Lubach, Kleindl, Waelti secure A-main victories

By Jeff Pederson of Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) July 25, 2026 – Two-time Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth nailed down a share of the division’s all-time career A-main victory record in claiming his sixth triumph of the 2026 campaign during Christmas in July at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis., on Saturday, July 25.

Three-time division champion Brad Lubach of Kiel returned to Plymouth victory lane in the 25-lap Oostburg Automotive Grand National main event.

Travis Kleindl of Beaver Dam collected his first career Sheboygan Flooring B Mod A-main win in the 25-lap main event.

Badger Midget point leader Brandon Waelti of Sun Prairie emerged victorious in the 25-lap A-main.

After rolling off from the pole, Ben Schmidt outpowered defending PDTR 360 Sprint Car track champion Kevin Karnitz of West Bend, who started second, to secure the lead on the opening lap of the 25-lap main event.

Schmidt caught the rear of the field on lap 6, which allowed Karnitz to close the lead gap. Three laps later, the red flag flew for Justin Erickson’s flip in turn two.

Following the restart, fifth starter Tyler Davis of Franklin bolted in to pressure Karnitz for the runner-up spot. The two competitors engaged in a heated duel before making contact in turn two on lap 10. The collision sent Davis hard into the wall, while Karnitz also suffered considerable damage to end the night for both drivers.

Schmidt controlled the restart while third starter Tristan Furseth of Cambridge assumed second in the running order with Billy Kreutz of Kiel, who started eighth, settling into third.

On lap 15, the leaders hit slower traffic, which gave Furseth a chance to get a closer view of the back side of Schmidt’s No. 35 machine. While immersed in lapped cars, Schmidt received a push into the back stretch wall on lap 19.

However, the 27th-year veteran recovered swiftly to maintain the lead on the way to the 33rd A-main victory of his PDTR 360 Sprint Car career to place him in a tie with Brandon McMullen at the top of the division’s all-time main event victory list.

It was also Schmidt’s sixth main event win of the 2026 campaign and the 58th victory of his Midwest Sprint Car Association career.

Furseth earned a career-best runner-up showing, Kreutz was third, T.J. Smith of Greenville moved up from the 15th starting spot to place fourth, and Joseph Hintz of Burnett placed fifth after starting fourth.

After two aborted starts for consecutive multi-car spins at the front of the pack, 2022 PDTR Grand National champion Luke Scholten of Oostburg, who was originally slated to start fifth, grabbed the initial lead after advancing to an outside front row starting position for the third attempt to begin the race.

Following another caution for a single-car spin on lap 3, sixth starter Dustin Weiss of Iron Ridge charged in to seize second and quickly set his sights on the lead. Weiss pulled even with Scholten along the outside groove on lap 6. After the two drivers raced side by side for several laps, Scholten retained full control of the lead through the halfway point.

After Scholten caught lapped traffic on lap 16, Weiss powered in to pull off a low move in turn four and take over the lead on lap 17. His advantage was short-lived, though, as eighth starter Brad Lubach followed Weiss into second and wrestled the lead away one lap later behind the wheel of an IMCA Stock Car.

A single-file restart following a lap 21 caution saw Lubach bolt away from the pack to seal his division-leading 25th career PDTR Grand National A-main victory and first triumph of the 2026 season at Plymouth.

Dustin Weiss was second, Scholten placed third, 10th starter Jeff Muehlbauer of Elkhart Lake was fourth and 2018 PDTR Grand National champ Tyler Kulow of Plymouth took fifth from the 11th starting position.

Travis Kleindl seized the lead on the opening lap of the B Mod main event from the pole. Beginning on lap 4, third starter Spencer Long of Sheboygan Falls used the low line to challenge the high-riding Kleindl for the top spot. After three laps of side-by-side action, Kleindl separated himself from Long starting on lap 7.

Kleindl went on to build a half-straightaway lead cushion before the lone caution flag came out on lap 21 for a single-car spin. Following a single-file restart, Long mounted a brief bid for the lead before Kleindl pulled away to earn his first career PDTR B Mod A-main win.

