Billy Balog took command from Brooke Tatnell and went on to win his 8th IRA feature of the season at Mississippi Thunder Speedway on Friday night July 13. Tatnell started outside front row and immediately jumped out into the lead. Balog started outside row 2 and soon was by Travis Whitney and Scott Uttech in pursuit of Tatnell. Balog caught him in lapped traffic before the first caution, and actually got by to lead a lap before Tatnell regained the lead. Following the first caution on lap 10 for Phillip Mock slowing in turn one, Tatnell and Balog traded the lead on several occasions before Balog eventually took control and pulled away. Even after a couple more cautions (lap 14 and lap 26), Balog was not seriously challenged for the remainder of the 30-lap main event. Tatnell finished second ahead of Whitney, Scott Uttech and Mike Reinke. The track took rubber around the halfway mark and tires became an issue late in the race. I know Scott Uttech had a right rear go flat, but I believe that came after he took the checkers. Scotty Neitzel was less fortunate, as his went down on the final lap. Good to be on hand for the first-ever appearance for the IRA at MTS, the first sprint show on the regular oval track, and I was told the first sprint car show at Fountain City since 1984.
A total of 22 IRA sprints were on hand, and all 22 cars were able to start their feature race. Heat wins went to "Wild" Bill Wirth, Whitney and Dave Uttech. Billy Balog set the track record in time trials at I believe 12.344 or something pretty close to that time.
I know Kelly Anderson went from the trailer to Victory Lane in the super stocks. Anderson had loaded his car up expecting the rain to come before the super main, so they quickly backed it off and a feature win ensued a short time later. MTS had 11 supers, and I think there was only one caution in their feature. The 18 car USRA Mod feature was the last one on the track and had already had 3-4 cautions when it started to sprinkle, so I headed for my truck. It rained off and on most of the way up the valley, but I was happy to sneak in a show. Also thanks to MTS for moving up the IRA feature to run second behind the pure stocks in the order. A light rain fell for a couple minutes prior to the start of the IRA feature, but it quit and did not amount to much of anything on the track.
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