5/14/2017
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Balog, Thiel, Meyer Top Night One of Hopf Farms Showdown
With an extra $3000 purse for the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown, 27 drivers signed in for action at Beaver Dam Raceway for race one of the five race series. When the cars hit the track for qualifying Scotty Thiel in his Scott Thiel Builders 64 car showed why he is the point leader setting quick time. 2nd quick would be the returning Mike Kertscher, behind the wheel of the potent Thone Motorsports machine. The top 5 would be rounded out by Mike Reinke, Steve Meyer, and Wayne Modjeski.
When heat 1 went green, The King of the Sherm Nation Jeremy Schultz jumped to the early lead. When the checkered flag fell, Schultz was victorious, followed by the Meyer Electric 85m of Meyer. Thiel would come across in 3rd followed by Scott Uttech and Ryan Bowers who would complete the top 5.
Heat race 2 would see hometown hero Scott Neitzel lead all 10 laps in route to victory over Hanna City Illinois’ Jake Blackhurst. Kertscher would come home 3rd with Hopf Farms backed Russel Borland in 4th, and Modjeski in 5th
Heat race 3 saw Kris Spitz take the early lead, a lead he would hold until the closing laps when Dennis Spitz looped his 41 machine around and collected son Kris. Bill Balog would inherit the lead on the restart and use it to pick up the win. Kyle Marten would follow Balog across the line in 2nd. Joey Moughan behind the wheel of Darrell Dodd’s 11 would come home 3rd with Reinke and Dave Uttech rounding out the top 5.
B main action saw Matt Vandervere rebound from heat race troubles to lead all 12 laps and bring home the win. Behind him Blake Nimee and California transplant Austin DeBlauw battled hard for the 6th and final transfer spot for much of the race, until issues late in the race for Dennis Spitz would bring out a caution and move them both forward. Once the checkered fell, Vandervere picked up the win followed by Jereme Schroeder. Nimee used the caution to make a late race charge to 3rd followed by Rusty Egan, DeBlauw would come home 5th.
A main action saw Thiel take the early lead over Balog. Thiel and Balog would battle for the lead in the early laps until a bobble from Thiel would allow Balog to assume the lead. Through lap traffic Thiel would keep on Balog's bumper waiting for a mistake that never came. Balog and Thiel would cross the finish line in that order, followed by Meyer. The Beaver Dam duo of Schultz and Neitzel would complete the top 5. Behind them 12th starting Moughan would charge to 6th while 21st starting Nimee moved up to 11th, netting him the hard charger award.
A Feature 1 30 laps
- 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel[1]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer[4]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[7]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[3]; 6. 11-Joey Moughan[12]; 7. 02-Mike Reinke[5]; 8. 25-Jake Blackhurst[6]; 9. 99-Kyle Marten[11]; 10. 80K-Mike Kertscher[9]; 11. 79-Blake Nimee[21]; 12. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[8]; 13. 23-Russel Borland[14]; 14. 10V-Matt Vandevere[19]; 15. 73-Ryan Bowers[10]; 16. 7-Scott Uttech[13]; 17. 43-Jereme Schroeder[20]; 18. 12W-Josh Walter[18]; 19. 68-Dave Uttech[15]; 20. 4K-Kris Spitz[16]; 21. 14-Jim Fifield[24]; 22. 12-Michael Decker[17]; 23. 50-Rusty Egan[22]; 24. 65-Austin Deblauw[23]
B Feature 1 12 laps - 10V-Matt Vandevere[2]; 2. 43-Jereme Schroeder[6]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[8]; 4. 50-Rusty Egan[1]; 5. 65-Austin Deblauw[5]; 6. 14-Jim Fifield[9]; 7. 18-Keith Fellner[7]; 8. (DNF) 41-Dennis Spitz[4]; 9. (DNF) 01-Chris Dodd[3]
Heat 1: Lineup 10 laps - 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1]; 2. 85M-Steve Meyer[3]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 7-Scott Uttech[5]; 5. 73-Ryan Bowers[2]; 6. 12-Michael Decker[7]; 7. 50-Rusty Egan[6]; 8. 65-Austin Deblauw[9]; 9. 14-Jim Fifield[8]
Heat 2 10 laps - 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 2. 25-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 3. 80K-Mike Kertscher[4]; 4. 23-Russel Borland[5]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[3]; 6. 12W-Josh Walter[7]; 7. 01-Chris Dodd[8]; 8. 43-Jereme Schroeder[9]; 9. (DNF) 10V-Matt Vandevere[6]
Heat 3 10 laps - 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 2. 99-Kyle Marten[2]; 3. 11-Joey Moughan[7]; 4. 02-Mike Reinke[4]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech[5]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 7. 41-Dennis Spitz[8]; 8. 18-Keith Fellner[9]; 9. (DNF) 79-Blake Nimee[6]
Qualifying 1 - 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.446[15]; 2. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 12.500[17]; 3. 02-Mike Reinke, 12.605[6]; 4. 85M-Steve Meyer, 12.683[8]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 12.700[13]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.712[23]; 7. 73-Ryan Bowers, 12.744[4]; 8. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 12.769[5]; 9. 99-Kyle Marten, 12.880[2]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.064[24]; 11. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.085[3]; 12. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.135[21]; 13. 7-Scott Uttech, 13.252[19]; 14. 23-Russel Borland, 13.314[26]; 15. 68-Dave Uttech, 13.395[1]; 16. 50-Rusty Egan, 13.560[16]; 17. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 13.575[14]; 18. 79-Blake Nimee, 13.646[25]; 19. 12-Michael Decker, 13.659[11]; 20. 12W-Josh Walter, 13.669[7]; 21. 11-Joey Moughan, 13.686[10]; 22. 14-Jim Fifield, 13.884[27]; 23. 01-Chris Dodd, 13.897[12]; 24. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.917[9]; 25. 65-Austin Deblauw, 14.061[22]; 26. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 14.162[20]; 27. 18-Keith Fellner, 14.991[18]
Article Credit: Gared Tennyson
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson
