7/7/11 – After the first two events of the 2011 season were
rained out at the Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway in April, Bill Balog &
the B Squared Motorsports team were eager to finally turn some laps on the
“Horsepower Half- Mile” this past Friday along with the rest of the IRA
sprinters. 24 cars were on hand for the running of the Rick Schmidt Memorial;
Bill turned the 7th fastest time in qualifying with a lap time of
17.226 seconds. He started the heat race from outside row #2, and soon after
the green flew, he had moved up to 2nd place. He would spend the
rest of the remaining laps chasing down the leader but would come up just short
by the time the checkers flew & brought home a solid 2nd place
finish.
For the first time
in series history, the decision was made to run 2 feature events, with the 1st
being for points and pay & the 2nd one being for money only. For
the 1st feature, Bill brought the BLZ / Weld Racing 17B to the green
flag from the 10th position. He soon began his climb to the front
once the green flew, & he had quickly worked his way in to the top 5. He
spent the majority of the remaining 20 lap event battling with the 4th
place car, until late in the race as he was getting ready to make his move,
Bill jumped the berm in turn 2 & packed the right rear wheel full of mud
& debris, which resulted in a severe vibration. Just as Bill was getting
ready to pull in the infield & call it a night, the red flag flew &
Bill was pushed to the work area where the crew quickly assessed the damage.
The crew made the necessary repairs & Bill rejoined the field at the tail.
Once the green was back out, Bill began working his way back to through the
field & by the time the checkered flag waved he managed a 9th
place finish.
The top 10 finishers
in the 1st feature then redrew for their starting spot in the 2nd
feature; Bill was the last driver to pull a number & it just so happened to
be the #1 pill. At the drop of the green, Bill moved in to the lead & began
to pull away from the field. He soon found himself in lapped traffic & the
2nd place car was right back on his tail. As Bill continued to
battle with the lapped cars, the 2nd place car was able to over take
Bill. Once Bill cleared the lappers, he began his chase of the race leader. As
the 15 lap race was winding down, Bill had closed the gap and was on the tail
of the leader. As the top 2 were coming to the checkers, Bill had a run on the
leader & made a move to the inside, when the leader decided to drive Bill
all the way to in to the infield which made Bill have to lift, resulting in a 2nd
place finish.
After an off day on
Saturday to enjoy the long weekend, the teams were back in action on Sunday at
the 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, WI for the 2nd of 3 shows this
year at the track. 29 IRA sprint car teams / drivers were on hand & when
qualifying was all said & done, Bill had turned the 3rd quickest
time of the night with a lap time of 11.681 seconds.
By virtue of the 3rd
place time in qualifying, Bill started 6th in the third and final
heat race. The team made some changes to the car after qualifying as the track
quickly dried out & slicked off. Once the green was out in the heat, he
methodically worked his way to the front & soon found himself in the 2nd
position. A late race caution gave him the break he needed to be right on the
leaders bumper, but when the race restarted the wing ram malfunctioned
resulting in a ill handling car, & Bill had to hang on the last few laps to
bring home a 2nd place finish.
The 30 lap feature
was next on the evenings schedule, & a #4 pill was pulled for feature
inversion which meant that Bill would pilot the Astro Titanium / DMI 17B from
the 7th position. With the track continuing to slick off, the team
made a few more adjustments on the car before the feature cars rolled track
side. Once the green was out Bill began to slice & dice his way through the
field and soon was in the top 3. A caution flag soon waved, which was the break
Bill had been hoping for as he was now on the rear bumper of the lead cars. On
the restart he easily disposed of the 2nd place car & began to
work on the leader. He didn’t have to battle long as he easily moved past him as
well. Once in the lead, he began to quickly open up a large lead on the field.
Even through a few more yellow flags & a red flag, Bill proved to be the
class of the field as he went on to claim his 7th win of the year in
the last 9 starts.
The B Squared
Motorsports 17B will be in action this coming weekend with the World of Outlaws
as they make their annual Wisconsin visits at Cedar Lake Speedway on Friday
& then Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday.
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.
