Smith, Sorce, Thompson register A-main triumphs

By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) July 20, 2024 – Taylor Scheffler of Waukesha held off the spirited challenges of five-time Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Late Model champion Brad Mueller of Random Lake and Jayden Schmidt of Seymour to rack up his second consecutive 30-lap 106.5 The Buzz Seubert Calf Ranches Super Six Late Model Series A-main victory at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, July 20.

With rain and curfew plaguing seven of the first 11 racing programs of the 2024 season, the event was the fourth full race night of the 2024 PDTR campaign.

In the 25-lap Akright Auto PDTR – Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car main event, T.J. Smith of Greenville registered a flag-to-flag victory.

Defending PDTR Grand National co-champion Will Sorce of Franklin secured his first A-main victory of the 2024 season in the 25-lap Oostburg Automotive Grand National main event.

Plymouth’s Rory Welch pulled off a late pass to rack up his first career Sheboygan Flooring PDTR B Mod A-main victory.

In the High School Racing Association’s first-ever appearance at The Plymouth Track Racing, Hixton resident and Osseo-Fairchild High School student Charles Thompson raced to victory in the 12-lap JDL Automotive and Detailing HSRA main event.

Taylor Scheffler used his outside front row starting spot to dart into the lead on the opening lap of the 30-lap Super Six Late Model Series A main with polesitter Charlie Schmidt of Cedar Grove sliding into second.

As Scheffler bolted away from the field, third starter Jayden Schmidt maneuvered around Charlie Schmidt to take the second spot on lap 5 before the first of six race stoppages occurred when eighth starter Turk Letizia of Milwaukee spun in turn three to bring out a yellow flag on lap 6.

After another caution flag was displayed for a spin involving Charlie Schmidt on the ensuing restart, fourth starter Brad Mueller pulled in to pass Jayden Schmidt for second on lap 7.

The third caution period came on lap 10 when Eric Michael of Cleveland spun in turn four. Mueller used a good restart to duck underneath Scheffler and mount a bid for the top spot on lap 11. The two prodigious Late Model competitors dueled side-by-side before Scheffler retained command on the smooth, slick and multi-groove racing surface.

The race was halted on lap 16 when a fire erupted in Milwaukee driver Joe Bongiorno’s machine. The Scheffler-Mueller battle raged on when the race resumed with both drivers swapping between the equally effective high and low grooves of the venerable third-mile clay oval.

Scheffler again stayed ahead before Mueller moved in to wage another bid for the lead on lap 21 until the fifth caution flag was waved on lap 22 when Kevin Baldry of Omro stopped in turn one.

Following the restart, Jayden Schmidt and Mueller re-engaged in a side-by-side jaunt for the runner-up position as Scheffler built up a solid cushion at the front of the field. The sixth and final yellow flag came out on lap 26 when Bill Edler of Howards Grove made contact with the turn-four wall.

After the ensuing single-file restart, Scheffler proved to be too strong for his fellow competitors to overcome as he rolled to his second PDTR Super Six Late Model Series main event triumph of the 2024 campaign, third career Super Six Late Model win and ninth overall PDTR Late Model victory of his career.

Mueller had to settle for second, Jayden Schmidt placed third, Turk Letizia rallied from his lap 6 spin to secure fourth and fifth starter Justin Ritchie of New London rounded out the top five.

The 2024 Super Six Late Model Series is slated to wrap up on Saturday, Aug. 10 with Brad Mueller holding a four-point lead over Taylor Scheffler and a 14-point cushion over Justin Ritchie heading into the finale.

In the 25-lap PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car A-main, T.J. Smith outdueled polesitter Randy Post of Oostburg to gain the lead in turn two on the opening lap with Post following in second and Alex Pokorski of West Bend moving up from the fourth starting position into third.

Meanwhile, 2011 PDTR and MSA 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who started 10th, used the high groove to power his way into the top five on lap 5 as eighth starter Brandon Berth of Cascade worked the outside line to follow Schmidt into sixth.

Smith caught the rear of the field on lap 10, while Schmidt vaulted his way past Post into second on lap 14 and quickly moved in to challenge Smith for the lead.

