun Shapel, 5. 71T-Zac Taylor, 6. 00-Grady Chandler, 7. 21ks-Karter Sarff, 8. 10b-Blaze Bennett, 9. 39bc-Zeb Wise, 10. 14-Harley Hollan, 11. 00c-Chris Cochran, 12. 59-Austin Shores.
“C” Feature Two (8 Laps – 2 Transfer): 1. 28m-Ace McCarthy, 2. 721-Brendon Wiseley, 3. 72-Sam Johnson, 4. 17e-Blake Edwards, 5. 5b-Bobby Brewer, 6. 88-Dustin Weland, 7. 14r-Randy Brands, 8. 97F-Jesse Fernandez, 9. 9h-Emilio Hoover, 10. 2s-Travis Scott, 11. 4b-Ty Hulsey.
“B” Feature One (10 Laps – 5 Transfer): 1. 7F-Andrew Felker, 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 3. 7m-Chance Morton, 4. 32-Trey Marcham, 5. 9-Matt Moore, 6. 79-Blake Carrick, 7. 14x-Jody Rosenboom, 8. 2-Luke Icke, 9. 21h-Scott Sawyer, 10. 96-Cody Brewer, 11. 5m-Alex DeCamp, 12. 5T-Presley Truedson, 13. 9u-Doug McCune, 14. 77w-Joey Wirth, 15. 27b-A.J. Burns, 16. 19-Pierce Urbanosky, 17. 10-Lance Bennett.
“B” Feature Two (10 Laps – 5 Transfer): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, 2. 67k-Holly Shelton, 3. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 4. 4m-Michelle Decker, 5. 28-Kory Schudy, 6. 37x-Michael Faccinto, 7. 28m-Ace McCarthy, 8. 15-Alison Slaton, 9. 24-Hunter Fischer, 10. 44-Wesley Smith, 11. 42-Hank Davis, 12. 8m-Kade Morton, 13. 721-Brendon Wiseley, 14. 77-Payton Pierce, 15. 7jr-Holley Hollan, 16. 80-Josh Hawkins.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 21-Christopher Bell (6), 2. 67-Logan Seavey (2), 3. 71-Ryan Robinson (5), 4. 5d-Zach Daum (4), 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas (15), 6. 7bc-Zeb Wise (24), 7. 8J-Jonathan Beason (16), 8. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (10), 9. 67k-Holly Shelton (14), 10. 52-Blake Hahn (12), 11. 71k-Tanner Karrick (9), 12. 7F-Andrew Felker (13), 13. 37-Terry Babb (11), 14. 3n-Jake Neuman (3), 15. 28-Kory Schudy (20), 16. 32-Trey Marcham (19), 17. 4m-Michelle Decker (18), 18. 44-Wesley Smith (22), 19. 9-Matt Moore (21), 20. 21ks-Karter Sarff (23), 21. 08-Cannon McIntosh (8), 22. 51b-Joe B. Miller (7), 23. 7m-Chance Morton (17), 24. 73-Jason McDougal (1).
A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2018 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
