The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints returned to Angell Park for the 2021 running of the Norm Nelson Classic. The track experienced lots of rainfall in the days leading up to the event creating a very technical track that would prove to entertain the fans in attendance.
Bill Balog who picked up his 2nd career All Stars win at the co-sanctioned IRA/All Stars race just a few weeks prior would return as the All Stars were not racing and rolled in as the fan favorite, but as the heat races showed anything could happen. Jordan Goldesberry was leading heat race 1 when he lost power on the last lap and coasted to 4th place and then in heat race 2 Jeremy Schultz lost a drive line with 2 laps to go while leading comfortably.
The drama started before the A main even started as defending USAC national midget champion Chris Windom's car would not fire, sending him to the work area before the green flag. Balog took the early lead and set a blistering pace around the historic oval. Behind him though the drama continued as Jake Blackhust and Russel Borland made contact battling for 2nd, Mike Reinke spun to avoid hitting Borland’s 23 which was out of shape after the contact. Reinke would be forced to the tail. Blackhurst chased Balog through lapped traffic but the Rhine Auto 39 could not stay on the back bumper of the Howard Law 17B. A late race caution would see Jake Blackhust have to change a tire and send him to the tail, handing 2nd place over to Jeremy Schultz. Schultz had nothing for Balog on the restart and would be forced to settle for a 2nd place finish when the checkered flag waved but after starting in the 17th position, it was a very strong 2nd place run. Behind Schultz in 3rd would be Mike Reinke rebounding from the early race spin.
A Feature 1 30 Laps | 00:37:38.928
- 17B-Bill Balog[1]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[17]; 3. 10W-Mike Reinke[6]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]; 5. 23-Russel Borland[2]; 6. 20R-Rob Pribnow[9]; 7. 19-Chris Windom[8]; 8. 39-Jake Blackhurst[4]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[13]; 10. 68-Dave Uttech[3]; 11. 4-Jordan Paulsen[15]; 12. 29-Hunter Custer[16]; 13. 25-Danny Schlafer[12]; 14. 9K-Kyle Schuett[18]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz[14]; 16. 19B-Jack Berger[10]; 17. 14R-Sean Rayhall[7]; 18. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[11]
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:03:10.923
- 17B-Bill Balog[1]; 2. 68-Dave Uttech[2]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 4. 14R-Sean Rayhall[3]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:03:26.679
- 23-Russel Borland[2]; 2. 39-Jake Blackhurst[1]; 3. 10W-Mike Reinke[4]; 4. 19-Chris Windom[3]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:05:39.264
- 23-Russel Borland[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 3. 19-Chris Windom[4]; 4. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[2]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[6]; 6. 9K-Kyle Schuett[5]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:04:52.183
- 10W-Mike Reinke[4]; 2. 20R-Rob Pribnow[1]; 3. 39-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 4. 25-Danny Schlafer[5]; 5. 4-Jordan Paulsen[6]; 6. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[2]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:07:19.644
- 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 2. 19B-Jack Berger[1]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[4]; 4. 43-Jereme Schroeder[5]; 5. 14R-Sean Rayhall[3]; 6. 29-Hunter Custer[6]
Qualifying 1 | 00:01:38.000
- 19-Chris Windom, 00:12.086[18]; 2. 10W-Mike Reinke, 00:12.109[16]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.183[10]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.191[17]; 5. 39-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.212[12]; 6. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 00:12.313[11]; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.329[15]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:12.344[2]; 9. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.369[7]; 10. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.558[5]; 11. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 00:12.571[6]; 12. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:12.637[8]; 13. 19B-Jack Berger, 00:12.637[14]; 14. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:12.660[9]; 15. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 00:12.736[13]; 16. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:13.121[3]; 17. 4-Jordan Paulsen, 00:13.454[4]; 18. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:14.172[1]
Hot Laps 1 | 00:10:51.000
- 17B-Bill Balog[17]; 2. 10W-Mike Reinke[16]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[15]; 4. 68-Dave Uttech[10]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[7]; 6. 19-Chris Windom[18]; 7. 14R-Sean Rayhall[11]; 8. 43-Jereme Schroeder[13]; 9. 19B-Jack Berger[14]; 10. 20R-Rob Pribnow[6]; 11. 23-Russel Borland[5]; 12. 9K-Kyle Schuett[8]; 13. 29-Hunter Custer[1]; 14. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[2]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz[3]; 16. 4-Jordan Paulsen[4]; 17. 39-Jake Blackhurst[12]
- Kim Tennyson on Jun 28, 2021
- Article Date: 6/28/2021 by Gared Tennyson