7/18/01- 2000 Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association rookie of the year Josh Sell, marred this season by bad luck and frustration rebounded with his best race of the year on July 14 at Shady Bowl Speedway. The 17-year old Sell 5 Motorsports driver, finished eighth in a 16-car field, picking up his third top ten of the year and moving himself back into the top ten in the Shady Bowl point standings.

Josh lined up for his heat race outside of the third row after drawing the number 33 pill in pre-race activities. In one of the most bizarre races in recent memories, Josh recovered from a lap two spin, but then got stuck behind a car whose motor expired on the last lap and was relegated to a sixth place finish in the eight-car field. His finish in the heat lined him up inside of row five for the evening's 20-lap main event.

As the evening's feature event got underway, the effect of not being in a race since May 19 seemed to rare its ugly head as Josh slipped to the back of the field. During the second half of the event however, Josh began to show the ability that brought him rookie of the year honors just a season ago. Josh found his way around West Liberty's Keith Bailey on lap 10 to take over the number twelve spot. Two laps later, Josh was at it again, going low around another West Liberty resident, Mike King into eleventh.

The event was starting to draw to a close when an accident among the front-runners occurred just behind Josh. With the attrition from the accident, Josh was firmly in the top ten, poised for a run at more positions when the red flag flew on lap 16. It was at this point that Josh got to give his first on-track interview in front of a sizable Harley Davidson night crowd. Josh had this say to the fans:

"Well, we've had a tough year so far and we are just trying to get a good run in. I'd like to thank my sponsors, Mid-Ohio Harley Davidson and Bountiful Pizza and Subs."

When the green flag came back out with just five laps remaining, Josh immediately picked up another position when Chesterland's Mike Weisberg, running in the top five, pulled off with a flat tire. Just a lap after the restart, Josh took over the eighth spot, passing Toledo's Jerry Davis.

To this point, Josh's sophomore campaign has been far from meeting the expectations of the Sell 5 team. However, the most recent run may be the lift the team needs to put together solid finishes in the final eight races of the season. Josh's next competition will be on Saturday night July 28, right back at Shady Bowl Speedway.