BELLEVILLE, Ill. (May 17, 2013)—Chris Bell finished less than a car length over Nick Knepper to win his first feature in the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series and Joe B. Miller drove to victory in the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series on Friday at Belle-Clair Speedway.
Knepper of Belleville, Ill., drove deep on the inside into turn three to briefly put the nose on his Essingler-powered Spike ahead, but Bell turned his Toyota-powered Bullet underneath in turn four and beat him to the checkered flag on the one-fifth mile track.
“He surprised me,” Bell said. “I didn’t know he was that close. I was lucky to see him early enough and take the cushion and drive across him.”
Bell’s victory for Keith Kunz Motorsports came in his 20th POWRi start. It was his first in a Midget in any series.
“It was a long time coming,” the 18-year-old from Norman, Okla., said. “Keith and the team gave me an awesome car and I’m definitely really fortunate to be driving for him. When you drive for Keith, you have the best of the best.”
Bell was hired in January for the Toyota-backed No. 71 car, one of the best seats in
Midget racing. He had driven in 11 races in the POWRi series a year ago before accepting an offer to race winged Sprint cars in the second half of the season.
“We watched him run in the POWRi stuff and there something about him we liked,” Kumz said.
Bell, on the inside, and Knepper started on the front row for the 30-lap feature. Knepper jumped into the lead and held it through three restarts. On the 14th lap, Bell passed him for the lead in turn four, sliding around him and then getting the power down to narrowly go ahead.
“He was running the top and I was on the bottom for a couple of laps after the (third) restart,” Bell said. “I had my best lap on the bottom in turns one and two and I think he made a mistake and I got around him.”
“I did make a mistake on top,” the 26-year-old Knepper said. “Our cars were pretty even and it came down to who was in front. I made a last ditch effort to pass him on the final lap and came close. I thought it would catch him off guard and I guess it did, but he countered it pretty well and it came down to the (finish) line.”
Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill., finished third in his Toyota-powered Eagle driving for his family team. Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Mo., the 2012 POWRi National Midget champion, climbed to fourth after starting 23rd and last, taking a provisional to get into the feature. Tyler Robbins of Collinsville, Ill., was fifth.
Miller of Millersville, Mo. passed Nathan Benson of Concordia, Mo., for the lead with three laps to go in the 20-lap Micro feature. It was the seventh win of his POWRi career for the 2012 series champion.
“I started eighth and kept running the top and passed Nathan with a few laps to go,” Miller said. “We finished second in the (season opener) at Jacksonville (Ill.) and it’s good to get a win early in the season.”
Aaron Andruskevitch of Riverton, Ill., finished second, Jeremy Camp of Blue Mound, Ill, was third, Benson fourth and Felker fifth.
The POWRi Midgets and Micros race tonight at Macon (Ill.) Speedway.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series results (30 laps): 1. Chris Bell, 2. Nick Knepper, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Andrew Felker, 5. Tyler Robbins, 6. Dereck King, 7. Chett Gehrke, 8. Dillon Welch, 9. Travis Berryhill, 10, Jeff Flesher, 11. Terry Babb, 12 Jake Blackhurst, 13. Devon Huff, 14. John Campbell, 15. Darren Kingston, 16. Justin Peck, 17. Austin Brown, 18. Shane Cockrum, 19. Michael Koontz, 20. Tanner Thorson, 21. Tyler Thomas, 22. Parker Price Miller, 23. Daniel Adler.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series results (20 laps): 1. Joe B. Miller, 2. Aaron Andruskevitch, 3. Jeremy Camp, 4. Nathan Benson, 5. Andrew Felker, 6. Jacob Patton, 7. Jake Neuman, 8. Cale Thomas, 9. Jeremy Zumwalt, 10. Max Pozsgai, 11. Brett Anderson, 12. Derek /Schuett, 13. Kyle Schuett, 14. Jason Harms, 15. Kurt Westerfield, 16. Cole Campbell, 17. Corey Nelson, 17. Ryan Mueller, 19. Bubba Altig, 20. Michael Bustamante, 21. Steven Kemp, 22. Dereck King.
For more information, please visit www.POWRi.com.