By T.J. Buffenbarger
TULSA, OK (January 16, 2020) – Christopher Bell won the feature Thursday during John Christner Trucking Night at the 34th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals in business like fashion. Bell smoothly worked up from sixth starting spot to pass Thomas Meseraull for the lead on lap 11 and drove away for the victory.
The win was Bell’s first at the Chili Bowl driving for Tucker-Boat Motorsports. Afterwards he was thrilled with not only his performance, but the track conditions as well.
“That was about as fun as it gets right there, I frickin’ love this place,” said Bell in victory lane. “The way the racetrack is you can run up or down and they were both really equal. It was just so much fun racing.”
“We’ve got a great race car. I love where we’re at. I think the slicker the track gets the better we get, so bring it on.”
Shane Golobic and Kofoid started on the front row for the 30-lap main event. Golobic led with Meseraull and Kofoid trading second position before Meseraull secured the position on lap three. One late later Meseraull drove by Golobic to take the lead.
By lap six Bell was making his presence felt as he joined Kokfoid to drop Golobic back to fourth position with Kofoid taking second. That was short lived as Bell won an exchange of slide jobs on lap nine and quickly closed in on Meseraull. Two laps later Bell was able to get by Meseraull for the lead and drove away from the field.
Late in the race Meseraull and Kofoid closed back in on Bell in slower traffic, but Bell quickly put a pair of slower cars between himself and Merseraull to increase his lead.
Bell’s only close call was coming to the white flag contacting a slower car. Bell got sideways but was able to gather his car up on the final lap to take the victory.
“That startled me pretty bad. I didn’t really get a good run to drive in there and I kind of floated in the middle,” said Bell. “I was looking out my right side and I couldn’t see (the lapped car) so I figured he gave it to me, and he didn’t give it to me”
Meseraull held on for second while Kofoid, Logan Seavey, and Golobic rounded out the top five.
With three straight Chili Bowl victories to his credit on Saturday night and a stout race car Bell seemed confident going into the finale.
34th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals
John Christner Trucking Night
River Spirit Expo Center
Tulsa, OK
Thursday January 16, 2020
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 55V-CJ Leary[5]
2. 15D-Andrew Deal[8]
3. 11A-Andrew Felker[4]
4. 02-Andy Gage[1]
5. 52C-Cody Karl[9]
6. 7JR-JD Black[6]
7. 41X-Howard Moore[3]
8. 3B-Jessie Barber[2]
9. 11P-Laydon Pearson[7]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]
2. 77U-Chris Urish[1]
3. 2ND-Dave Darland[7]
4. 117-Jack Dover[6]
5. 87F-Johnny Kent[4]
6. 39B-Cole Bodine[8]
7. M1-Mark Smith[5]
8. 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr[2]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[5]
2. 31B-Chance Crum[7]
3. 49-Scott Kreutter[2]
4. 78M-Merle Scherb[1]
5. 51X-Joe Walker[3]
6. 2C-Seth Carlson[8]
7. Q23-Barrie Valentino[6]
8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[4]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 21K-Cory Kruseman[2]
2. 47X-Danny Stratton[1]
3. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]
4. 5G-Ben Worth[8]
5. 57K-Kevin Studley[5]
6. 84S-Shaun Shapel[4]
7. 72-Eric Fenton[7]
8. 46X-Jeffrey Champagne[3]
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[4]
2. 17B-Ryan Bickett[3]
3. 56D-Mitchell Davis[2]
4. 11X-Donovan Peterson[1]
5. 19B-Spencer Bayston[7]
6. 7R-Austin Williams[8]
7. 4M-Michelle Decker[5]
8. 33J-James Davison[6]
Heat Race #6 (8 Laps)
1. 39-Logan Seavey[4]
2. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[3]
3. 23S-Kyle Simon[6]
4. 67S-Ryan Smith[7]
5. 32D-Casey Shuman[2]
6. 6-Bill Rose[5]
7. 68B-Blain Petersen[1]
8. 1H-Rick Horn[8]
Heat Race #7 (8 Laps)
1. 84X-Christopher Bell[1]
2. 35L-Cody Ledger[4]
3. 17T-Stevie Sussex[3]
4. 321-Chad Winfrey[2]
5. 10C-Dalton Camfield[8]
6. 715-Robert Bell[5]
7. 24F-Hunter Fischer[7]
8. 00D-Daniel Sanchez[6]
Heat Race #8 (8 Laps)
1. 9P-Shane Cottle[2]
2. 76M-Jason McDougal[3]
3. 67-Michael Kofoid[7]
4. 2X-AJ Fike[1]
