IRA Outlaws Conquer Reconfigured Track
PDTR welcomed IRA Outlaw 410 Sprints back with a reconfigured track. Spectators witnessed outstanding performances by both divisions with over sixty sprints signed in.
“By virtue of a shallow invert, Balog and Mock comprised the front for the start of the 30 lap A-main contest. Mock’s spot on the pole gave him prime view of starter Jim Barr’s green flag, as the field came up to speed. Balog, starting outside of Mock, drove deep into the first two turns, and powered ahead with the lead down the backstretch. It was lead he would never give up, but one which was never entirely secure.
The lead pair of Balog and Mock put some distance on the rest of the field. Behind the pair, third place was hotly contested between young charger Blake Nimee and former, World of Outlaw regular Bill Rose. The battle between youth, and wisdom would see Nimee’s hard charging driving style score one for the youth, at least temporarily, as he worked under Rose for the third spot.
By lap seven the leaders, Balog, and Mock were already encountering lapped traffic with Balog making decisive moves to stretch his lead.
Looking behind the front running duo, the wisdom gained by years of traveling to tracks back and forth across the country, allowed Rose to find a groove to gain momentum, and he soon surpassed the youthful Nimee for the third spot. Chalk one up for wisdom.
Unfortunately for Nimee his shot at a podium finish came to an end a few laps later after clipping a tire in turn two which damaged his front end. He soon parked his ride in the infield and dropped from the chase.
By the halfway point Balog, Mock, Rose, had settled into the top three slot. Behind this group fans were witnessing two other storylines.
One, was the battle between last season’s Rookie of the Year, Jeremy Schultz, and this season’s rookie title contender Ben Schmidt. Both drivers were extremely popular with fans at the Plymouth Dirt Track as both had earned championships in the weekly 360 class before joining the IRA Sprints.
The second focus of attention was Goldesberry who began to rim ride around the outside edge of the track and he began to steadily pick off cars in the process.
Goldesberry dove past cars in rapid succession including both Schultz and Schmidt placing himself in the fourth spot. He then ran down Rose and moments later placed himself into third in the running order, proving he had one of the fastest rides on the track.
By lap 20 Balog saw his gap over Mock slowly shrink and Mock’s pace began to allow him to reel in Balog, closing within six car lengths in heavy lapped traffic.
It was lap 24 that would produce a major change in the contest. The rivalry between Schultz, and Schmidt had progressed to the point where they ran out of racing room and the pair tangled heading for turn one. Schultz became airborne taking a tumble before landing back on his wheels. He emerged from his heavily damaged machine unhurt but obviously done for the evening. Schmidt meanwhile, was able to head to the work area and rejoin the field. Dave Uttech, who had also been doing battle for the fifth spot had received some damage, and also headed to pit lane for some quick service.
With a mere six laps to the finish, and Mock closed in on his tail tank, the pressure was now on Balog to hold on for the win. As action resumed Balog pulled off a near perfect restart, powering away from Mock. Over the final laps Balog had a clear track in front of him and in driving an error free sprint to the finish, he won the event comfortably over Mock. Goldesberry managed to clear the lapped machines that had been between himself and Mock after the final restart, but had to settle for third two car lengths behind Mock’s #1m machine.
Rose held fast to fourth with Steve Meyer quietly working into the fifth spot by the finish.” – www.irasprints.com
B-Main winner: Scott Uttech
Heats were won by: Steve Meyer, Ben Schmidt and Dave Uttech
Qualifying Fast Time went to Brian Kristan with a time and new track record of 12.137 seconds.
Second year driver Chris Clayton and last week winner Josh Walter were your front row cars for the Aldag Honald Mechanical Sprints Feature Event. Clayton wasted little time as the green flag waived jumping out to an early lead over Donny Goeden who started third with Travis Luedke close behind. Only caution was on lap 7 for Josh Walters spinning in turn 4. Clayton propelled himself out into the lead again with Goeden a few car lengths behind. Tim Haddy and Kurt Davis were battling over eighth place. Goeden was reeling in Clayton and on lap nineteen he drove right past, Danny Schlafer was aggressively moving in as well. As the checkers waived Goeden (Kewaskum) crossed first followed by Schlafer (Sussex), Clayton (Waldo), Travis Luedke (Plymouth) and Jason Johnson (Campbellsport). Goeden set a new track record of 9 minutes and 28 seconds. Hard Charger: Kurt Davis passing 10 cars.
Thirty three sprints made for 2 B-main events: Randy Sippel (Elkhart Lake) and Al Schlafer (Sussex)
Heat winners: Travis Luedke (Plymouth), Donny Goeden (Kewaskum), Paul Pokorski (West Bend) and Doug Wondra (Oakfield)
Travis Luedke is running for Autism Awareness this year will all proceeds going to Children’s Hospital.
Huge thanks to all the track and safety teams for their dedication to the sport and being the first on scene to assist drivers.
Trophy Sponsorships available contact Rob or Barb Eisentraut at RC Custom Design for details.
Please join us next week for Sprint Car Driver Introductions with Extended Feature followed by autograph night. For more information please check out our website at www.plymouthpdtr.com.
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