From Tyler Altmeyer
HARTFORD, Ohio (June 20, 2018) – Round five of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by C&R Racing at Sharon Speedway seemed to be a lock for Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson on Tuesday night, charging ahead from the outside of row five to take command from Christopher Bell by lap 15. Although the potential outcome seemed obvious, Bell had something to say, mounting an impressive charge during the late stages of the 30-lapper to drive back around Larson, eventually earning the fifth Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of his career, two of which accomplished at the Hartford oval.
“Kyle (Larson) is one hell of a driver. His car has been really good all week,” Christopher Bell said to the crowd on Tuesday night. “I knew he was going to be tough to beat. I kept seeing his number climb higher and higher on the scoreboard over in turn three. To be able to do this with the team that I have it really special. Tonight was a lot of fun. I’m very thankful I get to drive this thing.”
Bell, aboard the Dough-Si-Dough Shoppe/Linder’s Speed Equipment/No. 11N sprint car, led during two different segments of the 30-lap program, the first being after the drop of the initial green. The current NASCAR Xfinity star led the first 14 circuits before his reign was interrupted by Kyle Larson.
Larson’s march toward the front of the field commenced at the drop of the green, utilizing a restart to move into third with just seven laps complete, soon driving around Danny Dietrich for second just two circuits later. A pair of cautions on laps 13 and 15 set the field nose-to-tail again giving Larson two more attempts to gain the race lead. Although Larson was unable to work underneath Bell after the lap 13 restart, his lap 15 attempt was successful, gluing his Paul Silva-owned, No. 57 machine to the bottom of the speedway to drive underneath Bell as the pair battled off of turn four.
Keeping is focus on the bottom of the speedway, Larson maintained control until lap 27. As lapped cars started to block his racing lane, Bell took advantage, driving hard around the topside of the speedway to fly by Larson to officially lead lap 27. Larson moved to the cushion shortly thereafter in a desperate attempt to make-up ground on Bell, but it was too late. Bell throttled on to cross under the final checkers 1.47 seconds ahead of Larson, followed by Danny Dietrich, Rico Abreu, and a hard-charging Parker Price-Miller, who advanced 17 positions to earn the evening’s MSD Performance Hard Charger Award.
“It was tough. Whenever I came here last year, there was a lot more left on the top to run. This year, it was tough,” Christopher Bell continued in victory lane. “By laps two, three and four, I could tell that the top was already starting to go away. It was a matter of me just staying off of the wall and keeping my tires under me as I exited off of the corners. I was kinda surprised Kyle (Larson) stayed on the bottom behind the lapped cars. That gave me an open road on the top. I didn’t have the grip to run the bottom, so I was pretty much committed to the top.”
“I was watching all of the lapped cars in front of me race around the bottom, so I figured the top was too dirty to go up there,” a disappointed Kyle Larson said. “I kept thinking about moving to the top earlier, but I just didn’t do it. I’m kinda kicking myself now. Bell did a really good job, so congratulations to him and his team.”
Officially over the hump with five rounds down and four remaining, Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by C&R Racing will continue later tonight – Wednesday evening, June 20 – with a trip to the southern half of the Buckeye State. Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe will be the next venue to host the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1; the first of two visits during the nine-day, Ohio Sprint Speedweek stretch.
Atomic Speedway will open pit gates at 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. The mandatory All Star drivers meeting will take shape at 6:30 p.m., followed by hot laps at 7 p.m., sharp. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit Atomic Speedway live on the Web at www.atomicspeedway.net.
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Ohio Sprint Speedweek
Sharon Speedway
Hartford, OH
Tuesday June 19, 2018
Qualifying Group #1 (2 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.107; 2. 70-Dave Blaney, 15.574; 3. 11N-Christopher Bell, 15.774; 4. 11-Ryan Smith, 15.895; 5. 21-Cap Henry, 15.923; 6. 5M-Max Stambaugh, 16.075; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs, 16.239; 8. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 16.268; 9. 53-Jessie Attard, 16.511; 10. 34M-Mike Marano II, 17.434
Qualifying Group #2 (2 Laps): 1. 71X-Gio Scelzi, 15.756; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 16.004; 3. 23X-D.J. Foos, 16.140; 4. O8-Danny Kuriger, 16.239; 5. 45-Trevor Baker, 16.322; 6. 14-Tony Stewart, 16.390; 7. 35-Tyler Esh, 16.488; 8. 9M-Jordan Ryan, 16.673; 9. 4N-Jim Morris, 16.903; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 17.023
