8/3/2012
Bill Balog
Bill Balog and B2 Motorsports: A Podium Finish with the All Stars and another Weekend Sweep
Bill Balog and B2 Motorsports: A Podium Finish with the All Stars and another Weekend Sweep
Union Grove, WI – July 30, 2012. Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports Team headed to Wisconsin’s “Horsepower Half Mile”, the Dodge County Fairgrounds, in Beaver Dam, WI two weekends ago on Friday, July 20th. The night started off well for the 17B sprint car as Bill would qualify in the 2nd position of the 26 cars on hand lining him up for a 6th place starting position in the 2nd heat race. In the heat race, Bill would work his way up and finish in the 3rd position, but the night would come to an abrupt end as the motor would expire after taking the checkered flag. The team loaded up and headed back to the shop to put together a game plan for the following night.
With a fresh motor mounted between the frame rails of the 17B mount, the team headed down to the Wisconsin/Illinois border on Saturday, July 21st, to take on the All Stars at the IRA/All Star Shootout at the Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, WI. Bill would lay down a lap of 13.701 second which would be the 8th fastest time of the 39 cars on hand lining him up in the 5th place starting position in the 4th heat race. Bill would advance a position in the heat race transferring him into the feature where he would start in the 8th position. At the drop of the green Bill would make his charge forward as he made his way up to the 4th position before the raced was stopped on lap #25 for a flipped racecar in turn one. With the green flag out again, Balog went back to the high side of the track to continue his charge to the front. With 2 to go, Bill brought the crowd to their feet as he swept around Cap Henry into the 3rd position. On the final lap Bill tried to make his way past Tim Shaffer in turns three and four, but came up short finishing in the 3rd position right behind Shaffer and winner Dale Blaney. Bill earned the hard charger award for the event and commented in his post-race interview, “That was cool…it was a lot of fun. Finishing third to Dale Blaney and Tim Shaffer…heck they have won the Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals between them….it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Last Friday, July 27th, Bill and the B2 Motorsports Team headed to Northwestern Wisconsin for the IRA’s first ever visit to the St. Croix Valley Raceway in St. Croix Falls, WI. The team drew an early number and took advantage of it as Bill qualified the car with a lap of 11.930 seconds which would top the 20 cars on hand putting his name in the record books for the new track record. Lining up in the 6th starting position in the 1st heat race, Bill quickly made his way into the 3rd position and would stalk leader “Wild Bill” Wirth and 2nd place runner Scotty Neitzel for the final 6 laps of the heat race waiting to make a move. Going into turn 3 on the final lap, the top 3 were running nose to tail as Wirth went high and bobble on the cushion surrendering the lead to Neitzel with Bill checking up to avoid Wirth to finish in the 3rd position. Bill would pull the #2 pill for the feature invert lining him up in the 4th starting position next to Mike Reinke and behind the front row of Neitzel and Phillip Mock. On the start, Bill would follow those three drivers through turn one, but coming out of turn two, Reinke would pull the front end off the ground and Bill would drive by him and dive under Mock going into turn three moving him into the 2nd position. Bill would shadow Neitzel until Lap #11 as he would make his way to the bottom of the track and take the lead coming out of turn 4. Bill would continue to lead through several cautions throughout the event including a green-white-checkered that would come into play due to a caution on the final lap. Neitzel tried to dive under the 17B on the restart through turns one and two, but Bill would drive off of turn two to the checkered flag netting his 10th feature victory of the season over Neitzel and Russel Borland.
The following night, the team headed to north-central Wisconsin for their 6th race in 15 nights to the ABC Raceway in Ashland, WI where Bill picked up the victory at last summer. Bill continued his strong qualifying ways as he would shatter the 1-year old track record laying down a lap of 12.382 seconds over the 20 cars on lightning fast red clay track. Bill would line up in the 6th starting position the 1st heat race, but would not stay there for long. Bill methodically made his way up to the 2nd position where he would finish behind heat race winner, Mike Kertscher. Bill once again would draw the #2 pill for the feature invert setting him up with a 4th place starting position alongside Mike Reinke and behind Kertscher and Scotty Neitzel. Bill would chase Kertscher and Reinke in the early stages of the races as the three drivers were within car lengths of each other the majority of the time. On lap #21, Bill made his way to the bottom of the track in turns three and for to move past Reinke into the 2nd position. The following lap, Bill made the same move on Kertscher through turns three and four and took the lead. Despite 2 late race restarts, Bill would maintain his lead to the end picking up his 11th feature victory of the season over Reinke and Neitzel.
After blowing an engine and not starting the feature at the Dodge County Fairgrounds where Mike Reinke cut the advantage to 37 points after the feature, Bill has now built up a 96 point cushion over Reinke in the Interstate Racing Association point standings heading into this weekend. This coming weekend, Bill and the B2 Motorsports team will head up to the Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI on Saturday, August 4th. The following week, the team will head to the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA for the 52nd Annual Knoxville Nationals from August 8th- 11th. Bill will be qualifying on Thursday night attempting to gain enough points on Thursday night to make it into the feature on Saturday.
Bill and the B2 Motorsports Team would also like to thank our continued supporters/sponsors including: Buesser Concrete, Hoeft Builders, Maxim Chassis, Hepfner Racing Products, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, K&N Filters, Gleason Equipment, Rhine Auto, FK Rod Ends, Auto Meter, Saldana Racing Products, Astro Titanium, DMI, Fibrestar Industries, Super Shox, Stumble Inn Bar and Grill, Xtreme Stainless, Allstar Performance, Competition Driveline Service, BLZ, XYZ Machining, Rhey Graphics, Outerwears, and Racer Gear X.
For more information on Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports Team visit www.billbalog.com.
Submitted By: Bill Balog