Schmidt, Espen, Warner earn opening night main event wins

By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 6, 2023 – While the air temperature was leaning on the cold side, the on-track action was anything but, as Plymouth Dirt Track Racing kicked off the 2023 season with a full slate of hotly contested season-opening A-main events Saturday, May 6 at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.

In the debut event of the Super Six Late Model Series, four-time PDTR Late Model champion Brad Mueller of Random Lake outdueled Taylor Scheffler of Waukesha in the closing laps to notch a thrilling season-opening victory in the 30-lap Sheboygan’s Country B93 Late Model headliner.

The PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main featured a heated battle among three former track champions as 2011 champ Ben Schmidt of Plymouth outbattled 2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett in the early going and fended off a spirited late charge from two-time track champ Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh on the final lap to secure a hard-earned victory in the 25-lap Akright Auto 360 Sprint Car A main.

In the 25-lap Oostburg Automotive Grand National A main, Chad Espen of West Bend outclassed the field on the way to victory lane, while two-time PDTR B Mod champion Tim Warner of Malone opened the 2023 PDTR campaign on a strong note by claiming victory in the 25-lap Next Step Insurance B Mod main event.

Taylor Scheffler used his pole position starting spot to seize the lead on the drop of the green flag of the 30-lap Super Six Late Model Series main event. By lap 5, Scheffler had built up a half straight away cushion over third starter Justin Ritchie of New London and on lap 10 his lead grew to a full straight away.

One lap later, Scheffler began to negotiate lapped traffic, which allowed Ritchie to gradually reel in the leader. As the laps wound down, Ritchie cut the gap to a quarter straightaway on lap 23.

Scheffler then found himself boxed in behind a lapped car along the low groove starting on lap 25, which allowed Ritchie and fourth starter Brad Mueller to pull in to challenge for the lead. On lap 28, Mueller ventured up to the high groove to bolt past Ritchie into second place before powering past Scheffler for the lead exiting turn four on the white flag lap.

Mueller went on to nail down his 24^th career PDTR Late Model A-main victory and claim the $1,500 winner’s check in the non-stop event.

Ritchie snuck past Scheffler on the final lap to take second, Scheffler wound up third, Jim Schmidt of Cleveland, who started seventh, placed fourth and Late Model rookie Jayden Schmidt of Seymour, who started 10^th, moved up to finish fifth in his debut appearance in a Late Model at The Plymouth Dirt Track.

“What a way to start the year!” Mueller exclaimed in victory lane. “I tried running the outside a little bit during the race in turns one and two, but the groove was way out there in turns three and four. I wasn’t too sure how it was going to go out there, but I had to try it. I got it to work just enough to get by Taylor at the end. I want to thank the fans for coming out to watch us. I know it’s probably not a lot of fun when it’s this cold, but we appreciate the support.”

Polesitter Lance Fassbender and outside front row starter Ben Schmidt waged an epic side-by-side duel during the first 10 laps of the 25-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main with Fassbender edging ahead of the high-riding Schmidt along the low groove on lap 2.

The two former PDTR and Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car champions dueled back and forth throughout the initial stages of the race until Schmidt ducked low on lap 11 to steal the lead away from Fassbender in turn four.

Three laps later, third starter Brandon McMullen worked his way past Fassbender in thick lapped traffic to take over second and set his sights on the leader. On lap 18, McMullen closed to within striking distance of Schmidt as the leaders weaved their way through heavy lapped traffic on the wide, smooth and slick third-mile clay oval track surface.

On the final circuit, McMullen made a bold move around the outside of Schmidt to briefly surge into the lead in turn three. However, Schmidt battled back to regain the lead exiting turn four en route to his 16^th career PDTR 360 Sprint Car and 33^rd career MSA 360 Sprint Car A-main victory in the caution-free race.

McMullen had to settle for second, Fassbender was third, fourth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend wound up fourth and Alex Pokorski of West Bend finished fifth after starting fifth to equal his career-best 360 Sprint Car A-main showing at The Plymouth Dirt Track.

Polesitter Don Singer of Waldo and outside front row starter Chad Espen raced side-by-side for the lead during the opening lap of the 25-lap Grand National A main before Espen rode the high line to take over the top spot in turn four on lap 2.

