Taylor, Schmidt, Juech, Cullen visit victory lane

By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 25, 2019 – It was a night of firsts for four Plymouth Dirt Track Racing competitors as victory lane was graced by nothing but first-time A-main winners in their respective divisions, during PDTR’s Military Night Memorial Day weekend racing program on Saturday, May 25 at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis.

Despite heavy overnight rain showers, dry and warm weather allowed the show to go on as planned with 100 competitors in four divisions and a solid race-hungry crowd of spectators turning out for the third PDTR racing program of the 2019 season, which was sponsored by Pedal Down Promotions.

Bill Taylor of Cedar Grove turned back repeated challenges from Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series standout Scotty Thiel of Sheboygan to capture the 25-lap Richard’s of Dunbar 360 Sprint Car A-main. Cedar Grove veteran Charlie Schmidt scored a flag-to-flag victory in the 25-lap Gasroots Project Late Model A main. Jason Juech of West Bend notched a wire-to-wire win in the time-shortened 20-lap Klips & Tips Grand National A main. Chilton’s Jesse Cullen survived an action-packed, heated three-way duel with visiting Beaver Dam drivers Tim Sheppard and Elijah Koenig to come out on top in the Cellcom B Mod A main.

In the 360 Sprint Car A-main, Taylor started on the pole flanked by Nich Melis of Plymouth. Taylor got the jump on the start and pulled out to a quarter-straightaway advantage over Melis by lap 4. Two laps later, 2017 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen brought out a red flag when he flipped his machine in turn two after making contact with Waldo’s Chris Clayton. McMullen was uninjured, but he was done for the night.

On the restart. 2010 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee, who started third, bolted past Melis to take over the runner-up spot, while seventh starter Tim Haddy of Waupun followed Davis into third place on lap 8. Davis was reeling in Taylor on the lightning fast and tacky, but treacherous third-mile clay oval when the second caution appeared on lap 9 when Plymouth’s Adam Miller spun in turn two.

Visiting IRA 410 Sprint Car Series racer Scotty Thiel, who started eighth, made his presence felt in a big way on the restart as he pushed his Randy Sippel-owned 39s machine up to the outside line to power into third place on lap 10.

Six laps later, Taylor caught the rear of the field, which caused him to alter his line slightly to negotiate slower traffic. Thiel had moved into striking distance when the third and final caution of the event appeared on lap 16 when Sheboygan’s Travis Arenz stopped in turn four.

On the final restart, Melis and Haddy dueled feverishly for third while Thiel reached into his bag of tricks to try everything he could to unseat Taylor from the lead. However, Taylor held strong to turn back Thiel’s challenges on the way to his first career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory.

Thiel had to settle for second, Haddy placed third, Melis was fourth and Davis rounded out the top five.

With Charlie Schmidt starting the Late Model A main from the pole position and Mark Rose of Dorchester on the outside of the front row, a five-car incident involving Kevin Baldry of Omro, Zack Kessler of Plymouth, four-time PDTR Late Model champ Brad Mueller of Random Lake, Jim Juneau of Milwaukee and Justin Ritchie of New London brought out a caution flag before the first lap of the race was completed.

Following a complete restart, Schmidt gained the lead with Rose in tow. On lap 6, 2016 PDTR Late Model champion Tim Buhler of Greenbush moved in to pressure defending PDTR Late Model champ Justin Schmidt of Cleveland for third. One lap later, Rose powered in to challenge Charlie Schmidt for the top spot, while Justin Schmidt cleared Buhler and closed in on Rose for second.

On lap 12, Justin Schmidt nearly spun as he attempted to duck underneath Rose in turn four, which caused him to lose a lot of ground. Meanwhile, Rose kept hounding Charlie Sch

midt at the front of the field.

However, Charlie Schmidt was too strong as he held on over the second half of the race to secure his first career PDTR Late Model A main victory. Rose placed second in his first appearance of the year at Plymouth, Justin Schmidt placed third, third starter Paul Parker of Kaukauna was fourth and Buhler finished fifth.

