From Geard Tennyson
BEAVER DAM, Wi. (July 22, 2017) — 22 Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) 410 sprint car teams signed in for action on the high banks of the Beaver Dam Raceway. Osborn and Son Trucking Qualifying saw Bill Balog go out first and set a time that no one else could top, earning him fast time honors. Jeremy Schultz would end up second quick followed by Illinois’ Jake Blackhurst. Ben Schmidt and Blake Nimee would qualify in 4th and 5th respectively.
Weld Wheels Heat Race 1 saw Scotty Neitzel take the early lead but quickly the Rhine Auto 17b had moved into 2nd and went to work on challenging for the lead. It would not take long for the 17b to get around the orange 2w of Neitzel taking the lead and the eventual win. Neitzel would settle for 2nd ahead of a hard charging Kris Spitz. Schmidt would finish 4th and Phillip Mock was 5th.
Allstar Performance Heat Race 2 would see Jeremy Schultz take the lead. Scotty Thiel would challenge Schultz multiple times for the lead but couldn’t find a line around the “King of the Sherm Nation”. As the checkered flew it was Schultz grabbing the win and Thiel in 2nd. Trey Datweiler brought his T&E Auto Haulers 23d across in 3rd followed by Bill Wirth and Blake Nimee.
In DMI Racing/ R&H Enterprises Heat Race 3, 2015 IRA champion Bill Rose took the early lead in the Bob Hood Motorsports 10w machine. In the closing laps Steve Meyer would work his way around Rose and take the win. Rose would cross in 2nd followed by Blackhurst. Mike Reinke would bring his 02 home in 4th and Russel Borland took 5th.
The A main saw Ben Schmidt jump out to the early lead but quickly Scotty Thiel worked his Professional Plating 64 in 2nd. Thiel would work around Schmidt and try to run away from the field, as Thiel worked through lapped traffic 7 time IRA champion Bill Balog had worked from 7th up to second and had reeled Thiel in. Balog would use lapped traffic to pass Thiel for the lead. Jeremy Schultz would spin out in turn one bring out the yellow flag with 13 laps to go. On the restart Thiel would stay on Balog’s bumper but could not make a run for the lead, they battled through lapped traffic again and as the white flag flew Thiel looked to have a shot, Balog took the high line in turn 3 and Thiel went low and slid in front of fhe “North Pole Nightmare” briefly taking the lead, but Balog was able to cross under him and take the lead back as they exited turn 4. Balog would pick up his 7th IRA victory of the season and 95th of his career. Thiel would come home in 2nd and Russel Borland would bring his 23 machine home with a 3rd place finish, his best finish since a 2nd place run at Wilmot in August of 2014. Ben Schmidt would cross the line in 4th and Mike Reinke would round out the top 5.
Fans can catch the IRA back in action this coming Friday night at the Langlade County Speedway in Antigo, Wisconsin. Then the stars and cars return to the Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wisconsin on August 5th.
The IRA would like to thank our wonderful sponsors, Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts, Osborn and Son Trucking, TW Metals, Carriage Auto Body, Cummins Onan, Hopf Farms, Hagar’s half pound cookies and Hoosier Tire.
Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association
Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam, WI
Saturday July 22, 2017
Feature: 1. 17 – Bill Balog, 2. 64 – Scotty Thiel, 3. 23 – Russel Borland, 4. 73 – Ben Schmidt, 5. 02 – Mike Reinke, 6. 2W – Scotty Neitzel, 7. 79 – Blake Nimee, 8. 85M – Steve Meyer, 9. 25 – Jake Blackhurst, 10. 4K – Kris Spitz, 11. 53W – Bill Wirth, 12. 19 – Todd Daun, 13. 23D – Trey Datweiler, 14. 1M – Phillip Mock, 15. 99 – Kyle Marten, 16. 7 – Scott Uttech, 18. 0 – Johnny Fahl, 19. 41 – Dennis Spitz, 20. 10W – Bill Rose, 21. 51 – Jeremy Schultz.