Lonnie Wheatley, NIXA, Mo. (August 15, 2019) – After a solid Knoxville 360 Nationals outing, Kyle Bellm is back in action this weekend with a pair of events in Missouri.
Belllm will take the wheel of the Smith Racing No. 86 Sprint Car for Saturday night’s card at Eldon’s Lake Ozark Speedway and then Sunday’s tilt atop the ½-mile Missouri State Fair Speedway at Sedalia.
Bellm last wheeled the Smith Racing machine to a sixth-place finish at California, Missouri’s Double X Speedway on Sunday, August 4.
“We had a stacked heat, then the feature went green to checkered,” Bellm recalls. “We were coming on strong at the end, we just ran out of laps.”
That Double X outing followed on the heels of the Knoxville 360 Nationals and then a Tuesday night card at Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway. Bellm wheeled Tony Bartlett’s No. 75au entry for both Iowa events.
After picking off a heat race win in the Friday, August 2, preliminary card, Bellm raced to a 16th-place feature finish that night before finishing out the 360 Nationals in Saturday night “B” Main action amongst a field of nearly 100 entries.
“We were good, the car had a lot of speed all weekend,” Bellm says. “The only time that we missed it all weekend was in qualifying and that put us too far behind.”
After a third-place finish in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action at Southern Iowa Speedway on Tuesday, August 6, Bellm was poised to make a run from 13th in the feature before engine woes forced the No. 75au pitside.
“I think we were going to do well at Oskaloosa,” Bellm recalls. “We fell back at the start of the heat and worked back up to third. The car felt really good for the feature, we passed three or four cars on the first start before a caution came out. Then we had a cylinder fill with water to we had to pull off.”
Overall, a few weeks teamed with the Bartlett No. 75au team proved fruitful.
“I was happy with the speed we had, and with a few good breaks we could have had some good finishes,” Bellm explains. “I’m grateful to Tony Bartlett for the opportunity to drive his car and hopefully we can do it again next year. And I also have to thank Clancy Boots for getting us together, I felt like we got better every time out.”
Now it’s back to the wheel of the Smith Racing No. 86 for events at Lake Ozark Speedway and Sedalia this weekend.
The Kyle Bellm Racing efforts are made possible with support from marketing partners including Greenworks Nursery, Landscapes Awarded, Christian County Collision Repair, Bybee Lawn Care, PPG Automotive Finishes, Colorvision, Schure Built Suspensions, Schaeffers Racing Oil and Valley Park West Retirement Living.
Quick Stats: 22 Races, 1 win, 5 top-fives, 10 top-tens.
Up Next: Lake Ozark Speedway (Eldon, MO) on Saturday and Sedalia’s Missouri State Fair Speedway on Sunday.
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.
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley