Bell Closes 2011 GRAND-AM Run at Mid-Ohio

Bell Closes 2011 GRAND-AM Run at Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Lexington, Ohio (17 September 2011) – While Matt Bell’s final race of the year did not end how he had hoped, the California racer and his Stevenson Motorsports team showed great resilience in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season-finale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the team battled back to finish the 2.5-hour race after sustaining significant damage to the No. 9 Camaro in an early incident.

Bell opened the EMCO Gears Classic from the 17th position and had picked up two positions when a car just ahead of the Camaro spun on Lap 13 and left Bell with no place to go. The left front of the No. 9 made contact and sustained significant damage that would force Bell to pit road for repairs.

“The 37 car spun in front of me and I just had nowhere to go,” said Bell of the incident. “Once again, the Stevenson guys just did a great job – I gave them a 20 lap job and they got it done in 14. I mean they replaced the whole front left corner of the car and got a very crooked car straight.”

The Stevenson Motorsports squad displayed the same great pit work as they have done all season to repair the heavily damaged car to allow Bell’s co-driver John Edwards, who is running for rookie points, to take his stint behind the wheel. With the team 14 laps down, the strategy was to run a clean race and bring the No. 9 machine across the finish line with as many points as possible.

Once Edwards had run his 30 minute requirement behind the wheel, the team made the decision to relieve him as he would also race in the Rolex Series race later in the day. Bell returned to the helm of the Camaro for the final 30 minutes of the race to take it to the finish.

“Besides the fact that we didn’t have the front sway bar again, the car was right where it should have been and went and ran the rest of the race,” said Bell. “I’m not sure we had a car to run with the leaders but we could have had a top-10 today. I have to thank the Stevenson team for working so hard each and every race weekend. We’ve had a good year with some really great results, it was just unfortunate to have it end this way.”

Despite the result, Bell has much to be proud of in his 2011 season having scored two wins at both Road America and his home race of Laguna Seca in addition to earning five top-five finishes throughout the year.

The EMCO Gears Classic will air on Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

PR inquiries about Matt Bell should be directed to Matt Cleary at Sunday Group Management; 317.908.2975 (mobile) or media @sundaymanagement.com

For additional information:
www.sundaymanagement.com

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
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.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup