06/30/11 – Another double header weekend was on tap last
weekend for Bill Balog & the B Squared Motorsports team. First up was the
high banked Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, IL. The night began with Bill
turning the 9th quickest time in qualifying out of the 31 IRA sprint
cars on hand. Next up on the agenda was the 10 lap heat race where Bill would
take the green flag from position #4. All he needed to do was bring home a top
5 finish to make the feature race, but like most the other racers out there, he
was gunning for the win. After getting a slow start when the green flag
dropped, Bill slowly closed the gap on the leader lap by lap & by the time
the checkers flew he had worked his way in to the lead & captured another
heat race win.
After catching the
breaks of the pill draw the past few races, this night was the opposite as Bill
started the 30 lap feature from 8th place. Just after Bill crossed
under the flag stand to complete lap 1, the 44 car of AJ Bruns, which was
running just in front of Bill, spun out in turn 1 & Bill had to take
evasive action and spun to avoid. Under yellow, the crew quickly checked the
car over & made sure there was nothing bent or broke, luckily nothing was
found & Bill was pushed back off to re-join the field at the tail. Once the
race went back to green, Bill began to pick off cars lap after lap and was soon
in the top 15 when another yellow flew for a spinning car. The field was soon
back to racing & Bill was back sawing on the wheel making his way to the
front. He was able to run high, low, & through the middle to get passed the
slower cars and soon found himself in the top 10. A long green flag run gave
Bill the opportunity he needed to move ahead & soon he was battling for a
top 5. With just about 5 laps left in the race, another yellow was waved. This
was not what Bill had hoped for as he felt he had a shot at the lead cars in
lapped traffic. The green flew for the final time & Bill gave it his all to
make some more bold moves but in the end he came home with a solid 5th
place finish to cap the night.
The 2nd
night of the weekend was at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, WI.
The last time the team visited here, they ended up in victory lane. Bill started
the night by turning the 4th quickest time in qualifying out of the
33 sprinters on hand. He took the green flag in the heat from the 6th
position & needed a top 4 to transfer on. The green was soon flying &
the race was on for Bill & the rest of the competition. The 1st
part of the race it looked as if the set up on the car was off as he was
running outside the top 4, but he soon found his stride and made some
outstanding moves to work his way in to the lead. He would go on to claim yet
another heat race win & lock himself in to the main event.
The #3 pill was
drawn for feature inversion, which lined the K&N Engineering 17B up inside
row #2. Bill & the crew once again gave the car some final touches in
between the heat & feature, and were ready for business when the green flag
flew. The green was in the air, and Bill quickly got to work on the 2 cars in
front of him. It didn’t take long to work his way in to the lead, once there
Bill began to put some distance between him & the rest of the field. He soon
found himself in lapped traffic, but the slower cars didn’t seem to deter Bill
as he quickly moved his way around them. The race stayed green for quite a
while which allowed Bill to put a large amount of cars between himself &
the rest of the top 5. Just as the white flag was about to fly, the 2nd
place car of Chad Blonde stopped on the track with fuel line issues, which
caused the caution flag to fly. When the field went back racing, the top 5 cars
were all knocking on Bill’s rear bumper, but like in so many races this year,
Bill didn’t stumble on the restart & would easily go on to claim his 6th
feature win in the last 7 IRA shows.
This weekend Bill
& the rest of the IRA will be in action on Friday at the Dodge County
Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam, WI & on Sunday at the 141 Speedway in Francis
Creek, WI.
To keep up on all
the latest news regarding the team be sure to visit the team website at www.b2motorsports.com. You can also follow
the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bsquaredmotorsports
or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bsqdmotorsports.
Sponsorship for the
2011 season comes from the following companies: Buesser Concrete, Hoeft
Builders, Hepfner Racing Products & HRP Wings, Diversified Machine Inc.,
XYZ Machining Inc., Allstar Performance, K&N Engineering, Astro Titanium,
Super Shox, BLZ, FK Rod Ends, B Squared Visual Solutions, Weld Racing,
Outerwears Inc., Race Gear X, Gleason Racing Equipment, Maxim Chassis, Competition
Driveline, Saldana Racing Products, Fibrestar Industries, A&E Collision and
Service, and Xtreme Stainless LLC.