Long was second, Matt Urban of Milwaukee advanced from the fifth starting spot to take third, seventh starter Brad Buckman of Kiel was fourth and Sheboygan’s Steve Lorier advanced from the eighth starting position to round out the top five.

Starting from the inside of the second row, Derek Crane of Racine vaulted into the lead on the first lap of the Badger Midget main event. After the lone caution of the race appeared on lap 3 for a stalled car in turn four, Brandon Waelti made his presence felt, bolting to second from the eighth starting position on the restart.

Three laps later, Waelti shot past Crane to gain the lead. The current Badger Midget points leader dominated the rest of the way, building up a big half-lap advantage on the way to his third consecutive Badger Midget victory, fourth A-main win of the 2026 campaign, and 29th main event triumph of his Badger Midget career.

Cody Weisensel of Sun Prairie moved up from the sixth starting position to take second, Crane was third, Luke Wackerlin of Maple Park, Ill. placed fourth after starting seventh, and fifth starter Eric Blumer of Sun Prairie took fifth.

Tristan Furseth earned fastest overall qualifier honors in the PDTR 360 Sprint Car division with a lap of 12.310 seconds.

Miles Doherty of Delmar, Iowa, set a new Plymouth Dirt Track Badger Midgets track record by registering the fastest qualifying lap of the night in 13.500 seconds.

The 11th event of the 2026 PDTR campaign, sponsored by JDL Automotive and Detailing, attracted 84 total cars, including 25 360 Sprint Cars, 22 Badger Midgets, 20 Grand Nationals, and 17 B Mods.

As part of the evening’s Christmas in July festivities, kids had an opportunity to decorate their own Christmas stocking filled with goodies courtesy of Klips & Tips Salon of Plymouth.

The Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series is set to make its second of three 2026 appearances at The Plymouth Dirt Track this Saturday, Aug. 1. The Akright Auto 360 Sprint Cars and IRA Lightning Sprints are also on the all-Open Wheel card, sponsored by Otte Bus Services.

Spectator gates open at 4:30 p.m. with “on-track action” commencing at 5:30 p.m.

Weather information for all Plymouth Dirt Track Racing events will be posted on the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram pages, as well as the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing website – www.plymouthdtr.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, Twitter, and Instagram.

AKRIGHT AUTO PLYMOUTH DIRT TRACK RACING 360 SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt [1]; 2. 57-Tristan Furseth [3]; 3. 3BK-Billy Kreutz [8]; 4. 69S-TJ Smith [15]; 5. 14J-Joseph Hintz [4]; 6. 20W-Weston Finke [7]; 7. 69-Bill Taylor [11]; 8. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl [12]; 9. 59-Ethon Stear [10]; 10. 14AJ-Ryan Zielski [18]; 11. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [16]; 12. 11-Tony Wondra [22]; 13. 5-Chad Stouthamer [6]; 14. 51C-Brok Clifcorn [20]; 15. 30-Blake Wondra [19]; 16. 68P-Frank Perko [23]; 17. 5S-Kevin Seidler [21]; 18. 87R-Josh Rehberg [17]; 19. 55P-Brady Portschy [14]; 20. 68T-Tyler Davis [5]; 21. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [2]; 22. 3-Justin Erickson [13]; 23. 46-Steven Ruh [9]; 24. (DNS) 22B-Brandon Berth; 25. (DNS) 15-Carter Chevalier

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68T-Tyler Davis[3]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth[2]; 3. 55P-Brady Portschy[1]; 4. 59-Ethon Stear[4]; 5. 69S-TJ Smith[6]; 6. 11-Tony Wondra[5]; 7. 68P-Frank Perko[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Chad Stouthamer[3]; 2. 20W-Weston Finke[2]; 3. 46-Steven Ruh[4]; 4. 30-Blake Wondra[1]; 5. 87R-Josh Rehberg[5]; 6. (DNS) 15-Carter Chevalier

