Bell Earns Hard Charger Honors in Kings Royal!

Lonnie Wheatley, NORMAN, Okla. (July 15, 2014) – Christopher Bell made his first appearance on one of Sprint Car racing’s biggest stages on Saturday night; Eldora Speedway’s Kings Royal.
And the 19-year-old from Norman, OK, did it in typical style, marching forward through the World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature field to finish 11th after starting 22nd, earning Hard Charger honors in the prestigious event.

Bell’s notable Eldora run came on the heels of yet another sweep of USAC Midget action at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway the previous weekend, running his season total to a world-best 16 main event wins.

Following the Angell Park double dip in the Keith Kunz Motorsports Midget, Bell struggled through a tough night on Wednesday at Limaland’s Brad Doty Classic, just missing a transfer out of “B” Main action.
“We just weren’t good, it was a frustrating night,” Bell explained.

Joining forces with the Fox Brothers No. 53 with whom he captured his first World of Outlaws feature win in May, Bell rebounded in typical fashion at the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal event.

“We qualified 24th which put us on the pole of a heat, which was perfect with that format,” Bell explained.  “We just didn’t get going at the start of the heat though.”

Bell and the No. 53 got going in the “B” with no problem, racing up to second and into his first Kings Royal main event.

Gaining that forward momentum in the “B” Main, Bell carried that over to the 40-lap main event by picking off car after car along the way, passing virtually half the field before finally running out of laps in 11th.
“My first time here (Eldora) was a couple of months ago and we were lapped traffic,” Bell says.  “To come to this race and move forward like that, we feel really good about our progress.”
With the Kunz Midget idle for the next pair of weekends until Kansas week begins on July 29 at Beloit, KS, leading into the Belleville Midget Nationals, Bell will team with the Fox Brothers No. 53 for several more winged 410-ci Sprint Car events including Attica and Fremont in Ohio this weekend and then MOWA Speedweek in Illinois next week.

2014 Quick Stats:  60 races, 16 wins, 31 top-fives, 39 top-tens.
Next Up:
Friday, Attica Raceway Park (Attica, OH) – Fox 53 Winged Sprint Car
Saturday, Fremont Speedway (Fremont, OH) – Fox 53 Winged Sprint Car

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.

 

Big Sky Podium for Reutzel!

Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (July 15, 2014) – A first time turning laps and slinging clay in the state of Montana turned into yet another strong weekend of Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action for Clute, TX, racer Aaron Reutzel.

After charging from 19th to eighth in Friday’s main event at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls, Reutzel and the Bob and Christie Miller’s Car Parts Machine/Wren Motorsports No. 87 Triple-X team finished off the Big Sky weekend with a strong third-place run at Billings Motorsports Park on Saturday night for his 14th overall podium finish of 2014.

The weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts though.

“It started really rough,” Reutzel commented.

“It’s probably the worst we’ve started a night all year,” Reutzel explained of an ill-running car.  “We figured things out and turned it around, I’m proud of this team for being able to do that and make a good night out of it.”

Indeed they did.  After transferring from “B” Main action, Reutzel got up on the wheel and advanced 11 positions aboard the Momentum Racing Suspensions/Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine to finish eighth, his 11th top ten in 15 ASCS National events thus far.

“We actually started a little too tight but the track came to us at the end,” Reutzel explained.  “Going 19th to eighth on that track, that was pretty lucky.”

Moving on to Billings Motorsport Park, Reutzel was fast out of the box in the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/BC Fundz/Wright Way Logistics machine, winning his heat race to get in the redraw.  But there were issues once again.

“There was a vibration the car, we had to change the yoke and the driveshaft after the heat,” Reutzel says.

Issues fixed, Reutzel gridded the feature in seventh and made a quick move to fifth at the outset and then climbed to fourth in short order.

“It was the best racetrack we’ve been on all year, it was perfect,” Reutzel explains.  “There was a good top and a good bottom, and slick through the middle.”

After trading sliders with Seth Bergman for several laps before finally gaining command of third, Reutzel set his sights on Jason Johnson for second.

“Right when I got to Jason, a lapped car moved up and killed my momentum,” Reutzel explains.  “I don’t think we had anything for Jeff (Swindell), but we could have got by Jason.”

Still, a third-place run was a strong way to wrap up another successful weekend on the road.

“Third place, we’ll take it,” Reutzel says.  “We can use the extra money after the drive up here.”

Reutzel and the No. 87 team continue action with the ASCS National Tour this Friday night at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, SD.

2014 Quick Stats:  38 races, 6 wins, 20 top-fives, 29 top-tens, 8 heat race wins, 4 “B” Main wins.

Up Next: ASCS National Tour action at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, SD, on Friday.

Keep Track:  Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel.  You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.

If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, 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.