IRA Drivers Sweep Heats In Showdown Event!
Wilmot, WI; July 20, 2013 – It’s not a track he visits often, but Wilmot Raceway has to rank among one of the favorites on Dale Blaney’s list. The Hartford, Ohio native would place himself in victory lane for the second straight year in the UNOH All-Stars vs. Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints Showdown before a large crowd in attendance for this major open-wheel event.
41 sprint cars were in the pit area featuring 7 of the top 8 in All-star points in addition to 19 of the top 20 in the current IRA standings.
To win this year’s showdown Blaney would take advantage of lapped traffic to surpass Tim Schaffer the evening’s fastest qualifier his biggest rival on the All-Star tour. Once out front Blaney was able to fend off Schaffer through several restarts to take the victory. Blaney would have a two car length cushion on Shaffer at the finish sealing his win streak in this showdown event at two straight. For Schaffer is was his second runner-up finish at Wilmot Raceway. The All-stars would make a sweep of the podium with Danny Holtgraver reaching the finish in the 35 lap A-main in the third position.
Mike Kertscher looked to be able to break up the All-Star party at the front of the field having challenged Holtgraver for the third spot, but he would take evasive action to avoid contact with Holtgraver resulting in a spin thus placing him at the tail of the field. This left Balog and IRA rookie of the year contender Jeremy Schultz as principal drivers to bust up the All-Star gathering at the front of the field. Balog would eventually gain the upper hand on Schultz but would have to settle for a fourth place finish.
IRA drivers were successful in dominating heat race action taking victories in all-four heat events. 2011 Wilmot Raceway champion Tommy Sexton outran Blaney to take heat one with Bill Wirth beating fellow IRA competitor Todd Daun to grab heat two. Nick Alden was victorious in heat three. The final heat would see a showdown between Balog and Cap Henry. Over the final laps Balog and Henry swapped the lead while passing a lapped machine. Coming off the final turn Balog made a bold move payoff charging to the line inches ahead of Henry to seal an IRA sweep of the heats.
Qualifying however was the opposite story where All-star drivers took five of the top six spots setting the field for their dash which was won by Schaffer. As a result the front three rows of the 35 lap A-main would be made up of All-Star regulars with the exception of Jim Moughan who started in the sixth spot.
Phillip Mock who had qualified quickest of the IRA regulars would start the main event in the seventh position.
A field of 25 drivers accepted the green flag for the A-main with Schaffer getting the upper hand on fellow front row starter Jac Haudenschild for the opening lead.
Nick Alden would loop his ride in turn two on the second lap necessitating the first caution of the contest. The field restacked for the green but Moughan who had been running sixth lost power in turn one coming to a stop.
Action resumed with Schaffer again showing the way over Haudenschild while Holtgraver and Blaney diced for the fourth spot.
By lap ten the leaders caught the tail of the field and began to work lapped traffic and Blaney was able to use back markers to his advantage working past Holtgraver for third on lap 12.
Action up front began to intensify as Haudenschild worked a high line in effort to take the lead from Schaffer. Haudenschild briefly slowed for a lapped machine and Blaney again was able to find the fastest path in tight traffic to grab the runner-up spot.
Schaffer had his hands full working with having to work both lapped cars while fending off Blaney as the race past the halfway point. On lap 21 Blaney would slice to the inside of Schaffer charging into the top spot a position he would never give up.
On lap 22 the caution appeared a third time, on this occasion for a spin by Alden in turn two.
During the caution Haudenschild retired to the pits elevating Holtgraver to third behind Blaney and Schaffer.
On the restart Mike Kertscher who had been making steady forward progress the entire event was lined up fourth and set to bust up the All-Star party at the front of the field. As the green flag flew Kertscher attempted to maneuver under Holtgraver for third but realized he would be unable to make the move work. Attempting to avoid Holtgraver, Kertscher would spin in turn two forcing the caution and falling to the rear of the field as a result.
Lap 25 saw the next caution thrown as Scott Nietzel went for a wild spin down the front stretch and he was narrowly avoided by the field.