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz[1]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt[3]; 3. 3BK-Billy Kreutz[4]; 4. 14AJ-Ryan Zielski[2]; 5. 3-Justin Erickson[6]; 6. 5S-Kevin Seidler[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14J-Joseph Hintz[2]; 2. 57-Tristan Furseth[4]; 3. 69-Bill Taylor[1]; 4. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach[3]; 5. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl[6]; 6. 51C-Brok Clifcorn[5]

Qualifying 1: 1. 59-Ethon Stear, 12.888[7]; 2. 68T-Tyler Davis, 13.030[6]; 3. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.095[3]; 4. 55P-Brady Portschy, 13.151[5]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.263[1]; 6. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.365[2]; 7. 68P-Frank Perko, 13.541[4]

Qualifying 2: 1. 5-Chad Stouthamer, 12.806[4]; 2. 15-Carter Chevalier, 12.853[3]; 3. 20W-Weston Finke, 12.853[6]; 4. 30-Blake Wondra, 13.420[5]; 5. 46-Steven Ruh, 13.455[2]; 6. 87R-Josh Rehberg, 13.663[1]

Qualifying 3: 1. 3BK-Billy Kreutz, 12.342[5]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.457[4]; 3. 14AJ-Ryan Zielski, 12.583[3]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 12.596[6]; 5. 5S-Kevin Seidler, 13.035[1]; 6. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.069[2]

Qualifying 4: 1. 57-Tristan Furseth, 12.310[4]; 2. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 12.452[1]; 3. 14J-Joseph Hintz, 12.498[2]; 4. 69-Bill Taylor, 12.516[3]; 5. 51C-Brok Clifcorn, 12.602[6]; 6. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl, 12.739[5]

OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 39-Brad Lubach [8]; 2. 53W-Dustin Weiss [6]; 3. 80-Luke Scholten [5]; 4. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer [10]; 5. 24K-Tyler Kulow [11]; 6. 16-Will Schumacher [16]; 7. 13-Josh Pierce [14]; 8. 53B-Matt Urban [17]; 9. 5R-Matt Rechek [12]; 10. 15M-Justin Miller [9]; 11. 53T-Tanner Lorenz [3]; 12. 42-Jason Juech [2]; 13. 95-Donny Kulow [7]; 14. 6-Dick Hed [15]; 15. 54-Austin Yancey [1]; 16. 15-Derek Kaat [13]; 17. 48-Roger Frank [19]; 18. 77-Ron Johnson [20]; 19. 41K-Katelyn Sohrweide [18]; 20. 27-Greg Goschey [4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Greg Goschey[3]; 2. 24K-Tyler Kulow[7]; 3. 42-Jason Juech[2]; 4. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer[6]; 5. 15-Derek Kaat[5]; 6. 16-Will Schumacher[4]; 7. 48-Roger Frank[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Brad Lubach[5]; 2. 53T-Tanner Lorenz[2]; 3. 80-Luke Scholten[3]; 4. 5R-Matt Rechek[7]; 5. 13-Josh Pierce[4]; 6. 53B-Matt Urban[6]; 7. 77-Ron Johnson[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 53W-Dustin Weiss[3]; 2. 95-Donny Kulow[4]; 3. 54-Austin Yancey[1]; 4. 15M-Justin Miller[5]; 5. 6-Dick Hed[6]; 6. 41K-Katelyn Sohrweide[2]

