Late charge nets top-10 finish for Pokorski Motorsports
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 24, 2016 – Coming off a weekend in which uncooperative weather kept the Paul Pokorski Motorsports No. 4 sprint car sitting idle in shop, the team was anxious to get back to the track for the second night of Plymouth Dirt Track Racing action at Sheboygan County Fair Park in Plymouth Saturday, May 21.
Beautiful weather greeted drivers, crews, workers and fans, as a stout field of 32 PDTR sprint cars filled the pits to do battle on the venerable one-third mile clay oval track.
Pokorski started the second 10-lap sprint car heat race on the outside of the front row, next to polesitter Spyder Akright. On the drop of the green flag, Akright got the jump to take the lead into the first turn.
As Akright raced through the middle lane of the racing surface at the front of the field, Pokorski settled into second place and began to search for a line to get past the leader.
By lap 4, two-time defending PDTR sprint car champion Donny Goeden moved up to challenge Pokorski and Akright. On lap 5, Goeden moved underneath Pokorski and then slid past Akright to take the lead. Pokorski held on over the final five laps to finish third behind Akright and Goeden.
“We tried some things in the heat race and we learned a lot,” Pokorski Motorsports Crew Chief Dave Schultz said. “The finish wasn’t really what we were looking for, but we found out some things that seemed to help once we got going toward the end of the A-main.”
The Pokorski Motorsports machine started the 25-lap main event from the 14th started spot. In the early going, Pokorski held his own inside the top 15 as drivers began to seek out the fastest lane to run.
On lap 8, Pokorski spun out in turn four while running in the 16th spot. Anthony Knierim clipped the front end of Pokorski’s car during the incident, resulting in some front end damage to the nose wing.
“I just messed up,” Pokorski said. “I got on the gas too hard and too early and lost it. We had some damage to the brackets on the bumper and the nose wing, but it wasn’t too bad.”
With mainly cosmetic damage to the front end, Pokorski continued on, restarting the race in the 20th position.
Following the restart, Pokorski started to find success running along the high groove. By lap 12, Pokorski had moved to 15th and one lap later he cleared three more cars to take the 12th spot.
With the majority of the field running low, Pokorski had basically a clear lane to run at the top of the speedway, which he utilized to his benefit.
On lap 16, Pokorski found himself dueling with Kenjay Fiedler and Chris Clayton for the ninth and 10th positions.
After engaging in a spirited back-and-forth, side-by-side battle with Fiedler for seven laps, Pokorski surged ahead to claim ninth place for good on lap 23.
While Pokorski capped a strong rally to finish ninth place, Donny Goeden surged to his second A-main victory of the season and the 17th of his career to vault to the top of the all-time PDTR sprint car A-main victory list.
“Our plan was to run the bottom in the A main because we thought everybody would be running the top,” Pokorski said. “The car felt pretty good on the bottom before the spin. Once we went to the back, I had to change the plan because everyone was running the bottom.
“I had to go where they weren’t, so I ran the top for the last 17 laps and it worked pretty well as we got some spots back,” he said. “We were a little too tight to run the top, but I can’t complain with how it turned out at the end. Coming from 20th to ninth in the last part of the race isn’t too bad. If I wouldn’t have messed up and had that spin, I think we could’ve had a really nice finish.”
A doubleheader weekend is on tap for Pokorski Motorsports team with Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on the schedule for this Saturday, May 28. The Saturday night PDTR program will be presented by Pokorski Motorsports sponsor Pedal Down Promotions.
Then on Sunday, May 29, the team is planning to compete with the Interstate Racing Association (IRA) 410 sprint car series at the 141 Speedway in Francis Creek.
Pokorski Motorsports would like to direct special recognition to R&H Enterprises, Goeden’s Auto Body, Christel Sign and Goodwin Racing Engines for helping to get the team’s new 2016 Maxim on the track this season.
The Pokorski Motorsports sponsors for the 2016 season include: Allied Bearing Corporation, Behling Racing Products, The Cawley Company, Goeden’s Auto Body, Goodwin Racing Engines, Hagar’s Half-Pound Cookies, Jens, Reinbold & Pfeffer Family Funeral Services & Crematory, Kettle Moraine Landscaping, Novak’s Service Center, Pedal Down Promotions and Tisler Salvage Inc.
For more information on Pokorski Motorsports, check out Pokorski Motorsports on Facebook or visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com
PDTR racing action, which features Sprint Cars, Late Models, Grand Nationals, B Mods and Micro Sprints, starts at 6 p.m. this Saturday, May 28. Sheboygan County Fair Park is location at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook.
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For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
2016 Pokorski Motorsports Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, May 28 – Plymouth Dirt Track (MSA)
Sunday, May 29 – 141 Speedway in Francis Creek (IRA)
Friday, June 3 – Manitowoc Speedway (MSA)
Saturday, June 4 – Plymouth Dirt Track (MSA)
Saturday, June 11 – Plymouth Dirt Track (MSA)
2016 Pokorski Motorsports By The Numbers
Events – 3
A Main Victories – 0
Top Five A Main Finishes – 1
Top 10 A Main Finishes – 2
Heat Race Victories – 1