7/29/2017
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Thiel Takes the Checkered at Langlade County Fair In Front of Capacity Crowd
19 Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) teams showed up to entertain the capacity crowd at the Langlade County Speedway in Antigo Wisconsin with a perfectly manicured track for the Langlade County Fair. In Osborn and Son Trucking Qualifying Bill Balog set fast time over a pair of Scottys, Thiel in 2nd and Neitzel in 3rd. Steve Meyer timed in 4th on the half mile red clay oval and Blake Nimee was 5th. Reinke had problems in hot laps and had to change a motor and was working on timing issues causing him to not get a lap in during qualifying.
Weld Wheels Heat Race 1 saw contact on the start knocking the front end out of the Rhine Auto 17b of Balog, forcing him to the pits and ending his heat race. Once the race restarted Dave Uttech jumped out to the front and was able to hold off the field en route to the heat win. Steve Meyer would claim 2nd over Johnny Fahl. Returning veteran driver Rick Kelsey and Nick Matuszewaki, making his first ever sprint car start rounded out the top 5.
Allstar Performance Heat Race 2 would see Russel Borland claim the win over “The Big Wheel” Scotty Thiel. Dennis Spitz would bring his 41 machine home in 3rd after leading more than half of the heat race ahead of Blake Nimee and Mike Reinke.
In DMI Racing/ R&H Enterprises Heat Race 3 Wayne Modjeski used his 1st place starting position to take the early lead, a lead he would hold up until the checkered flag fell earning him the win. Scotty Neitzel and Bill Wirth followed Modjeski across the line. Scott Uttech would finish 4th and Mike Uttech, making only his second career start, finished 5th.
The A main saw Dave Uttech take the early lead. Uttech would lead the first 9 laps, until a hard charging Scotty Thiel was able to power by him. Just a lap later Steve Meyer would experience a mechanical failure putting his Meyer Electric 85m machine to a stop. Thiel lead the field back to green, and all the way to the finish. Balog would charge from his 14th starting spot up to 2nd but would not be able to challenge Thiel for the win. Dave Uttech would round out the podium with a 3rd place finish. 4th place would be claimed by Russel Borland and Scotty Neitzel would finish in the 5th position. Kyle Marten would make an impressive run through the field from 15th to 6th after finally figuring out his fueling issues that has been plaguing him for several races now.
The stars of the IRA will be back in action next Saturday night, August 5th at the Plymouth Dirt Track. Then after a week hiatus the series will return to action with a huge 3 day weekend. August 18th and 19th at Wilmot Raceway for the Kenosha County Fair, and August 20th at Angell Park Speedway for Corn Fest.
The IRA would like to thank our loyal 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.
A Feature 1
- 64-Scotty Thiel, [9]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, [14]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech, [2]; 4. 23-Russel Borland, [1]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [7]; 6. 99-Kyle Marten, [15]; 7. 02-Mike Reinke, [13]; 8. 53W-Bill Wirth, [6]; 9. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [10]; 10. 41-Dennis Spitz, [3]; 11. 0-John Fahl, [8]; 12. 63-Nick Matuszewski, [18]; 13. (DNF) 79-Blake Nimee, [4]; 14. (DNF) 55E-Emily Portschy, [16]; 15. (DNF) 7-Scott Uttech, [12]; 16. (DNF) 85M-Steve Meyer, [5]; 17. (DNF) 11K-Rick Kelsey, [11]; 18. (DNF) 14AJX-Mike Uttech, [17]; (DNS) 12-Michael Decker,
Heat 1 - 68-Dave Uttech, [2]; 2. 85M-Steve Meyer, [3]; 3. 0-John Fahl, [1]; 4. 11K-Rick Kelsey, [5]; 5. 63-Nick Matuszewski, [6]; 6. (DNF) 17B-Bill Balog, [4]
Heat 2 - 23-Russel Borland, [2]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, [4]; 3. 41-Dennis Spitz, [1]; 4. 79-Blake Nimee, [3]; 5. 02-Mike Reinke, [6]; 6. 55E-Emily Portschy, [5]
Heat 3 - 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [1]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [4]; 3. 53W-Bill Wirth, [3]; 4. 7-Scott Uttech, [6]; 5. (DNF) 14AJX-Mike Uttech, [5]; 6. (DNF) 99-Kyle Marten, [2]; (DNS) 12-Michael Decker,
Qualifying 1 - 17B-Bill Balog, 00:16.407[4]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:16.528[8]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:16.660[3]; 4. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:16.871[9]; 5. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:16.922[11]; 6. 53W-Bill Wirth, 00:17.254[2]; 7. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:17.266[16]; 8. 23-Russel Borland, 00:17.290[10]; 9. 99-Kyle Marten, 00:17.400[17]; 10. 0-John Fahl, 00:17.594[13]; 11. 41-Dennis Spitz, 00:17.661[19]; 12. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:17.726[15]; 13. 11K-Rick Kelsey, 00:18.019[18]; 14. 55E-Emily Portschy, 00:19.441[7]; 15. 14AJX-Mike Uttech, 00:23.317[14]; 16. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 00:23.837[12]; 17. (DNF) 02-Mike Reinke, [6]; (DNS) 7-Scott Uttech, ; (DNS) 12-Michael Decker,
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
