BELL BLOWS OUT THE CANDLES ON 2017 WITH KNEPPER 55 TRIUMPH

    By Richie Murray Christopher BellNeil Cavanah photo Du Quoin, Illinois………Christopher Bell celebrated his 23rd birthday in grand style Saturday night at the Southern Illinois Center after taking the lead with four laps remaining to win the third annual “Junior Knepper 55” USAC Midget Special event at the indoor, one-sixth-mile dirt oval in Du Quoin. Rarely has the 2013 USAC National Midget champion from Norman, Oklahoma not been at the top of his game when he’s behind the wheel of a midget, but 2017 saw him take it up another notch with 10 wins in just 13 Midget starts, an incomparable 77% average. After wrapping up a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, Bell has been two-for-two in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records – TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, concluding USAC’s National Midget points season in November with his second career “Turkey Night Grand Prix” victory at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway and following it up by delivering his team their first victory at the Southern Illinois Center. “To be able to win the last race of the year like that is pretty cool,” Bell said.  “I’ve been pretty close and really fast here in the past, but I just haven’t been [...]