Belleville, IL. (3/24/22) Christopher Bell would be a man on a driven mission at Port City Raceway, notching his second career feature victory within the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool earning the edge in the starting event of the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean.
With a great turnout of twenty-nine entries, Mitchel Moles would log the quickest hot-lap time with a 9.223-second lap as Moles, Frank Flud, Willie Urish, and Kaylee Bryson would notch heat racing victories in the early on-track racing battles.
Earning the night’s high-point qualifier award, Mitchel Moles would lead the stout field to the start of the twenty-lap feature event with outside front-row starting Christopher Bell grabbing the early racing advantage after an intense side-by-side battle for the front with Moles.
Attempting to run down the speedy leading Bell, Mitchel Moles would stay close throughout the long stretch of caution-free racing with Frank Flud quickly closing in on the leading pair of drivers as heavy lap traffic would quickly come into play on the close-cornered track.
Undeniable in speed all event, Christopher Bell would hold steady up-front to earn the feature victory stating “These Micro races are so much fun, I knew it was close out there. Michel showed me his nose a time or two, but my team gave me such a great car I could put this thing anywhere I needed to keep the lead.”
With heavy lap traffic coming into play in the fast-paced twenty-lap feature, Frank Flud would maneuver into finishing a close-runner up positioning with Mitchel Moles overcoming a mid-race incident to place a solid-showing third as Kaylee Bryson place fourth and Braxston Wilson rounding out the night’s top-five finishers.
Port City Raceway | Turnpike Challenge Night 1 | 3/24/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 13M-Mitchel Moles
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 13M-Mitchel Moles
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 81-Frank Flud
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 15U-Willie Urish
Rod End Supply Heat Race 4 Winner: 11B-Kaylee Bryson
Super Clean Semi Feature Winner: 36-Kris Carroll
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 13M-Mitchel Moles
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 36-Kris Carroll (+10)
Engler Machine Feature Winner: 21-Christopher Bell
Engler Machine Tool A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[4]; 3. 13M-Mitchel Moles[1]; 4. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[5]; 5. 14X-Braxston Wilson[9]; 6. 20Q-Brecken Reese[3]; 7. 36-Kris Carroll[17]; 8. 17S-Baron Silva[12]; 9. 44-Branigan Roark[7]; 10. 15U-Willie Urish[6]; 11. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[13]; 12. 2B-Garrett Benson[11]; 13. 24G-Greyson Springer[10]; 14. 20S-Steven Curbow[21]; 15. 39-Russ Disinger[16]; 16. 11-Stefan Sidur[19]; 17. 29-Scott Sawyer[8]; 18. 56-Ethan Ayars[14]; 19. 13-Elijah Gile[15]; 20. B8-John Barnard[20]; 21. 60-Earl McDoulett Jr[22]; 22. 10T-Talin Turner[18]; 23. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[23].
Super Clean B-Feature (10 Laps): 1. 36-Kris Carroll[1]; 2. 10T-Talin Turner[2]; 3. 11-Stefan Sidur[3]; 4. B8-John Barnard[7]; 5. 20S-Steven Curbow[10]; 6. 60-Earl McDoulett Jr[5]; 7. 78B-Brody Wake[8]; 8. 19J-Justin Robison[9]; 9. 13S-Peter Smith[11]; 10. 23-mike DiBart[4]; 11. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[6]; 12. 3-Cole Roberts[12]; 13. 14D-Chris DiBart[13].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13M-Mitchel Moles[7]; 2. 14X-Braxston Wilson[1]; 3. 56-Ethan Ayars[2]; 4. 13-Elijah Gile[5]; 5. 11-Stefan Sidur[3]; 6. 10T-Talin Turner[8]; 7. 20S-Steven Curbow[6]; 8. (DNS) 3-Cole Roberts.
MVT Services Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Frank Flud[2]; 2. 24G-Greyson Springer[1]; 3. 2B-Garrett Benson[4]; 4. 39-Russ Disinger[5]; 5. 36-Kris Carroll[6]; 6. B8-John Barnard[3]; 7. 19J-Justin Robison[7].
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[1]; 2. 29-Scott Sawyer[2]; 3. 17S-Baron Silva[4]; 4. 44-Branigan Roark[7]; 5. 23-Mike DiBart[3]; 6. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[6]; 7. (DNS) 14D-Chris DiBart.
Rod End Supply Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[2]; 2. 21-Christopher Bell[5]; 3. 20Q-Brecken Reese[7]; 4. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[6]; 5. 60-Earl McDoulett Jr[1]; 6. 78B-Brody Wake[3]; 7. 13S-Peter Smith[4].
Up next for the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool will be the final two days of the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean at I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 25-26.
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Photo Credit: Richard Bales