SHEBOYGAN FLOORING B MODS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 69-Travis Kleindl [1]; 2. 59S-Spencer Long [3]; 3. 48-Matt Urban [5]; 4. 11B-Brad Buckman [7]; 5. 66-Steve Lorier [8]; 6. 3-Travis Schmidt [11]; 7. 46-Mitchell Fairbank [14]; 8. 29S-Tim Sheppard [9]; 9. 17-Brandon Knepprath [6]; 10. 19-Parker Glander [2]; 11. 73-Rory Welch [4]; 12. 27L-Brendan Ostrowski [10]; 13. 7K-Kevin Schultz [15]; 14. 19J-Justin Green [12]; 15. 117-Jim Juneau [16]; 16. 88-Eric Derks [17]; 17. 12T-Tim Thrun [13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19J-Justin Green[5]; 2. 69-Travis Kleindl[1]; 3. 29S-Tim Sheppard[4]; 4. 73-Rory Welch[2]; 5. 12T-Tim Thrun[3]; 6. 88-Eric Derks[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 48-Matt Urban[2]; 2. 19-Parker Glander[1]; 3. 27L-Brendan Ostrowski[4]; 4. 11B-Brad Buckman[3]; 5. 46-Mitchell Fairbank[5]; 6. 117-Jim Juneau[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 59S-Spencer Long[1]; 2. 3-Travis Schmidt[4]; 3. 66-Steve Lorier[3]; 4. 17-Brandon Knepprath[2]; 5. 7K-Kevin Schultz[5]

BADGER MIDGETS PRESENTED BY SHEBOYGAN’S ROCK STATION 106.5 THE BUZZ

Lyco Manufacturing A Main (25 Laps): 1. 3W-Brandon Waelti [8]; 2. 20-Cody Weisensel [6]; 3. 31-Derek Crane [5]; 4. 73W-Luke Wackerlin [9]; 5. 68-Eric Blumer [7]; 6. 8D-Miles Doherty [10]; 7. 17-Nick Kilian [2]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson [14]; 9. 51-Jordan Miklas [16]; 10. 29K-Mike Stroik [12]; 11. 7-Brian Peterson [11]; 12. 67U-Mike Unger [3]; 13. 29-Harrison Kleven [13]; 14. 53A-Spyder Akright [15]; 15. 59-Kyle Koch [18]; 16. 2-Jake Dohner [4]; 17. 97-Jim Jones [21]; 18. (DNS) 57-Matt Rechek; 19. (DNS) 98-Jim Fuerst; 20. (DNS) 8-Jake Goeglein; 21. (DNS) 81-Mike Gebhard; 22. (DNS) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr

Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Derek Crane[5]; 2. 3W-Brandon Waelti[6]; 3. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 4. 7-Brian Peterson[3]; 5. 17-Nick Kilian[4]; 6. 59-Kyle Koch[1]; 7. 81-Mike Gebhard[7]

Hoosier Tire Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Cody Weisensel[6]; 2. 67U-Mike Unger[5]; 3. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[7]; 4. 29K-Mike Stroik[3]; 5. 53A-Spyder Akright[2]; 6. 98-Jim Fuerst[1]; 7. (DNS) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr

Hoosier Tire Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15C-RJ Corson[2]; 2. 57-Matt Rechek[4]; 3. 2-Jake Dohner[5]; 4. 68-Eric Blumer[6]; 5. 8D-Miles Doherty[7]; 6. 51-Jordan Miklas[3]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[1]; 8. (DNS) 97-Jim Jones

Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (25 Laps): 1. 8D-Miles Doherty, 13.500[4]; 2. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 13.612[2]; 3. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 13.632[1]; 4. 68-Eric Blumer, 13.750[3]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel, 13.808[12]; 6. 31-Derek Crane, 13.843[20]; 7. 2-Jake Dohner, 13.949[18]; 8. 67U-Mike Unger, 13.965[10]; 9. 17-Nick Kilian, 13.989[5]; 10. 57-Matt Rechek, 14.056[13]; 11. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 14.152[6]; 12. 7-Brian Peterson, 14.179[14]; 13. 51-Jordan Miklas, 14.322[17]; 14. 29K-Mike Stroik, 14.410[9]; 15. 29-Harrison Kleven, 14.490[8]; 16. 15C-RJ Corson, 14.600[21]; 17. 53A-Spyder Akright, 14.675[15]; 18. 59-Kyle Koch, 14.716[11]; 19. 8-Jake Goeglein, 14.993[7]; 20. 98-Jim Fuerst, 16.398[16]; 21. (DNS) 81-Mike Gebhard