6/19/2017
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Balog and Scelzi Thrill Angell Park Crowd with Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints
26 Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association(IRA) drivers signed in for action at the beautiful Angell Park Speedway for their Father's Day Festival. Osborn and Son Trucking qualifying saw Howards Grove, Wisconsin’s Mike Reinke set quick time. Scotty Thiel would time in 2nd followed by California’s Dominic Scelzi. Todd Daun would qualify in 4th and Wayne Modjeski would round out the top 5 in his Fatfro Motorsports 14aj.
Heat race 1 would be brought to the green flag by Steve Meyer and Phillip Mock, and that's how they would stay all the way to the checkered. Mike Reinke would move into 3rd place by the finish, followed by Jeremy Schultz and Seattle Washington native, Taylor Malsam.
Heat 2 saw series point leader Bill Balog take the early lead, and run away from the field. As the checkered flag fell Balog was victorious over Mike Kertscher. Thiel brought his Professional Plating 64 machine home 3rd with Saturday nights feature winner, Kyle Marten in 4th. The top 5 would be completed by the 19 of Todd Daun.
Heat 3 would be called red on lap 1 when Bill Wirth tipped his 53w car over on the backstretch. When the race was restarted the orange 2w of Scotty Neitzel took the lead, and held it for the duration of the race. Behind him Blake Nimee came home 2nd and Scelzi moved his 41s into 3rd. Modjeski came home 4th followed by the 7 machine of Scott Uttech in 5th.
The B main was lead by Bill Wirth for the first 6 of 8 laps, but with 2 laps to go Wirth would suffer mechanical issues and forced to pull into the infield. Russel Borland would inherit the lead and pick up the win over Dennis Spitz and Chris Dodd. Mike Decker brought his 12 car home in 4th and Keith Fellner would come across the line in 5th.
The A main was brought to the green flag by a pair of west coast drivers in Malsam and Scelzi. The first start saw Marten and Nimee get upside down and bring out a red flag. After a complete restart Scelzi took the lead over Malsam and Balog moved into 3rd. Quickly the 17b got past Malsam’s 26 and into 2nd. As the field moved through lapped traffic Balog got to Scelzi’s bumper and would soon take the lead. Multiple incidents would bring the yellow flag back out, but Scelzi couldn't get his 41s machine past the Rhine Auto car of Balog. When the checkered flag fell it was Balog atop the podium with his 5th victory of the season. Scelzi settled for second ahead of Malsam. Scotty Neitzel came home in 4th and Phillip Mock in just his 2nd start of 2017 brought his 1m machine home in 5th.
A Feature 1
- 17B-Bill Balog, [4]; 2. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, [2]; 3. 26-Tayler Malsam, [1]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [5]; 5. 1M-Phillip Mock, [3]; 6. 64-Scotty Thiel, [7]; 7. 85M-Steve Meyer, [10]; 8. 80K-Mike Kertscher, [11]; 9. 02-Mike Reinke, [8]; 10. 68-Dave Uttech, [17]; 11. 10V-Matt Vandevere, [16]; 12. 19-Todd Daun, [9]; 13. 4K-Kris Spitz, [18]; 14. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [6]; 15. 12-Michael Decker, [22]; 16. 01-Chris Dodd, [21]; 17. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [13]; 18. 23-Russel Borland, [19]; 19. 7-Scott Uttech, [15]; 20. 53W-Bill Wirth, [24]; 21. 41-Dennis Spitz, [20]; 22. 18-Keith Fellner, [23]; 23. 79-Blake Nimee, [12]; 24. 99-Kyle Marten, [14]
B Feature 1 - 23-Russel Borland, [2]; 2. 41-Dennis Spitz, [3]; 3. 01-Chris Dodd, [4]; 4. 12-Michael Decker, [5]; 5. 18-Keith Fellner, [8]; 6. 53W-Bill Wirth, [1]; (DNS) 78E-Kevin Eltz, ; (DNS) 5W-Bryon Walters,
Heat 1 - 85M-Steve Meyer, [1]; 2. 1M-Phillip Mock, [2]; 3. 02-Mike Reinke, [4]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [5]; 5. 26-Tayler Malsam, [3]; 6. 10V-Matt Vandevere, [6]; 7. 23-Russel Borland, [7]; 8. 12-Michael Decker, [8]; 9. 18-Keith Fellner, [9]
Heat 2 - 17B-Bill Balog, [2]; 2. 80K-Mike Kertscher, [1]; 3. 99-Kyle Marten, [5]; 4. 19-Todd Daun, [3]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech, [6]; 6. 41-Dennis Spitz, [7]; 7. 78E-Kevin Eltz, [9]; 8. 5W-Bryon Walters, [8]
Heat 3 - 2W-Scott Neitzel, [2]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee, [1]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, [4]; 4. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [3]; 5. 7-Scott Uttech, [7]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz, [6]; 7. 01-Chris Dodd, [8]; 8. (DNF) 53W-Bill Wirth, [5]
Qualifying 1 - 02-Mike Reinke, 00:12.339[4]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.364[1]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 00:12.441[9]; 4. 26-Tayler Malsam, 00:12.442[25]; 5. 19-Todd Daun, 00:12.453[7]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:12.459[8]; 7. 1M-Phillip Mock, 00:12.468[19]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.504[20]; 9. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.514[26]; 10. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:12.520[21]; 11. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 00:12.540[12]; 12. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:12.543[22]; 13. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:12.547[18]; 14. 99-Kyle Marten, 00:12.663[17]; 15. 53W-Bill Wirth, 00:12.761[13]; 16. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 00:12.771[11]; 17. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.903[10]; 18. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.952[24]; 19. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.963[6]; 20. 41-Dennis Spitz, 00:13.082[2]; 21. 7-Scott Uttech, 00:13.148[14]; 22. 12-Michael Decker, 00:13.421[23]; 23. 5W-Bryon Walters, 00:13.500[16]; 24. 01-Chris Dodd, 00:13.535[5]; 25. 18-Keith Fellner, 00:14.185[3]; 26. 78E-Kevin Eltz, 00:14.492[15]
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
