7/19/2020
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bill Balog Wins Thriller at Plymouth
23 Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 sprint cars signed in for action at the Plymouth Dirt Track. Teams were extra focused as this was night two of the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown as well as a good tune up event for the Rayce Rudeen Foundation Race in just 12 days.
Sean Rayhall set quick time in his Big Machine Vodka 14R car. Scotty Thiel and Joey Moughan were 2nd and 3rd quick followed by Bill Balog and Indiana’s Chase Stockon.
Heat race one saw Jake Blackhurst take the early lead and never look back. Bill Balog stalked Blackhurst around the Plymouth Dirt Track but could not work his way past the Oz Motorsports 73 and settled for 2nd. Dave Uttech, Robbie Pribnow and Scott Biertzer rounded out the top 5.
The second heat race saw the front row moved back after ftwo failed starts. Scotty Thiel utilized his then front row spot to pull past Chase Stockon and take the lead. Stockon would follow Thiel around the quarter mile, learning from someone with countless laps. As the checkered flag fell Thiel was victorious over Stockon. Jeremy Schultz brought his 5J home in 3rd followed by Russel Borland and Matt Vandervere.
The final heat race was won by 2 time IRA champion Scotty Neitzel over Jordan Goldesberry and Joey Moughan. Jack Routson came home in 4th ahead of Todd King.
A pair of dashes lined up the first 5 rows of the A main. Bill Balog started 2nd in the first dash and quickly took the lead, he would lead all 4 laps and claim the pole of the A. Behind him would start Scotty Neitzel, Chase Stockon, Jeremy Schultz and Jake Blackhurst. The second dash was also won from outside the front row as Scotty Thiel claimed the victory. Behind him would start Jordan Goldesberry, Sean Rayhall, Todd King, and Joey Moughan.
In the feature Bill Balog took the lead and appeared to be firmly in control of the race as he entered lapped traffic. Scotty Thiel chased Balog through lapped traffic looking for a way past. On lap 10 Thiel would get the opportunity he needed, and sneak past Balog to take the lead. Thiel was able to gap Bill Balog as he moved through traffic until a caution flew on lap 16. A slew of cautions would fly during the remainder of the race, and “The Big Wheel” Scotty Thiel performed near perfect restart after restart to hold Balog at bay. A restart with 5 to go would give Balog the shot he needed, Thiel tiptoed into turn 1, and Balog was able to throw a slider and take the lead back. Thiel did not let him get away though and the pair exchanged sliders. Thiel had one last shot as the duo entered turn 3 on the last lap, Balog set his Rhine Auto 17b on the cushion, as Thiel set his Professional Plating 64 on the inside line. Thiel would nearly pull alongside Balog exiting turn 4 but did not have the momentum down the front stretch and Bill Balog would claim the victory. Scotty Thiel finished in 2nd over Chase Stockon. A pair of former IRA champions rounded out the top 5 as Scotty Neitzel beat Jeremy Schultz across the line.
A Feature 1 30 Laps | 00:34:06.301
- 17B-Bill Balog[1]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel[2]; 3. 5S-Chase Stockon[5]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 5. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[7]; 6. 73AF-Joey Moughan[10]; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[4]; 8. 73-Jake Blackhurst[9]; 9. 47-Todd King[8]; 10. 68-Dave Uttech[11]; 11. 20R-Rob Pribnow[14]; 12. 4K-Kris Spitz[17]; 13. 77-Wayne Modjeski[18]; 14. 0-John Fahl[21]; 15. 51-Chris Larson[22]; 16. 19-Todd Daun[19]; 17. 4B-Scott Biertzer[15]; 18. 10V-Matt VandeVere[16]; 19. 29-Hunter Custer[23]; 20. 12W-Josh Walter[20]; 21. 14-Jack Routson[13]; 22. 14R-Sean Rayhall[6]; 23. 23-Russel Borland[12]
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:03:53.454
- 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 3. 5S-Chase Stockon[4]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[5]; 5. 73-Jake Blackhurst[3]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:02:44.034
- 64-Scotty Thiel[2]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[1]; 3. 14R-Sean Rayhall[3]; 4. 47-Todd King[4]; 5. 73AF-Joey Moughan[5]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:05:00.000
- 73-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[1]; 4. 20R-Rob Pribnow[6]; 5. 4B-Scott Biertzer[5]; 6. 14R-Sean Rayhall[4]; 7. 19-Todd Daun[7]; 8. 51-Chris Larson[8]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:05:54.000
- 64-Scotty Thiel[4]; 2. 5S-Chase Stockon[3]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[2]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[1]; 5. 10V-Matt VandeVere[5]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz[6]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter[7]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer[8]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:03:25.000
- 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[2]; 3. 73AF-Joey Moughan[4]; 4. 14-Jack Routson[5]; 5. 47-Todd King[3]; 6. 77-Wayne Modjeski[6]; 7. 0-John Fahl[7]
Qualifying 1 | 00:00:24.000
- 14R-Sean Rayhall, 00:12.146[1]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.152[6]; 3. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 00:12.193[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.267[17]; 5. 5S-Chase Stockon, 00:12.273[3]; 6. 47-Todd King, 00:12.273[10]; 7. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.292[4]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:12.465[13]; 9. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.511[20]; 10. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.664[11]; 11. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.734[19]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.748[22]; 13. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 00:12.811[9]; 14. 10V-Matt VandeVere, 00:12.819[18]; 15. 14-Jack Routson, 00:12.839[5]; 16. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 00:12.927[16]; 17. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:13.065[23]; 18. 77-Wayne Modjeski, 00:13.072[7]; 19. 19-Todd Daun, 00:13.076[15]; 20. 12W-Josh Walter, 00:13.118[12]; 21. 0-John Fahl, 00:13.248[21]; 22. 51-Chris Larson, 00:13.742[14]; 23. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:15.537[8]
Hot Laps 1 | 00:11:25.000
- 17B-Bill Balog[17]; 2. 23-Russel Borland[19]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[22]; 4. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[20]; 5. 10V-Matt VandeVere[18]; 6. 47-Todd King[10]; 7. 5S-Chase Stockon[3]; 8. 0-John Fahl[21]; 9. 12W-Josh Walter[12]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[13]; 11. 73AF-Joey Moughan[2]; 12. 20R-Rob Pribnow[16]; 13. 19-Todd Daun[15]; 14. 4K-Kris Spitz[23]; 15. 73-Jake Blackhurst[4]; 16. 14R-Sean Rayhall[1]; 17. 14-Jack Routson[5]; 18. 4B-Scott Biertzer[9]; 19. 68-Dave Uttech[11]; 20. 64-Scotty Thiel[6]; 21. 77-Wayne Modjeski[7]; 22. 29-Hunter Custer[8]; 23. 51-Chris Larson[14]
Article Credit: Gared Tennyson
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