Underway again Blaney was back to showing the way with Schaffer and Holtgraver continuing to give chase. It was at this time Balog began his march forward working by Jeremy Schultz for fifth and then challenging Caleb Helms for fourth.
The stalled ride of Cap Henry in turn four on lap 28 forced the final slowdown of the contest. After coming back to green Helms would lose power in front of Balog as he exited the track with Balog narrowly avoiding Helms faltering machine to grab the fourth spot.
Over the final laps Blaney would continue to pace the contest accepting the checkered flag with a two car length lead on Schaffer. Holtgraver was third followed by Balog and Schultz completing the top five finishers.
Scott Uttech had quietly worked his way forward throughout the contest posting one of his best efforts of the 2013 season with a sixth place run. Todd Daun earned seventh with Sexton advancing to eighth after having started in the 18th spot. Kertscher rallied from his late race spin back to ninth and Bill With completed the top ten drivers.
11 drivers finished on the lead lap with 15 machines still on the track after 35 laps of competition.
Brett Tripplett was scored as passing the most cars advancing 11 spots to finish 11th after starting 22nd.
In earlier action a field of 20 drivers did battle in the B-main and event which was dominated by Schultz. Uttech, Wayne Modjeski, Tripplett and Neitzel were the transfer cars from the event.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints are now headed to a Wisconsin Northwoods doubleheader weekend. The first event of the Northern swing is the first appearance in several seasons at the Langladge Couunty Speedway in Antigo, WI. The show takes place on Friday Night July 26th The wide half-mile oval is prime for some of the fastest speeds of the season for the winged Outlaw 410 sprints.
The following night the series heads even further north with a trip to ABC Raceway in Ashland, WI. The July 27th event at the third-mile clay oval marks the only appearance at the track this season.
For more information on the IRA Outlaw Sprints check out the tour website at www.irasprints.com or logging onto the series Facebook page at www.facebook.com/irasprints
The IRA Outlaw Sprint Series is proudly supported by Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts & Service Centers, Hoosier Tire, Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, Onan, Carriage Auto Body, Polaris DEFENSE, and Mother's Polishes and Waxes. The office of the IRA Sprints can be reached at 815-759-9269 or by e-mail at steve@irasprints.com
BOX SCORE:
Event: #13 – Wilmot Raceway – Wilmot, WI – July 20, 2013
Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Cars
A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 2-Dale Blaney[5]; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer[1]; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[3]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[10]; 5. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[11]; 6. 7-Scott Uttech[12]; 7. 19-Todd Daun[9]; 8. 83S-Tommy Sexton[18]; 9. 80K-Mike Kertscher[8]; 10. 53W-Bill Wirth[16]; 11. 1M-Phillip Mock[7]; 12. 22-Brett Triplett[23]; 13. 41-Dennis Spitz[20]; 14. 8A-Nick Aiden[13]; 15. 4K-Chris Spitz[19]; 16. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[14]; 17. 40-Caleb Helms[4]; 18. 54-Cap Henry[21]; 19. 2W-Scott Neitzel[25]; 20. 59-Jac Haudenschild[2]; 21. 68-Dave Utteh[22]; 22. 11K-Rick Kelsey[17]; 23. 56-Ryan Irwin[24]; 24. 79-Blake Nimee[15]; 25. 1MM-Jim oughan[6]
Hard Charger: 22-Brett Triplett[+11]
