PARKER PRICE MILLER FALLS SHORT OF SCOTTY THEIL IN LATE RACE CHARGE AT ANGELL PARK!
May 22, 2016; Sun Prairie, WI – Scotty Thiel had been stymied in his effort to return to victory lane since his rookie season two years ago. It hasn’t been pace, which has kept the Sheboygan, Wisconsin native from reaching the winner’s as he had scored nearly a half dozen runner-up finishes since his first career Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint win at Beaver Dam in August of 2014. Rather if had been a bit of misfortune that would see wins elude him.
Tonight Thiel seemed headed for a comfortable victory in a chaotic 30 lap A-main as the race headed for it’s final laps, then a caution appeared with just nine laps to go. It would seem fate was again testing Thiel’s mettle. This time he was up for the challenge.
When the final green flag fell Thiel finished off the remaining laps flawlessly, and had just enough speed to fend off a last lap challenge by Parker-Price Miller for the victory.
“Holy smokes man, I don’t even know how to put this into words”, exclaimed Thiel as he climbed down from the wing of his car after saluting the crowd in victory lane. “We’ve been fighting so many things this year and even last year we were fighting so many problems”, stated Thiel.
Thiel noted he had been close to victory before at Sun Prairie’s legendary oval. “We’ve been running really good here, the last couple times and had a second and a third. I just said guys one of these times it got to be our turn for luck here” said Thiel. He was also aware his fortunes had not gone well when starting up front, tonight he had started seventh. “I knew on the redraw I did not want to start up front we’ve not had much luck starting from up front”, Thiel indicated.
“I can’t thank the guys enough that work on this team, Mike and my dad. Everyone that’s a part of it. They understand how much this racing means to me. This win isn’t just for me it’s for every single one of them”, he said as the victory celebration began.
For runner-up Parker Price Miller the finish was a bit bittersweet as he had closed the gap on Thiel but needed more laps or a mistake by Thiel to challenge for the win. Still he knew it would be challenging to win tonight even before the green flag fell. “I didn’t qualify so good which put us in the back of my heat race and I needed to win that heat race. I finished like fifth so that out us back in the field, I think we started 13th. The yellows in the feature hurt us, some cars I had to pass twice”, noted Miller. The Indiana native who was celebrating his 18th birthday this evening had a much better car for the main event. “This car was a complete 180 from the heat race, it was really rolling”, he indicated of the performance improvement in the main event.
Still it was not quite enough to catch Thiel. “Hat’s off to Scotty and his team, he didn’t mess up. I thought I had a shot off turn two on the final lap. It was still a good night after starting thirteenth”, concluded Miller.
A field of 24 rolled trackside and presented a contest filled with spills and thrills.
Blake Nimee who was to have started on the pole was nursing engine woes and elected to start at the tail of the field. Having an extremely challenging weekend with difficulties the night before at Wilmot his fortunes seemed to improve with the draw for the ideal starting spot. However after noticing engine issues Nimee elected to start at the rear of the field. His decision proved correct as he dropped from the contest after the first lap.
Nimee’s misfortune proved to be a benefit to two-time IRA champion Scotty Neitzel who moved up to the pole position with Jordan Goldesberry to his outside. Bill Wirth started in the second row next to California native Carson Macedo fresh off a win in the POWRi LucasOil National Midget Series two days earlier.
Neitzel launched into the lead at the start chased by Goldesberry. Scott Biertzer made some impressive opening lap moves to reach third and Thiel was up to fourth by the completion of lap two.
Biertzer was having his best run of the season, running down Goldesberry and working into the second spot by lap seven as Neitzel continued to set the pace. A couple laps later Thiel also displaced Goldesberry reaching third.
On lap ten Thiel made a decisive move to work past Biertzer for the second spot and now set out to try and catch Neitzel who was still showing the way around the third-mile clay oval.
Lap 11 would prove to be a hurdle for the teams in the A-main. It all began when Macedo tagged the wall on the backstretch blowing a tire in the process and damaging his car. This forced a caution and Macedo had his crew tend to repairs.
It appeared Macedo would be unable to make the call to return to the contest and the green flag returned briefly but before a lap was complete.
Biertzer’s solid run ended just after the green flag as he did a flip in turn three while running third forcing a red flag and ending a strong effort this evening. He was unhurt in the incident but his car was heavily damaged.
A second attempt to get the race underway resulted in another flip and another red flag. This time by Kyle Marten in turn fourth. Marten also escaped unscathed but like Biertzer he was unable to continue.
The back to back flips resulted in an open red giving teams time to fuel their cars. The additional delays had allowed Macedo’s crew to complete repairs on his car and when the race went green he was able to rejoin the event at the tail of the field.
Neitzel brought the field back to the green flag followed by Thiel, Goldesberry and Wirth giving chase.
Thiel wasted little time in applying the pressure to Neitzel and on lap 15 he worked to Neitzel’s inside and took over the top spot. Further back point leader Jeremy Schultz was on the charge. In spite of tagging an infield tire Schultz was impressive in his charge rocketing by several cars and placing himself in the second spot.
Thiel was still pulling away from the field, building a comfortable lead when the final slowdown of the contest occurred on lap 21 when Brandon Wimmer came to a halt in turn two after tagging the wall.
Thiel wasted no time on the restart reestablishing his lead. Goldesberry also got up on the wheel rocketing by both Neitzel and Schultz to gain second with seven laps to go.
Not to be outdone Price-Miller also was going all out to catch the leaders reaching fourth.
He slipped past Schultz moments later and when Goldesberry jumped the cushion with two laps to go Price-Miller hurtled into the second spot.
