6/12/2023
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Balog Notches Another at the Prairie
The weekend concluded at the prairie where 31 Sprints checked into the speedway. It was showtime when Kraig Kinser and Jake Neuman led the field to the green. Kinser would lead lap one with Neuman, Blackhurst, and the rest of the field.
Kraig wasted no time getting distance between himself and the rest of the field. Caution would arise early for the U2 of Jack Vanderboom with only four laps in. Kinser would lead the field out of four, with Neuman and Blackhurst breathing down his neck. Blackhurst would immediately challenge Neuman for second and would take it heading down the backstretch. Neuman would regain second before the lap concluded. It was still Kinser’s show with 22 laps to go and would weave through lap traffic. Neuman and Blackhurst would continue to battle for second, but Blackhurst would overtake Neuman with 21 laps remaining. Blackhurst would begin to reel in race-long leader Kraig Kinser. In a battle for the lead, Kinser would make contact with the turn two wall, drawing out the caution with 20 laps to go.
We dropped the green once more, with Blackhurst leading the way. Neuman would restart second, and the North Pole Nightmare would restart third from starting eighth on the grid. Without hesitation, Balog would head into turn one and make the slider for second and begin to track down Blackhurst. Blackhurst would run down the backstretch with 17 to go continuing to try to hold off the North Pole Nightmare and weave around traffic.
Blackhurst and Balog would battle for the lead with a dozen remaining. Balog would exchange the lead with Blackhurst and take us down to 11 laps to go. With seven laps remaining, Blackhurst would make contact with the turn three wall and bring out a red flag. Blackhurst would walk away under his own power.
Balog would restart the feature, Neuman second, and Brenham Crouch would restart third. Laps would tick down and Balog had ditched the rear view mirror in the Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup 17B to take the checkers. Neuman would finish second, and Zach Hampton would throw the final slider on Crouch for third.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints will take this next weekend off and return to action Saturday, June 24th for the Bill Waite Jr. Memorial at Fairbury Speedway.
Watch the IRA Sprint Cars all season long with FloRacing: https://flosports.link/3z8dvo9
A Feature 30 Laps | 00:39:53.199
- 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[1]; 3. 35-Zach Hampton[6]; 4. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 5. 25T-Travis Arenz[11]; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel[15]; 7. 9K-Kyle Schuett[9]; 8. 23-Russel Borland[5]; 9. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[16]; 10. 79-Blake Nimee[14]; 11. 49-Josh Schneiderman[10]; 12. 87A-Austin Hartmann[12]; 13. 4K-Kris Spitz[21]; 14. 13-Van Gurley Jr[18]; 15. 7A-Will Armitage[13]; 16. U2-Jack Vanderboom[20]; 17. 21-Will Gerrits[17]; 18. 25-Danny Schlafer[19]; 19. 68-Dave Uttech[23]; 20. 19J-Jett Mann[24]; 21. (DNF) 17-Reece Saldana[22]; 22. (DNF) 96-Jake Blackhurst[4]; 23. (DNF) 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]; 24. (DNF) 10W-Mike Reinke[3]
B Feature 10 Laps | 00:05:46.090
- 25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 2. U2-Jack Vanderboom[4]; 3. 4K-Kris Spitz[3]; 4. 17-Reece Saldana[6]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech[2]; 6. 19J-Jett Mann[9]; 7. 26R-Preston Ruh[8]; 8. 38-Allen Hafford[5]; 9. 24-Scott Conger[10]; 10. 17W-Dylan Winkel[11]; 11. 39V-William Huck[7]; 12. 92-Kevin Seidler[12]; 13. (DNS) 99-Tyler Brabant
Dash 1 4 Laps
- 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 2. 10W-Mike Reinke[1]; 3. 23-Russel Borland[4]; 4. 1-Brenham Crouch[3]; 5. 9K-Kyle Schuett[5]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:04:28.647
- 11K-Kraig Kinser[1]; 2. 96-Jake Blackhurst[4]; 3. 35-Zach Hampton[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 49-Josh Schneiderman[3]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:03:23.000
- 1-Brenham Crouch[2]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[1]; 3. 10W-Mike Reinke[4]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[3]; 5. 79-Blake Nimee[6]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[5]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[8]; 8. 17-Reece Saldana[7]; 9. 19J-Jett Mann[9]; 10. 24-Scott Conger[10]; 11. 92-Kevin Seidler[11]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:05.266
- 3N-Jake Neuman[1]; 2. 9K-Kyle Schuett[2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 49-Josh Schneiderman[3]; 5. 7A-Will Armitage[5]; 6. 13-Van Gurley Jr[8]; 7. U2-Jack Vanderboom[9]; 8. 68-Dave Uttech[6]; 9. 26R-Preston Ruh[7]; 10. 17W-Dylan Winkel[10]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:12:52.829
- 96-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 2. 35-Zach Hampton[4]; 3. 87A-Austin Hartmann[1]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[3]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[6]; 6. 21-Will Gerrits[7]; 7. 38-Allen Hafford[9]; 8. 39V-William Huck[10]; 9. 25-Danny Schlafer[5]; 10. 99-Tyler Brabant[8]
Qualifying | 00:00:40.000
- 10W-Mike Reinke, 00:11.772[2]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:11.797[5]; 3. 35-Zach Hampton, 00:11.863[8]; 4. 23-Russel Borland, 00:11.943[14]; 5. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 00:11.970[3]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 00:12.023[13]; 7. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:12.131[31]; 8. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:12.151[15]; 9. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.155[4]; 10. 25T-Travis Arenz, 00:12.278[24]; 11. 3N-Jake Neuman, 00:12.311[9]; 12. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 00:12.362[20]; 13. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.395[28]; 14. 7A-Will Armitage, 00:12.465[6]; 15. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:12.470[16]; 16. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:12.515[26]; 17. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.556[22]; 18. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.585[27]; 19. 17-Reece Saldana, 00:12.590[10]; 20. 26R-Preston Ruh, 00:12.666[1]; 21. 21-Will Gerrits, 00:12.695[23]; 22. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.736[25]; 23. 13-Van Gurley Jr, 00:12.752[12]; 24. 99-Tyler Brabant, 00:12.767[19]; 25. 19J-Jett Mann, 00:12.783[17]; 26. U2-Jack Vanderboom, 00:12.809[30]; 27. 38-Allen Hafford, 00:13.250[21]; 28. 24-Scott Conger, 00:13.393[29]; 29. 17W-Dylan Winkel, 00:13.859[18]; 30. 39V-William Huck, 00:14.079[7]; 31. 92-Kevin Seidler, 00:14.586[11]
Article Credit: Madeline "Chatty Madi" Schultz
Submitted By: Madeline Schultz