Christopher Bell and Jonathan Beason crash at the finish (Video)

A thrilling finish at Port City Raceway in the 2019 Turnpike Challenge

The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League had a hell of a finish on Sunday night. The race took place during the Turnpike Challenge at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Watch the video of the Port City Raceway finish below.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series had an off weekend as NASCAR was in Martinsville. That opened the door for Christopher Bell to head to the dirt track.

Bell was the leader in the closing laps. A restart with just two laps to go setup a shootout finish on the bullring dirt track.

Heading into turn one, Bell went high. Jonathan Beason shot for the bottom lane. He lost ground off turn two.

Heading into turn three, Beason stuck with the bottom lane. This time, he pulled even then nosed ahead of the race leader.

With one lap to go, Beason was the leader by just a nose at the line. Bell went for the cushion in turn one. He gassed the center and opened the gap to two car lengths but spun the tires at the exit of the corner.

Beason was just a car length back heading into turn three for the final time. He clipped the inside tire barrier which rotated the car in a hurry.

Something might have broken on his machine due to the impact. Beason was nosing ahead off the corner. However, with the front wheels turned to the left, the car was still going right.

With the finish line ahead, he didn’t lift. Right rear to left front contact sent Bell for a wild ride across the start/finish line. Beason took the dirt midget win.

Drivers react to the finish

“It is pretty neat, but I’m not real happy with myself on how that turned out,” Beason stated from victory lane.

“I was quite surprised that Christopher left the bottom open and of course it stuck for me and I got on the gas on exit and it just went right.”

“I don’t want to ever wreck anybody. I’m happy to get the win, and I’m glad we are as fast as him and Keith Kunz Motorsports, but I would rather us both cross the line without hitting.”

He later continued via twitter, “Happy to get the win. Hated that @CBellRacing tore his car. Made it better when him & @KeithKunz both said it was great race. When I stepped on the gas it went straight, wheels turned to the left.

Bell went flipping as he grabbed the checkered flag. But, he and team owner Keith Koons still came over to congratulate him on the win.

“I needed more than a couple of laps to build my momentum on the top, and I knew that he was good on the bottom, but I didn’t feel like I could outrun him down low,” Christopher Bell stated in a POWRi release after the race.

“So, I felt like my best bet was to stay committed to the top. It’s really cool to come back home and run as good as we have this week, it’s a special feeling for me,” Bell said after the wild finish.

You can watch a video of the race below.

Turnpike Challenge Video
Port City Raceway
March 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/SpeedShiftTV/status/1110014385722966016

Photos: Jessica Dawn

More

Christopher Bell compares the Chili Bowl and Gateway Dirt Nationals

Bell is looking for a ride in the NASCAR Cup Series

Christopher Bell is interested in more NASCAR dirt races

Logan Seavey details riding the fence in a dirt midget

Links

Christopher Bell | Jonathan Beason | Port City Raceway | POWRi National Midget

Categories

Tags