Bill Balog & B Squared Motorsports: “Second at Oshkosh”

9/1/11 (B Squared Motorsports PR) – The 2^nd & 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 6^th 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 4^th 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 3^rd 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 2^nd.  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 2^nd & 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 2^nd 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 15^th 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 6^th 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 22^nd & 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 11^th 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 11^th place finish. Teammate Ben Schmidt went on to finish 3^rd. 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 3^rd & 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.

Bill Balog & B Squared Motorsports: “Bill Waite Jr. Memorial Champion”

08/25/11 (B Squared Motorsports PR) – The annual stop at the Wilmot Raceway during the Kenosha County Fair was the next event on Bill Balog’s 2011 tour; the night began with Bill turning a lap time of 14.100 seconds which was fast enough for 5^th quick out of the 36 cars. Just as heat race action was set to begin, a light rain shower moved in, which prolonged the start of racing action for about 2 hours. Finally getting the racing action under way, Bill was set to start 5^th in the 1^st of 4 heats. With the track still very greasy & narrow, track position was very important. Once the race was green, Bill maintained track position until lap 2 when he drifted high in turn 1 & fell back to 8^th after losing all traction on the high side of the speedway. He spent the rest of the 10 lapper making up ground & would end up bringing home a 6^th place finish, which meant he was headed to the 15 lap B-main. He would take the green from position #2 in the B, & quickly jumped out to the lead. He went on to lead every lap & claim his 1^st B-main win of the 2011 season, which was good enough to move on to the 36 lap main event where he would start 11^th. As the field was rolling to the green flag, the front row starters decided to do a jack rabbit start which in turn caused the rest of the field to take evasive action & resulted in some front end damage on the 17B as Bill inadvertly got in the back of the 02. As the yellow was displayed for a spinning car, Bill rolled to the work area & the crew checked the car over & pulled the nose wing back forward & sent him back out to join the tail of the field. With only one direction to go, Bill was set to get to work & began his march through the field. He soon was in the top 15, then top 10 & worked his way all the way in to the top 5 before more mechanical gremlins forced him pit side which resulted in a 18^th place finish. After the crew checked things over it was discovered that all the rear brake rotor bolts had been sheared off resulting in a los off brakes for Bill & the Gleason Racing 17B.

A rare Sunday night show was next up, which took place at the LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, IL for the Bill Waite Jr. Memorial. 35 Bumper to Bumper IRA sprinters check in for the event, once again Bill was able to wheel the Gleason Racing 17B to a 5^th place qualifying result with a lap time of 11.419 seconds. By virtue of the qualifying result, Bill would once again start 5^th in the 1^st 10 lap heat race. As the field headed down the back stretch for lap 1, chaos broke out as cars were spinning, Bill was able to get the car slowed in time but was then ran over by the 2w which resulted in a flat RR tire. The red flag was displayed as the 2w ended up flipping, Bill headed to the work area & the crew got to work on changing the tire & checking everything else over. They were able get the car fixed & Bill rejoined the field at the tail. He needed a top 4 finish to move on to the feature, by the time the checkers flew, he had worked his way in to 2^nd place, which locked him in the main event. He rolled the Gleason Equipment 17B from the 5^th position for the 30 lapper. As the track slicked off, the drivers had hard time with the handle on their cars which resulted in the 1^st of many caution periods on lap 2. At that point Bill was sitting in the 6^th position; the field was able to go 3 more laps before another yellow this time of the 4B. Bill had worked his way in to 4^th by the time a red flag was displayed on lap 8. There were 6 more yellows/reds before the field could complete 10 laps, which resulted in officials shortening the race to 20 laps. Once they were able to get racing, Bill quickly moved in to 2^nd & had his eyes on the leader. It didn’t take long & he soon caught the leader & over took him exiting turn 4. Bill would complete the rest of the race unchallenged & go on to claim the checkered flag for his 10^th win of the year & 25 of his short IRA career.

This week, Bill will have his B Squared Motorsports entry at the Oshkosh Speedzone in Oshkosh, WI on Friday, August 26^th. Bill & the team did capture the last IRA event at the track in June. Saturday is an off day for Bill & the IRA.

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.

