|
McCarl Outduels Winters for Elko IRA Score
by: Justin Zoch
ELKO, MN (July 23) - He started on the pole position but it wasn’t a cake
walk for Altoona, Iowa’s Terry McCarl as he drove to his first IRA win of
the 2010 season on Friday night at Elko Speedway. The first night of IRA
action for the AMSOIL Dirt Nationals at Elko (normally a paved track just
south of the Twin Cities metro area) saw McCarl snare the pole position
alongside Brooke Tatnell for the 30-lap feature. Tatnell used the preferred
high line in turn one to grab the lead and led McCarl and third starting
Scott Winters through the first five laps. On lap six, Tatnell tagged the
concrete in turn three and flipped. He was uninjured but finished for the
evening.
McCarl led Winters on the restart but as the leaders approached lapped
traffic, Winters took the top spot as McCarl was forced to fend off a
bottom-feeding charge from Scott Neitzel. Just past the halfway point,
however, McCarl repaid the favor and nipped by Winters in lapped traffic.
Meanwhile, Bill Balog was charging up from the 11th spot and had entered the
top five behind McCarl, Winters, Neitzel and Scott Biertzer.
With just five laps remaining and the lead pack in heavy traffic, Steve
Meyer spun in turn two to bring out a yellow flag. On the restart, McCarl
drove away from Winters and cruised to his first career win at Elko Speedway
over Scott Winters, who has never finished worse than third at Elko in IRA
action, and Biertzer. Balog edged by Neitzel in the waning laps to take
fourth. Balog, the current IRA point leader, has now finished in the top
five in an amazing 12 straight IRA shows.
Heat races for the 33 cars were scored by Neitzel, Winters, Sprint Car
rookie Jeremy Kurzman and Gregg Bakker, who passed Davey Heskin with a
fourth-turn, last lap stunner. Balog scored the B-main over Mike Reinke, who
had to pull out a backup car for the evening after crashing in the first
heat race while running second.
In qualifying, Travis Whitney lost his track record to Brooke Tatnell and
then Scott Winters before coming out late in time trials to again lower the
mark with a lap of 12.333 to capture Osborne and Sons Trucking Quick Time
and also regain the track record.
During a brief intermission, drivers passed their helmets through the stands
and raised $1,400 to benefit injured racer Travis Rilat and to help comfort
the family of his crew member Tyson Perez, who passed away this week due to
an unfortunate shop accident.
The next IRA race is Saturday, July 24, when the series returns for the
conclusion of the AMSOIL Dirt Nationals at Elko Speedway in Elko, Minnesota.
For more information on the IRA Sprint Cars, log on to www.irasprints.com.
Osborne and Sons Trucking Qualifications
Quick Time: Travis Whitney 12.333 (NTR)
30-Lap A-Feature
1. Terry McCarl (1), 2. Scott Winters (3), 3. Scott Biertzer (9), 4. Bill
Balog (11), 5. Scott Neitzel (7), 6. Gregg Bakker (8), 7. Davey Heskin (16),
8. Travis Whitney (4), 9. Mike Reinke (18), 10. John Haeni (13), 11. Rob
Kubli (6), 12. Jeremy Kurzman (5), 13. Steve Meyer (10), 14. Wayne Modjeski
(15), 15. Russel Borland (20), 16. John Sernett (19), 17. Bill Warren (17),
18. Phillip Mock (21), 19. Dave Glennon (14), 20. Kris Spitz (12), 21.
Brooke Tatnell (2), 22. Billy Hafemann (22)
Behling Racing Products B-main: 1. Balog (2), 2. Reinke (16), 3. Sernett
(1), 4. Borland (8), 5. P. Mock (3), 6. Hafemann (9) / 7. Scott Uttech (4),
8. Dave Uttech (11), 9. Andy Hunt (10), 10. Kim Mock (6), 11. Brandon Thone
(13), 12. Duane Olson (14), 13. Bill Wirth (7), 14. Matt Wasmund (5), 15.
Jamie Kloatwyk, 16. Michael Emme (12)
Weld Racing Heat Race #1: 1. Neitzel, 2. Biertzer, 3. Whitney, 4. Glennon,
5. D. Uttech, 6. Wirth, 7. Reinke, 8. S. Uttech, 9. Kloatwyk
Lane Automotive Heat Race #2: 1. Winters, 2. Modjeski, 3. Meyer, 4. Kubli,
5. Wasmund, 6. Borland, 7. Emme, 8. Richert Jr.
DMI Heat Race #3: 1. Kurzman, 2. Tatnell, 3. Warren, 4. Spitz, 5. P. Mock,
6. Sernett, 7. Hafemann, 8. Thone
 |