This gave Price-Miller little time to try and catch Thiel who still had a dozen car lengths lead. Although he was able to trim the margin in the remaining distance Thiel was
flawless over the final circuits to win by four car lengths. Price-Miller had to settle for second followed by Goldesberry as the final podium finisher in third.
Schultz crossed the finish line in fourth with the point lead intact. Neitzel completed the top five.
Bill Balog, the seven time IRA champion and winner of the Badger Midget main event that was also on the card this evening finished sixth in IRA competition after pulling double duty. Macedo rallied back to seventh position after having started in the tail of the field after his repairs.
Robbie Pribnow, Ben Schmidt and Steve Meyer completed the top ten finishers.
In earlier action Mike Reinke dominated the B-main, advancing to the main event along with Russel Borland, Kris Spitz, Matt Vandervere, Jereme Schroeder and Wayne Modjeski.
Heat race wins were collected by Balog, Schultz, and Biertzer.
Reinke qualifier fastest of the 29 cars checking in this evening with a lap of 12.174 seconds. Brandon Wimmer second quick at 12.343 seconds. Wirth nabbed third quick at 12.500 seconds.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints now prepare for two events over the Memorial Day weekend. On Friday Night May 27th the series will make the first of two appearances this season at the Oshkosh Speedzone. Then on Sunday May 29th the series will make at stop at the 141 Speedway located near Francis Creek, WI.
For more information on the IRA Outlaw Sprints check out the tour website at www.irasprints.com or by logging onto the series Facebook page at www.facebook.com/irasprints the series is also on twitter at #IRA_sprints.
The IRA Sprints are presented by its long time supporting series partners. The series support is led by title sponsor Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts & Service Centers, and associate series partners Hoosier Tire, Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, Cummins Onan, and Twin Lakes Marine.
Upcoming 2016 Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series Events:
5/27/2016 - Oshkosh Speed Zone Raceway - Oshkosh, WI
5/29/2016 - 141 Speedway - Francis Creek, WI
6/4/2016 - Cedar Lake Speedway - New Richmond, WI
6/5/2016 - Angell Park Speedway - Sun Prairie, WI
6/11/2016- Beaver Dam Raceway - Beaver Dam, WI
6/18/2016- Plymouth Dirt Track-Sheybogan Co Fgds - Plymouth, WI
410 Sprints | IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 64-Scotty Thiel; 2. 2-Parker Price-Miller; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel; 6. 17B-Bill Balog; 7. 99X-Carson Macedo; 8. 94R-Rob Pribnow; 9. 73-Ben Schmidt; 10. 85M-Steve Meyer; 11. 1M-Phillip Mock; 12. 53W-Bill Wirth; 13. 10V-Matt Vandevere; 14. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski; 15. 23-Russel Borland; 16. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr; 17. 02-Mike Reinke; 18. 7-Scott Uttech; 19. 4K-Kris Spitz; 20. 43-Jereme Schroeder; 21. (DNF) 48-Brandon Wimmer; 22. (DNF) 99-Kyle Marten; 23. (DNF) 4B-Scott Biertzer; 24. (DNF) 79-Blake Nimee
Behling Racing Equipment B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 02-Mike Reinke[1]; 2. 23-Russel Borland[3]; 3. 4K-Kris Spitz[2]; 4. 10V-Matt Vandevere[7]; 5. 43-Jereme Schroeder[4]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[9]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter[6]; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz[5]; 9. 01-Chris Dodd[8]; (DNS) 21H-Tim Haddy; (DNS) 12-Michael Decker
Weld Racing Products Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 2. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[1]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer[2]; 4. 99X-Carson Macedo[5]; 5. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 6. 99-Kyle Marten[7]; 7. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]; 8. 02-Mike Reinke[6]; 9. 10V-Matt Vandevere[9]; 10. (DNF) 21H-Tim Haddy[10]
DMI Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1]; 2. 7-Scott Uttech[2]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]; 5. 2-Parker Price-Miller[3]; 6. 48-Brandon Wimmer[6]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[7]; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz[8]; 9. 01-Chris Dodd[9]; (DNS) 12-Michael Decker
All Star Performance Products Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 4B-Scott Biertzer[1]; 2. 1M-Phillip Mock[3]; 3. 73-Ben Schmidt[2]; 4. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[5]; 5. 94R-Rob Pribnow[4]; 6. 53W-Bill Wirth[6]; 7. 23-Russel Borland[7]; 8. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[9]; 9. 12W-Josh Walter[8]
Osborn & Son Qualifying: 1. 02-Mike Reinke, 12.174[1]; 2. 48-Brandon Wimmer, 12.343[5]; 3. 53W-Bill Wirth, 12.500[6]; 4. 99X-Carson Macedo, 12.526[23]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 12.609[17]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 12.612[10]; 7. 79-Blake Nimee, 12.627[14]; 8. 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.648[12]; 9. 94R-Rob Pribnow, 12.721[8]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.731[2]; 11. 2-Parker Price-Miller, 12.736[27]; 12. 1M-Phillip Mock, 12.759[24]; 13. 85M-Steve Meyer, 12.767[11]; 14. 7-Scott Uttech, 12.812[18]; 15. 73-Ben Schmidt, 12.813[9]; 16. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr, 12.850[20]; 17. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 12.853[21]; 18. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 12.879[19]; 19. 99-Kyle Marten, 12.969[29]; 20. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.011[3]; 21. 23-Russel Borland, 13.022[22]; 22. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 13.097[15]; 23. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.119[4]; 24. 12W-Josh Walter, 13.166[13]; 25. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 13.255[16]; 26. 01-Chris Dodd, 13.307[7]; 27. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 13.608[25]; 28. 21H-Tim Haddy, 13.980[26]; 29. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker[28]
- Jeffrey Sachse on May 23, 2016
- Article Date: 5/23/2016 by Jeffrey Sachse