On lap 5, 2019 PDTR Grand National champion Tyler Kulow of Sheboygan, who started fifth, moved into third, while Espen built up a half straight away lead over Singer on lap 8.

Two laps later, Kulow continued his charge to the front by moving underneath Singer to assume second in turn three. Espen got caught up behind a lapped car on lap 19, which allowed Kulow to close the gap considerably before the lone caution of the race appeared on lap 22 when Nick Goeman of Rubicon and Seth Westimayer of Horicon collided exiting turn four.

Following the single-file restart, Espen pulled away to notch his second career PDTR Grand National A-main victory. Kulow placed second, eighth starter Justin Pearson of Horicon finished third, Will Sorce of Franklin finished fourth after starting ninth and Singer rounded out the top five.

Polesitter Jonathon Baumann of Sheboygan led the opening circuit of the 25-lap B Mod main event before second starter Mark Hoeppner of Rubicon and fifth starter Tim Warner executed a high-low three-wide move to sweep around the sandwiched car of Baumann with Warner emerging with the lead along the low groove in turn three.

Warner wasted little time building up a solid lead before four consecutive caution flags for multi-car spins and collisions slowed the pace starting on lap 9. When the race finally resumed, fourth starter Barry Maas of Cascade rode the high line to take over second.

By lap 17, Warner held a full straightaway cushion over Maas before Cory Kemkes of Appleton, who started ninth, swept past Maas for second with a high move in turn three on lap 22.

However, Warner would not be headed as he pulled away over the final three laps to post his eighth career PDTR B Mod A main victory and move into a tie with Justin Green of Sheboygan Falls for the top spot on the all-time PDTR B Mod main event victory list.

Kemkes finished second, Maas was third, Baumann finished fourth and 2018 PDTR B Mod champ Tim Sheppard of Beaver Dam placed fifth after starting third.

Steven Weber of Plymouth won the 12-lap Grand National B main.

Brad Mueller was the top qualifier in the Late Model division group qualifying session with a lap of 13.525 seconds.

Lance Fassbender turned the fastest lap in 360 Sprint Car group qualifying with a lap of 12.713 seconds.

The 2023 PDTR season opener drew 90 cars, including 18 Late Models, 22 360 Sprint Cars, 27 Grand Nationals and 23 B Mods.

The second event of the six-race 2023 Super Six Late Model Series is scheduled to headline the next PDTR racing program on Saturday, May 13, along with the PDTR 360 Sprint Cars, Grand Nationals and B Mods.

The May 13^th PDTR racing program will also be You’re Our Heroes Night with all military, police fire and EMS personnel admitted free with valid identification.

Grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. with Late Model and Sprint Car qualifying at 4:30 p.m. and racing at 5 p.m.

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.

SHEBOYGAN’S COUNTRY B93 SUPER SIX LATE MODEL SERIES

A Main (30 Laps): 1. 89-Brad Mueller [4]; 2. 70-Justin Ritchie [3]; 3. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [1]; 4. 79-Jim Schmidt [7]; 5. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [10]; 6. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [2]; 7. 97-Justin Schmidt [8]; 8. 19J-Justin Green [5]; 9. 77-Bill Edler [6]; 10. 22-Charlie Schmidt [12]; 11. 74-Mitch McGrath [11]; 12. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [13]; 13. 24-Turk Letizia [14]; 14. 87-Adam Janke [9]; 15. 57M-Eric Michaels [15]; 16. 99M-Mike Mullen [16]; 17. (DNS) 5X-Chad Ludwigson; 18. (DNS) 99-Sawyer Specht

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [3]; 2. 79-Jim Schmidt [1]; 3. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [2]; 4. 87-Adam Janke [5]; 5. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [4]; 6. 57M-Eric Michaels [6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [1]; 2. 77-Bill Edler [2]; 3. 19J-Justin Green [5]; 4. 22-Charlie Schmidt [4]; 5. (DNF) 99M-Mike Mullen [3]; 6. (DNS) 5X-Chad Ludwigson

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Justin Ritchie [1]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [3]; 3. 74-Mitch McGrath [2]; 4. 97-Justin Schmidt [6]; 5. 24-Turk Letizia [4]; 6. (DNF) 99-Sawyer Specht [5]

Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 13.546 [2]; 2. 24S-Jayden Schmidt, 13.794 [3]; 3. 79-Jim Schmidt, 14.373 [5]; 4. 55B-Joe Bongiorno, 14.461 [1]; 5. 87-Adam Janke, 14.879 [4]; 6. 57M-Eric Michaels, 14.942 [6]

Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 99M-Mike Mullen, 13.650 [5]; 2. 77-Bill Edler, 13.686[4]; 3. 9Z-Jayme Zidar, 14.047 [1]; 4. 22-Charlie Schmidt, 14.291 [6]; 5. 19J-Justin Green, 14.600 [3]; 6. 5X-Chad Ludwigson, 14.838 [2]

Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 89-Brad Mueller 13.525 [6]; 2. 74-Mitch McGrath, 13.705 [4]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie, 13.806 [1]; 4. 24-Turk Letizia, 14.054 [2]; 5. 99-Sawyer Specht, 14.231 [3]; 6. (DNF) 97-Justin Schmidt, 14.231 [5]

AKRIGHT AUTO 360 SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt [2]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [3]; 3. 7-Lance Fassbender [1]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [4]; 5. 4-Alex Pokorski [5]; 6. 53-Shane Wenninger [7]; 7. 69-Bill Taylor [8]; 8. 30-Doug Wondra [12]; 9. 11-Tony Wondra [6]; 10. 51-Chris Larson [14]; 11. 3-Justin Erickson [15]; 12. 21H-Tim Haddy [11]; 13. 85J-Logan Julien [18]; 14. 12P-JJ Pagel [10]; 15. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [9]; 16. 69S-TJ Smith [19]; 17. 53A-Spyder Akright [13]; 18. 54-Randy Post [16]; 19. (DNF) 22B-Brandon Berth [17]; 20. (DNS) 66-Nick Daywalt; 21. (DNS) 66T-Tristan Koenings; 22. (DNS) 5-Kevin Seidler

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Alex Pokorski [1]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [3]; 3. 7-Lance Fassbender [4]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien [8]; 5. 3-Justin Erickson [2]; 6. (DNF) 66T-Tristan Koenings [6]; 7. (DNF) 66-Nick Daywalt [5]; 8. (DNF) 5-Kevin Seidler [7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 69-Bill Taylor [3]; 2. 53-Shane Wenninger [5]; 3. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [2]; 4. 21H-Tim Haddy [4]; 5. 12P-JJ Pagel [7]; 6. 53A-Spyder Akright [6]; 7. (DNF) 22B-Brandon Berth [1]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Tony Wondra [1]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [3]; 3. 35-Ben Schmidt [4]; 4. 30-Doug Wondra [2]; 5. 69S-TJ Smith [7]; 6. 51-Chris Larson [5]; 7. 54-Randy Post [6]

Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 7-Lance Fassbender, 12.713 [4]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.079 [6]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.081 [1]; 4. 4-Alex Pokorski, 13.101 [5]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.211 [8]; 6. 66-Nick Daywalt, 13.429 [3]; 7. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 13.773 [2]; 8. 5-Kevin Seidler, 13.789 [7]

Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 21H-Tim Haddy, 13.197 [5]; 2. 69-Bill Taylor, 13.210 [3]; 3. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 13.350 [6]; 4. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.386 [2]; 5. 53-Shane Wenninger, 13.545 [4]; 6. 53A-Spyder Akright, 13.724 [1]; 7. 12P-JJ Pagel, 13.751 [7]

Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.881 [1]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen, 12.899 [6]; 3. 30-Doug Wondra, 13.473 [4]; 4. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.572 [7]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.627 [3]; 6. 51-Chris Larson, 13.857 [5]; 7. 54-Randy Post, 13.931 [2]

OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 72E-Chad Espen [2]; 2. 24K-Tyler Kulow [5]; 3. E85-Justin Pearson [8]; 4. 14X-Will Sorce [9]; 5. 55-Don Singer [1]; 6. 53W-Dustin Weiss [7]; 7. 34-Steven Weber [16]; 8. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer [13]; 9. 53B-Brad Weiss [11]; 10. 24-Donny Kulow [14]; 11. 6-Dick Hed [15]; 12. 89-Brian Gilles [4]; 13. 5-Collin Skindzeleski [19]; 14. 80-Luke Scholten [6]; 15. 14-Seth Westimayer [17]; 16. 8-Nick Goeman [18]; 17. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [12]; 18. 13-Josh Pierce [3]; 19. 23-Matt Loehr [10]; 20. 47-Nick Schumacher [20]

B Main (12 Laps): 1. 34-Steven Weber [3]; 2. 14-Seth Westimayer [2]; 3. 8-Nick Goeman [4]; 4. 5-Collin Skindzeleski [1]; 5. 42FJB-Jason Schilling [6]; 6. 44T-Paul Tod [7]; 7. 93-Mavrick Ruh [8]; 8. 187-Noah Wachowiacz [11]; 9. 41-Mark Haskins [5]; 10. 82H-Bristol Hitsman [10]; 11. (DNS) 22-Randy Dent

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 80-Luke Scholten [1]; 2. 53W-Dustin Weiss [3]; 3. 47-Nick Schumacher [5]; 4. 23-Matt Loehr [6]; 5. 53B-Brad Weiss [8]; 6. 42FJB-Jason Schilling [2]; 7. 44T-Paul Tod [4]; 8. 14-Seth Westimayer [9]; 9. 93-Mavrick Ruh [7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 55-Don Singer [1]; 2. 89-Brian Gilles [8]; 3. E85-Justin Pearson [4]; 4. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer [3]; 5. 24-Donny Kulow [5]; 6. 6-Dick Hed [7]; 7. 8-Nick Goeman [6]; 8. 34-Steven Weber [9]; 9. 187-Noah Wachowiacz [2]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 24K-Tyler Kulow [1]; 2. 13-Josh Pierce [5]; 3. 14X-Will Sorce [4]; 4. 72E-Chad Espen [9]; 5. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [7]; 6. 41-Mark Haskins [2]; 7. 5-Collin Skindzeleski [8]; 8. 82H-Bristol Hitsman [3]; 9. 22-Randy Dent [6]

NEXT STEP INSURANCE B MODS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 03W-Tim Warner [5]; 2. 07-Cory Kemkes [9]; 3. 22M-Barry Maas [4]; 4. 70-Jonathon Baumann [1]; 5. 29S-Tim Sheppard [3]; 6. 84-Mark Hoeppner [2]; 7. 3-Travis Schmidt [12]; 8. 17S-Shane Long [8]; 9. 29-Colton See [14]; 10. 32Z-Andy Welter [15]; 11. 9-Hunter Larson [17]; 12. 66-Steve Lorier [13]; 13. 117-Tony Fletcher [10]; 14. 73-Rory Welch [19]; 15. 25-Jim Fischer [21]; 16. 59S-Spencer Long [7]; 17. 89R-Kolton Roehl [11]; 18. 70JR-Jason Schilling [16]; 19. 96-Brian Konitzer [6]; 20. 19-Parker Glander [22]; 21. 62-James Rautmann [18]; 22. 26JK-Joey Krentz [23]; 23. 28-Rob Szemborski [20]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Jonathon Baumann [1]; 2. 96-Brian Konitzer [2]; 3. 07-Cory Kemkes [3]; 4. 17S-Shane Long [6]; 5. 29-Colton See [4]; 6. 66-Steve Lorier [7]; 7. 26JK-Joey Krentz [8]; 8. (DNF) 28-Rob Szemborski [5]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 22M-Barry Maas [2]; 2. 29S-Tim Sheppard [4]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt [1]; 4. 59S-Spencer Long [7]; 5. 9-Hunter Larson [3]; 6. 32Z-Andy Welter [6]; 7. 19-Parker Glander [8]; 8. 62-James Rautmann [5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 03W-Tim Warner [1]; 2. 84-Mark Hoeppner [4]; 3. 89R-Kolton Roehl [2]; 4. 117-Tony Fletcher [5]; 5. 25-Jim Fischer [7]; 6. 70JR-Jason Schilling [6]; 7. (DNF) 73-Rory Welch [3]