By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 15, 2019 – On an evening more reminiscent of late fall than early summer, three first-time A-main winners and another competitor that is no stranger to victory lane turned up the heat on an otherwise unseasonably cold evening at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, June 15.

Will Gerrits of Waupun claimed his first career PDTR 25-lap Richard’s of Dunbar 360 Sprint Car A-main victory in dominant wire-to-wire fashion. Veteran competitor Justin Ritchie of New London notched his first career 25-lap Gasroots Project Late Model A main in his debut season competing regularly at Plymouth. Jeff Muehlbauer of Elkhart Lake captured his first Career 25-lap Klips & Tips Grand National A-main and Tim Warner of Fond du Lac was victorious in the 25-lap Cellcom B Mod A main.

Gerrits grabbed the lead on the initial start from his outside front row starting spot as polesitter Paul Pokorski of West Bend tucked into second. Before one lap was completed, a four-car incident exiting turn four brought out a red flag as Bill Taylor Boltonville flipped into the frontstretch wall after 2017 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh, Plymouth’s Adam Miller and Josh Teunissen of Waldo made heavy contact. All four drivers were forced to retire from the race after their machines suffered heavy damage in the melee.

Following a complete restart, Gerrits again got the jump to lead the opening lap, while two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Danny Schlafer of Sussex slid past Pokorski into second in turn three.

By lap 8, Gerrits had built up an impressive full-straightaway advantage over Schlafer on the fast and smooth track surface. On lap 9, Gerrits caught the back of the 22-car field, which allowed Schlafer, to cut the gap on the leader slightly.

One lap later, eighth starter Travis Arenz of Sheboygan dove underneath Pokorski to claim third and quickly set his sights on Schlafer in third. On lap 18, Arenz worked his way past Schlafer into second place.

Meanwhile, Gerrits had his way at the front of the field, working through lapped traffic expertly on the way to his first career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main triumph. Arenz finished second, Schlafer finished third, Pokorski wound up fourth and 2010 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee finished fifth after starting seventh.

Justin Ritchie grabbed the lead of the Late Model A main on the opening lap from the pole with 2016 PDTR Late Model champion Tim Buhler powering his way into second from the fourth starting spot.

The first of three caution flags appeared on lap 1 for debris on the frontstretch, which prompted a completed restart. When the green flag flew, Ritchie again got the jump on outside front row starter Jim Schmidt of Cleveland to lead the opening lap.

On lap 3, the second caution appeared for an incident in turn four. Ritchie used a strong restart to bolt away from the field as Jim Schmidt dueled with third starter Charlie Schmidt of Cedar Grove for the runner-up spot.

Jim Schmidt assumed second place in turn four on lap 5 before the third and final caution appeared on lap 6 when Charlie Schmidt spun out in turn four. The restart saw defending PDTR Late Model champion Justin Schmidt of Cleveland, who started fifth, work past sixth starter Turk Letizia of Milwaukee to seize second on lap 7.

On lap 11, Letizia found himself dueling with Jim Schmidt and four-time PDTR Late Model champion Brad Mueller of Random Lake for third. The trio battled three-wide for third on lap 12 before Mueller grabbed spot for good. As Ritchie began to encounter slower traffic, Justin Schmidt closed the gap significantly on lap 14. Justin Schmidt pulled to within striking distance on lap 18.

Justin Schmidt looked as though he might make a run at Ritchie as the race wound down. However, Ritchie was just too strong as he widened his lead over the final three laps on the way to his first career PDTR Late Model A-main victory behind the wheel of the Schueffner Racing No. 70 machine.

Justin Schmidt finished second, Mueller placed third, Jim Schmidt wound up fourth and eighth starter Brett Swedberg of Shawano finished fifth.

Jeff Muehlbauer outpowered polesitter Jason Juech of Plymouth to lead the opening lap of the Grand National A main. Muehlbauer staying glued to the high grove in the early going as third starter Steven Weber of Plymouth moved in to take second away from Juech in turn three on lap 5.

Weber was closing the gap on Muehlbauer before the first caution flag of the race appeared on lap 12 when Dylan May of West Bend spun in turn four. On the restart, Juech regained second place on lap 13, while Tyler Kulow of Plymouth, who started fourth, pressured Weber for third.

