ELDON, Mo. — Christopher Bell earned his first FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 feature victory in 37 months Saturday night at Lake Ozark Speedway.
Bell picked up $10,000 for the Swindell Speedlab team for winning the inaugural Beach Brawl. Bell led the majority of the 35-lap contest, leading the first circuit from the outside-pole position before losing the top spot to Cale Thomas, then regaining the lead on lap seven.
Cap Henry advanced seven positions to finish second in the Beach Brawl finale, followed by Tyler Courtney, Cory Eliason and Gio Scelzi.
“This thing was really, really good tonight. I just can’t thank Kevin and Jordan Swindell enough for giving me the opportunity to drive this car. It’s been a while since I won a sprint car race, so it’s really cool to be up here,” Bell said. “It’s been so hot and everyone has been working their tails off. It’s hard work, but I’m glad we were able to come out here and have some fun.”
Despite losing command to polesitter Thomas on lap two, Bell maintained his momentum and never lost sight of the Sam McGhee Motorsports substitute, powering back by Thomas on lap seven with a move through the bottom of turns one and two.
Using slower traffic to his advantage, which made its first appearance just as Bell was able to recapture the lead, fourth-starting Zeb Wise quickly threw his hat into the mix, using the curb in turns three and four to follow Bell around Thomas to gain the runner-up spot on lap eight. Despite a desperate attempt to chase down Bell in traffic, the pilot of the Swindell Speedlab entry proved to be too strong, eventually stretching his legs to a straightaway advantage by lap 17.
Unfortunately for Wise, his luck would run short on lap 22, as a cut right-rear tire would force the Angola, Indiana-native to go pit-side. Meanwhile, $8,000 Beach Brawl preliminary winner Cap Henry had no problems taking full advantage of the lap-22 restart and drove his way to second, trying his best to mimic his Friday night performance with a move around Courtney and Justin Peck.
A caution on lap 27, and a final caution on lap 30, would keep the field bunched for Henry, but Bell never faltered, driving ahead to snag the five-figure payday. Quickly adapting to a rapidly changing surface, Bell was able to master every inch of Lake Ozark Speedway, first utilizing the curb before switching his focus to the bottom groove in the final 15 circuits.
“The top was really good, but I kinda got stalled out in lapped traffic,” Bell continued. “When I stalled out, I knew that I needed to move down. I felt like I was really OK down there. Hopefully, I can keep running well on Sundays, so I can come out here and keep doing this.”
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 39-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 4-Cap Henry[9]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason[10]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 6. 5-Paul McMahan[5]; 7. 47N-Marcus Dumesny[16]; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[12]; 9. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[17]; 11. 9JR-Derek Hagar[15]; 12. 1X-Jake Bubak[11]; 13. 07-Skylar Gee[19]; 14. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 15. 10-Zeb Wise[4]; 16. 50K-Kyle Bellm[18]; 17. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer[24]; 18. 18T-Tanner Holmes[23]; 19. 21-Kameron Key[20]; 20. 21BP-Brinton Marvel[21]; 21. 7B-Ben Brown[22]; 22. 20G-Noah Gass[14]; 23. 11-Cale Thomas[1]; 24. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[8] Lap Leaders: Christopher Bell (1), Cale Thomas (2-6), Christopher Bell (7-35)