Wilmot Raceway
Saturday August 20th
Wilmot, WI

Qualifying: 5th out of 36 cars
Heat: Start 5th / Finish 6th
B-Main: Start 2nd / Finish 1st
Feature: Start 11th / Finish 18th

LaSalle Speedway
Sunday August 21st
LaSalle, IL

Qualifying: 5th out of 35 cars
Heat: Start 5th / Finish 2nd
Feature: Start 5th / Finish 1st

Bill Balog & B Squared Motorsports: “51^st Knoxville Nationals”

08/18/11 (B Squared Motorsports PR) – After winning the last IRA show prior to the Nationals, Bill Balog & team weren’t 100% sure they wanted to risk anything by heading to Knoxville, but after deciding late Wednesday afternoon, the hauler was enroute come Thursday morning. With qualifying being so crucial at the Nationals, the 72 pill that was drawn was not what the team was after, which put Bill out 53^rd out of 54 cars. Even with going out late, he was able to turn a lap time of 15.727 seconds which was good enough for 29^th quick. The qualifying time placed Bill in the 4^th of 5 heats lined up in the 3^rd spot. A top 4 finish was needed to lock in to the feature event, as the field rolled to the green; Bill quickly put the hammer down & settled in line. He eventually worked his way up to 2^nd by the midway point & would go on to finish in that spot, which solidly locked him in the A-main. By virtue of the points he accumulated from qualifying & the heat race, Bill piloted the Saldana Racing Products / Outerwears Performance Products 17B from position #13. From the drop of the green in the 25 lap main, Bill was able to gain from his position & keep his nose out of trouble until lap 14 when entering turn 1, he heard the something in the motor snap & he would coast to a stop in turn 4. He would be credited with a 23^rd place finish. After getting the car back to the pits, the team began to diagnose the problem & came across a broken rocker arm and broken cam. With the teams other motor in getting fixed, they rented a power plant from fellow IRA competitor, Todd King, to finish off the week.

Friday night, Bill was invited to participate in the very 1^st Race of Champions. The race consisted of fellow 2010 410 champions from across the county, past Knoxville Raceway champs & past Nationals champions. The 25 lap race was lined up via a revenge draw of all the participants; Bill was given the 13 spot by Brian Brown. Once the field went green, Bill began to defend his position from those behind him & also was working on moving forward himself. He managed once again to stay out of trouble through out the 25 lapper, which had plenty of excitement, & bring home a solid 14^th place finish.

Saturday was the Finale for the 51^st Annual Knoxville Nationals; the only races left were all the main events. After all the points were accumulated, Bill sat in position #47 out of 99 cars. This would line him up 7^th in the 15 lap C-Main. Only the top 2 finishers moved on to the tail of the B-main. Before the race could even go green, they were under a red flag for the 6 car of Jac Haudenschild who broke a rear axle & flipped during warm ups. Once the debris was cleaned, the field was set to go. At the drop of the green, Bill moved in to the 6^th position & maintained that spot for most of the race until moving past the 5^th place car of Ryan Anderson. Once in 5^th Bill began to close on 4^th place runner Tony Bruce Jr, but ran out of laps & would finish in position #5.

Up next for Bill & the B Squared Motorsports team will be the Wilmot Raceway on Saturday August 20^th & Sunday August 21st at the LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, IL. Both events are IRA sanctioned.

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.

51st Knoxville Nationals
Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville, IA
8/11, 8/12, & 8/13

8/11
Qualified 29th out of 54 cars
Heat: Start 3rd / Finish 2nd
Feature: Start 13th / Finish 23rd (Broke motor)

8/12
Invitational Race of Champions
Start 13th / Finish 14th

8/13
C-Main
Start 7th / Finish 5th

Bill Balog & B Squared Motorsports: “2 Weeks, 2 Tracks, and 2 Wins”

08/09/11 – The very 1^st 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 8^th quickest time, which would line him up 4^th 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 2^nd place runner. He would go on to claim his 8^th 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 3^rd quickest time of the night. By virtue of the time, he would line up 6^th in heat race #3. He had moved all the way up to 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 9^th 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 20^th at the Wilmot Raceway followed by the LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, IL on August 21^st.

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.

Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway

Friday, August 5th
Beaver Dam WI

Qualified: 3rd out of 22 cars
Heat Race: Start 6th / Finish 3rd
Feature: Start 6th / Finish 1st

ABC Raceway
Saturday, July 30th
Ashland, WI

Qualified: 8th out of 22 cars
Heat Race: Start 4th / Finish 1st
Feature: Start 3rd / Finish 1st

Bill Balog & B Squared Motorsports: “Rained Out at Wilmot”

07/28/11 – The 2^nd of 4 scheduled IRA shows at the Wilmot Raceway was up next on Bill Balog’s B Squared Motorsports schedule. The event was set to pay to tribute to Roger Iiles, a long time supporter of racing in the Wilmot area.  As much as everyone wanted to get the event in, the 5” of rain during the 36 hours leading up to the event proved to much as track & series officials had to cancel the event. Bill & the rest of the IRA will return to Wilmot on Saturday, August 20^th for the annual Kenosha County Fair Night.

This coming Saturday, July 30^th, Bill & the IRA will be in action at the ABC Raceway in Ashland, WI. This event will be the 1^st ever winged sprint show at the Ashland facility. For more info log on to www.abcraceway.com.

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.