THIEL RUNS DOWN JIM MOUGHAN IN LATE RACE CHARGE, TAKES VICTORY AT HOME TRACK!
June 18, 2016; Plymouth, WI – Scotty Thiel got behind the wheel of a sprint car for the first time at the start of the 2008 racing season, wheeling a 360 sprint at the Plymouth Dirt Track.
Located just a short drive from his home, the Sheboygan, Wisconsin native native had worked his way up the ranks and later joining the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints which has taken him on the road for 30 plus events each season.
Heading into Saturday evening’s program at his home track Thiel has been in the midst of the most successful season in his career. Less than a month ago he brought home his second career IRA victory by fending off Parker-Price Miller for the win at Angell Park Speedway. That win elevated him to the series point lead, a position he’s maintained heading into tonight’s show at Plymouth Dirt Track.
Was there a home track advantage? Perhaps.
Thiel proved he had a fast car early on taking quick time honors. Later he would finish second in his heat race. A victory in that event would have netted a rare clean sweep in IRA competition.
In the main event Thiel methodically ran down Jim Moughan who appeared destined to win his first IRA main event in several seasons. Thiel had other plans as he darted past Moughan with seven laps left in the 30 lap headliner taking a convincing win. It was the third overall in this Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series career.
“At the beginning of the race I didn’t think we were worth a shot of powder. This team, they worked their butts off and gave me a car that was going to come around. I really didn’t think we were that good early on. I started working the top, working the cushion and it turned around pretty good”, noted Thiel of the late charge.
“I thank all you fans for coming out tonight. We finally got one at Plymouth with the 410!”, exclaimed an elated Thiel.
For Moughan, runner-up honors tonight was a bittersweet finish. While the second place effort matched his best performance since Cedar Lake Speedway in 2013, for much of the contest it appeared he was headed for his second career IRA victory after a lengthy dry spell. Thiel’s charge would prove too much to withstand and ultimately Moughan could only watch Thiel take the checkered flag ten car lengths in front of him.
“We got a good maxim race car, it keeps getting better and better. We keep finding bits and pieces to make it better and I think it’s coming around”, noted Moughan of his performance. “I have to say it’s a good job by Mr. Thiel. He did great tonight”, as he congratulated the winner.
The evening also proved to be a great showing for Todd Hepfner who made his first start of the 2016 season. Hepfner who has been making limited appearances in IRA competition the past couple seasons stayed in the thick of the fray until the checkered ultimately having to settle for a third place finish this evening.
The 30 lap A-main rolled trackside on a fairly slick track which had distinctive high and low grooves.
Moughan had started on the pole of the contest with Phillip Mock to his outside. At the drop of the green flag Moughan shot into the lead. With one lap in the books the first caution flew as Mock lost the handle in turn four spinning and coming to a stop on the track. Local favorite Ben Schmidt had nowhere to go and wound up sliding into the side of Mock’s stalled car. Both racers were able to return to action after quick repairs. Schmidt who had earlier scored a popular win in his heat race would eventually settle for 13th, while Mock laid claim to the 14th spot at the finish.
Action resumed with Moughan showing the way around the tight third-mile oval. Hepfner working the low line advanced to second with a pass of Kyle Marten by lap two, and Thiel who had pushed off in the sixth spot annexed the third position by lap four.
Further back Bill Balog who was seeking his third straight IRA victory had started in the 14th spot. He had been putting on a passing exhibition rapidly advancing through the pack. His charge this evening came at the wheel of the Rhine Auto Motorsports machine which he pushed up to the fifth spot before the second caution of the night flew when Jordan Goldesberry spun coming off turn two.
Underway again Moughan set the pace rim riding around the track, with Hepfner and Thiel following in formation.
Right before the halfway point the third and final caution was triggered when Rusty Egan did a quick spin just as the leaders were coming up to put him a lap down. Fortunately, everyone was able to miss Egan’s errant mount and the race quickly resumed.
While the lead trio of Moughan, Hepfner and Thiel pulled away from the pack, attention focused on the fourth spot where Joey Moughan, the son of the race leader, was engaged in a duel with Balog for the fourth spot. Balog eventually secured the position on lap 20.
Out front the leaders began to reach lapped traffic adding additional intensity to the battle for the top spot. Running third Thiel began to experiment working lower on the track. With five laps to go Thiel began to apply heavy pressure to Hepfner making his way under him. After a short-lived battle Theil came away with the spot and now found himself locked in combat with Moughan for the lead. Thiel wasted no time in taking the front running position and once out front he began to open up the lead. Over the final two laps Thiel encountered lapped machines but his pace was enough to allow him to take the win by 10 car lengths. Moughan and Hepfner followed in second and third.
Balog had to settle for fourth unable to close on the lead trio over the final circuits. The fifth spot went to Joey Moughan giving the Moughan family two spots in the top five.
Scotty Neitzel had been on the move throughout the contest moving up from the 16th spot to finish sixth. Scott Biertzer finished in the seventh position.
Mike Reinke made the biggest charge of the evening moving from from dead last on the 24 car starting grid up to eighth. In ninth Steve Meyer also had an impressive charge working his way up from 23rd to ninth.
Jeremy Schultz completed the top ten having advanced 10 positions before the checkered.
19 of the 24 starters were still on the track at the finish.
Earlier in the night Todd Daun made a last lap pass on Brian Kristan to take the 15 lap B-main. Meyer and Reinke earned third and fourth respectively to advance into the main event. Ken Jay Fiedler who was fifth was the first alternate for the big show.
Heat race victories went to Matt Vandervere, Joey Moughan, Schmidt and Biertzer.
Thiel’s lap of 12.047 seconds led a field of 35 drivers in qualifying. Marten was second fast with a lap of 12.174, while Hepfner was third quick at 12.185 seconds. The top 29 cars were separated by just over one second.