5. 27D-Travis Berryhill[8]
6. 11-Cale Conley[4]
7. 72X-Jeff Wheeler[5]
8. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[6]
Heat Race #9 (8 Laps)
1. 7MF-Chance Morton[1]
2. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[5]
3. 1G-Kyle Cummins[4]
4. 08M-Joe B Miller[7]
5. 00X-Jason Martin[2]
6. 67K-Holley Hollan[6]
7. 73-Dylan Ito[8]
8. 17M-Kala Keliinoi[3]
C-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 11-Cale Conley[8]
2. 6-Bill Rose[6]
3. 87F-Johnny Kent[3]
4. 78M-Merle Scherb[1]
5. 32D-Casey Shuman[4]
6. M1-Mark Smith[10]
7. 11P-Laydon Pearson[16]
8. 24F-Hunter Fischer[9]
9. 72X-Jeff Wheeler[11]
10. 33J-James Davison[13]
11. 46X-Jeffrey Champagne[15]
12. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[14]
13. 1H-Rick Horn[12]
14. 73-Dylan Ito[7]
15. 7JR-JD Black[5]
16. 2X-AJ Fike[2]
17. DNS: 3B-Jessie Barber
C-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 4M-Michelle Decker[10]
2. 51X-Joe Walker[3]
3. 00X-Jason Martin[4]
4. 67K-Holley Hollan[5]
5. 57K-Kevin Studley[2]
6. 11X-Donovan Peterson[1]
7. 68B-Blain Petersen[12]
8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[14]
9. Q23-Barrie Valentino[8]
10. 41X-Howard Moore[9]
11. 00D-Daniel Sanchez[11]
12. 715-Robert Bell[6]
13. 84S-Shaun Shapel[7]
14. 17M-Kala Keliinoi[13]
15. DNS: 72-Eric Fenton
16. DNS: 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr
Qualifier #1 (10 Laps)
1. 76M-Jason McDougal[1]
2. 39B-Cole Bodine[10]
3. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[5]
4. 2ND-Dave Darland[4]
5. 15D-Andrew Deal[6]
6. 7MF-Chance Morton[2]
7. 49-Scott Kreutter[9]
8. 117-Jack Dover[8]
9. 77U-Chris Urish[7]
10. 35L-Cody Ledger[3]
Qualifier #2 (10 Laps)
1. 67-Michael Kofoid[4]
2. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]
3. 39-Logan Seavey[5]
4. 67S-Ryan Smith[1]
5. 55V-CJ Leary[6]
6. 47X-Danny Stratton[7]
7. 10C-Dalton Camfield[8]
8. 2C-Seth Carlson[10]
9. 56D-Mitchell Davis[9]
10. 5G-Ben Worth[2]
Qualifier #3 (10 Laps)
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]
2. 08M-Joe B Miller[1]
3. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[6]
4. 19B-Spencer Bayston[9]
5. 11A-Andrew Felker[7]
6. 27D-Travis Berryhill[8]
7. 21K-Cory Kruseman[4]
8. 23S-Kyle Simon[3]
9. 7R-Austin Williams[10]
10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]
Qualifier #4 (10 Laps)
1. 84X-Christopher Bell[3]
2. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[2]
3. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[5]
4. 1G-Kyle Cummins[7]
5. 31B-Chance Crum[6]
6. 9P-Shane Cottle[4]
7. 52C-Cody Karl[1]
8. 321-Chad Winfrey[9]
9. 02-Andy Gage[10]
10. 17T-Stevie Sussex[8]
B-Main #1 (15 Laps)
1. 9P-Shane Cottle[3]
2. 11A-Andrew Felker[2]
3. 21K-Cory Kruseman[5]
4. 2ND-Dave Darland[1]
5. 47X-Danny Stratton[4]
6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]
7. 6-Bill Rose[14]
8. 10C-Dalton Camfield[6]
9. 87F-Johnny Kent[12]
10. 321-Chad Winfrey[9]
11. 2C-Seth Carlson[8]
12. 78M-Merle Scherb[15]
13. 7R-Austin Williams[11]
14. 11-Cale Conley[13]
15. 52C-Cody Karl[7]
DNS: 56D-Mitchell Davis
B-Main #2 (15 Laps)
1. 1G-Kyle Cummins[1]
2. 67S-Ryan Smith[2]
3. 117-Jack Dover[7]
4. 27D-Travis Berryhill[3]
5. 7MF-Chance Morton[4]
6. 5G-Ben Worth[10]
7. 35L-Cody Ledger[9]
8. 49-Scott Kreutter[5]
9. 23S-Kyle Simon[6]
10. 77U-Chris Urish[8]
11. 4M-Michelle Decker[13]
12. 02-Andy Gage[11]
13. 67K-Holley Hollan[14]
14. 00X-Jason Martin[15]
15. 51X-Joe Walker[12]
DNS: 17T-Stevie Sussex
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 84X-Christopher Bell[6]
2. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[3]
3. 67-Michael Kofoid[2]
4. 39-Logan Seavey[5]
5. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]
6. 19B-Spencer Bayston[15]
7. 55V-CJ Leary[12]
8. 76M-Jason McDougal[11]
9. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[14]
10. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[8]
11. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[4]
12. 3N-Jake Neuman[10]
13. 08M-Joe B Miller[16]
14. 9P-Shane Cottle[17]
15. 67S-Ryan Smith[20]
16. 2ND-Dave Darland[23]
17. 31B-Chance Crum[13]
18. 15D-Andrew Deal[9]
19. 27D-Travis Berryhill[24]
20. 1G-Kyle Cummins[18]
21. 21K-Cory Kruseman[21]
22. 39B-Cole Bodine[7]
23. 117-Jack Dover[22]
24. 11A-Andrew Felker[19]