Bill Balog Breaks Through At Plymouth Dirt Track For First-Ever All Star Sprint Win

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – PLYMOUTH, WI – It has been a long time coming for the ten-time IRA Outlaw Sprint Series champion, but the “Northpole Nightmare” Bill Balog can now, finally, call himself a FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner, earning his place in the Series’ history book with a dominating victory in front of a packed house at the Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wisconsin.

Balog, driver of the B Squared Motorsports/Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup/CK Contractors LLC/Buesser Concrete/Wisecup Siding, Howard Law/Wayne Corini CPA/No. 17B sprint car, led 26 laps of the non-stop 30-lap program, utilizing his front row starting position to set up his eventual slider for the lead over Ian Madsen on lap five. From that point forward, it was all Bill Balog, cruising on to secure the All Stars versus IRA challenge win for a $6,000 top prize.

“This is unbelievable. I didn’t want to give that one away, I’ll tell ya,” Bill Balog said after his Plymouth Dirt Track win. “I can’t believe we finally did it. These All Star guys are really competitive. They don’t like to give wins away. I’ve been very welcomed with this Series and it’s awesome, but at the same time, the drivers and teams are really intense. They don’t want you to win.”

It was a convincing victory, nonetheless, actually charging out to a near-half-track advantage by halfway. But the North Pole, Alaska, transplant did have some opposition during his campaign, all of which in the form of lapped traffic. Slower cars entered the picture for the first time on lap eight, not distracting Balog initially, as the all-time IRA win leader put most of the back runners a lap down with ease. It was not until lap 22 when things started to get interesting.

With victory less than ten laps away, a wall of traffic consisting of eight cars flooded the racing lane ahead of Balog. Maneuvering methodically, Balog withstood the mess, getting crossed up on the cushion only once. Without saying, Balog held strong, ultimately crossing under the final checkers with a margin of victory equaling six seconds.

“I was probably pushing a little too hard,” Balog said. “Honestly, when I slowed down a little bit, I got really tight. So I just had to go pretty much as hard as I could the whole time. You can almost hear the guys behind you even if they’re not there. It makes you push harder. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

“All I could think about when I got to the mess of lapped cars was ‘don’t spin out in front of me,’” Balog continued. “My car was so good, so I could slide them when I got to them.”

Ian Madsen hung on to finish second at the Plymouth short track, followed by Rico Abreu, Spencer Bayston, and Tyler Courtney.

A Sunday night visit to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, will conclude the All Stars versus IRA challenge weekend. Like the two nights pior, the weekend finale will feature a $6,000-to-win main event.

Contingency Awards/Results: Plymouth Dirt Track – Saturday, June 5, 2021
Event: All Stars vs. IRA
Entries: 36
C&R Racing Hot Laps: TJ Michael | 11.593
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Bill Balog | 11.357
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Cap Henry
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Joe B. Miller
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Spencer Bayston
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Tyler Courtney
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Bill Balog
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Ian Madsen
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Jordan Goldesberry
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Russ Borland
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Bill Balog
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Cory Eliason (+11)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 17B-Bill Balog, 11.357; 2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 11.469; 3. 4-Cap Henry, 11.488; 4. 10-Zeb Wise, 11.536; 5. 21-Carson Short, 11.536; 6. 14R-Sean Rayhall, 11.784; 7. 2W-Scotty Neitzel, 11.819; 8. 68-Dave Uttech, 12.029; 9. 29-Hunter Custer, 12.211

Group (B)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 11.672; 2. 39-Jake Blackhurst, 11.696; 3. 51B-Joe B. Miller, 11.881; 4. 20R-Robbie Pribnow, 11.906; 5. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 12.002; 6. 26-Cory Eliason, 12.037; 7. 12W-Josh Walter, 12.380; 8. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 12.649; 9. 7R-Andy Rein, 13.480

Group (C)
1. 5-Paul McMahan, 11.701; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 11.737; 3. 13-Spencer Bayston, 11.741; 4. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 11.815; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 11.913; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz, 12.106; 7. 23-Russel Borland, 12.172; 8. 97-Greg Wilson, 12.229; 9. 18S-Byrce Schmitt, 12.733

Group (D)
1. 11-Ian Madsen, 11.680; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 11.729; 3. 73-Scotty Thiel, 11.764; 4. 8M-TJ Michael, 11.845; 5. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 11.954; 6. O7-Skylar Gee, 12.047; 7. 79-Blake Nimee, 12.201; 8. 25-Danny Schlafer, 12.314; 9. 4TJ-Brain Kristan, 12.359

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 4-Cap Henry [2]; 2. 10-Zeb Wise [1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [4]; 4. 21-Carson Short [5]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [3]; 6. 68-Dave Uttech [8]; 7. 29-Hunter Custer [9]; 8. 14R-Sean Rayhall [6]; 9. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [7]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 51B-Joe B. Miller [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 3. 20R-Robbie Pribnow [1]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 5. 39-Jake Blackhurst [3]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [5]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter [7]; 8. 43-Jereme Schroeder [8]; 9. 7R-Andy Rein [9]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 13-Spencer Bayston [2]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [3]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [5]; 4. 49-Josh Schneiderman [1]; 5. 5-Paul McMahan [4]; 6. 23-Russel Borland [7]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz [6]; 8. 18S-Byrce Schmitt [9]; 9. 97-Greg Wilson [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [4]; 3. 8M-TJ Michael [1]; 4. 9K-Kyle Schuett [5]; 5. O7-Skylar Gee [6]; 6. 25-Danny Schlafer [8]; 7. 4TJ-Brain Kristan [9]; 8. 79-Blake Nimee [7]; 9. 73-Scotty Thiel [2]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog [2]; 2. 13-Spencer Bayston [3]; 3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [1]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise [4]; 5. 51B-Joe B. Miller [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 11-Ian Madsen [1]; 2. 5-Paul McMahan [3]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 5. 4-Cap Henry [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [3]; 2. 29-Hunter Custer [8]; 3. 97-Greg Wilson [15]; 4. 68-Dave Uttech [4]; 5. 23-Russel Borland [5]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz [7]; 7. 43-Jereme Schroeder [12]; 8. 12W-Josh Walter [10]; 9. 79-Blake Nimee [11]; 10. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [14]; 11. 4TJ-Brain Kristan [9]; 12. 18S-Byrce Schmitt [13]; 13. 7R-Andy Rein [16]; 14. 14R-Sean Rayhall [2]; 15. 25-Danny Schlafer [6]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [8]; 4. 13-Spencer Bayston [3]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [6]; 6. 5-Paul McMahan [4]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason [18]; 8. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [5]; 9. 4-Cap Henry [10]; 10. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [14]; 11. 10-Zeb Wise [7]; 12. 51B-Joe B. Miller [9]; 13. 21-Carson Short [15]; 14. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [11]; 15. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [21]; 16. 20R-Robbie Pribnow [13]; 17. 8M-TJ Michael [12]; 18. 39-Jake Blackhurst [19]; 19. 97-Greg Wilson [23]; 20. O7-Skylar Gee [20]; 21. 49-Josh Schneiderman [16]; 22. 9K-Kyle Schuett [17]; 23. 68-Dave Uttech [24]; 24. 29-Hunter Custer [22] Lap Leaders: Ian Madsen (1-4), Bill Balog (5-30)