By Jeff Pederson – Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 21, 2022 – With the touring stars of the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions in town for the series’ fifth annual appearance at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis., a contingent of Wisconsin-based drivers used their local knowledge to steal the spotlight with 10-time Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association champion Bill Balog of Hartland leading the way en route to his third career All-Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Car Series main event victory in the All Stars-IRA Shootout Saturday, May 21.

Balog, who earned his first career All Star Circuit of Champions A-main victory at The Plymouth Dirt Track last year, led a Wisconsin sweep of all three podium positions in the 30-lap All Stars-IRA Shootout A main, as Danny Schlafer of Sussex placed second and Sheboygan’s Scotty Thiel finished third.

In the 25-lap Kristine Hartmann Pleasant View Realty Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car A main, Justin Erickson of Plymouth notched his first career main event triumph.

The initial start of the 30-lap All Stars-IRA Shootout main event was negated after Brandon Spithaler of Renfrew, Penn. hit the wall in turn three. After a complete restart, Bill Balog jumped into the lead from the pole position as Danny Schlafer, who started on the outside of the front row, slipped into second and fourth starter Parker Price-Miller of Kokomo, Ind. moved up into third.

By lap five, Balog caught the rear of the field and began to negotiate his way through lapped traffic, which allowed Schlafer to cut the lead considerably. The second and final caution flag flew on lap 10 when Blake Nimee of Oswego, Ill. spun against the turn two wall.

Scotty Thiel, who started third, dove underneath Schlafer to briefly take over second place before the two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion regained the runner-up spot several laps later.

Balog, who is in his second season as full-time competitor with the All Star Circuit of Champions, had to deal with dense lapped traffic on the lightning fast and relatively narrow track surface over the final 10 laps of the event, but he skillfully sliced his way through the gaggle of slower cars to extend his lead over Schlafer in the closing laps en route to his third career All Star Circuit of Champions A-main victory, 133^rd career IRA main event triumph and fifth straight A-main victory in his last five starts in All Stars and IRA competition at Plymouth.

The victory earned Balog $6,600, including $600 in bonus money courtesy of Newton, Wis.-based Mulch Express of Wisconsin through the Gr8 Challenge, which awarded $100 to the leader of lap 8 of the All Stars-IRA A-main and an additional $500 if the leader on lap 8 went on to win the race.

“This is what we want to do running with the All Stars,” Balog said. “We want to get feature wins and better finishes than we have been getting. We’ve been struggling a bit at some of the tracks we’ve been to with the All Stars this year. For some reason, we were good tonight. I wish the All Stars would come to Wisconsin a little more often. I have to thank all of my guys and supporters for helping to make this happen and all of the great fans here for helping to make us feel so comfortable and welcome the few times we get to race here now.”

Schlafer, who owns 23 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car A-main victories and has yet to record an IRA A-main win, had to settle for an IRA career-best second-place finish.

“I can’t be too upset to run second to Bill because he’s the king of Wisconsin Sprint Car racing,” Schlafer said. “To run second is a hell of a night for us and to do it with the All Stars is an honor. This place is special to me as I ran a  lot of 360 stuff here over the years. My crew is what puts me here. I may get all the credit as the driver, but they make me look good.”

Thiel placed third, Price-Miller was fourth and Kyle Reinhardt of Neptune City, N.J. finished fifth after starting seventh.

The opening lap of the 25-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main saw 2018 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Justin Miller of Plymouth and Justin Erickson, who started fourth, duel side by side over the first two laps before Erickson surged into the lead in turn two on lap 3.

By lap 6, Erickson proceeded to bolt out to a full-straightaway advantage over Miller before encountering lapped traffic for the first time on lap 10.

Two laps later, the first of two caution flags appeared when Chris Larson of Franksville spun in turn two. On the restart, Tim Haddy of Waupun, who started on the pole, used the high groove to turn to surge past Miller into second place,

Miller battled back on lap 15 as Haddy and Miller swapped the runner-up spot back-and-forth over the next five laps before Haddy regained the position on lap 20. One lap later, Larson spun again in turn four to bring out the second and final caution flag of the race.

Erickson controlled the ensuring single-file restart and held on over the final four laps to collect his first career PDTR 360 Sprint A-main victory.

Haddy finished second, Miller wound up third, defending PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Travis Arenz of Sheboygan Falls, who started 18^th, charged up through the field to place fourth and 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who started fifth, rounded out the top five.