After another caution flag slowed the pace on lap 15, Muehlbauer drifted very high in turn one the ensuing restart, which allowed Juech to take the lead with Kulow sneaking into second on lap 16. However, Muehlbauer recovered along the high line to set up a spirited three-car duel for the top spot, which saw Muehlbauer, Juech and Kulow go three wide exiting turn four on lap 18.

Muehlbauer emerged with the lead with Kulow gaining second and charging in to pressure for the lead on lap 20. The third and final caution flag then appeared on lap 20 when J.J. Pagel of Mount Calvary spun in turn two. On the final restart, Muehlbauer darted away from the pack while Kulow and Weber resumed their side-by-side battle for second place in the closing laps.

Muehlbauer pulled away in the waning laps to secure his first career PDTR Grand National A-main victory. Kulow placed second, Weber took third, Luke Scholten of Oostburg charged up from the 10^th starting spot to finish fourth and Juech rounded out the top five.

After the first attempt to start the 25-lap B Mod A main was aborted when Patrick Hanson of Sheboygan Falls spun in turn one of the opening lap, polesitter Jesse Cullen of Chilton grabbed the lead on the drop of the green flag.

On lap 7, outside front row starter Barry Maas of Cascade applied pressure to Cullen along the low groove. However, three laps later Maas felt pressure of his own as fifth starter Tim Warner used the high line to challenge for second.

As the leaders moved into lapped traffic on lap 12, Warner slipped past Maas on lap 14 and set his sights on the lead. On lap 16, the second caution flag appeared when Tony Gates spun in turn four.

One lap later, Cullen brought out the third and final caution of the race when he looped his machine in turn four while leading. With Cullen relegated to the rear of the field following the spin, Warner assumed the top spot.

With nothing but clear track ahead of him, Warner pulled away over the final eight laps en route to his third career PDTR B Mod A-main victory and second main event triumph of the season at Plymouth. Maas placed second, Travis Schmidt of Waldo, who started third, finished third, Marcus Hoeppner of Hartford placed fourth after starting sixth and Brandon Knepprath of Kewaskum charged from the 11^th starting spot to place fifth.

Shane Wenninger of Kewaskum won the 12-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main 1 and Tony Wondra of Campbellsport claimed the 12-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main 2.

The sixth PDTR program of the 2019 season, which was presented by Butch and Janet Hafemann, featured a total of 92 cars, including 36 PDTR 360 Sprint Cars, 20 Late Models, 19 B Mods and 17 Grand Nationals.

The next PDTR racing program on Saturday, June 22 will feature the PDTR 360 Sprint Cars, Late Models, Grand Nationals and B Mods. Hot laps will start at 5:30 p.m. with racing to follow 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: June 15, 2019

HEAT 1

1, Kevin Karnitz 2, Travis Arenz 3, Bill Taylor 4, Paul Pokorski 5, Brandon Berth 6, Chris Flick 7, Chris Clayton 8, Scott Conger 9, Mike Decker.

HEAT 2

1, Josh Teunissen 2, Adam Miller 3, Jim Melis 4, Shane Wenninger 5, Justin Miller 6, Anthony Knierim 7, Blake Wondra 8, Al Schlafer 9, Robbie Pribnow.

HEAT 3

1, Lance Fassbender 2, Josh Walter 3, Tim Haddy 4, Will Gerrits 5, Tony Wondra 6, Justin Erickson 7, Jack Vanderboom 8, Cole Possi 9, Nich Melis.

HEAT 4

1, Danny Schlafer 2, Kurt Davis 3, Tyler Brabant 4, Brandon McMullen 5, Bryce Schmitt 6, Tyler Davis 7, Doug Wondra 8, Tyler Nelson 9, Preston Ruh.

B FEATURE 1

1, Shane Wenninger 2, Bryce Schmitt 3, Justin Erickson 4, Jack Vanderboom 5, Chris Flick 6, Mike Decker 7, Preston Ruh 8, Cole Possi 9, Anthony Knierim 10. Chris Clayton.

