9/15/2017
Bill Balog Takes UMSS Inaugural Appearance at Clay County Fair Speedway
The Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series kicked off their final weekend of the season with their inaugural appearance at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa on Friday night September 15. Making a rare appearance with the UMSS, Bill Balog drove Mike Sandvig's #7 sprint car to victory when he passed Danny Lasoski on lap 18 of the 25 lap feature race. Balog earned $1,500 for the win. Balog, who normally drives in IRA and 410 Outlaw sprint car competition, picked up his second career UMSS win in just a handful of starts with the 360 winged sprint car series. Balog was not able to park in Rock Auto Victory Lane, as he needed to head to the pits and buckle into his familiar #17B sprint car for the upcoming IRA feature.
A decent field of 21 UMSS winged sprints were on hand at Clay County Fair Speedway, as three sprint car divisions took part in the program. The pits swelled with 69 sprint cars on hand, as a few teams found it necessary to park outside the pit area fence. With time constraints in place per the Clay County Fair and SLS Promotions, the UMSS ran three heats and their feature, electing not to run their usual round of challenge races. This decision was indicated ahead of time on the UMSS Facebook page and communicated again at the drivers meeting. The UMSS typically runs challenge races as part of their qualifying procedure, but there are times when circumstances dictate that they are not run. The three heats were won by Lasoski driving his own car, young Giovanni Scelzi in the BDS Motorsports #1 car, and Mark Toews in his own car. The top four drivers in passing points from the heats redrew for the first two rows of the feature. Chris Graf and Balog were on the front row with Lasoski and Scelzi firing off from row two.
Lasoski got a great start and took the early lead. A couple of quick cautions after one lap slowed the pace, as Scelzi spun in turn four and then on the restart Bill Boles stalled on the back stretch. After that, it was green flag racing for the next twenty laps. Lasoski led followed by Balog and Graf. On lap 9, Scott Bogucki moved past Graf for third and held that spot until lap 17 when 2015-2016 UMSS Champion Ryan Bowers got by him. On lap later, Balog made the winning pass on Lasoski. On lap 19, Brooke Tatnell moved by fellow Aussie Bogucki for fourth. The final caution waved with 21 laps scored for John Schulz. This set the stage for a final four lap dash to the checkers.
Balog held off all competitors in the final four laps, but positions behind him changed. Bowers moved by Lasoski for second on lap 22 and Tatnell got past Lasoski on lap 23 for third. That's the way the top three would finish with Lasoski riding home in fourth and Bogucki in fifth. The remainder of the top ten was current Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports Series point leader Derrik Lusk, Scelzi from the tail after lap 1, 2017 UMSS Rookie of the Year Chase Viebrock, 2017 UMSS Champion Chris Graf and Schulz. Sixteen cars finished with ten cars on the lead lap.
The battle for the Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports Series following the Spencer race would see Lusk still in first, but Bowers moved by Graf for second. The season was scheduled to end with a big night featuring the same three divisions at the Deer Creek Speedway the following night. However, rainy weather forced officials to cancel the program thus ending the season on an unfortunate note. This meant that Derrik Lusk of Jackson is the 2017 Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports Series Champion. Trophies and point fund checks will be distributed to the top five drivers, as GRP will make his way around to each of them this fall in order to wrap everything up. The plan was to have a nice presentation and interviews following the Deer Creek race, but the weather just would not cooperate to allow that to happen. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Chris Graf earned his second UMSS Championship while Chase Viebrock topped the GRP Motorsports Rookie of the Year title.
The UMSS wishes to thank all drivers, crew members, fans, officials, tracks and sponsors for their support during the 2017 racing season. Keep tabs on the UMSS winged sprint cars for off-season news and articles by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the red logo or by following us on Facebook. Plans are already underway for the 2018 Midwest Power/GRP Series, as those two parties continue to work on obtaining additional sponsorship for this special series of races and work with area groups in a cooperative effort to provide some great racing programs for area sprint car fans to enjoy next season.
UMSS Race Results - Clay County Fair Speedway September 15, 2017 (Race #14)
Midwest Power Equip/GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 7-Bill Balog, [2]; 2. 64-Ryan Bowers, [7]; 3. 63-Brooke Tatnell, [8]; 4. 33-Danny Lasoski, [3]; 5. 84-Scott Bogucki, [6]; 6. 2-Derrik Lusk, [10]; 7. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [4]; 8. 50-Chase Viebrock, [13]; 9. 20G-Chris Graf, [1]; 10. 99-John Schulz, [18]; 11. 5T-Mark Toews, [5]; 12. 4W-Matt Wasmund, [12]; 13. 91A-Reed Allex, [16]; 14. 35-Skylar Prochaska, [9]; 15. 77-Kevin Bradwell, [11]; 16. 75-Brandon Halvorson, [17]; 17. (DNF) 22-Kaleb Johnson, [14]; 18. (DNF) 36-Jason Tostenson, [19]; 19. (DNF) 2H-Bill Boles, [15]; (DNS) 1A-John Anderson, ; (DNS) 03-Jamey Ogston,
Lap Leaders: Lasoski 1-17, Balog 18-25. (2) cautions.
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 33-Danny Lasoski, [1]; 2. 84-Scott Bogucki, [3]; 3. 35-Skylar Prochaska, [5]; 4. 77-Kevin Bradwell, [4]; 5. (DNF) 1A-John Anderson, [2]; 6. (DNF) 2H-Bill Boles, [6]; 7. (DNF) 99-John Schulz, [7]
Lap Leader: Lasoski 1-10. (2) cautions.
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [3]; 2. 7-Bill Balog, [5]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf, [7]; 4. 50-Chase Viebrock, [6]; 5. 4W-Matt Wasmund, [4]; 6. 75-Brandon Halvorson, [2]; 7. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston, [1]
Lap Leader: Scelzi 1-10. (1) caution.
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 5T-Mark Toews, [1]; 2. 64-Ryan Bowers, [3]; 3. 63-Brooke Tatnell, [5]; 4. 22-Kaleb Johnson, [2]; 5. 2-Derrik Lusk, [7]; 6. 91A-Reed Allex, [4]; 7. 36-Jason Tostenson, [6]
Lap Leader: Toews 1-10. No cautions.
Bill Balog photo courtesy of Mark Meeks at Meeks Video.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
