Bell finishes 13th after another pile-up

Fernley 95A Speedway will be back in action tonight, with racing starting at 5 p.m. Spectator gates open at 3 pm, with ticket prices at $12 for adults (13 and older), $8 for kids 6-12 and seniors over 63, and free for kids under six and military with ID. Tonight’s racing program will feature IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods, Pro Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Super Stock 4s, and Pure Stocks.

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Once again, Mackena Bell was caught up in a pileup last Saturday night at Langley Speedway. It seems like that’s the way her season has gone, but she recovered to finish 13th, the second-best result of the four Revolution Racing drivers entered. Bell and the rest of the K&N Pro Series East competitors will have a couple of weeks of rest before racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 11.

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Sonoma last week was entertaining for some, particularly winner Carl Edwards. Edwards, reportedly leaving Roush-Fenway Racing at the end of the season, became the latest driver to score two wins on the season. The day was not so entertaining for A.J. Allmendinger, who had the car to beat until a run-in with Dale Earnhardt Jr. put him in the pits and two laps down. Having proved his road course prowess, look for ‘Dinger’ to be out for blood at Watkins Glen. Marcos Ambrose, who was the pre-race favorite, just never quite got it together, but all-time road course winner Jeff Gordon chased Edwards to the checker and might have gotten him had the race been a lap or two longer. It was Gordon’s fifth runner-up finish at Sonoma, matching his five wins there. Although the track has changed a lot since my racing days there, the in-car camera shots still bring back fond memories.

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Congratulations also go to Brendan Gaughan on scoring his first Nationwide series win last Saturday at Road America. It was a strange race, run partially in the wet, partially in the dry, with fuel becoming an issue for some drivers in the late going.

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All three of NASCAR’s top series are at Kentucky this weekend, with the Sprint Cup race running this evening. Kyle Busch won Thursday’s Camping World Truck race. The Penske Fords look like the cars to beat at 1.5 mile tracks this season, and Kentucky is no exception. Brad Keselowski is on the pole for tonight’s event, with teammate Joey Logano alongside. Jeff Gordon will start third, the only Hendrick driver to make it into the final qualifying round. I must say, NASCAR’s new knockout qualifying is a definite winner, and the rain clouds looming over the track yesterday added a little extra challenge.

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After stumbling in Canada, the Mercedes team finished 1-2 last Sunday at the Formula 1 race in Austria. Try as he might, Lewis Hamilton couldn’t catch teammate Nico Rosberg in the late going, giving Rosberg a 29-point lead in the championship standings. That gap is mostly due to a pair of DNFs on Hamilton’s part, while Rosberg has finished in the top two at every race this season. Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel had yet another miserable day. He was sidelined by mechanical woes and another non-finish. Felipe Massa surprised everyone with his pole-setting performance, with teammate Valtteri Bottas starting alongside him. Bottas’ third-place finish was his first-ever F1 podium and Rosberg’s win, his sixth, surpassed the five wins scored by his father, 1982 F1 champion Keke Rosberg.

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The Indycar series is on the streets of Houston for a doubleheader weekend, with Race 1 today and Race 2 Sunday. Penske drivers Will Power and Helio Castroneves took both ends of the last doubleheader weekend, while teammate Juan Montoya seems to be finding his groove in open-wheel.

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Finally, if you’re into classic cars, hot rods, and other automotive exotica, head over to Fuji Park for the Carson Kruzers’ Run What Cha Brung car show this weekend. I plan to check it out before I head out to Fernley for tonight’s races.