Justin Peck of Monrovia, Ind. won the 12-lap All Stars-IRA B main. Two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee won the 15-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main.

In All Stars-IRA qualifying, Parker Price-Miller led the way by establishing a new PDTR track record with a lap of 10.895 seconds to shatter Scotty Thiel’s previous track record of 11.300 set on July 1, 2021.

2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett earned overall fast qualifier honors in the PDTR 360 Sprint Car division with a lap of 12.696 seconds.

The third PDTR program of the 2022 campaign, which was sponsored by JDL Automotive, drew a strong field of 36 All Stars-IRA 410 Sprint Cars and 31 PDTR 360 Sprint Cars.

This week’s Military Night Plymouth Dirt Track Racing program on Saturday, May 28 will feature free admission for all U.S. Military members with valid identification in honor of Memorial Day weekend.

In addition, Kindred Hearts families will hand out American flags to kids courtesy of B93 Sheboygan’s Country. Kindred Hearts is a non-profit that helps out family members that are taking care of children of other family members who are unable to. For example, grandparents who are raising their own grandchildren.

The trophy sponsor for the racing program on Saturday, May 28 is Pedal Down Promotions.

Spectator gates open at 4:30 p.m. with 360 Sprint Car hot laps/group qualifying at 5:30 p.m. and racing to begin at 6 p.m.

The new book “Racing Recollections – Plymouth Racetrack Fans & Drivers 1950-2021” by Dennis Darovich of Sheboygan, George Baumann of Waupun and Verla Peichl of Sheboygan Falls will be available for purchase at every race during the 2022 PDTR season, as well as at the Sheboygan County Fair office during regular business hours and online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

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

TEZOS ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – BUMPER TO BUMPER INTERSTATE RACING ASSOCIATION 410 SPRINT CARS

QUALIFYING

1, Parker Price-Miller 10.895 2, Scotty Thiel 10.941 3, Zeb Wise 10.960 4, Justin Peck 11.108 5, Jake Neuman 11.162 6, Danny Schlafer 11.163 7, Bill Balog 11.199 8, Cap Henry 11.238 9, Scott Bogucki 11.258 10, Hunter Schuerenberg 11.272 11, Kyle Reinhardt 11.277 12, Cory Eliason 11.295 13, Steve Meyer 11.318 14, Jordan Goldesberry 11.332 15, Kyle Schuett 11.348 16, Jack Routson 11.359 17, Tyler Courtney 11.360 18, Brandon Spithaler 11.360 19, Jake Blackhurst 11.367 20, Carson Short 11.368 21, Scotty Neitzel 11.381 22, Jeremy Schultz 11.383 23, Kevin Thomas Jr. 11.404 24, Tyler Tischendorf 11.475 25, Chris Windom 11.483 26, Hunter Custer 11.490 27, Sean Rayhall 11.536 28, Austin Hartmann 11.560 29, Blake Nimee 11.561 30, Dave Uttech 11.565 31, Russel Borland 11.574 32, Kris Spitz 11.584 33, Jereme Schroeder 11.729 34, Scott Biertzer 11.747 35, Ion Stear 11.992 36, Scott Conger 11.993.

HEAT 1

1, Cap Henry 2, Jake Neuman 3, Cory Eliason 4, Scotty Thiel 5, Sean Rayhall 6, Scott Biertzer 7, Jereme Schroeder 8, Scott Conger 9, Kris Spitz.

HEAT 2

1, Danny Schlafer 2, Zeb Wise 3, Hunter Schuerenberg 4, Parker Price-Miller 5, Carson Short 6, Steve Meyer 7, Scott Bogucki 8, Hunter Custer 9, Ion Stear.

HEAT 3

1, Tyler Courtney 2, Kyle Schuett 3, Brandon Spithaler 4, Kevin Thomas Jr. 5, Jordan Goldesberry 6, Scott Neitzel 7, Jake Blackhurst 8, Dave Uttech 9, Austin Hartmann.

HEAT 4

1, Bill Balog 2, Kyle Reinhardt 3, Blake Nimee 4, Chris Windom 5, Russel Borland 6, Justin Peck 7, Jack Routson 8, Jeremy Schultz 9, Tyler Tischendorf.

Dash

1, Bill Balog 2, Danny Schlafer 3, Scotty Thiel 4, Parker Price-Thiel 5, Cap Henry 6, Jordan Goldesberry 7, Tyler Courtney.

