Mell Puts on Strong Showing Against the NOSA 410’s at River Cities

GRAND FORKS, ND (July 7) – Initially there was no racing on the schedule last weekend for the Trevor Mell Racing team. With the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series racing at Badlands Motor Speedway over the weekend, the 305 Sprint Cars had the night off on Saturday. However, a game time decision on Friday afternoon sent the Performance Auto of Fargo / Dakota Cat team northbound on I-29 to Grand Forks for a night of racing at the legendary bullring, River Cities Speedway.

A sixth place finish in his heat put Mell 16th on the 26-car starting grid. After a somewhat caution-filled feature race, Mell took the checkers in a very respectable 18th place, considering the amount of horsepower his 305 lacks compared to the 410’s.

“During the heat race the track was heavy and I was kind of out to lunch,” said Mell after the race. “But come feature time I was able to get some traction and my car wasn’t as tight. I thought the track was good, once the cushion got built up I could run the top side pretty well.”

Despite lacking significant horsepower, Trevor moved forward throughout the first half of the feature as he passed a handful of cars running up on the cushion.

“That was great. I would see them try slide up in front of me and I just stayed in the gas and flew right by them,” continued Trevor. “It’s nice to be able to pass some of them to show them that I can drive. I thought the night overall went well.”

River Cities Speedway and Trevor’s weekly track, Badlands Motor Speedway, differ in several aspects, but Trevor was still able to learn a few things at RCS that he can transfer over to the Brandon, SD 3/8th mile oval.

“One of the main reasons we came up [to River Cities] was to try a few things out for Badlands. I got the car tighter, which was one of my goals. The size of the tracks are different, but the banking is similar so I think we can take what we did tonight and use it at Badlands.”

Mell currently sits second in the River Cities Speedway rookie of the year battle, just 18 points out of the lead.

Season Stats:
Races: 8
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 4
Heat Wins: 0

Upcoming Events:
July 9 – Badlands Motor Speedway

Recap and photo by Mike Spieker.