08/09/11 – The very 1st visit to the ABC Raceway
in Ashland, WI was the next event on the IRA 2011 schedule. A late morning /
early afternoon shower almost put the show in jeopardy but track officials were
able to get the track in racing condition. 22 IRA sprinters were on hand for
the Inaugural event. The night started with Bill turning the 8th
quickest time, which would line him up 4th for his heat race. When
the green flag flew, Bill jumped in position #2 & began to track down the
race leader. With the track still very wet & narrow, passing was made
difficult, lap by lap Bill closed the gap & by the time the white flag flew
he was on the leader’s rear bumper. A slight slip up in turn 2 on the last lap
by the leader gave Bill the needed break & he would go on to claim the heat
win.
With severe weather
all around the track, the 25 lap feature was pushed track side in hopes of
getting the main event completed. The field quickly aligned & went racing.
Bill took the green from position #3 & once the race went green was soon
battling for the lead. Bill didn’t have to battle long, as he quickly over took
the lead & began to stretch it out. He would go on to defend the race lead
over the course of the remaining laps, which included a few yellows. The last
yellow came on with 7 laps left which bunched the field back up. Bill went on
to have a flawless restart & would hold off the challenges that were sent
his way by the 2nd place runner. He would go on to claim his 8th
feature win of the 2011 season & first at ABC Raceway.
The Dodge County
Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam, WI was next on schedule, & once again 22 IRA
teams checked in to do battle on the “Horsepower Half-Mile”. The night didn’t
start as planned as a rocker arm broke at the beginning of hot laps which meant
no practice time for Bill. Once the car was back in the pits, the team got to
work & got the motor issue fixed. A poor draw for qualifying would send the
Race Gear X / Weld Racing 17B out last, however Bill was still able to turn the
3rd quickest time of the night. By virtue of the time, he would line
up 6th in heat race #3. He had moved all the way up to 2nd
at one point in the race & was battling for the lead when the power
steering began to spray fluid all over the place. Not wanting to take a chance
& wrecking the car, Bill backed off slightly & nursed the car home with
a 3rd place finish. Once again the crew got to work on the car after
the heat & installed a new steering gear in the Gleason Racing Equipment
#17B.
The #4 pill was
pulled for feature inversion which put the B Squared Motorsports entry in
position #6 for the 25 lap main event. Wasting little time, Bill motored his
way to the front in a rapid pace & soon was once again leading the main
event. He had to defend the race lead a few time over the course of the race
but still proved to strong for the competition as he went on to claim the
checkered flag for the 9th time this season.
The IRA takes this
week off for the Knoxville Nationals, at this point we are unsure if we will be
competing in Knoxville or not. The next scheduled IRA event is August 20th
at the Wilmot Raceway followed by the LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, IL on August
21st.
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.