B FEATURE 2

1, Tony Wondra 2, Brandon Berth 3, Nich Melis 4, Al Schlafer 5, Doug Wondra 6, Scott Conger 7, Blake Wondra 8, Tyler Davis 9, Tyler Nelson 10, Robbie Pribnow.

A FEATURE

1, Will Gerrits 2, Travis Arenz 3, Danny Schlafer 4, Paul Pokorski 5, Kurt Davis 6, Justin Miller 7, Jim Melis 8, Kevin Karnitz 9, Tim Haddy 10, Josh Walter 11, Tony Wondra 12, Tyler Brabant 13, Shane Wenninger 14, Nich Melis 15, Justin Erickson 16, Brandon Berth 17, Bryce Schmitt 18, Lance Fassbender 19, Josh Teunissen 20, Adam Miller 21, Brandon McMullen 22, Bill Taylor.

 

GASROOTS PROJECT LATE MODEL

HEAT 1

1, Tim Buhler 2, Joe Bongiorno 3, Jim Schmidt 4, Billy Rezutek 5, Joel Bennett 6, Brian Konitzer 7, Lukas Postl.

HEAT 2

1, Brett Swedberg 2, Turk Letizia 3, Justin Reed 4, Ron Stroika 5, Paul Parker 6, Kevin Baldry 7, Derek Janke.

HEAT 3

1, Justin Schmidt 2, Charlie Schmidt 3, Brad Mueller 4, Justin Ritchie 5, Jim Juneau 6, Zack Kessler.

A FEATURE

1, Justin Ritchie 2, Justin Schmidt 3, Brad Mueller 4, Jim Schmidt 5, Brett Swedberg 6, Justin Reed 7, Joel Bennett 8, Turk Letizia 9, Tim Buhler 10, Kevin Baldry 11, Ron Stroika 12, Billy Rezutek 13, Charlie Schmidt 14, Brian Konitzer 15, Jim Juneau 16, Lukas Postl 17, Derek Jahnke 18, Paul Parker 19, Joe Bongiorno (DNS) 20, Zack Kessler (DNS).

 

KLIPS & TIPS GRAND NATIONAL

HEAT 1

1, Matt Loehr 2, Chad Espen 3, Dick Hed 4, Steven Weber 5, Jeff Muehlbauer 6, Josh Pierce 7, Jim Fischer 8, Donny Singer 9, Josh Hitsman.

HEAT 2

1, Luke Scholten 2, Donny Kulow 3, Tyler Kulow 4, J.J. Pagel 5, Jason Juech 6, Dylan May 7, Jacob Muehlbauer 8, Derek Kaat.

A FEATURE

1, Jeff Muehlbauer 2, Tyler Kulow 3, Steven Weber 4, Luke Scholten 5, Jason Juech 6, Matt Loehr 7, Donny Kulow 8, Donny Singer 9, Jacob Muehlbauer 10, Dylan May 11, J.J. Pagel 12, Josh Pierce 13, Dick Hed 14, Chad Espen 15, Derek Kaat 16, Josh Hitsman 17, Jim Fischer.

 

CELLCOM B MOD

HEAT 1

1, Travis Schmidt 2, Justin Bauer 3, Jesse Cullen 4, Tony Gates 5, Phil Campanella 6, Brian Wieland 7, Joshua Mavis.

HEAT 2

1, Tim Warner 2, Marcus Hoeppner 3, Brandon Knepprath 4, Tim Lange 5, Patrick Hanson 6, Christopher Gilson.

HEAT 3

1, Barry Maas 2, Gary Glander 3, Mark Hoeppner 4, Andy Singer 5, Brady Harsbarger 6, Steve Lorier.

A FEATURE

1, Tim Warner 2, Barry Maas 3, Travis Schmidt 4, Marcus Hoeppner 5, Brandon Knepprath 6, Gary Glander 7, Mark Hoeppner 8, Andy Singer 9, Tony Gates 10, Steve Lorier 11, Brady Harshbarger 12, Brian Wieland 13, Tim Lange 14, Patrick Hanson 15, Joshua Mavis 16, Phil Campanella, 17, Jesse Cullen 18, Justin Bauer 19, Christopher Gilson (DNS).