Matt Duell

**Matt "The Dark Horse" Duell** is a driver in the Utica Rallycross Series. He currently drives the #16 car for Duell Motorsports.

 Car no., team
 Best Points
 First race
 Last race
 First win
 Last win

## URCS S1

Duell was contracted by Cittadino/ED Motorsports to be the replacement diver for Billy Bishop in the #6 car, as Bishop had performed poorly during the first half of the season. Duell ran a very quiet season, getting a few borderline top ten finishes while only wrecking out of the event once.

## URCS S2

Duell returned to the series in Yuma driving a self-funded #8 car. Duell started off the year with a tenth in Yuma and a fifteenth in Kansas City before pulling off a three-race streak of top ten finishes, aiding Duell in the point standings. Duell hit a rocky patch in Blackpool and St. Denis, finishing last and twenty-fourth respectively. Duell regained momentum in Austria, edging out Tyler Benoit for the victory at the Wiener Circle.

Solid top ten efforts during the mid-season kept Duell competitive in he points, but his big break came during the Asian tour. Duell finished a solid second place in Hong Kong and achieved a dominating victory in Toyota, gaining his second career victory. Duell earned his nickname "The Dark Horse" for his late season boost in performance.

Though Duell had a strong end to the season, Dunlap had too large of a lead in the points for Duell to catch up. Duell finished the season fourth in points after wrecking out in Dead Man's Curve.

Duell teamed up briefly during the second half of the season with Young Motorsports. However, financial issues on Young's behalf resulted in termination of the contract following the end of the season.

## URCS S3

Duell returns to competition in Season 3 driving the same #8 car for his self-owned team. He acquired the first last place finish of Season 3 in Yuma after flipping his vehicle while attempting the triple jump.

Duell struggled greatly during the season, getting one of the worst finishing times in Rallycross history, finishing the Blackpool event in two minutes and twenty six seconds, about a minute and a half slower than the first place time.

Duell began to improve during the second half of the year, finishing seventh in Budva, then following it up with a third in Dubai.

Duell led the majority of the Laos event, stealing the lead at the halfway point. However, William Duncan was able to upset at the last minute, resulting in a second place for Duell. This finish was dulled in Hong Kong, after Duell flipped his car after going too fast on the island turn.

The team almost considered putting co-owner Kaytlyn Stringer in the car, put opted to keep the more experienced Duell in the car after hearing of the Qualifier race. Duell was the final driver to transfer into the main event, but shocked many with a unexpected fourth place finish in the finale. This finish, coupled with several rival competitors wrecking and failing to qualify, was able to elevate Duel to a top ten in the standings.

## URCS S4

Duell returned to competition piloting the #16 machine for his self-owned team, but struggled heavily to secure a top ten finish. Duell was fairly slow in Yuma and Elk horn Pike, but managed to just scrape a tenth place finish in at Blackpool.

Following that top ten effort, Duell faced two weeks of challenges. He wrecked out at Meijendel, finishing a disappointing eighteenth, and bungled a corner at Paparone to finish last place. During the midseason off-week, Duell took time to regroup and try to salvage his season.

Entering Nairobi, it appeared that Duell was back in action, finishing a solid fifth place at the African dirt track. Duell carried this momentum into Dubai, when tragedy struck. While coming to the finish line, the cockpit of Duell's car struck the archway above the finish line following the building jump. Duell crossed the line and scored a fifth-place time, but suffered a massive head injury that resulted in him being airlifted to a local hospital.

Duell would be forced to miss the rest of the season, having girlfriend and development driver Kaytlyn Stringer run the final three events in his place. Stringer managed to win her debut race at Tel-Aviv, but subsequently wrecked out in Hong Kong and failed to qualify for Dead Man's Curve.

Duell decided at the end of Season Four to retire from Utica Rallycross Series competition following complications from his injury in Dubai and the lack of experience needed for Stringer to take over the ride. The car was sold off to Malta National Racing Team.

## "The Dork Horse"

While Duell is known officially as 'The Dark Horse," a slip of tongue by commentator Chad Dillon in Seoul resulted in the driver being referred to as "The Dork Horse." While Duell was not pleased with the negative publicity, Duell's on-track success showed fans that he was, in fact, not a dork.