With the leaders fully entwined in thick lapped traffic, Berth slipped into third on lap 17 before Schmidt pulled even with Smith at the head of the field. One circuit later, disaster struck as Schmidt made contact with Smith’s right rear tire, which sent his machine hard into the turn three wall before flipping.

On the restart, Berth tried to track down Smith, while third starter Justin Erickson of Plymouth gained third on lap 18. Smith continued his smooth and steady pace at the point over the final seven laps to notch his second career PDTR and MSA 360 Sprint Car A-main triumph.

Berth placed second, Erickson was third, Pokorski claimed fourth and T.J. Haddy of Waupun worked his way up from the ninth starting spot to round out the top five.

On the opening lap of the 25-lap PDTR Grand National main event, octogenarian competitor Dick Hed of Plymouth worked the high line to assume the lead on the first lap as fourth-starting Derek Kaat took second from polesitter Jason Juech of Plymouth.

Hed set the pace at the front of the field before the first of two caution periods came on lap 4 for a three-car incident in turn two.

Following the restart, Kaat powered in to challenge Hed for the lead on lap 5 as Will Sorce shot into third from his eighth starting spot. The second and final yellow flag came out on lap 8 when Jack Wiroll of Sheboygan stopped in turn four with a fire under the hood of his car.

The restart allowed Sorce to move up to Hed’s rear bumper and vault his way into the lead on lap 8. Four laps later, ninth starter Dustin Weiss of Iron Ridge worked past Hed to nail down second while seven-time Plymouth track champion and two-time PDTR Grand National champ Brian Gilles of Plymouth bolted in from the 13th starting position to snag third on lap 15.

With Sorce securely in the lead, Gilles slipped past Dustin Weiss to take over second on lap 20. Sorce went on to notch his first A-main victory of 2024 and his ninth career PDTR Grand National main event win.

Gilles placed second, Dustin Weiss was third, 2019 PDTR Grand National champion Tyler Kulow of Plymouth, who started 10th, finished fourth, while 1966 Plymouth Sportsman and 1969 Modified champion Dick Hed rounded out the top five.

Fresh off of his first career A-main victory in the last PDTR B Mod main event on June 29, Barrett Hummelmeier of Beaver Dam secured the lead on the first circuit of the 25-lap B Mod A-main.

The lone caution flag flew on lap 4 when Brendan Ostrowski of Milwaukee spun in turn third.

When the race resumed, Hummelmeier commanded the top spot while fourth starter Rory Welch moved into second on lap five. After building up a half-straightaway cushion over the field, Hummelmeier’s advantage shrank gradually as Welch chipped away at the lead gap.

On lap 18, Hummelmeier was bound up in slower traffic, which allowed Welch to advance to his rear bumper. After following close behind Hummelmeier over the next six laps, Welch finally made the winning move when he ducked low to shoot into the top spot in turn two on lap 24.

Welch held on to seal his first career PDTR B Mod A-main triumph in stirring fashion. Hummelmeier placed second, Travis Schmidt of Plymouth worked his way up from the eighth starting spot to finish third, seventh starter Steve Lorier of Sheboygan finished fourth and polesitter Ryan Pafford of Kiel placed fifth.

Charles Thompson fended off a spirited effort from Jackson Martindale of Stillman Valley High School in Stillman Valley, Ill. to earn the victory in the first-ever 12-lap High School Racing Association main event at The Plymouth Dirt Track.

Brad Mueller of Random Lake secured Super Six Late Model Series fast qualifier honors with a lap of 13.802 seconds.

Ben Schmidt topped PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car group qualifying with a quick lap of 13.326 seconds.

The seventh event of the 2024 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Butch and Blondie Hafemann, drew 79 total entries, including 23 PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars, 21 B Mods, 19 Grand Nationals, 13 Late Models and three High School Racing Association cars.

The next Plymouth Dirt Track Racing program on Saturday, July 27 will feature the third scheduled Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series event of the 2024 campaign at The Plymouth Dirt Track with the Akright Auto PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars and Sheboygan Flooring B Mods rounding out the card.

Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with “on-track action” scheduled to commence 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.