Qualifying Group #3 (2 Laps): 1. 35S-Stuart Brubaker, 15.666; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 15.801; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.984; 4. 17-Caleb Helms, 16.024; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre Jr, 16.305; 6. 46-Michael Bauer, 16.361; 7. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau, 16.613; 8. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall, 16.655; 9. 8-Jared Zimbardi, 16.818; 10. 40-George Hobaugh Jr., 16.901
Qualifying Group #4 (2 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 15.841; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.982; 3. 8M-T.J. Michael, 16.131; 4. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 16.211; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 16.356; 6. 5T-Travis Philo, 16.388; 7. 13-Paul McMahan, 16.416; 8. 51-John Garvin, 16.724; 9. 71-Ayrton Olsen, 17.045
Qualifying Group #5 (2 Laps): 1. 39-Spencer Bayston, 15.525; 2. 17B-Josh Baughman, 16.240; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo, 16.272; 4. 7K-Cale Conley, 16.366; 5. 19-Mitch Harble, 16.452; 6. 98-Carl Bowser, 16.466; 7. 5K-Adam Kekich, 16.789; 8. 23-Chase Baker, 17.045; 9. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 17.245
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 11N-Christopher Bell, [2]; 2. 11-Ryan Smith, [1]; 3. 70-Dave Blaney, [3]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson, [4]; 5. 21-Cap Henry, [5]; 6. 4-Parker Price-Miller, [8]; 7. 5M-Max Stambaugh, [6]; 8. 53-Jessie Attard, [9]; 9. 34M-Mike Marano II, [10]; 10. 81-Lee Jacobs, [7]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 23X-D.J. Foos, [2]; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah, [3]; 3. 71X-Gio Scelzi, [4]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart, [6]; 5. 45-Trevor Baker, [5]; 6. O8-Danny Kuriger, [1]; 7. 9M-Jordan Ryan, [8]; 8. 35-Tyler Esh, [7]; 9. 4N-Jim Morris, [9]; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit, [10]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Caleb Helms, [1]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer, [3]; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre Jr, [5]; 5. 40-George Hobaugh Jr., [10]; 6. 46-Michael Bauer, [6]; 7. 35S-Stuart Brubaker, [4]; 8. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau, [7]; 9. 8-Jared Zimbardi, [9]; 10. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall, [8]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 8M-T.J. Michael, [2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, [3]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan, [7]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 5. 51-John Garvin, [8]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild, [1]; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler, [5]; 8. 71-Ayrton Olsen, [9]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo, [6]
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps): 1. 3G-Carson Macedo, [2]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, [1]; 3. 17B-Josh Baughman, [3]; 4. 39-Spencer Bayston, [4]; 5. 19-Mitch Harble, [5]; 6. 98-Carl Bowser, [6]; 7. 5K-Adam Kekich, [7]; 8. 23-Chase Baker, [8]; 9. 21N-Frankie Nervo, [9]
Dash #1 (4 Laps): 1. 23X-D.J. Foos, [1]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, [2]; 3. 11-Ryan Smith, [4]; 4. 3G-Carson Macedo, [5]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah, [6]; 6. 17-Caleb Helms, [3]
Dash #2 (4 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich, [4]; 2. 11N-Christopher Bell, [2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, [3]; 4. 39-Spencer Bayston, [1]; 5. 57-Kyle Larson, [5]; 6. 8M-T.J. Michael, [6]
C-Main (10 Laps): 1. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall, [12]; 2. 53-Jessie Attard, [2]; 3. 35-Tyler Esh, [1]; 4. 21N-Frankie Nervo, [9]; 5. 71-Ayrton Olsen, [5]; 6. 8-Jared Zimbardi, [7]; 7. 23-Chase Baker, [4]; 8. 4N-Jim Morris, [8]; 9. 70M-Henry Malcuit, [13]; 10. 34M-Mike Marano II, [10]; 11. 81-Lee Jacobs, [11]; 12. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau, [3]
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 35S-Stuart Brubaker, [1]; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller, [9]; 3. 21-Cap Henry, [2]; 4. 19-Mitch Harble, [4]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild, [7]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh Jr., [6]; 7. 97AU-Mitchell Wormall, [16]; 8. 5M-Max Stambaugh, [12]; 9. 45-Trevor Baker, [3]; 10. 51-John Garvin, [5]; 11. 98-Carl Bowser, [11]; 12. 9M-Jordan Ryan, [14]; 13. 5K-Adam Kekich, [15]; 14. 22-Brandon Spithaler, [13]; 15. 53-Jessie Attard, [17]; 16. 46-Michael Bauer, [10]; 17. O8-Danny Kuriger, [8]
A-Main (35 Laps): 1. 11N-Christopher Bell, [4]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson, [10]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich, [2]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu, [6]; 5. 4-Parker Price-Miller, [22]; 6. 8M-T.J. Michael, [12]; 7. 39-Spencer Bayston, [8]; 8. 3G-Carson Macedo, [7]; 9. 10H-Chad Kemenah, [9]; 10. 11-Ryan Smith, [5]; 11. 7K-Cale Conley, [3]; 12. 13-Paul McMahan, [17]; 13. 3-Jac Haudenschild, [25]; 14. 21-Cap Henry, [23]; 15. O7-Gerard McIntyre Jr, [19]; 16. 70-Dave Blaney, [13]; 17. 49X-Tim Shaffer, [15]; 18. 19-Mitch Harble, [24]; 19. 23X-D.J. Foos, [1]; 20. 22-Brandon Spithaler, [26]; 21. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [18]; 22. 35S-Stuart Brubaker, [21]; 23. 17-Caleb Helms, [11]; 24. 14-Tony Stewart, [20]; 25. 71X-Gio Scelzi, [14]; 26. 17B-Josh Baughman, [16]