B-Feature (12 Laps)- 1. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1] ; 2. 7-Scott Uttech[2] ; 3. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[5] ; 4. 22-Brett Triplett[8] ; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[9] ; 6. 80-Trey Gustin[4] ; 7. 23-Russ Borland[7] ; 8. 97-Todd King[17] ; 9. O1-Chris Dodd[10] ; 10. 38-Allen Hafford[18] ; 11. 7F-Lance Fassbender[11] ; 12. 94-Brandon Thone[12] ; 13. 12-Mike Decker[13] ; 14. 43-Jereme Schroeder[15] ; 15. 71-Chad Tessman[20] ; 16. 10V-Matt Vandervere[3] ; 17. 5H-Patrick Haynes[6] ; 18. 8-Rusty Egan[19] ; 19. 3X-Scott Semmelman[14] ; 20. K9-Andrew Kiedrowski[16]
Heat 1 - 10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer
- 83S-Tommy Sexton[1] ; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[5] ; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer[6] ; 4. 79-Blake Nimee[2] ; 5. 68-Dave Utteh[7] ; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel[8] ; 7. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[4] ; 8. 11-Darrell Dodd[9] ; 9. 71-Chad Tessman[11] ; 10. K9-Andrew Kiedrowski[10]
Heat 2 - 10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer
- 53W-Bill Wirth[2] ; 2. 19-Todd Daun[4] ; 3. 59-Jac Haudenschild[6] ; 4. 40-Caleb Helms[5] ; 5. 4K-Chris Spitz[1] ; 6. O1-Chris Dodd[8] ; 7. 23-Russ Borland[7] ; 8. 97-Todd King[10] ; 9. 12-Mike Decker[9] ; 10. 80-Trey Gustin[3]
Heat 3 - 10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer
- 8A-Nick Aiden[3] ; 2. 11K-Rick Kelsey[2] ; 3. 41-Dennis Spitz[1] ; 4. 1M-Phillip Mock[5] ; 5. 1MM-Jim Moughan[6] ; 6. 7-Scott Uttech[4] ; 7. 7F-Lance Fassbender[8] ; 8. 22-Brett Triplett[7] ; 9. 3X-Scott Semmelman[9] ; 10. 38-Allen Hafford[10]
Heat 4 - 10 Laps - Top 5 finishers transfer
- 17B-Bill Balog[4] ; 2. 54-Cap Henry[1] ; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[6] ; 4. 80K-Mike Kertscher[5] ; 5. 56-Ryan Irwin[7] ; 6. 5H-Patrick Haynes[2] ; 7. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[3] ; 8. 94-Brandon Thone[8] ; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[9] ; 10. 8-Rusty Egan[10]
Dash - 6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
- 83-Tim Shaffer[2] ; 2. 59-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 3. 45-Danny Holtgraver[1] ; 4. 40-Caleb Helms[6] ; 5. 2-Dale Blaney[5] ; 6. 1MM-Jim Moughan[3]
Qualifying: . 83-Tim Shaffer, 12.912; 2. 59-Jac Haudenschild, 13.142; 3. 1MM-Jim Moughan, 13.252; 4. 45-Danny Holtgraver, 13.266; 5. 2-Dale Blaney, 13.307; 6. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.313; 7. 1M-Phillip Mock, 13.376; 8. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 13.402; 9. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.409; 10. 19-Todd Daun, 13.462; 11. 7-Scott Uttech, 13.467; 12. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.471; 13. 10V-Matt Vandervere, 13.495; 14. 80-Trey Gustin, 13.500; 15. 8A-Nick Aiden, 13.532; 16. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 13.585; 17. 79-Blake Nimee, 13.587; 18. 53W-Bill Wirth, 13.635; 19. 11K-Rick Kelsey, 13.674; 20. 5H-Patrick Haynes, 13.696; 21. 83S-Tommy Sexton, 13.697; 22. 4K-Chris Spitz, 13.697; 23. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.717; 24. 54-Cap Henry, 13.760; 25. 68-Dave Utteh, 13.793; 26. 23-Russ Borland, 13.827; 27. 22-Brett Triplett, 13.828; 28. 56-Ryan Irwin, 13.904; 29. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.958; 30. O1-Chris Dodd, 13.985; 31. 7F-Lance Fassbender, 14.002; 32. 94-Brandon Thone, 14.008; 33. 11-Darrell Dodd, 14.033; 34. 12-Mike Decker, 14.085; 35. 3X-Scott Semmelman, 14.092; 36. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 14.119; 37. K9-Andrew Kiedrowski, 14.143; 38. 97-Todd King, 14.152; 39. 38-Allen Hafford, 14.311; 40. 8-Rusty Egan, 14.444; 41. 71-Chad Tessman, 15.613
- Jeffrey Sachse on Jul 21, 2013
- Article Date: 7/21/2013 by Jeffrey Sachse