106.5 THE BUZZ SEUBERT CALF RANCHES SUPER SIX LATE MODEL SERIES

A Main (30 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [2]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [4]; 3. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [3]; 4. D1-Turk Letizia [8]; 5. 70-Justin Ritchie [5]; 6. 10-Paul Parker [10]; 7. 22-Charlie Schmidt [1]; 8. 97-Justin Schmidt [11]; 9. 57M-Eric Michaels [12]; 10. 79-Jim Schmidt [9]; 11. 77-Bill Edler [7]; 12. 54-Kevin Baldry [13]; 13. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Charlie Schmidt [2]; 2. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [3]; 3. 79-Jim Schmidt [1]; 4. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [5]; 5. D1-Turk Letizia [6]; 6. 10-Paul Parker [4]; 7. (DNF) 57M-Eric Michaels [7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [2]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [3]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie [5]; 4. 77-Bill Edler [4]; 5. 97-Justin Schmidt [1]; 6. (DNS) 54-Kevin Baldry

Qualifying 1: 1. 24S-Jayden Schmidt, 14.060 [5]; 2. 22-Charlie Schmidt, 14.126 [1]; 3. 79-Jim Schmidt, 14.350 [6]; 4. 10-Paul Parker, 14.393 [2]; 5. 55B-Joe Bongiorno, 14.580 [4]; 6. D1-Turk Letizia, 15.263 [3]; 7. 57M-Eric Michaels, 15.340 [7]

Qualifying 2: 1. 89-Brad Mueller, 13.802 [5]; 2. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 13.811 [6]; 3. 97-Justin Schmidt, 13.920 [2]; 4. 77-Bill Edler, 14.031 [1]; 5. 70-Justin Ritchie, 14.086 [3]; 6. 54-Kevin Baldry, 16.083 [4]

AKRIGHT AUTO PLYMOUTH DIRT TRACK RACING 360 SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 69S-TJ Smith [2]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth [8]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson [3]; 4. 4-Alex Pokorski [4]; 5. 21H-TJ Haddy [9]; 6. 54-Randy Post [1]; 7. 51-Chris Larson [16]; 8. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [6]; 9. 09-Clayton Rossmann [7]; 10. 3BK-Billy Kreutz [11]; 11. 69-Bill Taylor [15]; 12. 30-Doug Wondra [20]; 13. 14J-Joseph Hintz [12]; 14. 11-Tony Wondra [14]; 15. 24-Scott Conger [13]; 16. 46-Steven Ruh [17]; 17. 53A-Spyder Akright [5]; 18. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [18]; 19. 55P-Brady Portschy [19]; 20. (DNF) 35-Ben Schmidt [10]; 21. (DNS) 44-Hayden Johnson; 22. (DNS) 19-Ion Stear; 23. (DNS) 16-Anthony Knierim

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 54-Randy Post [1]; 2. 21H-TJ Haddy [4]; 3. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [3]; 4. 53A-Spyder Akright [2]; 5. 14J-Joseph Hintz [6]; 6. 16-Anthony Knierim [7]; 7. 46-Steven Ruh [5]; 8. (DNS) 30-Doug Wondra

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 09-Clayton Rossmann [1]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [4]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson [5]; 4. 69S-TJ Smith [6]; 5. 3BK-Billy Kreutz [7]; 6. 55P-Brady Portschy [8]; 7. (DNF) 51-Chris Larson [2]; 8. (DNF) 44-Hayden Johnson [3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Alex Pokorski [3]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth [4]; 3. 24-Scott Conger [1]; 4. 69-Bill Taylor [6]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra [5]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [7]; 7. (DNS) 19-Ion Stear

Qualifying 1: 1. 21H-TJ Haddy, 13.380 [5]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.614 [2]; 3. 53A-Spyder Akright, 13.628 [3]; 4. 54-Randy Post, 13.793 [8]; 5. 46-Steven Ruh, 13.838 [1]; 6. 14J-Joseph Hintz, 13.950 [6]; 7. 16-Anthony Knierim, 13.957 [4]; 8. 30-Doug Wondra [7]

Qualifying 2: 1. 35-Ben Schmidt, 13.326 [8]; 2. 44-Hayden Johnson, 13.421 [3]; 3. 51-Chris Larson, 13.459 [4]; 4. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 13.590 [7]; 5. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.739 [5]; 6. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.746 [6]; 7. 3BK-Billy Kreutz, 13.875 [2]; 8. 55P-Brady Portschy, 14.642 [1]

