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Balog Finds Redemption at Plymouth Dirt Track

In 2013 Bill Balog and Tony Stewart traded the lead multiple times in the closing laps of the feature, eventually ending with Tony Stewart beating Balog to the checkered by half a car length. 5 years later the pair squared off again as Balog ran Stewart down in the closing laps. The pair once again exited turn four side by side coming to the checkered flag, this time however Balog stood victorious.

Qualifying saw Jake Blackhurst set quicktime over Mike Reinke. Ben Schmidt would qualify the Oz Motorsports 73 in 3rd. Bill Balog timed in 4th and Scotty Thiel was 5th.

Heat race 1 saw former IRA champion Jeremy Schultz pick up the victory over Jake Blackhurst. Bill Balog brought the Rhine Auto 17b across in 3rd with Todd King in 4th and Wayne Modjeski in 5th.
Heat number 2 saw Tony Stewart lead all 10 laps in route to victory over Scotty Thiel. Mike Reinke was 3rd ahead of Brandon McMullen and Phillip Mock.
The 3rd heat race was claimed by California’s Cory Eliason aboard the Brandon Thone owned 59. Steve Meyer finished in 2nd followed by Ben Schmidt. Dave Uttech and Matt Vandervere rounded out the top 5.

The feature was exciting as Tony Stewart took the early lead over Ben Schmidt and Cory Eliason. Contact between Eliason and Schmidt would send the Thone Motorsports 59 around on the front stretch and bring out the yellow. On the restart Tony Stewart’s car appeared to lose power and Ben Schmidt got into the back of Stewart’s 14, bringing the caution back out and sending Schmidt to the work area. The running order now saw Stewart ahead of Bill Balog and Scotty Thiel. Stewart once again took off from the field, but one last caution would bunch the pack back up. On the restart Balog would throw a slider on Stewart, at the same time Thiel stuck the bottom perfectly in 1 and 2 and the trio went 3 wide down the backstretch, with the Scott Thiel Motorsports 64 in the lead. As they entered turn 3, Stewart once again took the lead as Balog regained 2nd and Thiel settled into 3rd. Stewart began to gap Balog again until lapped traffic became a factor. In the closing laps Balog ran down the Rush Truck Centers 14 and entering turn 3 on the last lap, he threw one last slider at Tony Stewart, and Stewart crossed under, the pair exited 4 side by side and charged to the finish line. Balog would beat Stewart to the line by a mere 0.004 seconds, the closest margin of victory for the IRA since electronic scoring was introduced. Thiel finished in 3rd followed by Jake Blackhurst and Brandon McMullen.

410 Sprints
IRA Interstate Racing Association
A Feature 1 30 laps | 00:34:21.054

1. 17B-Bill Balog, 34:21.054[7]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart, 34:21.058[1]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel, 34:23.298[4]; 4. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 34:23.540[8]; 5. 10W-Brandon McMullen, 34:24.342[6]; 6. 85M-Steve Meyer, 34:24.899[11]; 7. 1M-Phillip Mock, 34:25.126[13]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 34:26.119[9]; 9. 59-Cory Eliason, 34:26.572[2]; 10. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 34:29.478[19]; 11. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 33:44.322[14]; 12. 4K-Kris Spitz, 34:31.637[16]; 13. 73-Ben Schmidt, 34:33.527[5]; 14. 68-Dave Uttech, 34:36.186[12]; 15. 19-Todd Daun, 34:36.291[17]; 16. 7-Scott Uttech, 34:22.035[20]; 17. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 34:22.119[18]; 18. 02-Mike Reinke, 34:22.240[10]; 19. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 34:22.622[22]; 20. 23-Russel Borland, 34:24.197[21]; 21. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 34:29.382[23]; 22. 29-Hunter Custer, 34:30.764[24]; 23. (DNF) 10V-Matt VandeVere, 33:55.798[15]; 24. (DNF) 22-Todd King, 07:03.059[3]
   B Feature 1 12 laps | 00:10:26.353
2. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 10:26.353[1]; 2. 7-Scott Uttech, 10:27.538[3]; 3. 23-Russel Borland, 10:28.920[2]; 4. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 10:29.607[4]; 5. 12-Michael Decker, 10:30.106[6]; 6. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 10:31.141[8]; 7. 29-Hunter Custer, 10:31.726[5]; 8. 18-Keith Fellner, 10:32.307[9]; 9. 10WX-Dan Wade, 10:33.208[7]
   Heat 1 10 laps | 00:06:14.363
3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 06:14.363[2]; 2. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 06:15.215[4]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 06:16.015[3]; 4. 22-Todd King, 06:16.939[1]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 06:21.806[6]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz, 06:21.849[5]; 7. 23-Russel Borland, 06:22.148[7]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer, 06:23.889[8]; 9. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 06:14.463[9]
   Heat 2 10 laps | 00:05:42.240
4. 14-Tony Stewart, 05:45.036[1]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, 05:47.124[3]; 3. 02-Mike Reinke, 05:49.798[4]; 4. 10W-Brandon McMullen, 05:50.541[2]; 5. 1M-Phillip Mock, 05:51.231[5]; 6. 19-Todd Daun, 05:52.040[6]; 7. 7-Scott Uttech, 05:53.465[7]; 8. 12-Michael Decker, 05:42.240[8]; 9. 18-Keith Fellner, 02:52.634[9]
   Heat 3 10 laps | 00:04:50.250
5. 59-Cory Eliason, 04:50.250[3]; 2. 85M-Steve Meyer, 04:53.836[1]; 3. 73-Ben Schmidt, 04:54.883[4]; 4. 68-Dave Uttech, 04:56.595[5]; 5. 10V-Matt VandeVere, 04:59.212[7]; 6. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 05:00.416[6]; 7. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 05:01.978[8]; 8. 10WX-Dan Wade, 04:59.212[9]; (DNS) 2W-Scott Neitzel, 04:59.212
   Qualifying 1 2 laps | 00:00:24.448
6. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.043[4]; 2. 02-Mike Reinke, 00:12.071[10]; 3. 73-Ben Schmidt, 00:12.103[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.145[20]; 5. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.188[24]; 6. 59-Cory Eliason, 00:12.277[15]; 7. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:12.298[3]; 8. 10W-Brandon McMullen, 00:12.337[6]; 9. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.355[22]; 10. 22-Todd King, 00:12.383[9]; 11. 14-Tony Stewart, 00:12.390[26]; 12. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:12.408[14]; 13. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.481[23]; 14. 1M-Phillip Mock, 00:12.494[8]; 15. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.538[21]; 16. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:12.556[5]; 17. 19-Todd Daun, 00:12.563[18]; 18. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 00:12.643[1]; 19. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.649[17]; 20. 7-Scott Uttech, 00:12.777[13]; 21. 10V-Matt VandeVere, 00:13.042[7]; 22. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:13.245[16]; 23. 12-Michael Decker, 00:13.295[27]; 24. 20R-Rob Pribnow, 00:13.425[19]; 25. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 00:13.519[12]; 26. 18-Keith Fellner, 00:13.809[11]; 27. 10WX-Dan Wade, 00:14.741[25]

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