From Bryan Hulbert
Mesquite, TX — (March 22, 2013) — On a cool night in Mesquite, Texas, Kyle Bellm became the 116th driver to win a Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real feature event presented by Protect the Harvest.
Piloting his own Christian County Collision Center No. 14k, the Missouri native utilized restarts to come from the sixth starting spot to victory on the opening night of the fortieth annual Spring Nationals and Matt Clevenger Memorial at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas.
“We’ve got a great team with us here” said an elated Bellm in victory lane. Reflecting on finally earning a national victory, Bellm said, “I’ll tell you what; it’s real surreal for me. Half-miles haven’t usually been my thing but tonight we were just good right out of the box and I can’t thank everybody enough. Patriot Race Engines is probably the one that won this for us as heavy as the track was. That thing never gave up.”
Despite being in his own car, Kyle was quick to give credit to his car owners with the Speedway Motors Warrior Region saying, “I really think, for me, as a driver getting behind the wheel of the Jeff and Jerry Smith No. 86 has really been a big thing for my career. Just getting more seat time and to have that quality equipment that I can race every weekend so I’ve got to thank them a bunch too because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Assuming the runner up spot on the thirteenth round, Bellm took over the lead after race long leader Christopher Bell fell off with a failed rear-end assembly in the Baytown Ford No. 31b.
Falling to third after drawing the pole, Shawn Petersen ran the race of his life, coming back to finish second. Asked what it meant to get the runner up finish at the Devil’s Bowl, Petersen replied, “You know we’ve worked really hard here. We’ve rented this race track and Lanny Ross and Lanny have been great at supporting us. The first four races were really tough but now, here we are.”
After selling his equipment midway through the 2012 season, Tulsa, Okla. native Sean McClelland said he was done but a phone call from Bruce Griffith, Jr. landed Sean behind the wheel of the Bruce and Teresa Griffith back No. 17 which McClelland drove to a third place finish ahead of Joe Wood, Jr. and seventeenth starting Travis Rilat who rounded out the top five.
Brad Loyet ended up sixth with Jeff Swindell advancing 16 spots to seventh after multiple engine fires forced the Bartlett, Tenn. native to take a provisional. Johnny Herrera came from twelfth to eighth followed by Brady Bacon and Jason Johnson who climbed 12 spot to round out the top ten after having to race in through the SBI Fuel Bladders B-Feature.
The night began with Brad Loyet taking the Rod End Supply Heat one with Joe Wood, Jr. atop the Wesmar Heat two. The Ti22 Heat three belonged to Sean McClelland with the BMRS Heat four going to Patrick Stasa. Dustin Morgan grabbed the Saldana Heat five with Whit Gastineau earning the final Heat Race of the night presented by Engler Machine and Tool.
Along with finding victory, the Hawk Performance Racing Products Fastest Lap of the Night went to Kyle Bellm who turned a 14.456 second lap in the Protect the Harvest A-Feature.