B MAIN

1, Justin Peck 2, Jake Blackhurst 3, Scott Bogucki 4, Scotty Neitzel 5, Steve Meyer 6, Jeremy Schultz 7, Dave Uttech 8, Scott Biertzer 9, Jack Routson 10, Jeremy Schroeder 11, Hunter Custer 12, Kris Spitz 13, Scott Conger 14, Austin Hartmann 15, Tyler Tischendorf 16, Ion Stear (DNS).

A MAIN

1, Bill Balog 2, Danny Schlafer 3, Scotty Thiel 4, Parker Price-Miller 5, Kyle Reinhardt 6, Hunter Schuerenberg 7, Zeb Wise 8, Justin Peck 9, Cory Eliason 10, Tyler Courtney 11, Cap Henry 12, Kevin Thomas Jr. 13, Carson Short 14, Jordan Goldesberry 15, Blake Nimee 16, Jake Blackhurst 17, Jake Neuman 18, Scott Bogucki 19, Chris Windom 20, Russel Borland 21, Kyle Schuett 22, Sean Rayhall 23, Scotty Neitzel 24, Brandon Spithaler.

KRISTINE HARTMANN PLEASANT VIEW REALTY 360 SPRINT CARS

QUALIFYING

1, Lance Fassbender 12.696 2, Anthony Knierim 12.796 3, Brandon McMullen 12.859 4, Bill Taylor 12.860 5, Justin Miller 12.899 6, Andy Rein 12.928 7, Blake Wondra 12.943 8, Tyler Davis 12.983 9, Preston Ruh 13.013 10, Jack Vanderboom 13.059 11, Chris Clayton 13.132 12, Doug Wondra 13.205 13, Justin Erickson 13.210 14, Nick Daywalt 13.336 15, Katelyn Krebsbach 13.503 16, Mike Yurmanovich 13.532 17, Alex Pokorski 13.545 18, Ben Schmidt 13.554 19, Brandon Berth 13.773 20, Kurt Davis 13.776 21, Chris Larson 13.802 22, Tim Haddy 13.839 23, Tyler Brabant 14.119 24, Jordan Paulsen 14.143 25, Dylan Winkel 14.147 26, Spyder Akright 14.161 27, Tommy Colburn 14.349 28, Cole Possi 14.450 29, Travis Arenz 14.511 30, Randy Post 15.986 31, J.J. Pagel 16.682.

HEAT 1

1, Brandon Berth 2, Ben Schmidt 3, Kurt Davis 4, Tim Haddy 5, Tyler Brabant 6, Mike Yurmanovich 7, Dylan Winkel 8, Cole Possi.

HEAT 2

1, Nick Daywalt 2, Justin Erickson 3, Doug Wondra 4, Chris Larson 5, Spyder Akright 6, Tommy Colburn 7, Randy Post 8, Travis Arenz.

HEAT 3

1, Jack Vanderboom 2, Andy Rein 3, Preston Ruh 4, Anthony Knierim 5, Alex Pokorski 6, Katelyn Krebsbach 7, Jordan Paulsen 8, J.J. Pagel.

HEAT 4

1, Brandon McMullen 2, Justin Miller 3, Bill Taylor 4, Lance Fassbender 5, Chris Clayton 6, Tyler Davis 7, Blake Wondra.

B MAIN

1, Kurt Davis 2, Travis Arenz 3, Tyler Brabant 4, Chris Larson 5, Jordan Paulsen 6, Dylan Winkel 7, Mike Yurmanovich 8, Katelyn Krebsbach 9, J.J. Pagel 10, Randy Post 11, Spyder Akright 12, Blake Wondra 13, Cole Possi 14, Tyler Davis 15, Tommy Colburn.

A MAIN

1, Justin Erickson 2, Tim Haddy 3, Justin Miller 4, Travis Arenz 5, Ben Schmidt 6, Doug Wondra 7, Chris Clayton 8, Lance Fassbender 9, Brandon McMullen 10, Tyler Brabant 11, Jack Vanderboom 12, Brandon Berth 13, Nick Daywalt 14, Kurt Davis 15, Andy Rein 16, Dylan Winkel 17, Alex Pokorski 18, Anthony Knierim 19, Bill Taylor 20, Jordan Paulsen 21, Chris Larson 22, Preston Ruh.