Jason Juech grabbed the initial lead of the Grand National A main from the pole position with Donny Kulow of Elkhart Lake falling into second from his outside front row starting spot. On lap 3, Oostburg’s Luke Scholten powered up from his eighth starting spot to size third along the outside line.

On lap later, Scholten rode the high line of the narrow track surface to secure second place before a the first of a string of four caution flags appeared on lap 4 for debris. Another caution flew one lap later for a three-car incident in turn two, which involved a lengthy clean-up period to unhook the cars of Jacob Muehlbauer and Don Singer.

After two more caution periods involving multi-car incidents on lap 9, the race ran up against the time limit. On lap 12, seventh starter Tyler Kulow of Plymouth moved to take over second place along the low line. Scholten battled back along the high groove to duel with Tyler Kulow for second for two laps before Tyler Kulow suged ahead for good.

On lap 19, Tyler Kulow closed the gap on Juech as the leaders encountered lapped traffic. However, the race hit the time limit, which caused the checkered flag to fall on lap 20 with Juech earning his first career PDTR Grand National A-main victory to add to his four previous PDTR Outlaw Compact A-main triumphs.

Tyler Kulow placed second, Scholten was third, Plymouth’s Steven Weber finished fourth after starting ninth and Donny Kulow rounded out the top five.

Polesitter Andy Welter of Milwaukee, who was making his first appearance of the season at Plymouth, led the first two laps of the B Mod A main before third starter Jesse Cullen moved in to grab the top spot in turn three on lap 3.

Meanwhile, 2018 PDTR B Mod champion Tim Sheppard of Beaver Dam, who was making his first appearance at Plymouth of the season, used the high groove to take third from his sixth starting spot on lap 10

One lap later, Beaver Dam’s Elijah Koenig, who started 11^th, used the low line to move past Sheppard to gain the third spot on lap 11. Koenig then ventured to the outside line to take second on lap 14 in turn four with Sheppard following into third.

With Koenig running high and Sheppard down low, the two Beaver Dam visitors continued to duel for second, while also reeling in Cullen for the lead. Just after Sheppard surged into second place he got sideways and spun in turn two, which dropped him back to seventh place in the running order before the first of four cautions appeared on lap 19 for debris in turn two.

After another debris caution, Koenig dove low to take the lead from Cullen in turn three on lap 20. However, the pace slowed again for a spin on the frontstrech involving Don Singer on lap 21.

On the restart, Cullen battled back to regain the lead in turn three as Cullen and Koenig dueled side by side. Contact between Cullen and Koenig in turn four on lap 22 brought out the fourth and final caution flag. Race officials deemed Koenig responsible for Cullen’s spin, which allowed Cullen to keep his spot in the lead, while Koenig exited the track.

On the final restart, Cullen fended off Sheppard, who had recovered from his spin on lap 18 to gain the second spot, to earn his first career PDTR B Mod A-main victory to add to a previous PDTR Grand National A-main triumph.

Sheppard placed second, fifth starter Gary Glander of Sheboygan Falls was third, Andy Singer of Cedar Grove placed

fourth and Marcus Hoeppner of Hartford placed fifth after starting 20^th.

Justin Miller of Plymouth won the first 12-lap 360 Sprint Car B main and Travis Arenz captured the second 12-lap 360 Sprint Car B main. Mark Hoeppner of Rubicon was victorious in the B Mod B main.

The program featured a large field of 38 PDTR 360 Sprints, along with 29 B Mods, 19 Grand Nationals and 14 Late Models.

PDTR officials have announced that the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions national touring 410 Sprint Car series combined challenge event with the regional touring Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series, which was postponed by weather on Saturday, May 18, has been rescheduled for Thursday, July 25. The PDTR 360 Sprint Cars will also be on the card.

Recent NASCAR Hall of Fame selection Tony Stewart of Columbus, Ind. is expected to compete along with a large contingent of top national and regional touring 410 Sprint Car competitors. All advance tickets purchased for the May 18 event will be good on July 25.

With the Morton Buildings World of Outlaws Late Model Series scheduled to compete at The Plymouth Dirt Track just four days later on Monday, July 29, the regular PDTR racing program on Saturday, July 27 has been cancelled. The PDTR Grand National and B Mod divisions will also compete with the World of Outlaws Late Models on Monday, July 29.

