JACKSON, Miss. - Brian Bell held off Marshall Skinner to score the USCS Sprint Car Series victory Saturday night at Mississippi’s Jackson Motor Speedway.
Bell and Skinner battled hard, swapping the lead several times in heavy lapped traffic. When Bell got caught in lap traffic, Skinner was able to move to the point. Bell powered back through the lapped cars, moving side-by-side with Skinner before retaking the lead.
A late-race caution flag gave Bell a clear race track in front of him to post his second series win if the 2016 season.
“It was real tricky to run up against the fence tonight, but that’s where I run and they gave it to me,” Bell said. “I was trying to be patient in the lapped traffic, but when I saw Marshall’s nose get underneath me, I knew I had to make a hole to get through. We had to get into our setup book from when we ran here earlier this year during Speedweeks, and that came in real handy for the feature.”
Skinner finished second, with Anthony Nicholson in third, Morgan Turpen in fourth and Seth Bergman in fifth.
Terry Gray, Cody Adams, Shane Morgan Kyle Amerson and Derek Hagar rounded out the top ten.
Bell took the lead at the drop of the green flag from his outside front row starting spot over Joey Schmidt. Hagar came from the sixth starting spot to go three-wide for third in turn three. His front wheels came off the ground and he executed a quick flip.
That brought out the red flag and necessitated a complete restart. Hagar’s car was pushed into the infield pits, where his crew made repairs and returned him to the track to start on the tail of the field for the restart. When the green flag flew again, Bell took the lead, followed by Nicholson, Skinner, Schmidt, and Jordon Mallett.
The caution flag came out on lap five when Amerson stalled on the backstretch. Bell led Nicholson, Skinner, Mallett and J.J. Simmons down for the restart. The top five held fast for the next six laps until the caution flag came out again on lap 11 when Schmidt spun in turn four.
On the restart, Skinner powered by Nicholson for second, while Miller hustled from the 15th starting spot to move up to fifth. Turpen moved up to make it a three-car battle for fourth with Mallett and Miller. Turpen climbed up to the fourth spot on lap 14.
The caution came out again on lap 15 when Tristan Lee nosed into the third turn wall and collected Mallett. Both drivers were okay, but they were done for the evening. Bell once again took off and put some distance between himself and Skinner on the restart, but by lap 22, the leader was beginning to encounter heavy lapped traffic.
Skinner was able to use that lapped traffic to his advantage and he closed on Bell on lap 23. Skinner went to the inside in turn one to take the lead, but Bell came back on the high side to re-take the lead coming off turn two.
With the battle for the lead waging, the caution flag ended the action on lap 24 when Brandon Blendon stalled in turn two. Miller gave up the fourth spot and went to the pits for the night during the caution period.
In the six lap dash to the finish, Bell was never challenged as he went on to score the victory.
In preliminary action, Hagar won the six-lap Hoosier Speed Dash, while Gray, Hagar, Bergman and Bell won the heat races. Michael Miller won the 12-lap B-Main.
The next two events for the USCS Sprint Car Series will be the 7th Annual Senoia Summer Nationals on August 19 and 20 at Georgia’s Senoia Raceway.
For more information, visit USCSRacing.com.
USCS Sprint Car Series
Jackson Motor Speedway – Jackson, MS
Race Results – Aug. 13, 2016
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