Breakthrough Podium for Matt Bell at Watkins Glen

Breakthrough Podium for Matt Bell at Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, N.Y. (3 June 2011) – Matt Bell and Stevenson Motorsports co-driver John Edwards persevered at the Continental Tire 150 to score their first podium of the season with a run to second in Round 6 of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Watkins Glen International.

With the second place result, Bell delivers his third podium to Stevenson Motorsports having finished second last year at VIR and third at Trois-Rivieres.

Following an impressive qualifying session, Bell started the 2.5 hour race from the sixth position and set a rapid pace to take the lead of the race by lap six. The California native led the team’s first laps of the season and continued to push the car as he remained at the front of the field for an additional eight laps around the 3.4-mile New York road course. He would pit out of the lead and hand the controls to Edwards when Stevenson Motorsports took the opportunity to pit under caution.

Unfortunately, the No. 9 Camaro GS.R would suffer a setback following a pit lane hiccup which would see GRAND-AM enforce a 30-second penalty on the team. However, Stevenson Motorsports rallied back when Edwards rejoined the field in the 19th position and quickly made a charge forward.

“John averaged faster lap times than the leaders and began to make up ground,” said Bell. “He was a rock star out there.”

The No. 9 Camaro climbed 17 spots and would challenge for the lead before taking the checkered flag in the runner-up position.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Bell of his season-best result. “Nick Eddy and the rest of the engineering team did an awesome job with engineering the car. We had a couple slip ups with the pit stops but it didn’t matter. I’m really happy with the result and now we have two weekends in a row with solid finishes and points.”

While Bell celebrates his Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge podium result, the race weekend is not yet over as he joins Doran Racing in the No. 77 Daytona Prototype for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race on Saturday.

With the fourth place finish at Lime Rock followed by the Watkins Glen podium result, Bell and Edwards will look to continue this positive trend as Stevenson Motorsports heads to Road America June 23-24 for Round 7.

The Continental Tire 150 will air June 12 at 5:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
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http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

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