The next PDTR racing program, featuring 360 Sprint Cars, Late Models, Grand Nationals and B Mods, will take place this Saturday, June 1 sponsored by Pit Stop Pizza. Hot laps will start at 5:30 p.m. with racing at 6 p.m.

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.

RICHARD’S OF DUNBAR SPRINT CAR

Date of Race: May 25, 2019

HEAT 1

1, DANNY SCHLAFER. 2, BILL TAYLOR. 3, LANCE FASSBENDER. 4,

ADAM MILLER. 5, BRANDON BERTH. 6, CHRIS LARSON. 7, BLAKE

WONDRA. 8, SCOTTY NEITZEL (DNS).

HEAT 2

1, TIM HADDY. 2, CHRIS CLAYTON. 3, KEVIN KARNITZ. 4, JUSTIN

MILLER. 5, WAYNE MODJESKI. 6, WILL GERRITS. 7, JUSTIN ERICKSON.

8, BRYCE SCHMITT.

HEAT 3

1, ROBBIE PRIBNOW. 2, KURT DAVIS. 3, DOUG WONDRA. 4, TYLER

BRABANT. 5, MIKE DECKER. 6, CHRIS FLICK. 7, TONY WONDRA. 8,

TYLER TISCHENDORF. (DNS).

HEAT 4

1, JOSH WALTER. 2, SHANE WENNINGER. 3, JIM MELIS. 4, TRAVIS

ARENZ. 5, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 6, PAUL POKORSKI. 7, TYLER DAVIS.

HEAT 5

1, SCOTTY THIEL. 2, SCOTT CONGER. 3, NICH MELIS. 4, JACK

VANDERBOOM. 5, AL SCHLAFER. 6, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 7, PRESTON

RUH.

B FEATURE

1, JUSTIN MILLER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, WAYNE MODJESKI. 4,

TYLER DAVIS. 5, CHRIS FLICK. 6, BRYCE SCHMITT. 7, BLAKE WONDRA.

8, JACK VANDERBOOM. 9, MIKE DECKER. 10, JUSTIN ERICKSON. 11,

SCOTTY NEITZEL.

B FEATURE

1, TRAVIS ARENZ. 2, DOUG WONDRA. 3, AL SCHLAFER. 4, WILL

GERRITS. 5, BRANDON BERTH. 6, TONY WONDRA. 7, CHRIS LARSON. 8,

TYLER TISCHENDORF. 9, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 10, PRESTON RUH. 11,

PAUL POKORSKI.

A FEATURE

1, BILL TAYLOR. 2, SCOTTY THIEL. 3, TIM HADDY. 4, NICH MELIS. 5,

KURT DAVIS. 6, JOSH WALTER. 7, SHANE WENNINGER. 8, KEVIN

KARNITZ. 9, DANNY SCHLAFER. 10, JUSTIN MILLER. 11, LANCE

FASSBENDER. 12, TYLER BRABANT. 13, CHRIS CLAYTON. 14, ROBBIE

PRIBNOW. 15, JIM MELIS. 16, WAYNE MODJESKI. 17, ADAM

MILLER. 18, AL SCHLAFER. 19, SCOTT CONGER. 20, TRAVIS ARENZ. 21, DOUG WONDRA. 22, BRANDON MCMULLEN.

GASROOTS PROJECT LATE MODEL

HEAT 1

1, KEVIN BALDRY. 2, TIM BUHLER. 3, JUSTIN RITCHIE. 4, MARK ROSE.

5, CHARLIE SCHMIDT. 6, JOE BONGIORNO. 7, JIM JUNEAU.

HEAT 2

1, BRAD MUELLER. 2, JUSTIN SCHMIDT. 3, PAUL PARKER. 4, CHAD

VETTING. 5, ZACK KESSLER. 6, BRIAN KONITZER. (DNS).7, JIM

SCHMIDT. (DNS).

A FEATURE

1, CHARLIE SCHMIDT. 2, MARK ROSE. 3, JUSTIN SCHMIDT. 4, PAUL

PARKER. 5, TIM BUHLER. 6, JOE BONGIORNO. 7, JIM SCHMIDT. 8, CHAD

VETTING. 9, JIM JUNEAU. 10, BRIAN KONITZER. 11, BRAD MUELLER.

