FREMONT, Ohio — Fresh off his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series win, Christopher Bell climbed in his newly purchased sprint car and dominated the second half of the 12th annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic at Fremont Speedway to claim the $10,000 prize Saturday night.
Bell lapped up to sixth place in the 40-lap feature aboard his Mobil 1, JBC machine to earn his fourth career victory at Fremont.
“What an awesome deal to put this together in a week and come to what I consider my home sprint car track and win this big race in front of a huge crowd…wow,” Bell said. “Chad Boat and I decided to do this over the week and to get a win in the first night in my own car is unbelievable. The curb was very tricky but it reminded me of the old Fremont when I lived in Tiffin with Rick Ferkel and we came here.”
Bell, who started 13th, took the lead on a restart on lap 18 from 2019 Fremont track champion Buddy Kofoid. Once in the lead, Bell blasted away at the thick ledge around the track which resulted from a shower prior to hot laps earlier in the evening. Bell built up a lead over seven seconds or three quarters of a track as he easily disposed of lapped cars.
A late-race move had Travis Philo going in second while Nate Dussel rounded out the podium for the event sanctioned by the FAST 410 Sprint Series.
Travis Philo finished second with Dussel, Buddy Kofoid and Cole Duncan rounding out the top five.
Jamie Miller took the lead on lap 10 and drove away for his third win of the season in the Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 sprint feature. It was his 23rd career win at the track.
Fremont Speedway’s 2019 track champion Shawn Valenti put an exclamation point on the end of a fantastic season in the Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks, claiming his ninth feature win of the season in dominating fashion. It was Valenti’s 55th career win at the track, placing him sixth on the all-time win list.
The finish:
Feature: 1. 21-Christopher Bell[13] ; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[5] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[7] ; 4. 11N-Buddy Kofoid[1] ; 5. 22-Cole Duncan[8] ; 6. G1-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 7. 16-DJ Foos[21] ; 8. 81-Lee Jacobs[17] ; 9. k4-Chad Kemenah[18] ; 10. 97-Max Stambaugh[12] ; 11. 4-Cap Henry[19] ; 12. 27K-Brad Lamberson[4] ; 13. 20B-Cody Bova[2] ; 14. 2L-Landon Lalonde[9] ; 15. 02-Brandon Long[14] ; 16. 5-Jordan Harble[11] ; 17. 5R-Byron Reed[15] ; 18. 09-Craig Mintz[20] ; 19. 22s-Brandon Spithaler[10] ; 20. 71P-Parker Price-Miller[6] ; 21. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[22] ; 22. 19-Paige Polyak[16]