HARTFORD, Ohio — Christopher Bell was the man to beat in Tuesday night’s Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires visit to Sharon Speedway.
Bell led all 40 laps to pick up his first Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the season, nailing down a $6,000 payday.
No stranger to victory lane at Sharon Speedway, the win bumps his career All Star total to three at the northeast Ohio speed plant, simultaneously raising his career total to seven since attaining his first at Kokomo Speedway in 2016.
Although ultimately unbeatable from the pole position, Bell’s path to All Star victory lane did not come without distractions, forced to withstand multiple waves of traffic, as well as late race pressure from Buch Motorsports’ Justin Peck, who did his best to dive beneath the Swindell Speedlab/CircleBDiecast.com/No. 39 sprint car in the final corner.
Despite his last-ditch effort, Peck would cross under the final checkers in the runner-up spot, followed by local hotshot and third-generation ace Sye Lynch, Fremont speedway winner Zeb Wise and Buddy Kofoid.
“Kevin (Swindell) had this dialed in,” stated Bell. “I knew we had been getting better and better each race. I felt really good yesterday and equally as good today. I can’t thank Kevin and Jordan enough for the opportunity to drive their race car. They work really hard at this. Tonight the track was completely different than the last two wins (here)- it was treacherous. The cushion got really tall along the fence in (turns) one and two and (turns) three and four. I tried to be smart, run my race, and run consistent laps.”
Chad Ruhlman won the modified feature and Terry Bowser topped the RUSH sprint car feature.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39-Christopher Bell[1]; 2. 13-Justin Peck[3]; 3. 42-Sye Lynch[2]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise[12]; 5. 11K-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 7. 4-Cap Henry[8]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason[17]; 9. 49X-Ian Madsen[14]; 10. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[22]; 11. 55X-Alex Bowman[9]; 12. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[11]; 13. 19-Chris Windom[21]; 14. 70-Henry Malcuit[18]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee[23]; 16. 17-Carson Short[20]; 17. (DNF) 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 18. (DNF) 11-Parker Price Miller[5]; 19. (DNF) 10B-Dave Blaney[7]; 20. (DNF) 17B-Bill Balog[15]; 21. (DNF) 18-Cole Macedo[24]; 22. (DNF) 101-Lachlan McHugh[19]; 23. (DNF) 23-Tim Shaffer[13]; 24. (DNF) 70S-Sammy Swindell[16]