8/1/2020
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Balog Wins Again at Antigo
After the fantastic Rayce Rudeen Foundation race at the Plymouth Dirt Track, the teams of the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series traveled north to the Langlade County Fairgrounds in Antigo, Wisconsin.
Osborn and Son Trucking Qualifications saw Bill Balog set quick time over “Lady Lightning” Paige Polyak. A pair of IRA champions timed in third and fourth quick as Jeremy Schultz out qualified Scotty Neitzel. Scotty Thiel behind the wheel of the Oz Motorsports 73AF timed in fifth.
Heat race number one saw Russel Borland take the early lead. Behind the Wiese Trucking 23, Bill Balog charged into the second position but could not track Borland down before the checkered flag fell. Scotty Neitzel brought his 2W home in third followed by Josh Walter and Sean Rayhall.
Dave Uttech took the early lead in heat race two over Scotty Thiel and Paige Polyak. Thiel stalked Uttech around the wicked fast half mile, but Uttech ran a perfect race to claim the heat win over Thiel and Polyak. Hunter Custer and Robby Pribnow rounded out the top 5.
The third heat race was claimed by former rookie of the year Todd King over Jeremy Schultz. Jake Blackhurst and Scott Biertzer battled hard for the third position with Biertzer nabbing it. Jeremy Schroeder in the Paddock Lake Bumper to Bumper car finished in the fifth position.
Dash 1 which sets the inside of the first five rows of the A main saw Josh Walter take the early lead from Dave Uttech and never look back, claiming the pole for the A main. Dave Uttech finished in second ahead of Jeremy Schultz, Jake Blackhurst and Paige Polyak.
Dash 2 saw Scotty Thiel amass nearly a straightaway lead over Todd King in route to the win. Bill Balog and Russel Borland fought hard over the third spot, trading it multiple times until Borland made a mistake coming to the white flag and had to get out of the throttle, allowing Balog to take firm hold of third. Borland settled for fourth with Scotty Neitzel in fifth.
An issue pushing off for the feature would send Josh Walter to the pits before the green flag ever dropped, and move Dave Uttech to the pole. On the green Thiel took the lead and quickly checked out to nearly a straightaway advantage over Dave Uttech. A red flag would fly just six laps in for rookie of the year contender Sean Rayhall who got upside down in turn one. After the restart Thiel once again was able to create a huge gap between him and the field. Both Jeremy Schultz and Bill Balog wrestled past Dave Uttech for second and third but would have their work cut out for them to catch “the Big Wheel” Scotty Thiel. Schultz would bobble on the cushion exiting turn two and allow Balog past, but could Balog catch the 73AF? As the laps we’re winding down Balog’s 17B was not making ground on the Oz Motorsports car piloted by Thiel. With just three laps remaining though the left rear wheel would break on the 73AF exiting turn 4 causing Thiel to get upside down and giving Balog the lead. Behind Balog it would be Dave Uttech and Paige Polyak. Balog would not be challenged in the final three laps and would pick up the win. Polyak brought her 19P car home in second over Dave Uttech, Todd King and Russel Borland.
410 Sprints 21 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps | 00:32:30.854 | Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts
- 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 2. 19P-Paige Polyak[7]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[1]; 4. 47-Todd King[4]; 5. 23-Russel Borland[8]; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel[10]; 7. 4B-Scott Biertzer[9]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[3]; 9. 77-Wayne Modjeski[14]; 10. 29-Hunter Custer[12]; 11. 0-John Fahl[13]; 12. 11-Tony Wondra[17]; 13. 43-Jereme Schroeder[11]; 14. 73AF-Scotty Thiel[2]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz[16]; 16. 73-Jake Blackhurst[5]; 17. 14R-Sean Rayhall[15]; 18. 20R-Rob Pribnow[18]; 19. 18S-Bryce Schmitt[20]; 20. 39-Randy Sippel[21]; 21. 12W-Josh Walter[19]
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:04:29.310
- 12W-Josh Walter[2]; 2. 68-Dave Uttech[1]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[4]; 4. 73-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 19P-Paige Polyak[5]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:03:07.802
- 73AF-Scotty Thiel[1]; 2. 47-Todd King[2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[4]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:04:49.116 | R&H Enterprises / Hephfner Racing Products
- 23-Russel Borland[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 4. 12W-Josh Walter[2]; 5. 14R-Sean Rayhall[5]; 6. 77-Wayne Modjeski[6]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[7]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:05:44.598 | Behling Racing Procuts
- 68-Dave Uttech[1]; 2. 73AF-Scotty Thiel[3]; 3. 19P-Paige Polyak[4]; 4. 29-Hunter Custer[2]; 5. 20R-Rob Pribnow[5]; 6. 0-John Fahl[6]; 7. 11-Tony Wondra[7]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:03:59.354 | Weld Wheels
- 47-Todd King[2]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[4]; 3. 4B-Scott Biertzer[1]; 4. 73-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 43-Jereme Schroeder[5]; 6. 18S-Bryce Schmitt[6]; 7. (DNS) 39-Randy Sippel
Qualifying 1 | 00:00:36.700 | Osborn and Son Trucking
- 17B-Bill Balog, 00:16.905[2]; 2. 19P-Paige Polyak, 00:16.927[20]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:17.032[5]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:17.095[6]; 5. 73AF-Scotty Thiel, 00:17.134[3]; 6. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 00:17.219[11]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter, 00:17.398[17]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:17.402[21]; 9. 47-Todd King, 00:17.428[10]; 10. 23-Russel Borland, 00:17.519[16]; 11. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:17.600[18]; 12. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 00:17.695[15]; 13. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 00:17.757[7]; 14. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 00:17.916[9]; 15. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 00:17.946[4]; 16. 77-Wayne Modjeski, 00:18.143[12]; 17. 0-John Fahl, 00:18.153[14]; 18. 18S-Bryce Schmitt, 00:18.346[1]; 19. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:19.181[8]; 20. 11-Tony Wondra, 00:19.518[13]; 21. (DNS) 39-Randy Sippel, 00:19.518
Hot Laps 1 | 00:02:26.613
- 73-Jake Blackhurst[11]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 3. 23-Russel Borland[16]; 4. 12W-Josh Walter[17]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech[18]; 6. 29-Hunter Custer[21]; 7. 4B-Scott Biertzer[15]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[5]; 9. 47-Todd King[10]; 10. 73AF-Scotty Thiel[3]; 11. 14R-Sean Rayhall[7]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel[6]; 13. 20R-Rob Pribnow[9]; 14. 0-John Fahl[14]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz[8]; 16. 43-Jereme Schroeder[4]; 17. 18S-Bryce Schmitt[1]; 18. 77-Wayne Modjeski[12]; 19. 11-Tony Wondra[13]; 20. 19P-Paige Polyak[20]; 21. 39-Randy Sippel[19]
Article Credit: Gared Tennyson
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
