BUMPER TO BUMPER IRA SPRINTS SURVIVE WEATHER THREAT AS BALOG FENDS OFF THIEL FOR VICTORY AT 141 SPEEDWAY!
THIEL DENIED SECOND STRAIGHT VICTORY AS BALOG FENDS OF CHALLENGES AT 141 SPEEDWAY FOR THIRD WIN OF 2016!
May 29, 2016; Francis Creek, WI – There was a time when it appeared the 50th Anniversary season for the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints was going to grind to a halt courtesy of Mother Nature. Heading into a double header weekend the scheduled Friday night show at Oshkosh Speedzone fell to relentless rain.
A similar fate hampered the scheduled event on Sunday evening at 141 Speedway. Late afternoon showers kept track crews busy, but due to their diligent efforts the show went on and fans were treated to a great late race showdown between Bill Balog and Scotty Thiel on the banked quarter-mile bullring.
Balog, a seven-time champion in the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints had all he could handle from Thiel as he was seeking his second straight series win after claiming top honors at Sun Prairie one week ago. Balog had powered past early race leader Mike Reinke dragging Thiel with him, and the pair ran in tandem the remaining distance.
Balog, a master of lapped traffic was unable to shake a tenacious Thiel who would harass him every lap enroute to the finish while waiting for a miscue. Balog managed to avoid any misstep and in the end was able to repel one last challenge from Thiel to score the win, his third of the 2016 season. Thiel had to settle for second less than a car length behind.
“I can’t really complain about that”, said Thiel as he climbed from his car. “I showed him the bottom that one time. We gave him a helluva fight. It was pretty well hooked up. Once we got through traffic there he didn’t walk away from us this this time”, note Thiel on his efforts to catch Balog. “We were right with him. I thought maybe we had one last charge there at the end but I wasn’t running the groove I should have been I should have been running up top. I was off the cushion a little bit”, concluded Thiel.
Balog meanwhile celebrated the victory with his crew. In spite of occasionally being a bit off his usual pace this season Balog is the only multiple main event winner in 2016 with three victories.
“We been trying different stuff with the cars. At times we’ve not been able to get our arms around it I don’t think”, noted Balog. “We were pretty good there at the end I there. I don’t know how far in front we were at the end”, he stated not knowing how close Thiel had been.
“I have to give a shout out to the MACC fund, we donate some our winnings to them”, Balog told the crowd of his participation in Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer program. Balog also donates a portion of his souvenir merchandise toward the charitable organization which helps to cure child cancer.
While Balog isn’t running 100% of the IRA events this season indicated it won’t be long until he competes in the series again. When asked the next time he would be running with the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints he exclaimed, “Next weekend… Cedar Lake!”
Steve Meyer who scored his first podium finish of the season was the only other driver with the pace to match the lead pair but he was unable to close over the final laps having to settle for third after a strong showing. Earlier in the night he dominated his heat race.
“This is great, we haven’t been here for quite a while on the straightaway after a race”, Meyer indicated of his participation in the podium interviews reserved for the top three finishers. “It was a good run. This would be awesome to have race tracks like this every night. It was fast, you had a little bottom to work with, a top to work with you could really run”, said Meyer pleased with the tacky racing surface.
The racing surface had plenty of grip at the start of the A-main as a 24 car field pushed off for 30 laps of competition. At the drop of the green flag cars fanned out as everyone sought to find the fastest line on the multi groove track.
In mid pack several cars checked up, and a chain reaction incident collected the cars of Brian Kristan, Scott Uttech and Kyle Marten. Kristan wasn’t able to slow in time and vaulted over Marten’s machine doing a quick flip. None of the drivers were injured by only Marten’s crew was able to repair his car and he competed the duration of the race without a front wing after hasty repairs.
Two-time series champion Scotty Neitzel resumed his spot from the pole on the restart but Reinke who started outside the front row charged to the initial lead. Balog, who had started behind Neitzel managed to work into second before the completion of the first lap.
Neitzel lost one more spot, giving up third to Thiel before the first caution of the contest flew for a spin by Ben Schmidt in turn three on the second lap.
Underway again Reinke went back to setting the pace with Balog providing his biggest challenge. Thiel, Neitzel and Mike Kertscher followed.
Reinke extended his lead to a dozen car lengths before reaching lapped traffic on lap eight.
Running in heavy lapped traffic the lead trio of Reinke, Balog and Thiel were soon doing battle for the lead spot by the halfway point of the event with Neitzel and Meyer trailing behind.
On lap 18 Reinke temporarily got held up by a lapped machine. Balog wasted no time taking advantage of the situation. Diving to the bottom of the track Balog made a well-timed slide job to take over the lead. Thiel meanwhile opted for the low line and also maneuvered past Reinke to grab second. Thiel’s momentum allowed him to briefly pull alongside Balog for the top spot but Balog regained momentum leaving Thiel running second.
On the next circuit Meyer displaced Reinke another spot reaching third.
The final slowdown happened in dramatic fashion on lap 20. Neitzel running just outside the top five expired a motor in a major way with flames shooting from under the hood. He guided his car to the infield where the flames were quickly extinguished and he jumped from his car uninjured. His evening done Neitzel walked dejectedly back to the pit area.
The final laps clicked off without incident. Balog got a solid restarted with Thiel providing plenty of pressure. Meyer meanwhile had to clear several lapped machines which are kept in the running order by the time he cleared them Balog and Thiel had pulled away.
