7/2/2021
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Smooth as Anderson's Maple Syrup - Balog Does It Again
On Independence Day weekend, the Nascar Cup series makes its inaugural visit to the historic Road America Raceway, and to kick that weekend off Road America partnered with The Plymouth Dirt Track and the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints to host the Nascar Kick off race.
The field of IRA regulars were joined by Bill Balog who had the night off from All Stars action as well as Chase Briscoe, who will be piloting the Stewart Hass racing 14 car Sunday at Road America. Briscoe who has an ARCA Championship as well as rookie of the year honors in both the Nascar Truck and Xfinity Series’ piloted Paul Mays 71M machine.
Southern Wisconsin has been hit hard recently with rain and it made for a wicked fast track, as Scotty Thiel returning to the seat after taking some time off to recover from a hard crash during the All Star event at Plymouth set a new track record in qualifying while Briscoe and Balog were 2nd and 3rd.
When A main time came around Briscoe and Thiel would set the pace from the front row on what had become a very technical track with ruts starting to form in the corners. After contact sent 3rd starting Mike Reinke spinning on the start Bill Balog would move into the 3rd starting position. Balog had quickly moved into the lead, but Briscoe and Thiel stayed glued to the red and white 17B of Balog. Briscoe would lose the handle of his Paul May owned car and collect Thiel, sending them both to the work area. After what turned into a race of survival with many cars have trouble navigating the tricky corners, Balog would claim the victory. His 5th of the season with the IRA. Jake Blackhurst who challenged Balog but could not work past him finished in the 2nd spot saying he wished the cautions had not fallen as he had a better shot at Balog in traffic. 2016 series champion Jeremy Schultz rounded out the podium.
A Feature 1 30 Laps | 00:45:37.080 | Road America
- 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 2. 39-Jake Blackhurst[7]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[9]; 4. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[8]; 5. 49-Josh Schneiderman[14]; 6. 12W-Josh Walter[12]; 7. 73-Scotty Thiel[2]; 8. 10W-Mike Reinke[3]; 9. 20R-Rob Pribnow[11]; 10. 4K-Kris Spitz[10]; 11. 77-Wayne Modjeski[19]; 12. 4-Jordan Paulsen[18]; 13. 29-Hunter Custer[15]; 14. 0-John Fahl[22]; 15. 35-Ben Schmidt[23]; 16. 68-Dave Uttech[6]; 17. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 18. 7R-Andy Rein[20]; 19. 71M-Chase Briscoe[1]; 20. 25-Danny Schlafer[16]; 21. 24-Scott Conger[21]; 22. 23-Russel Borland[13]; 23. 19B-Jack Berger[17]; 24. (DNS) 9K-Kyle Schuett
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:03:56.938
- 71M-Chase Briscoe[2]; 2. 10W-Mike Reinke[1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 4. 39-Jake Blackhurst[4]; 5. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[3]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:05:04.644
- 73-Scotty Thiel[2]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[3]; 4. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[5]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[4]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:06:21.000 | TonyStewartStore.com
- 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1]; 2. 10W-Mike Reinke[2]; 3. 73-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 39-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 49-Josh Schneiderman[5]; 6. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 7. 77-Wayne Modjeski[7]; 8. 35-Ben Schmidt[8]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:04:27.000 | All Star Performance / AutoMeter
- 65-Jordan Goldesberry[2]; 2. 71M-Chase Briscoe[3]; 3. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 4. 12W-Josh Walter[5]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech[4]; 6. 19B-Jack Berger[6]; 7. 24-Scott Conger[8]; 8. 0-John Fahl[7]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:10:05.000 | Vahlco Wheels / Behling Racing
- 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 2. 20R-Rob Pribnow[1]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[6]; 5. 29-Hunter Custer[5]; 6. 4-Jordan Paulsen[8]; 7. 7R-Andy Rein[7]; 8. 9K-Kyle Schuett[2]
Qualifying 1 | 00:00:24.000 | Osborn and Son Trucking
- 73-Scotty Thiel, 00:11.300[20]; 2. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:11.589[19]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:11.590[7]; 4. 39-Jake Blackhurst, 00:11.619[11]; 5. 71M-Chase Briscoe, 00:11.630[18]; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:11.649[16]; 7. 10W-Mike Reinke, 00:11.718[23]; 8. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:11.730[2]; 9. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:11.735[12]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:11.809[15]; 11. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:11.897[17]; 12. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 00:11.898[21]; 13. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 00:11.946[4]; 14. 12W-Josh Walter, 00:11.978[5]; 15. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:11.978[22]; 16. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:11.983[6]; 17. 19B-Jack Berger, 00:12.039[14]; 18. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.054[13]; 19. 77-Wayne Modjeski, 00:12.115[10]; 20. 0-John Fahl, 00:12.306[3]; 21. 7R-Andy Rein, 00:12.411[8]; 22. 35-Ben Schmidt, 00:12.464[1]; 23. 24-Scott Conger, 00:12.524[24]; 24. 4-Jordan Paulsen, 00:12.581[9]
Hot Laps 1 | 00:02:14.000
- 71M-Chase Briscoe[18]; 2. 73-Scotty Thiel[20]; 3. 20R-Rob Pribnow[21]; 4. 68-Dave Uttech[19]; 5. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[2]; 6. 19B-Jack Berger[14]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel[16]; 8. 39-Jake Blackhurst[11]; 9. 10W-Mike Reinke[23]; 10. 4-Jordan Paulsen[9]; 11. 9K-Kyle Schuett[12]; 12. 29-Hunter Custer[22]; 13. 49-Josh Schneiderman[4]; 14. 4K-Kris Spitz[17]; 15. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[15]; 16. 12W-Josh Walter[5]; 17. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 18. 77-Wayne Modjeski[10]; 19. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 20. 23-Russel Borland[13]; 21. 0-John Fahl[3]; 22. 24-Scott Conger[24]; 23. 7R-Andy Rein[8]; 24. 35-Ben Schmidt[1]
Article Credit: Gared Tennyson
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
