Lonnie Wheatley, BRAINERD, Minn. (July 7, 2007) – Billy Balog raced from the sixth row to notch his first career American Sprint Car Series Northern Plains Region victory with a late move around Lee Grosz to top Saturday night's 25-lap Kouba Memorial feature event at North Central Speedway.
Grosz gunned into the early lead and held a comfortable lead over reigning series champion Chuck Swenson over the opening 20 laps.
But 12th-starter Balog was on the move throughout, cracking the top five by the tenth lap and then moving to fourth soon after.
With the 19-year-old Grosz aiming in on a first series victory, his straightaway advantage was erased when Mark Toews spun out of the fifth position on the 19th lap.
Restarting behind Grosz and Swenson, Balog worked turns three and four to charge by Swenson for second on the 20th lap and then repeated the move two laps later to take the win from Grosz.
Grosz settled for second, with Jerry Richert, Jr., taking the show position. Swenson was fourth, with 19th-starter Brett Geldner rounding out the top five. Alan Gilbertson was sixth, with 15th-starter Joseph Kouba, Eric Lutz, 18th-starter Dave Glennon and Dave Becker completing the top ten.
Toews, Lutz and Grosz topped heat race action. Lutz then earned an extra $500 in the Ethel Kouba Memorial Dash for Cash in money put up by the Sandberg family in memory of Raleigh Sandberg.
Jody Rosenboom's mount was destroyed following hard contact with the turn one wall in heat two. Rosenboom was uninjured.
ASCS Northern Plains Region Results from North Central Speedway:
Heat One (8 laps): 1. 5T-Mark Toews, 2. X-Chuck Swenson, 3. 20G-Chris Graf, 4. 7-Dave Becker, 5. 14-John Nelson, 6. 6-Tom Kamrath, 7. 1B-Brett Geldner, 8. 63-Jesse Cripe.
Heat Two (8 laps): 1. 5-Eric Lutz, 2. 18W-Ryan Wilson, 3. 97-Alan Gilbertson, 4. 25-Ken Melanson, 5. 37-Sye Anderson, 6. 5X-Dave Glennon, 7. 34TW-Brad Barickman, 8. K9-Jody Rosenboom.
Heat Three (8 laps): 1. 4J-Lee Grosz, 2. 87-Curt Lund, 3. 62-Jerry Richert, Jr., 4. 17-Billy Balog, 5. 55-Joseph Kouba, 6. 18-Tony Hargrave, 7. 45-Tony Norem.
Pole Dash (5 laps): 1. 5-Eric Lutz, 2. X-Chuck Swenson, 3. 5T-Mark Toews, 4. 4J-Lee Grosz, 5. 87-Curt Lund, 6. 18W-Ryan Wilson.
A Feature (25 laps): 1. 17-Billy Balog, 2. 4J-Lee Grosz, 3. 62-Jerry Richert, Jr., 4. X-Chuck Swenson, 5. 1B-Brett Geldner, 6. 97-Alan Gilbertson, 7. 55-Joseph Kouba, 8. 5-Eric Lutz, 9. 5x-Dave Glennon, 10. 7-Dave Becker, 11. 37-Sye Anderson, 12. 6-Tom Kamrath, 13. 63-Jesse Cripe, 14. 14-John Nelson, 15. 45-Tony Norem, 16. 5T-Mark Toews, 17. 20G-Chris Graf, 18. 18-Tony Hargrave, 19. 18W-Ryan Wilson, 20. 25-Ken Melanson, 21. 87-Curt Lund, 22. 34TW-Brad Barickman. DNS: K9-Jody Rosenboom.
ASCS Northern Plains Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Chuck Swenson 560, 2. Lee Grosz 558, 3. Eric Lutz 508, 4. Dave Glennon 500, 5. Jody Rosenboom 479, 6. Curt Lund 368, 7. Chris Graf 313, 8. Wayne Johnson 296, 9. Jake Peters 288, 10. Scott Winters 284.
