Scotty Thiel won the IRA race Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway (Jeff Burba Photography)
Bill Balog led the first half of the 30 lap Bumper to Bumper IRA feature, but Scotty Thiel would utilize a restart to drive around him and eventually take the win.
24 winged 410 sprintcar teams showed up to compete on Father’s Day for the Norm Nelson Classic at Angell Park Speedway. In qualifying Scotty Thiel set quicktime over Mike Reinke. Jake Blackhurst timed in 3rd with Bill Balog and Ben Schmidt in 4th and 5th.
Heat race 1 would see Mitchel, Indiana’s Chase Briscoe pick up the win over Bill Balog. Scotty Thiel would follow in 3rd with Neitzel in 4th. The top 5 would be rounded out by Raymond Hensley.
The 2nd heat race would be won by pole starting Jeremy Schultz. Ben Schmidt would cross the line in 2nd over Mike Reinke and Justin Henderson. Russel Borland in the Wiese Trucking 23 would finish in 5th.
Heat 3 was claimed by Brandon McMullen in the Bob Hood 10w. Scott Uttech would finish 2nd and Steve Meyer 3rd. Jake Blackhurst and Scott Biertzer rounded out the top 5.
As the A main went green, Jake Blackhurst got turned around in turn 2 collecting Russel Borland and Raymond Hensley. Once the feature was restarted, Bill Balog quickly took command of the field as Scotty Thiel moved into 2nd. Thiel stalked Balog through lapped traffic but could not find a way past the Rhine Auto 17B. A caution on lap 15 for a stopped car in turn 1 setting up another restart. Thiel, who timed the restart perfect, was able to hit the bottom in turn 1 and slide in front of Balog as the pair exited turn 2. Thiel would pull away from Balog until lapped traffic once again entered the picture. Balog was able to reel Thiel back in through lapped traffic but would not be able to make his way past the Scott Thiel Builders 64 of Scotty Thiel. Thiel and Balog would finish 1st and 2nd, followed by Jeremy Schultz. Mike Reinke brought home a 4th place finish, and 13th starting Justin Henderson finished 5th. In victory lane Thiel, whose wife is pregnant, explained that the pair was waiting for a win so that they could do their gender reveal in victory lane, and what better night to do that, than Father’s Day. Scotty and his wife Alyssa shot off two confetti cannons revealing blue confetti and that they would be having a boy. Thiel exclaimed “we will be partying tonight!”
A Feature 1 30 laps | 00:00:00
1. 64-Scotty Thiel, [3]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, [2]; 3. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [8]; 4. 02-Mike Reinke, [4]; 5. 83-Justin Henderson, [13]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, [7]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [12]; 8. 7-Scott Uttech, [1]; 9. 10V-Matt VandeVere, [17]; 10. 73-Ben Schmidt, [9]; 11. 5-Chase Briscoe, [5]; 12. 10W-Brandon McMullen, [10]; 13. 12-Michael Decker, [20]; 14. 97X-Alan Gilbertson, [19]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz, [18]; 16. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [23]; 17. 29-Hunter Custer, [24]; 18. 68-Dave Uttech, [21]; 19. 63-Nick Matuszewski, [22]; 20. 4B-Scott Biertzer, [15]; 21. 85M-Steve Meyer, [11]; 22. 25-Jake Blackhurst, [6]; 23. 23-Russel Borland, [14]; 24. 70-Raymond Hensley, [16]
Heat 1 10 laps | 00:00:00
1. 5-Chase Briscoe, [1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, [3]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel, [4]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel, [5]; 5. 70-Raymond Hensley, [6]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, [2]; 7. 12-Michael Decker, [7]; 8. 63-Nick Matuszewski, [8]
Heat 2 10 laps | 00:00:00
1. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, [1]; 2. 73-Ben Schmidt, [3]; 3. 02-Mike Reinke, [4]; 4. 83-Justin Henderson, [5]; 5. 23-Russel Borland, [2]; 6. 10V-Matt VandeVere, [6]; 7. 68-Dave Uttech, [7]; 8. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [8]
Heat 3 10 laps | 00:00:00
1. 10W-Brandon McMullen, [1]; 2. 7-Scott Uttech, [3]; 3. 85M-Steve Meyer, [5]; 4. 25-Jake Blackhurst, [4]; 5. 4B-Scott Biertzer, [2]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz, [7]; 7. 97X-Alan Gilbertson, [6]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer, [8]
Qualifying 1 00:00:00
1. 64-Scotty Thiel, 00:12.377[21]; 2. 02-Mike Reinke, 00:12.391[20]; 3. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.408[12]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.582[17]; 5. 73-Ben Schmidt, 00:12.601[1]; 6. 7-Scott Uttech, 00:12.620[19]; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.644[7]; 8. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.701[24]; 9. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 00:12.744[11]; 10. 5-Chase Briscoe, 00:12.762[6]; 11. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 00:12.764[5]; 12. 10W-Brandon McMullen, 00:12.806[3]; 13. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.813[13]; 14. 83-Justin Henderson, 00:12.815[4]; 15. 85M-Steve Meyer, 00:12.858[15]; 16. 70-Raymond Hensley, 00:12.902[16]; 17. 10V-Matt VandeVere, 00:12.959[8]; 18. 97X-Alan Gilbertson, 00:12.997[2]; 19. 12-Michael Decker, 00:13.158[22]; 20. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:13.311[23]; 21. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:13.353[18]; 22. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 00:13.386[9]; (DNS) 29-Hunter Custer, ; (DQ) 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 00:12.878[10]