Lonnie Wheatley, NIXA, Mo. (June 22, 2018) – The tide is turning for Kyle Bellm and the family-owned No. 14k Sprint Car team based out of Nixa, MO.
Weathering a brief stretch of misfortune, the pieces finally fell into place for Bellm to park the Greenworks Nursery/Landscapes Awarded Sprint Car in victory lane for the first time of the year at Sunday night’s ASCS Warrior Region event atop California, Missouri’s ¼-mile Double X Speedway clay oval.
It capped off a week that included a top-ten finish in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek competition at Creek County Speedway near Tulsa on Thursday night, June 14, and then a podium finish aboard Scott Bonar’s No. 50 Sprint Car at Memphis, Missouri’s Scotland County Speedway on Friday.
“It’s all coming together now, this is a good time of year for us to be hitting our stride,” Bellm says.
The set of races began last Thursday night at Creek County Speedway with Bellm driving the Christian County Collision Repair/Bybee Lawn Care entry from fourth to second in heat race action to earn a spot in the redraw. After starting the feature in fifth, Bellm posted his first ASCS National Tour top-ten finish of the year by crossing the stripe in ninth.
“We missed it just a little in the feature,” Bellm recalls. “I felt like we could have gone forward, but we still held on and got a decent finish out of it.”
Less than 24 hours and 500 or so miles later, Bellm took the wheel of Scott Bonar’s No. 50 Sprint Car for Sprint Invaders action at Memphis, MO. And Bellm made the most of the opportunity, battling for the win before settling for third at the checkered flag.
“We ran second most of the race and probably should have finished second,” Bellm relates. “Evan (Martin) and I slid each other three times for the lead. On the last one, I couldn’t quite stick it and that let (Jon) Agan get by for second.”
It was a successful first-time pairing for Bellm and Bonar.
“I had a lot of fun driving Scott’s car, hopefully it’s something we can do again at least another time or two this year,” Bellm says.
Bellm was back in the PPG Automotive Finishes/Colorvision entry for ASCS Warrior Region action at California, Missouri’s Double X Speedway on Sunday night and methodically worked his way forward from the sixth starting position to capture the win.
“Early on, we were really just biding our time,” the driver of the VP Racing Fuels/Schure Built Suspensions/Schaeffers Racing Oil entry explains. “I had to wait for traffic to clear out a little. Once a lane opened up, I was able to get by Jonathan (Cornell), Evan (Martin) and then T.J. (Muths).”
Once out front, there was no stopping Bellm.
“We generally go pretty good there and it was super slick, which is kinda my forte,” Bellm concludes.
With the first win of the year in the books, Bellm will be looking to add to that total on Saturday night. And, depending upon weather, that Saturday outing will either be in ASCS Warrior vs. ASCS Mid-South Reginal competition at West Plains, Missouri’s Legit Speedway Park or at Eldon, Missouri’s Lake Ozark Speedway.
2018 Quick Stats: 16 races, 1 win, 5 top-fives, 8 top-tens.
Up Next: ASCS Warrior vs. ASCS Mid-South at Legit Speedway Park (West Plains, MO), on Saturday night or Lake Ozark Speedway (Eldon, MO).
Keep Track: Keep track of Kyle Bellm’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.kylebellm.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KyleBellmRacing?fref=ts or on Twitter at @kylebellmracing.
If you would like Kyle Bellm Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
