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Blackhurst/Balog Victorious on Northern Swing

As the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association season nears its conclusion, the series headed north for a pair of races. On Friday night 20 teams entered the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisconsin for the Northern Nationals.

Preliminary action saw former Knoxville Raceway track champion Austin McCarl set quick time. Heat races were won by Brooke Tatnell, Jake Blackhurst and Scotty Neitzel.

As the A main went green, the Australian, Brooke Tatnell jumped out front. Tatnell wouldn’t hold the lead long though as Scotty Thiel was quickly all over the Vermeer 55 for the lead. Thiel would work past Tatnell and take over the point just a few laps in. Thiel established himself as the car to beat, as he controlled the race around the fast oval in northern Wisconsin.

With just 5 laps to go though, Thiel would lose that lead. Jake Blackhurst, once again behind the wheel of the Oz Motorsports 73 had finally muscled around Tatnell and was on Thiel's back door. Blackhurst would work past Thiel and lead the remaining 5 laps in route to his first victory behind the wheel of the 73, and Oz Motorsports second victory of the year. Scotty Thiel brought his Professional Plating 64 home in second followed by multi-time World Series Sprintcar Champion Brooke Tatnell. Bill Balog aboard the Rhine Auto
17b crossed the line in fourth followed by Steve Meyer.

After a long night in Superior, teams traveled to New Richmond, Wisconsin for the Jerry Richert Memorial at the Cedar Lake Speedway. With 24 teams signed in, one of the most prestigious races on the IRA calendar was set to thrill fans once again. In preliminary action Scotty Thiel set quick time while Bill Balog, Chad Boespflug, and Jeremy Schultz all picked up heat race wins.

Justin Henderson took the early lead in the feature event, but Jake Blackhurst would not let the former World of Outlaws regular get away. Blackhurst stalked the 7 of Henderson through lapped traffic looking for an opportunity to pounce. Blackhurst also faced a challenge of his own, longtime friend and IRA series rival Scotty Thiel was in third and challenging the 2018 series champion. On lap 13 however Thiel would throw his car under the Oz Motorsports 73 of Blackhurst, but spin out in his attempt to pass. On the restart Bill Balog and Austin McCarl were now also in the hunt for the win.

The top four battled, none seeming to have a distinct advantage and therefore not being able to emerge on top. With just a handful of laps remaining, Blackhurst and McCarl would see an opportunity to pass Henderson, Blackhurst went high while McCarl went low, both men looked to get around the white 7, but contact would send Henderson around and leave McCarl with a flat tire. Now with just three laps remaining, Jake Blackhurst had inherited the lead. On the restart Balog was able to sneak past Blackhurst and control the race. Bill Balog led the final three laps to claim victory in the Jerry Richert Memorial. Jake Blackhurst finished in second and Jeremy Schultz Rounded out the top three. In 18 runnings of the Jerry Richert Memorial, this was the first ever podium comprised of all IRA series regulars. Mark Dobmeier and Terry McCarl finished fourth and fifth respectively.

A Feature 1 20 laps | 00:06:33.899 Presented by Bumper to Bumper

1. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 06:33.899[3]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel, 06:34.667[4]; 3. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 06:36.333[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 06:36.517[8]; 5. 85M-Steve Meyer, 06:40.755[1]; 6. 17A-Austin McCarl, 06:40.933[9]; 7. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 06:41.451[7]; 8. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 06:42.853[5]; 9. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 06:44.869[11]; 10. 44-Chris Martin, 06:46.705[14]; 11. 7S-R.J. Johnson, 06:34.247[19]; 12. 29-Hunter Custer, 06:38.980[6]; 13. 23-Russel Borland, 06:40.381[12]; 14. 4K-Kris Spitz, 06:40.762[10]; 15. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 06:50.470[13]; 16. 14AJX-zzzHeikkinen zzzzPatrick, 06:48.903[15]; 17. (DNF) 3-Tony Kaus, 03:34.244[17]; 18. (DNF) 45-Matt Wiese, 02:54.611[16]; 19. (DNF) 4-Terry McCarl, 02:19.996[18]; 20. (DNF) 20-Ray Mandalay, 02:19.996[20]
   Heat 1 8 laps | 00:05:08 Presented by Weld Wheels
2. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 05:08.120[2]; 2. 17A-Austin McCarl, 05:08.814[4]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer, 05:13.877[3]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz, 05:18.272[1]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 05:26.558[5]; 6. 45-Matt Wiese, 05:12.200[6]; 7. 3-Tony Kaus, 05:19.534[7]
   Heat 2 8 laps | 00:04:35 Presented by All Star Performance
3. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 04:35.722[2]; 2. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 04:37.559[4]; 3. 29-Hunter Custer, 04:43.913[1]; 4. 23-Russel Borland, 04:48.020[3]; 5. 44-Chris Martin, 04:50.149[5]; (DNS) 4-Terry McCarl, 04:50.149; (DNS) 20-Ray Mandalay, 04:50.149
   Heat 3 8 laps | 00:16:19 Presented by EMI / Behling Racing
4. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 16:19.139[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 16:22.435[4]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 16:22.822[5]; 4. 64-Scotty Thiel, 16:24.401[2]; 5. 14AJX-zzzHeikkinen zzzzPatrick, 16:29.701[6]; 6. (DNF) 7S-R.J. Johnson, 03:17.039[3]
   Qualifying 1 00:16:22 Presented by Osborn and Son Trucking
5. 17A-Austin McCarl, 00:13.639[7]; 2. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 00:13.680[19]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:13.737[5]; 4. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:13.785[14]; 5. 4-Terry McCarl, 00:13.868[16]; 6. 7S-R.J. Johnson, 00:13.886[17]; 7. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 00:13.930[4]; 8. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 00:14.055[6]; 9. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:14.275[8]; 10. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:14.340[1]; 11. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:14.350[11]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:14.465[10]; 13. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:14.502[18]; 14. 23-Russel Borland, 00:14.614[15]; 15. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:14.763[13]; 16. 45-Matt Wiese, 00:14.767[3]; 17. 44-Chris Martin, 00:14.904[12]; 18. 14AJX-zzzHeikkinen zzzzPatrick, 00:15.505[2]; (DNS) 3-Tony Kaus, 00:15.505; (DNS) 20-Ray Mandalay, 00:15.505