Qualifying 3: 1. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.427 [4]; 2. 4-Alex Pokorski, 13.707 [2]; 3. 19-Ion Stear, 14.099 [7]; 4. 24-Scott Conger, 14.118 [5]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra, 14.178 [6]; 6. 69-Bill Taylor, 14.233 [1]; 7. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 14.291 [3]

OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 14X-Will Sorce [8]; 2. 89-Brian Gilles [13]; 3. 53W-Dustin Weiss [9]; 4. 24K-Tyler Kulow [10]; 5. 6-Dick Hed [2]; 6. 53B-Brad Weiss [15]; 7. 15-Derek Kaat [4]; 8. 95-Donny Kulow [5]; 9. 34-Steven Weber [7]; 10. 80-Luke Scholten [6]; 11. 3-Jim Wirtz [19]; 12. 42-Jason Juech [1]; 13. 35-Jared Weiss [17]; 14. 5R-Nate Ruh [14]; 15. 54-Austin Yancey [16]; 16. 23-Scott Kafka [18]; 17. 8-Jake Richards [11]; 18. 37-Ryan Minster [12]; 19. 52W-Jack Wiroll [3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Dick Hed [2]; 2. 15-Derek Kaat [3]; 3. 14X-Will Sorce [5]; 4. 80-Luke Scholten  [4]; 5. 89-Brian Gilles [6]; 6. 54-Austin Yancey [1]; 7. 3-Jim Wirtz [7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 53W-Dustin Weiss [5]; 2. 95-Donny Kulow [3]; 3. 52W-Jack Wiroll [2]; 4. 8-Jake Richards [6]; 5. 5R-Nate Ruh [4]; 6. 35-Jared Weiss [1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Jason Juech [1]; 2. 24K-Tyler Kulow [5]; 3. 34-Steven Weber [4]; 4. 37-Ryan Minster [6]; 5. 53B-Brad Weiss [3]; 6. 23-Scott Kafka [2]

SHEBOYGAN FLOORING B MODS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 73-Rory Welch [4]; 2. 33H-Barrett Hummelmeier [2]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt [8]; 4. 66-Steve Lorier [7]; 5. 26-Ryan Pafford [1]; 6. 9-Hunter Larson [6]; 7. 10F-Mitchell Fairbank [16]; 8. 59S-Spencer Long [9]; 9. 98-Dustin Wudstrack [11]; 10. 17-Brandon Knepprath [19]; 11. 89-Logan Brass [5]; 12. 14-Craig Gessner [12]; 13. 19-Parker Glander [15]; 14. 117-Jim Juneau [10]; 15. 27L-Brendan Ostrowski [3]; 16. 81-Dan Melton [13]; 17. XV-Don Marquart [18]; 18. 11B-Brad Buckman [17]; 19. 18-Miranda Sandholm [21]; 20. 31W-Kelan Wolfe [14]; 21. 11S-Zachary Schmidt [20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Rory Welch [3]; 2. 26-Ryan Pafford [1]; 3. 27L-Brendan Ostrowski [2]; 4. 9-Hunter Larson [4]; 5. 81-Dan Melton [6]; 6. 10F-Mitchell Fairbank [7]; 7. 17-Brandon Knepprath [5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Travis Schmidt [5]; 2. 66-Steve Lorier [4]; 3. 14-Craig Gessner [7]; 4. 117-Jim Juneau [6]; 5. 31W-Kelan Wolfe [1]; 6. 11B-Brad Buckman [3]; 7. 11S-Zachary Schmidt [2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33H-Barrett Hummelmeier [1]; 2. 59S-Spencer Long [5]; 3. 98-Dustin Wudstrack [6]; 4. 89-Logan Brass [3]; 5. 19-Parker Glander [4]; 6. XV-Don Marquart [2]; 7. (DNS) 18-Miranda Sandholm

HIGH SCHOOL RACING ASSOCIATION

A-main (12 Laps) 1. Charles Thompson; 2. Jackson Martindale; 3. Adrian Barrow

Heat 1 (6 Laps) 1. Charles Thompson; 2. Jackson Martindale; 3. Adrian Barrow