9/1/11 (B Squared Motorsports PR) – The 2nd & final show of the 2011 season at the Oshkosh Speedzone was the only IRA race this past weekend for Bill Balog & his B Squared Motorsports 17B. Bill started the night off by circling the lighting fast 1/3 mile in 12.818 seconds which was good enough for quick time out of the 28 cars present. For the 10 lap heat race, Bill piloted the Fibrestar Industries 17B from the 6th position, a top 5 finish was needed to move on to the A-main. The race would go green to checker with out any interruptions & Bill brought home a solid 4th place finish.
By virtue of the quick time earlier in the night, Bill got to pull the inversion pill & he ended up pulling the #3, which would put the Xtreme Stainless 17B outside row #3 for the 30 lap main event. With tire wear becoming an issue throughout the night, the team decided to put 200 compound rear tires on which they hoped would with stand the duration of the race. The 22 car main rolled trackside & was soon under green flag conditions. The first yellow flew on lap 8 & Bill had worked his way up to 3rd at this point. With lapped cars in between himself & the leaders, it took a few laps once back under green to close in, but by lap 20 he had moved his way in to 2nd. Lapped traffic was still playing a key roll in the race as Bill was able to close the gap between him & the leader as the laps started to wind down. Just as Bill was beginning to size up the leader on lap 24 the yellow flew once again. On this restart there were no lapped cars, so Bill was right on the leader’s tail. Once back to green, Bill dove to the bottom of turn 1 & was able to make the pass for the lead coming out of turn 2 only to have the yellow come back out before a lap could be complete. So it was back to 2nd & on the next restart the leader knew better than to leave the bottom open again & Bill had to try the high side to make his move. Unable to make the pass on that lap, Bill & the race leader went on to battle over the last 6 laps, but when the checkers flew, Bill had to settle for 2nd place. After looking at tires post race, the decision to go with the 200’s was the right one as Bill was the only one in the top 3 with any tread left, as they all had 100’s on.
The scheduled off night on Saturday gave Bill the opportunity to go drive for the Rhine Auto Motorsports MSA 360 team at the Plymouth Dirt Track. Bill piloted the 35R Rhine Auto car & was a teammate to 2011 EWSC Champion Ben Schmidt. The MSA uses a pill draw system to line up their heat races & #16 was drew for Bill which lined the 35R inside row #2 of heat #1 right behind the #35 of Schmidt. The 2 Rhine cars quickly jumped in to the 1 & 2 positions & ran that way until motor issues on the 35R sent Bill to the infield & resulted in a DNF. Schmidt went on to win the 10 lap event. By virtue of the DNF in the heat, Bill had to start 15th in the 15 car, 15 lap B-main which only transferred 6 to the feature. Wasting little time, Bill was soon inside the top 10 & by the midway point had moved in to 6th place. He would maintain that spot for the duration of the race & grab the final transfer in to the main. Bill piloted the Rhine Auto 35R from the 22nd & final starting spot in the 25 lap main event. He managed to keep his cool & moved inside the top 15 with in the first 10 laps. By the time the final yellow flew on lap 20, Bill had fought his way to the 11th position. After the green was back out, Bill gave it his all & tried to move ahead but when the checkered flew he brought home an 11th place finish. Teammate Ben Schmidt went on to finish 3rd. We would like to Thank Ben, Craig, Brett, Mike & the rest of the Rhine Auto Team for the opportunity to drive their car.
This coming Labor Day weekend, Bill & the rest of the IRA will be in action 3 days at 3 different venues starting on Friday at the Dodge County Fairgrounds for the Thiel Memorial. The show moves to the Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday for the Sheboygan County Fair & then Sunday at the 141 Speedway for the 3rd & final time in 2011.
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.
