SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. – Sixteen-year-old sprint sensation Parker Price-Miller captured top honors in the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series portion of the second annual Norm Nelson Classic at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday evening.
Miller, who hails from Kokomo, Ind., is a regular with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions. He made an overnight trip from Eldora Speedway after attending the Kings Royal. Miller estimated he got about one hour of sleep prior to Sunday’s victory.
He made the trip worthwhile as he captured his seventh win of the 2015 season, and his first career checker with the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series. In doing so he became the eighth different winner in IRA competition this season, and the sixth different winner in the past six events.
“We’ve been close here at Sun Prairie several times, it was pretty cool to get a win here in a winged car,” noted Miller. “The crew, and I are running on about one hour of sleep after Eldora.”
Miller caught a hard charging Mike Reinke in lapped traffic on lap 25 of the 30-lap headliner. Miller then held off Reinke after a late race caution to earn the victory.
For Reinke, the second place performance Sunday was his third consecutive podium finishing. After having won at Manitowoc two weeks ago Reinke has notched back-to-back second place performances.
“I kind of kept messing up behind the lapped cars. I just made some wrong decisions. My crew gave me a car to win with,” said Reinke. “The crew gave me a car that was fast enough I just didn’t get it accomplished.”
Scotty Thiel equaled his best finish of the season, taking home the final podium spot.
The evening’s 30 lap feature pushed off with Reinke starting on the pole and Jordan Goldesberry to his outside.
At the start Reinke was able to slide up in front of Goldesberry garnering the lead position while Thiel did battle with seven-time IRA kingpin Bill Balog for the third spot.
Balog held the third position briefly when he suddenly lost power coming off turn four on the second lap, diving off the track while the field scattered behind him. The caution flag then appeared slowing the pace. It would be the end of a frustrating night for Balog, who earlier in the evening dropped out of the Bagder Midget Series feature after tangling with a back marker while leading.
Underway again, Reinke went back to showing the way with Goldesberry, Thiel and Miller in tow.
Miller wasted little time advancing making effective passes using the low line coming off the turns. He slipped past Thiel for third on lap four and then sliced past Goldesberry for the runner-up spot three circuits later.
Out front Reinke caught the tail of the field and began to work lapped traffic. The duo of Reinke, and Miller fought for the lead less than a car length apart darting in and out of lapped machines while separating themselves from the third place battle which waged between Goldesberry and Thiel.
On lap 17 Jeremy Schultz and Jim Moughan tangled while doing battle for the fifth spot, with both drivers coming to a halt in turn three. Both were able to continue from the tail of the field after making repairs.
Underway again Reinke went back to setting the pace with Miller increasing the pressure with each passing lap. After getting held up briefly by a lapped car Reinke would fall to Miller’s charge on lap 25. Reinke quickly gathered up momentum and started to seek a way back to the top spot.
On lap 27 Miller began to mix it up with lapped cars in effort to hold the lead spot, the machines of Blake Nimee, and Matt Vandervere would come to a rest on the racing surface on lap setting up a dash to the finish. At the same time Goldesberry dropped from the event while running fourth.
Miller got a solid restart and Reinke was unable to challenge, having instead to fend off the advances of Thiel who was seeking the second spot. Miller extended his lead to five car lengths over the final circuits to claim the victory. Reinke earned runner-up honors for the second straight week with Thiel joining the lead duo on the podium with a third place effort.