SUMNER, Ill. — For the second time in as many tries, the “North Pole Nightmare” Bill Balog is a Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions main event winner.
He scored his second consecutive victory with another dominating display at Red Hill Raceway.
Balog is now a five-time All Star winner.
His latest victory notched another $8,000 payday, matching his Rumble on the River prize from one night prior. The former 10-time IRA Outlaw Sprint Series champion led all 30 circuits in his Red Hill triumph, surviving a single, late-race caution and a last lap threat from Kerry Madsen and Zeb Wise.
Vermeer Motorsports’ Kerry Madsen held on to finish second, followed by Rudeen Racing’s Zeb Wise, Cole Macedo and Clauson Marshall Racing’s Anthony Macri.
“My grandma could have driven this car tonight…it was just amazing,” Balog said. “Toward the end, I wasn’t getting through the lapped cars as well as I was at the beginning of the race. That caution with two to go actually helped us more than it hurt us. Overall, just an incredible weekend for this team. These races are so hard to win, so to get two in a row is really special. We’ll definitely celebrate this one.”
Balog’s campaign at the front of the field seemed relatively effortless, stretching his advantage to just over two seconds by the midpoint of the program. As traffic intensided, Madsen and Wise would ultimately make up ground, quickly closing the gap on Balog by the time the trio reached the two to go signal.
At that time, the main event’s lone caution flag would wave, setting up a two-lap dash to the finish.
Balog held strong, leaving behind the race for second.
Feature Results (30 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 55-Kerry Madsen [4]; 3. 26-Zeb Wise [5]; 4. 21T-Cole Macedo [9]; 5. 7BC-Anthony Macri [7]; 6. 91-Cale Thomas [8]; 7. 29-Sye Lynch [2]; 8. 4-Chris Windom [14]; 9. 17AU-Jamie Veal [13]; 10. 97-JJ Hickle [12]; 11. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 13. 51B-Joe_B. Miller [15]; 14. 45-Tim Shaffer [11]; 15. 23B-Brian Bell [21]; 16. 28M-Conner Morrell [17]; 17. 5D-Zach Daum [22]; 18. 5E-Bobby Elliott [20]; 19. 77-Geoff Dodge [19]; 20. 33$-Shane O’Banion [24]; 21. 37-Bryce Norris [23]; 22. 16TH-Parker Price Miller [6]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee [10]; 24. 42P-Preston Perlmutter [18]