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Blackhurst Wins First Career IRA Feature

Jake Blackhurst avoids trouble with Bill Balog and went on to dominates the field and win his first career IRA feature at the 2nd annual Harry Neitzel Tribute on the Dodge County Fairgrounds.

23 Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 sprintcar teams pulled into “the Horsepower Half Mile” on July 6th for the Harry Neitzel Tribute. Qualifying saw Terry McCarl set quicktime over Bill Balog. Jeremy Schultz timed in 3rd followed by Brandon McMullen and Ben Schmidt.

Heat race number 1 was won by Hanna City, Illinois' Jake Blackhurst. Scotty Thiel rebounded from trouble in qualifying to finish 2nd from his 5th place starting spot. Terry McCarl came home in 3rd ahead of Brandon McMullen and Scott Biertzer.
The 2nd heat race was claimed by hometown favorite Scotty Neitzel. Jordan Goldesberry finished in the 2nd position over Bill Balog. Ben Schmidt and Bill Wirth rounded out the top 5.
Heat race 3 saw Mike Reinke pick up the victory over Jeremy Schultz. Todd King brought his number 22 machine across in 3rd ahead of Russel Borland and Wayne Modjeski.

A main action saw Jake Blackhurst take the early lead over Mike Reinke. With just 4 laps in while battling for the 3rd position Terry McCarl would end up in the turn 3 wall ending his night. On the restart Blackhurst once again jumped out front over Reinke and Bill Balog. Balog would move into 2nd position and start reeling in Blackhurst. Catching a much slower car, Blackhurst quickly moved to the inside entering turn 1, Balog who was attempting to pass Blackhurst on the inside then moved lower to avoid contact, causing him to hit one of the tracks water barrels marking the turn. The impact would cause damage to the front end of the Rhine Auto 17b ending Balog’s night. Blackhurst led the rest of the 25 lap feature unchallenged to pick up the first win of his career in the state of Wisconsin. Mike Reinke would come home in 2nd followed by Jeremy Schultz who started 10th. 12th starting Scotty Thiel charged to the 4th position and Scotty Neitzel rounded out the top 5 on the night honoring his father.

A Feature 1 30 laps | 00:00:00

1. 25-Jake Blackhurst, [1]; 2. 02-Mike Reinke, [2]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [10]; 4. 64-Scotty Thiel, [12]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [3]; 6. 10W-Brandon McMullen, [7]; 7. 85M-Steve Meyer, [8]; 8. 53W-Bill Wirth, [14]; 9. 22-Todd King, [13]; 10. 7-Scott Uttech, [18]; 11. 23-Russel Borland, [9]; 12. 63-Nick Matuszewski, [22]; 13. 0-John Fahl, [21]; 14. (DNF) 65-Jordan Goldesberry, [11]; 15. (DNF) 73-Ben Schmidt, [5]; 16. (DNF) 4B-Scott Biertzer, [16]; 17. (DNF) 17B-Bill Balog, [4]; 18. (DNF) 11K-Rick Kelsey, [17]; 19. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker, [20]; 20. (DNF) 24-Terry McCarl, [6]; 21. (DNF) 4K-Kris Spitz, [19]; 22. (DNF) 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [15]; 23. (DNF) 29-Hunter Custer, [23]
   Heat 1 10 laps | 00:00:00
2. 25-Jake Blackhurst, [1]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, [5]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl, [4]; 4. 10W-Brandon McMullen, [3]; 5. 4B-Scott Biertzer, [6]; 6. 85M-Steve Meyer, [2]; 7. (DNF) 4K-Kris Spitz, [7]; (DNS) 29-Hunter Custer,
   Heat 2 10 laps | 00:00:00
3. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [2]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, [1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, [4]; 4. 73-Ben Schmidt, [3]; 5. 53W-Bill Wirth, [5]; 6. 11K-Rick Kelsey, [6]; 7. 0-John Fahl, [8]; 8. (DNF) 63-Nick Matuszewski, [7]
   Heat 3 10 laps | 00:00:00
4. 02-Mike Reinke, [2]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [4]; 3. 22-Todd King, [1]; 4. 23-Russel Borland, [3]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [5]; 6. 7-Scott Uttech, [6]; 7. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker, [7]
   Qualifying 1 00:00:00
5. 24-Terry McCarl, 00:16.826[3]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:16.939[17]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:17.082[2]; 4. 10W-Brandon McMullen, 00:17.188[10]; 5. 73-Ben Schmidt, 00:17.242[5]; 6. 23-Russel Borland, 00:17.398[12]; 7. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:17.423[9]; 8. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:17.424[16]; 9. 02-Mike Reinke, 00:17.542[4]; 10. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 00:17.587[15]; 11. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:17.830[13]; 12. 22-Todd King, 00:17.844[7]; 13. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:17.958[8]; 14. 53W-Bill Wirth, 00:18.019[21]; 15. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:18.029[22]; 16. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 00:18.315[20]; 17. 11K-Rick Kelsey, 00:18.415[1]; 18. 7-Scott Uttech, 00:18.509[14]; 19. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:18.516[18]; 20. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 00:19.648[19]; 21. 12-Michael Decker, 00:19.997[11]; (DNS) 29-Hunter Custer, ; (DNS) 0-John Fahl,

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