Two drivers, Trey Datweiler and Blake Nimee had the biggest misfortunes during the evening. Datweiler wound up flipping his car after tagging the wall in hot laps, while Nimee had issues with his power plant.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints now are set to complete their Father’s Day weekend with a trip to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie. Thiel was victorious during the last completed show at the circular third-mile clay oval.
The Sunday, June 19th show will be featuring the Bumper-to-Bumper IRA Sprint Cars, Badger Midgets, and Micros.
Pit gates will open at 2:00pm, with spectator gates opening at 4:30pm.
Hot laps will begin at 6:00pm with qualifying and racing to follow.
General admission is $20.00 for adults while students ages 12 to 18 are $15. Children under the age of 12 are admitted FREE.
For more information, visit www.angellparkspeedway.net.
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:
7/1/2016 – Manitowoc Speedway – Manitowoc, WI
7/3/2016 – Seymour Speedway – Seymour, WI
7/8/2016 - Dodge County Fairgrounds – Beaver Dam, WI
7/16/2016 – Wilmot Raceway – Wilmot, WI
7/17/2016 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, WI
410 Sprints | IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 64-Scotty Thiel[6]; 2. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[1]; 3. 1HRP-Todd Hepfner[4]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[14]; 5. 29-Joey Moughan[10]; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel[16]; 7. 4B-Scott Biertzer[9]; 8. 02-Mike Reinke[24]; 9. 85M-Steve Meyer[23]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[20]; 11. 4K-Kris Spitz[22]; 12. 23-Russel Borland[21]; 13. 73-Ben Schmidt[8]; 14. 1M-Phillip Mock[2]; 15. 12W-Josh Walter[17]; 16. 43-Jereme Schroeder[13]; 17. 99-Kyle Marten[5]; 18. 70-Raymond Hensley[12]; 19. 50-Rusty Egan[19]; 20. (DNF) 10V-Matt Vandevere[7]; 21. (DNF) 5K-Brian Kristan[11]; 22. (DNF) 65-Jordan Goldesberry[15]; 23. (DNF) 19-Todd Daun[18]; 24. (DNF) 94R-Rob Pribnow[3]
Behling Racing Equipment B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 19-Todd Daun[2]; 2. 5K-Brian Kristan[1]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer[3]; 4. 02-Mike Reinke[5]; 5. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[7]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[10]; 7. 53W-Bill Wirth[4]; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz[8]; 9. 2B-Jimmy Sivia[9]; 10. (DNF) 01-Chris Dodd[6]; (DNS) 0-John Fahl; (DNS) 7-Scott Uttech; (DNS) 22-Todd King; (DNS) 23D-Trey Datweiler; (DNS) 79-Blake Nimee
Real Wheels Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10V-Matt Vandevere[1]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel[5]; 3. 43-Jereme Schroeder[3]; 4. 1M-Phillip Mock[4]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[6]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[8]; 7. 22-Todd King[7]; 8. (DNF) 19-Todd Daun[9]; 9. (DNF) 0-John Fahl[2]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 29-Joey Moughan[4]; 2. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[5]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[3]; 4. 50-Rusty Egan[2]; 5. 99-Kyle Marten[6]; 6. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[8]; 7. (DNF) 53W-Bill Wirth[7]; 8. (DNF) 7-Scott Uttech[1]; (DNS) 79-Blake Nimee
All Star Performance Products Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 73-Ben Schmidt[2]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[1]; 5. 1HRP-Todd Hepfner[6]; 6. 02-Mike Reinke[7]; 7. 5K-Brian Kristan[5]; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz[8]; (DNS) 23D-Trey Datweiler
R & H Enterprise Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 4B-Scott Biertzer[4]; 2. 70-Raymond Hensley[5]; 3. 94R-Rob Pribnow[6]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[2]; 5. 12W-Josh Walter[3]; 6. 85M-Steve Meyer[1]; 7. 01-Chris Dodd[7]; 8. 2B-Jimmy Sivia[8]
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts Qualifying 1: 1. 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.047[2]; 2. 99-Kyle Marten, 12.174[5]; 3. 1HRP-Todd Hepfner, 12.185[10]; 4. 94R-Rob Pribnow, 12.206[3]; 5. 1M-Phillip Mock, 12.226[6]; 6. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr, 12.287[11]; 7. 5K-Brian Kristan, 12.313[9]; 8. 70-Raymond Hensley, 12.315[1]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 12.344[4]; 10. 29-Joey Moughan, 12.360[20]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.378[33]; 12. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 12.439[22]; 13. 0-John Fahl, 12.452[7]; 14. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 12.477[21]; 15. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 12.545[28]; 16. 12W-Josh Walter, 12.563[23]; 17. 19-Todd Daun, 12.611[26]; 18. 50-Rusty Egan, 12.627[8]; 19. 73-Ben Schmidt, 12.634[24]; 20. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 12.635[32]; 21. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 12.657[19]; 22. 7-Scott Uttech, 12.669[13]; 23. 23-Russel Borland, 12.672[15]; 24. 85M-Steve Meyer, 12.686[16]; 25. 4K-Kris Spitz, 12.811[18]; 26. 53W-Bill Wirth, 13.040[30]; 27. 02-Mike Reinke, 13.042[35]; 28. 01-Chris Dodd, 13.086[27]; 29. 22-Todd King, 13.160[31]; 30. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler, 13.359[29]; 31. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.416[34]; 32. 2B-Jimmy Sivia, 13.422[25]; 33. (DNF) 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[14]; (DNS) 79-Blake Nimee; (DNS) 23D-Trey Datweiler
- Jeffrey Sachse on Jun 19, 2016
- Article Date: 6/19/2016