5/29/2017
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Nightmare in the North Woods
20 drivers from the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) Outlaw Sprints made the long tow up to the beautiful ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wisconsin. In qualifying, point leader Scotty Thiel aboard his Professional Plating 64 Machine set a new track record of 12:373. Former track record holder Bill Balog would qualify 2nd followed by Blake Nimee. Justin Henderson behind the wheel of the Thone Motorsports 59H would qualify in 4th and Todd King would round out the top 5.
Heat race one saw 2016 champion Jeremy Schultz use his pole starting position to take the early lead and he would never look back, winning the heat race by more than half a lap over Craig Dollansky. Thiel would come home 3rd in front of 4th finishing Henderson and Russel Borland would bring his Weiss Trucking 23 home in 5th.
Heat race two would see Kyle Marten from outside row 1 take the early lead but Balog was hot on his heels. Marten lead the first 9 laps but Balog would slide him going into turn 3, Marten crossed back under in attempt to grab the win but at the line Balog was victorious by 0.016 seconds over Marten. Kris Spitz brought his 4K machine home 3rd ahead of King. MSA 360 regular Andrew Westphal would complete the top 5.
Heat 3 saw Nimee’s bad luck continue as he jumped the cushion in turn 3 and got into the wall, ending his heat race. Meanwhile, Scotty Neitzel would take the lead over Steve Meyer. Mike Kertscher in his second night with the Thone Motorsports team would muscle his way around Meyer and into 2nd but could not catch Neitzel. When the checkered fell Neitzel would be victorious, followed by Kertscher and Meyer. Minnesota's Trent Stengl would finish 4th and Dennis Spitz would bring his 41 home 5th.
The feature saw Justin Henderson roll off from the pole and take the early lead. With just a single lap in Henderson jumped the cushion and got into the wall, sending his car upside down bringing out a red flag. Dollansky who suffered some wing damage from the Henderson incident elected not to take his 14aj car to the work area and restarted from the 1st position. On the restart Scotty Neitzel was able to move around Dollansky into the lead, Schultz quickly worked his way from his 5th starting position to 2nd following behind fellow Beaver Dam driver Neitzel. Lap 10 saw Thiel make contact with an infield tire and spin to a stop bringing out the yellow flag. The restart gave Schultz the shot he needed to get around Neitzel and take the lead. As the race wore on Balog had quietly moved from his 10th starting position into 3rd place. As Schultz reached lapped traffic, he had the 2w and 17b breathing down his neck. Balog utilized a lap car to get around Neitzel and set his eyes on Schultz. While Balog kept on Schultz’s tail through lapped cars, King muscled around Neitzel and into 3rd. With just 3 laps to go Balog used a bobble from Schultz to take the lead. The “King of the Sherm Nation” stayed on the bumper of the 17b but could not get back around him. As the checkered flag waved for Balog, a slowing car in turn 4 brought out a yellow flag, causing the race to end under yellow checkers circumstances and revert to lap 29 for the finish. Balog picked up his 4th win in 4 tries at the ABC Raceway, followed by Schultz. Todd King crossed the line in 3rd on lap 29 but an illegally mounted part would result in him being scored last, giving 3rd place to Neitzel followed by Marten in the Oostburg Concrete 99. The Meyer Electric 85m piloted by Steve Meyer would round out the top 5.
A Feature 1 30 laps
- 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[5]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 4. 99-Kyle Marten[7]; 5. 85M-Steve Meyer[11]; 6. 23-Russel Borland[13]; 7. 79-Blake Nimee[16]; 8. 4K-Kris Spitz[2]; 9. 80K-Mike Kertscher[9]; 10. 14AJ-Craig Dollansky[3]; 11. 7T-Trent Stengl[12]; 12. 81-Andrew Westphal[15]; 13. 14AJX-Wayne Modjeski[19]; 14. 12-Michael Decker[18]; 15. 68-Dave Uttech[17]; 16. 41-Dennis Spitz[14]; 17. 64-Scotty Thiel[10]; 18. 59H-Justin Henderson[1]; 19. 19-Todd King[6]; (DNS) 7-Scott Uttech
Heat 1 10 laps - 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1]; 2. 14AJ-Craig Dollansky[2]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 59H-Justin Henderson[3]; 5. 23-Russel Borland[6]; 6. 68-Dave Uttech[5]; 7. 14AJX-Wayne Modjeski[7]
Heat 2 10 laps - 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 2. 99-Kyle Marten[2]; 3. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 4. 19-Todd King[3]; 5. 81-Andrew Westphal[6]; 6. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker[5]; (DNS) 7-Scott Uttech
Heat 3 10 laps - 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 2. 80K-Mike Kertscher[3]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer[1]; 4. 7T-Trent Stengl[5]; 5. 41-Dennis Spitz[6]; 6. (DNF) 79-Blake Nimee[4]
Qualifying 1 - 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.373[2]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.671[9]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee, 12.736[6]; 4. 59H-Justin Henderson, 12.766[13]; 5. 19-Todd King, 12.880[4]; 6. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 12.887[7]; 7. 14AJ-Craig Dollansky, 12.964[10]; 8. 99-Kyle Marten, 13.056[3]; 9. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.183[16]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.197[18]; 11. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.387[14]; 12. 85M-Steve Meyer, 13.390[19]; 13. 68-Dave Uttech, 13.395[1]; 14. 12-Michael Decker, 13.566[11]; 15. 7T-Trent Stengl, 13.588[17]; 16. 23-Russel Borland, 13.591[20]; 17. 7-Scott Uttech, 13.623[12]; 18. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.693[8]; 19. 14AJX-Wayne Modjeski, 13.695[5]; 20. 81-Andrew Westphal, 14.323[15]
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
