VOL. 55 ISSUE 14 APRIL 10, 2018 P41
ing Honda) another 29 seconds
behind to round out the podium.
"I knew if I took a couple laps
to regroup that it would work bet-
ter [for me] in the end instead of
going hard for [the whole race],"
Bell said, "so I just took my time,
let [Shirey] go by, regrouped to
wait for that white flag then kind
of put the hammer down again
because I know I'm fit, I know
what I can do, I know what I'm
capable of. These guys are fast!
I've got to give it up to these
guys; I really respect them a lot."
Shirey said, "Once I got the
lead, I got a little gap and I was
like, 'All right, I'm going to try to
control this as much as I can!'
But I couldn't do it; I was cramp-
ing up. You can't relax your
hands on the bars because it's
so choppy; there's no break!"
He added, "I got a pretty bad
start so I had to work my way
through the pack and that's
probably what killed me at the
end—I over-exerted myself at the
beginning; I was giving it my all
from ground zero."
Palms Motorsports Complex,
Bell realized there was no hold-
ing Shirey back and let his young
rival lead for a while.
Coming from behind on a hot,
windy day had taken enough of a
toll on Shirey that he couldn't an-
swer when Bell retaliated on the
final lap, the champ taking the
win by 41 seconds with Trevor
Stewart (Johnny Campbell Rac-
Despite a bad start, Clay Hengeveld
blasted his way to the front of the
WCGP Pro II field for the third time
this season, easily extending his
series points lead.
