Pit Stop Radio News

Christopher Bell charged from tenth to first to win the opening night of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League “Turnpike Challenge” at the I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday night. Toyota-powered entries have now won seven of the eight national midget feature races run in 2018.

Bell, an Oklahoma native, has now won seven consecutive Turnpike Challenge events at his home track at I-44. The victory is the 47th national midget feature win for Bell, the most by any Toyota driver. In addition, he has now won 13 of the last 16 midget car events he’s competed in, including all three in 2018 after previously winning both his feature night and Saturday night’s overall A Main feature at the Chili Bowl.

On Friday, Bell would start from tenth based on heat race passing points, but he wouldn’t stay there long as he quickly moved up to sixth in the first two laps before a caution slowed the field.  After the restart, Bell’s charge resumed and he would eventually pass fellow Toyota driver Zach Daum for third on lap seven.

Bell then used a slider to move past Tyler Thomas for second and set his sights on leader Zeb Wise. On lap 18 of 30, Bell would go around Wise for the lead.  At that point, he would check out from the rest of the field.  A pair of late yellow flags would bunch the field, but to no as Bell went on to take the checkered flag.

Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammate Logan Seavey climbed from 16th to place second behind Bell.  Daum would finish fourth and KKM’s Ryan Robinson made it four Toyotas in the top five with a fifth-place finish as he maneuvered through the field after starting 23rd.

Tucker Klaasmeyer (sixth) and Blake Hahn (tenth) also earned top-10 finishes, while Holly Shelton was 12th and Andrew Felker placed 17^th after falling out of the top-10 after a late-race incident.

Robinson leads the POWRi championship race, with Klaasmeyer currently second and Daum sits third after three races.

The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Turnpike Challenge concludes Saturday night at I-44 Riverside Speedway. Sixty-four cars were entered in Friday night’s opener.