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Bell Blames Hornish for Shunt

IRL IndyCar returnee Townsend Bell blamed Sam Hornish for starting the 200 mph, four-car pile up that eliminated him from the race

Bell believes Hornish triggered his spin despite the Penske driver being approximately 50 metres ahead of the Panther Racing car. Kosuke Matsuura then collided with Jaques Lazier as he tried to avoid the spinning Bell.

The side of Lazier's car then collided with the side of Bell's car and the pair then careered into the outside wall. When they had hit the wall, Roger Yasukawa piled into the pair of them, littering the 2.5 mile superspeedway with debris.

Bell said: "Sam Hornish came down on me once on the front stretch and then as we came around he decided to come down again and take all the air off my nose. He wasn't doing me any favours up there, but I really couldn't see what was happening in front of him.

"The car started to wash up and I caught it, caught it, and caught it again. I thought we might get it to catch but it was too late. The car really danced back and forth on me. I hate to see such a great run end that way."

None of the drivers were injured in the accident, which fellow championship returnee Lazier called a racing incident.

He said: "We were making some real progress and just kind of hanging out for the final sprint when the car started to get loose and slide up. I had nowhere to go, and it felt like I got tagged from behind and at that point you are just a passenger.

"It's really unfortunate and disappointing because I feel like we really could have made it into the top 10."

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