Bristol, WI – June 4, 2015. Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports team have been doing some traveling the past two weekends. Memorial Day weekend kicked off two Fridays ago as the team made their way to the newly configured Jackson Speedway in Jackson, MN for the Folken Brother’s $10,000 to win Spring Nationals sanctioned by the National Sprint League. Bill would kick the night off with a 13th place qualifying effort of thirty-five cars on hand setting him up with a 3rd place starting position in the heat race. At the drop of the green, Bill would shoot into the lead and hold of Brian Brown to pick up the heat race victory. With his heat race victory and points accumulated in qualifying, Bill would make the redraw for the dash, drawing the #10 pill, which where he would start and finish in the dash. Lining up in the 10th starting position in the feature, Bill would make his way forward into the 6th position before the red flag was shown on lap four. Once back underway, Bill found a line and began his charge forward moving past Mark Dobmeier for 3rd on lap five, Tim Kaeding for 2nd on lap seven, and into the lead past Terry McCarl on lap nine. “The Northpole Nightmare” would set a blistering pace and looked to be in control to pick up the $10,000 payday and his first National Sprint League win, but the caution flag would fly as the white flag was set to come out. Under caution, it was evident that Bill was losing air pressure in his right rear, but would restart hoping to hold on for a win. Bill, McCarl, and Kaeding went through turns one and two three-wide, but Bill would begin to slip back with the failing right rear. Coming through turns three and four on the last lap, the tire finally let loose negating Bill to a 14th place finish.
The team traveled south to the Knoxville Raceway the following night for a weekly show. Bill would lay down the 9th fastest lap of the thirty-three cars on hand setting himself up with a 4th place starting position. Bill would make his way into the 3rd position at the start of the heat, but Brian Brown and Kerry Madsen made their way past the final two laps and Bill would finish in the 5th position transferring into the feature. Bill would make the redraw and would start in the 2nd position for the twenty lap feature. Once the green flew, Bill would hold his own at the front for a few laps before the car began to fade, slipping back to finish in the 12th position at the famous half-mile.
The team headed to the Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, SD on Sunday, but Mother Nature had other plans as the event was rained out.
This past Thursday, Bill and the B2 Motorsports team was back in action as the National Sprint League kicked off their “March through Missouri” series. Night #1 was at the St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, MO. Forty-one cars were in attendance at the unique shaped oval with Bill laying down the 11th fastest lap setting him up with a 4th place starting spot in the heat. Bill would run in the 4th position for most of the heat race until Jarrod Hull got by in the closing laps. Bill would finish in the 5th position transferring to the feature and setting him up with a 12th place starting position. During the feature, Bill would quietly make his way forward on the lightning fast surface to finish in the 6th position.
Mother Nature would once again strike on Friday night as Night #2 of the “March through Missouri” was lost just after the driver’s meeting at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, MO.
On Saturday, Bill would make the trek north to the Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI as he was set to pilot the Lein Acres #2 for the remainder of the weekend with the Interstate Racing Association. The night got underway with a 3rd place qualifying effort of the twenty-six cars on hand. Lining up 6th in heat race, Bill would methodically make his way forward to finish in the 2nd position behind Scotty Neitzel setting him up with a 4th place starting position in the feature. Bill would hold his 4th place starting position the first few circuits before moving into the 3rd position. Bill would catch the lead duo shortly after that, stalking them waiting to make his way past. Bill would make his way around Scotty Thiel coming out of turn four on lap sixteen and would set his sights on the leader. On lap nineteen, he would make a move under leader Ben Schmidt and into the lead. He would build a comfortable lead the final eleven laps and pick up the “Triple Crown” hardware giving Hans Lein his 2nd win of the season, and Bill’s 3rd.
The following night, Bill would head closer to home as he would be once again driving the Lein Acres #2 sprint car and also the RAB Racing #57 midget at the Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, WI. The night got off to a slow start in the midget as gremlins plagued the #57 midget. The team quickly sorted out the issues and Bill was able to start the heat race in the 6th position. Bill methodically make his way forward and was able to make his way into the lead with two laps remaining and picked up the heat race victory. Stating once again in the 6th starting position for the feature, Bill quickly made his way forward to the 2nd position where he would trail leader David Budres. On the final lap, Bill would slide Budres going into turn three for the lead and cross the checkers 1st picking up his first ever midget feature. In doing this, he also broke the 20-lap midget track record that was set back in 1949 by Billy Johnson.
Bill would qualify the Lein Acres #2 sprint car 3rd fastest of the thirty cars on hand in the IRA portion of the show. Lining up in the 6th starting position, Bill would begin picking off cars and make his way forward to finish in the 2nd spot transferring to the feature. Bill would start in the 4th position and quickly make his way into the 3rd position once the feature was underway. On lap six, he would make his way past Jason Johnson in the 2nd position where he would stalk leader Steve Meyer for the next ten laps before he was able to make his way into the lead. On lap twenty-one, caution would fly bunching the field back up with a lap car between Bill and 2nd place Ian Madsen. Bill would shoot out to a comfortable lead, but on lap twenty-four would get over the cushion in turn four allowing Madsen to eliminate the gap. On lap twenty-five, Madsen threw a slider on Bill going into turn one, but Bill was able to turn back underneath the #18 to maintain the lead the final five laps to pick up his 5th win of the season and remain perfect in IRA competition in 2015. Bill also set another record with the feature win as he established himself as the only driver to win in three different divisions at the historic oval as he also picked up a victory in a micro-sprint in July of 2011.
This weekend, Bill will once again be piloting the Lein Acres #2 as they will head to the Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, WI for the Ray Neeve Memorial which is sanctioned by the IRA.
Bill and the B2 Motorsports Team would also like to thank our continued supporters for the 2015 season including Buesser Concrete, Lein Acres, Rocky Rococco’s Pizza and Pasta located at 8330 Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee, WI, Xtreme Stainless, JR’s Contraptions, Mid-State Equipment, Advance Machine, Maxim Chassis, XYZ Machining, Hepfner Racing Products, Stumble Inn Bar and Grill, Gleason Racing Equipment, Astro Titanium, Allstar Perfromance, Weld Wheels, FK Rod Ends, DMI, Vaportrail Clothing, BLZ, Competition Driveline Service, and Outerwears.
Stay up to date with what is going on with Bill and the B2 Motorsports team by checking out the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/bsquaredmotorsports. Schedule changes, rain outs, and race updates are posted on the Facebook page as they happen. Also remember to check out Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports Team by visiting www.billbalog.com for driver and crew bios, our schedule, pictures, videos, and to sign our guestbook if you’d like to.
- Matt Myers on Jun 04, 2015
- Article Date: 6/4/2015 by Matt Myers