A Feature 1 30 laps | 00:31:14.468

1. 17B-Bill Balog, 31:14.468[8]; 2. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 31:16.145[2]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 31:16.605[4]; 4. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 31:17.434[13]; 5. 4-Terry McCarl, 31:17.899[7]; 6. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 31:17.971[5]; 7. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 31:18.663[10]; 8. 7S-R.J. Johnson, 31:20.210[17]; 9. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 31:20.401[11]; 10. 64-Scotty Thiel, 31:21.333[3]; 11. 85M-Steve Meyer, 31:21.865[14]; 12. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 31:22.710[9]; 13. 23-Russel Borland, 31:22.843[15]; 14. 7-Justin Henderson, 31:29.508[1]; 15. 17A-Austin McCarl, 31:23.313[6]; 16. 44-Chris Martin, 31:24.298[12]; 17. 4K-Kris Spitz, 31:24.417[20]; 18. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 31:24.994[21]; 19. 29-Hunter Custer, 31:25.787[16]; 20. 45-Matt Wiese, 31:28.763[18]; 21. 3-Tony Kaus, 24:49.880[23]; 22. (DNF) 18S-Bryce Schmitt, 15:33.278[22]; 23. (DNF) 05-Colin Smith, 08:06.613[19]; 24. (DNF) 14AJX-Harry Hanson, 06:16.057[24]
   Heat 1 10 laps | 00:10:37.569
2. 17B-Bill Balog, 10:37.569[3]; 2. 4-Terry McCarl, 10:40.585[2]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel, 10:42.392[4]; 4. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 10:43.470[5]; 5. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 10:45.001[1]; 6. 45-Matt Wiese, 10:45.570[8]; 7. (DNF) 18S-Bryce Schmitt, [7]; 8. (DNF) 05-Colin Smith, [6]
   Heat 2 10 laps | 00:03:54.959
3. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 03:54.959[2]; 2. 17A-Austin McCarl, 03:55.587[3]; 3. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 03:56.079[4]; 4. 44-Chris Martin, 03:57.670[1]; 5. 85M-Steve Meyer, 03:59.369[5]; 6. 29-Hunter Custer, 04:03.185[6]; 7. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 03:59.765[7]; 8. 3-Tony Kaus, 04:08.156[8]
   Heat 3 10 laps | 00:04:14.074
4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 04:14.074[2]; 2. 7-Justin Henderson, 04:15.347[4]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 04:19.256[1]; 4. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 04:20.537[3]; 5. 23-Russel Borland, 04:21.197[5]; 6. 7S-R.J. Johnson, 04:22.952[7]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz, 04:14.506[6]; (DNS) 14AJX-Harry Hanson, 04:14.506
   Qualifying 1 00:00:24.210
5. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:10.887[1]; 2. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 00:10.903[2]; 3. 7-Justin Henderson, 00:10.956[6]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:11.017[10]; 5. 17A-Austin McCarl, 00:11.023[19]; 6. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 00:11.051[5]; 7. 4-Terry McCarl, 00:11.101[9]; 8. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 00:11.113[14]; 9. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:11.137[22]; 10. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 00:11.182[12]; 11. 44-Chris Martin, 00:11.222[8]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:11.226[15]; 13. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 00:11.274[18]; 14. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:11.276[4]; 15. 23-Russel Borland, 00:11.396[11]; 16. 05-Colin Smith, 00:11.560[23]; 17. 29-Hunter Custer, 00:11.564[3]; 18. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:11.593[16]; 19. 18S-Bryce Schmitt, 00:11.594[13]; 20. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:11.623[20]; 21. 7S-R.J. Johnson, 00:11.638[21]; 22. 45-Matt Wiese, 00:12.080[7]; (DNS) 14AJX-Harry Hanson, 00:12.080; (DNS) 3-Tony Kaus, 00:12.080

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