2009 IRA Champ, Bill Balog visits 2 New Tracks and Brings Home 2 Solid Finishes

With the 2009 IRA season in the books, Bill Balog and the B Squared Motorsports team decided to go try some new tracks this past weekend. Friday the team was in action at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, IL for the 18^th Annual “Shaheen’s Blast from the Past” & Saturday they traveled to Farmington, MO for the Queen’s Royal at St. Francois County Raceway. Friday started off with Bill turning the 18^th fastest time in qualifying out of the 35 cars present. He would take the green flag in the 12 lap heat from 4^th and just needed a top 4 finish to transfer to the 40 lap feature. He quickly moved in to 3^rd at the start and was battling for 2^nd through out the race, but would settle for 3^rd at the finish. Bill started 15^th for the feature, and wasted little time passing cars once the green flag flew. Racing on the tight bullring was pretty tense throughout the race and passing coming at a premium at times. Once the 40 lapper was complete, Bill had fought his way to a solid 10^th place finish. The Queen’s Royal was next and Bill started the night by turning the 20^th fastest time of the night out of the 44 cars present. For the heat, Bill would take the green flag from the 2^nd position and wasted little time grabbing the lead on the first lap. He would go unchallenged throughout the 10 lap event and go on to collect his 7^th heat race win of the year. Unlike with the IRA, winning the heat race had no effect on the feature line-up, for this event qualifying was the key to success. For the Feature, which some the nation’s best drivers failed to make, Bill would take the green flag from 16^th position. The feature would go green to checkered with out any cautions, and after battling the #12 of Jerrod Hull through out the race, Bill would bring home an 11^th place finish to wrap up the weekend. The remaining 2009 schedule is yet to be determined, but a decision will be made by the end of this week as to if the team will be attending the Short Track Nationals in Little Rock, AR, October 29^th thru 31^st. Sponsorship on Balog’s 17B comes from these following companies, Buesser Concrete, Hoeft Builders, Hepfner Racing Products, HRP Wings, Race Gear X, BLZ, K&N Filters, Rod End Supply, Olson Construction, Buzz Signs & Graphix, Gaerte Engines, Plank Enterprises, Parts Associates Inc., Behling Racing Equipment, Super Shox, Simpson, Allstar Performance, & Outerwears Inc.