Dick Hed of Plymouth captured the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Grand National A-main victory at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, June 2. – RC Custom Design photo

Rain washes out four of five A-mains

By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 2, 2018 – The most experienced driver in the pit area also proved to be the fastest, as 79-year-old Dick Hed of Plymouth outran his fellow competitors and beat a fast-closing rain storm to capture the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Klips & Tips Grand National A main, during a rain-truncated PDTR program Saturday, June 2, at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis.

With rain looming throughout the evening, PDTR officials made an effort to accelerate the program, forgoing intermission and moving directly into A-main competition after the completion of the preliminary races.

However, shortly after Hed claimed his fourth career PDTR Grand National A main victory in a time-shortened 23-lap main event, the sky opened and a driving rain storm forced the remainder of the headline races to be cancelled.

Hed, who captured a Sportsman division championship in 1966 and a Winged Super Modified title in 1969 at the Plymouth track, started on the pole and led throughout, but the victory was far from easy as the 53-year racing veteran had to deal with pressure from a host of hungry drivers and survive five restarts in the accident-plagued race.

Hed grabbed the lead on the drop of the green flag with 2008 PDTR Grand National champion Matt Yancey of Sheboygan, who started second, providing pressure along the outside groove.

As Yancey settled into second place along the low line, Plymouth’s Tyler Kulow, who started fourth, worked his way into third with a high move around third starter Matt Loehr of Dotyville in turn two on lap 9.

The first of six yellow flags appeared on lap 19 when an infield tire was moved onto the track. On the restart, Hed continued to lead over Yancey, while sixth starter Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee dove under Kulow to assume third in turn four on lap 20.

After a pair of caution flags appeared for back-to-back multi-car spins, Davis worked his way into second place in turn two on lap 21. However, the move was negated for a four-car incident in turn three. After another caution on the ensuing restart, Davis again powered past Yancey to seize the runner-up spot.

Davis closed in on Hed’s rear bumper as the laps wound down before the sixth and final caution was displayed on lap 23, which rendered the race complete due to the 25-minute time limit.

Davis had to settle for second behind Hed, Yancey was third, Kulow took fourth and Loehr rounded out the top five.

Will Gerrits of Waupun won the Richard’s of Dunbar Sprint Car B main and Derek Fehling of Beaver Dam captured the Cellcom B Mod B main event.

The program, which was sponsored by Pit Stop Pizza of Sheboygan Falls, featured 103 cars, including 30 Richard’s Sprint Cars, 16 Gasroots Project Late Models, 17 Klips & Tips Grand Nationals, 30 Cellcom B Mods and 10 Kristine Hartmann Pleasant View Realty Micro Sprints.

PDTR racing action will continue next Saturday, June 9, with grandstands opening at 4:30 p.m. and racing scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The trophy sponsor for the program, which will include Sprint Car driver introductions, is WES Innovations.

The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth is located at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook.

Pedal Down Promotions is a full-service public relations and media services company devoted to helping clients effectively communicate with targeted audiences through a diverse array of promotional strategies and methods, including press releases, newsletters, profile and feature articles, website and social media content development, printed media, editing and layout, graphic design and book publishing services.

For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.