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
40th Spring National and Matt Clevenger Memorial
Saturday, March 22, 2013
Event Car Count: 47
Rod End Supply Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 2. 10-George White[3]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 4. 21K-Ryan Kitchen[4]; 5. 4-Jon Agan[6]; 6. 21-Kyle Sager[8]; 7. 6-Ryan Beechler[7]; DNF 52-Blake Hahn[1]
Wesmar Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 03-Joe Wood Jr[1]; 2. 4X-Shawn Petersen[4]; 3. 14Z-Zach Pringle[3]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 5. 33-Danny Lasoski[5]; 6. 41-Jason Johnson[7]; 7. 66-Randy Hannagan[6]; 8. 48-Jake Martens[8]
Ti22 Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Sean McClelland[2]; 2. 224-John Carney II[1]; 3. 29T-Travis Rilat[3]; 4. 31X-Mark Pace[5]; 5. 12M-Kolt Walker[8]; 6. 11-Justin Melton[6]; 7. 51-Beau Smith[7]; DNF 1-Danny Jennings[4]
BMRS Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Patrick Stasa[2]; 2. 31B-Christopher Bell[4]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon[5]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 5. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[7]; 6. 54-Evan Pardo[3]; 7. 17B-Josh Baughman[8]; DNF 94-Jeff Swindell[6]
Saldana Racing Products Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 31-Martin Edwards[2]; 4. 29-Brandon Hahn[4]; 5. 17W-Cole Wood[5]; 6. 45C-Russ Hall[7]; 7. 12W-Dale Wester[6]; 8. 81-Danny Wood[8]
Engler Machine Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 14K-Kyle Bellm[2]; 2. 82-Lucas Wolfe[4]; 3. 4J-John James[3]; 4. 2W-Whit Gastineau[1]; 5. 2L-Logan Forler[7]; 6. 14-Michael Lang[5]; DNS 74X-Joshua Hodges
The Joie of Seating B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 29T-Travis Rilat[1]; 2. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; 3. 21-Kyle Sager[6]; 4. 17W-Cole Wood[8]; 5. 29-Brandon Hahn[4]; 6. 2L-Logan Forler[5]; 7. 45C-Russ Hall[9]; 8. 14-Michael Lang[10]; 9. 2W-Whit Gastineau[7]; 10. 12W-Dale Wester[13]; 11. 81-Danny Wood[14]; 12. 54-Evan Pardo[11]; 13. 51-Beau Smith[12]; DNF 31-Martin Edwards[2]; DNF 1-Danny Jennings[15]; DNS 74X-Joshua Hodges
SBI Fuel Bladder B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 4J-John James[1]; 2. 31X-Mark Pace[2]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[8]; 4. 4-Jon Agan[4]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 7. 17B-Josh Baughman[10]; DNF 66-Randy Hannagan[12]; DNF 6-Ryan Beechler[11]; DNF 21K-Ryan Kitchen[3]; DNF 11-Justin Melton[9]; DNF 94-Jeff Swindell[14]; DNS 52-Blake Hahn; DNS 33-Danny Lasoski; DNS 48-Jake Martens
Protect the Harvest A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 14K-Kyle Bellm[6]; 2. 4X-Shawn Petersen[1]; 3. 17-Sean McClelland[3]; 4. 03-Joe Wood Jr[7]; 5. 29T-Travis Rilat[17]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 7. 94-Jeff Swindell[23]; 8. 45X-Johnny Herrera[12]; 9. 99-Brady Bacon[13]; 10. 41-Jason Johnson[22]; 11. 14Z-Zach Pringle[16]; 12. 2L-Logan Forler[24]; 13. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[19]; 14. 224-John Carney II[14]; 15. 21-Kyle Sager[21]; 16. 31X-Mark Pace[20]; DNF 23-Seth Bergman[11]; DNF 31B-Christopher Bell[2]; DNF 4J-John James[18]; DNF 93-Dustin Morgan[9]; DNF 10-George White[10]; DNF 19-Patrick Stasa[4]; DNF 12M-Kolt Walker[15]; 24. 82-Lucas Wolfe[8]
Lap Leaders: Christopher Bell (1-17), Kyle Bellm (18-25)
PitstopUSA.com Hard Charger: Jeff Swindell+16
FSR High Points of the Night: Brad Loyet
Provisionals: Jeff Swindell (P1), Logan Forler (P1)
2013 “A” Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-2, Brian Brown-1, Roger Crockett-1, Kyle Bellm-1
Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Points (Top 10): 1. Jason Johnson 634; 2. Johnny Herrera 594; 3. Lucas Wolfe 578; 4. Jeff Swindell 557; 5. Tony Bruce, Jr. 555; 6. Seth Bergman 542; 7. Brad Loyet 537; 8. Brian Brown 536; 9. Logan Forler 514; 10. Roger Crockett 499
The 2013 season marks the twenty-second year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of nine different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, Engler Machine and Tool, Roush Yates Racing Engines, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Fuel Safe, Saldana Racing Products, SBI Fuel Bladders, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Xtreme Accu-Tach, Simpson, LeJoie Seating, Ti 22 Performance, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, DMI Rear Ends, Rod End Supply, Smiley’s Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News by texting ASCS to 22828 with any mobile device.