The leaders again began to reach lapped machines with only a couple laps left but both Balog and Thiel maintained their pace. On the final lap Thiel made a final attempt to surpass Balog but it fell short with Balog earning the win by a car length. Meyer netted third another eight car lengths back.
Reinke, who had led the first half of the contest settled for fourth chased to the line by Kertscher. The fifth place showing by Kertscher was his first top five since returning to action in IRA competition this year after taking several seasons off.
Blake Nimee earned sixth. Nimee was the evenings fastest qualifier during the group qualifying sessions which were utilized this evening. The format placed 5-6 cars on the track for each qualifying session they then ran several laps with their best effort counting as their qualifying lap. The format made it possible to get back on schedule after a late start due to the rain. Nimee’s time of 11.226 seconds just edged Kertscher who had turned in a lap of 11.240 seconds for the fastest time of the evening.
Seventh was taken by 2012 IRA Rookie of the Year Robbie Pribnow who had captured the B-main. Matt Vandervere advanced the most position during the main event moving up ten spots from 18th to 8th by the checkered. Scott Biertzer and Jeremy Schultz completed the top ten cars.
20 of the 24 starters were still on the track at the finish.
In earlier action Pribnow captured the B-main. Kyle Marten, Wayne Modjeski, Kris Spitz, Dennis Spitz and Ken Jay Fiedler comprised the top six and the cars advancing to the main event.
Heat race victories were captured by Biertzer, Meyer and Raymond Hensley.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints now prepare for another double header weekend. On Saturday night June 4th, the series makes its first appearance of 2016 at the 3/8 mile banked Cedar Lake Speedway in northwestern Wisconsin. The following evening the series makes a return engagement to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, WI on Sunday evening June 5th.
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:
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 - Plymouth, WI
6/19/2016 - Angell Park Speedway - Sun Prairie, WI
410 Sprints | IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel[4]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer[9]; 4. 02-Mike Reinke[2]; 5. 80K-Mike Kertscher[5]; 6. 79-Blake Nimee[6]; 7. 94R-Rob Pribnow[11]; 8. 10V-Matt Vandevere[18]; 9. 4B-Scott Biertzer[7]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[14]; 11. 73-Ben Schmidt[12]; 12. 23-Russel Borland[10]; 13. 53W-Bill Wirth[13]; 14. 70-Raymond Hensley[8]; 15. 1M-Phillip Mock[19]; 16. 4K-Kris Spitz[22]; 17. 99-Kyle Marten[16]; 18. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[24]; 19. 12W-Josh Walter[20]; 20. 41-Dennis Spitz[23]; 21. (DNF) 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 22. (DNF) 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[21]; 23. (DNF) 5K-Brian Kristan[15]; 24. (DNF) 7-Scott Uttech[17]
Behling Racing Equipment B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 94R-Rob Pribnow[1]; 2. 99-Kyle Marten[2]; 3. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[3]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz[6]; 5. 41-Dennis Spitz[5]; 6. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[7]; 7. 12-Michael Decker[8]; 8. 2C-Chris Clayton[10]; 9. 68-Dave Uttech[4]; 10. 4-Paul Pokorski[9]
Weld Racing Products Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4B-Scott Biertzer[1]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[6]; 4. 53W-Bill Wirth[3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 6. 12W-Josh Walter[8]; 7. 99-Kyle Marten[2]; 8. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[7]; 9. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[9]; 10. 2C-Chris Clayton[10]
DMI Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 85M-Steve Meyer[2]; 2. 7-Scott Uttech[1]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[3]; 4. 02-Mike Reinke[5]; 5. 23-Russel Borland[4]; 6. 80K-Mike Kertscher[6]; 7. 41-Dennis Spitz[8]; 8. 68-Dave Uttech[7]; 9. 12-Michael Decker[9]
All Star Performance Products Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Raymond Hensley[2]; 2. 73-Ben Schmidt[4]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel[6]; 4. 10V-Matt Vandevere[1]; 5. 5K-Brian Kristan[3]; 6. 1M-Phillip Mock[7]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[8]; 8. 94R-Rob Pribnow[5]; 9. 4-Paul Pokorski[9]
Osborn & Son Qualifying 1: 1. 79-Blake Nimee, 11.226[20]; 2. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 11.240[18]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel, 11.423[12]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 11.473[13]; 5. 02-Mike Reinke, 11.478[7]; 6. 94R-Rob Pribnow, 11.578[16]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 11.591[24]; 8. 23-Russel Borland, 11.633[27]; 9. 73-Ben Schmidt, 11.635[22]; 10. 53W-Bill Wirth, 11.645[8]; 11. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 11.646[1]; 12. 5K-Brian Kristan, 11.666[6]; 13. 99-Kyle Marten, 11.680[23]; 14. 85M-Steve Meyer, 11.764[2]; 15. 70-Raymond Hensley, 11.771[26]; 16. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 11.807[4]; 17. 7-Scott Uttech, 11.846[11]; 18. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 11.854[5]; 19. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 11.863[10]; 20. 68-Dave Uttech, 11.938[28]; 21. 1M-Phillip Mock, 11.976[19]; 22. 12W-Josh Walter, 12.044[9]; 23. 41-Dennis Spitz, 12.061[17]; 24. 4K-Kris Spitz, 12.122[14]; 25. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler, 12.139[15]; 26. 12-Michael Decker, 12.506[21]; 27. 4-Paul Pokorski, 12.777[3]; 28. 2C-Chris Clayton, 12.869[25]
- Jeffrey Sachse on May 30, 2016
- Article Date: 5/30/2016 by Jeffrey Sachse