12, JUSTIN RITCHIE. 13, KEVIN BALDRY. 14, ZACK KESSLER.

 

KLIPS & TIPS GRAND NATIONAL

HEAT 1

1, LUKE SCHOLTEN. 2, JIM FISCHER. 3, DONNY KULOW. 4, CHAD

ESPEN. 5, DEREK KAAT. 6, BRUCE TROESCH. 7, JACOB MUEHLBAUER.

HEAT 2

1, TYLER KULOW. 2, DONNY SINGER. 3, JEFF MUEHLBAUER. 4, JUSTIN

PEARSON. 5, JOSH HITSMAN. 6, DYLAN MAY. (DNS).

HEAT 3

1, DICK HED. 2, JASON JUECH. 3, STEVEN WEBER. 4, JJ PAGEL. 5,

JEFF LAMMERS. 6, DAKOTA CABUNAC.

A FEATURE

1, JASON JUECH. 2, TYLER KULOW. 3, LUKE SCHOLTEN. 4, STEVEN

WEBER. 5, DONNY KULOW. 6, JJ PAGEL. 7, JEFF LAMMERS. 8, CHAD

ESPEN. 9, JEFF MUEHLBAUER. 10, DICK HED. 11, JACOB MUEHLBAUER.

12, DEREK KAAT. 13, DAKOTA CABUNAC. 14, DYLAN MAY. 15, JOSH

HITSMAN. 16, JIM FISCHER. 17, BRUCE TROESCH. 18, JUSTIN

PEARSON. 19, DONNY SINGER.

CELLCOM B MOD

HEAT 1

1, TRAVIS SCHMIDT. 2, SPENCER LONG. 3, DONNY SINGER. 4,

CHRISTOPHER GILSON. 5, PATRICK HANSON. 6, BRADY

HARSHBARGER. 7, BRANDON KNEPPRATH. 8, MARCUS HOEPPNER.

(DNS).

HEAT 2

1, ANDY SINGER. 2, MICHAEL GILSON. 3, TIM WARNER. 4, PHIL

CAMPANELLA. 5, JUSTIN BAUER. 6, CRAIG GESSNER. 7, TIM LANGE.

HEAT 3

1, TIM SHEPPARD. 2, JAMES RAUTMANN. 3, ANDY WELTER. 4, MARK

HOEPPNER. 5, STEVE LORIER. 6, RORY WELCH. 7, BARRY MAAS.

HEAT 4

1, GARY GLANDER. 2, JESSE CULLEN. 3, ELIJAH KOENIG. 4, SHANE

LONG. 5, BRIAN WIELAND. 6, JOSHUA MAVIS. 7, RICK KRETSCHMANN.

(DNS).

B FEATURE

1, MARK HOEPPNER. 2, STEVE LORIER. 3, PHIL CAMPANELLA. 4,

MARCUS HOEPPNER. 5, RORY WELCH. 6, BRANDON KNEPPRATH. 7,

BRIAN WIELAND. 8, TIM LANGE. 9, PATRICK HANSON. 10, JOSHUA

MAVIS. 11, CRAIG GESSNER. 12, BARRY MAAS. (DNS).13, RICK

KRETSCHMANN. (DNS).

A FEATURE

1, JESSE CULLEN. 2, TIM SHEPPARD. 3, GARY GLANDER. 4, ANDY

SINGER. 5, MARCUS HOEPPNER. 6, JUSTIN BAUER. 7, MARK

HOEPPNER. 8, TRAVIS SCHMIDT. 9, DONNY SINGER. 10, STEVE

LORIER. 11, JAMES RAUTMANN. 12, TIM WARNER. 13, PHIL

CAMPANELLA. 14, CHRISTOPHER GILSON. 15, BRADY HARSHBARGER.

16, ANDY WELTER. 17, MICHAEL GILSON. 18, SHANE LONG. 19,

SPENCER LONG. (DNS).20, ELIJAH KOENIG. (DNS).