McMullen, Sorce, Sheppard notch A-main triumphs

By Jeff Pederson – Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 13, 2023 – One week after leading all but the final two laps of the inaugural Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Super Six Late Model Series main event, Taylor Scheffler of Waukesha was not to be denied in the second Super Six Late Model Series A main of the 2023 season, as he led all 30 laps en route to victory on Saturday, May 13 at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.

Two-time Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh utilized a start strong and an impressive finish in heavy lapped traffic to claim his first 25-lap Akright Auto 360 Sprint Car A-main victory of the 2023 season.

Will Sorce of Franklin successfully worked the middle and outside groove of the wide, smooth and slick track surface to punch his first ticket to Plymouth Dirt Track Racing main event victory lane in 2023 in the 25-lap Oostburg Automotive Grand National A main.

2018 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing B Mod champion Tim Sheppard of Beaver Dam led flag-to-flag on the way to his initial main event triumph of the 2023 campaign in the 25-lap Next Step Insurance B Mod A main.

For the second week in a row, Taylor Scheffler started on the pole of the 30-lap 106.5 The Buzz Super Six Late Model Series A main and bolted into lead on the drop of the green flag with five-time defending PDTR Late Model champion Justin Schmidt of Cleveland sliding into second from his fourth starting spot on lap 2.

On lap 5, Scheffler caught the rear of the field and began to slice his way through lapped traffic along the outside groove of the historic third-mile clay oval. Five laps later, Scheffler had built up a full straightaway cushion over Schmidt.

On lap 17, Scheffler was briefly slowed by the lapped car of Justin Green of Sheboygan Falls, which allowed Schmidt to cut the gap considerably. After Scheffler slid underneath Green on lap 14, four-time PDTR Late Model champ Brad Mueller of Random Lake moved in from his sixth starting position to pressure third starter Justin Ritchie of New London for third.

Mueller and Ritchie then engaged in three laps of heated back-and-forth dueling for the third spot until the first caution flag was displayed on lap 19 when Charlie Schmidt of Cedar Grove and the second-place machine of Justin Schmidt collided in turn four.

On the restart, Mueller worked past Ritchie into second and attempted to close the gap on the high-riding Scheffler along the outside line. The second caution flag of the race was displayed on lap 24 when Sawyer Specht of Sheboygan Falls spun into the turn four wall.

Following a green-white-checkered single-file restart, Scheffler held off Mueller over the final two laps en route to his seventh career PDTR Late Model A-main victory.

“It felt good to get this win tonight, especially after how the race ended last week,” Scheffler said. “I hit my marks and didn’t mess up tonight.”

Mueller, who edged Scheffler to claim the inaugural Super Six Late Model Series main event victory on May 6, had to settle for second. Ritchie took third, ninth starter Jim Schmidt of Sheboygan Falls took fourth and Bill Edler of Howards Grove, who started second, placed fifth.

In the 25-lap 360 Sprint Car A main, outside front row starter Brandon McMullen got a huge jump on the drop of the green flag from his outside second row starting spot and powered his way into the lead in turn four on the opening lap as 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who started third, took second in turn two on lap two.

One lap later, Chris Clayton of Waldo spun into the infield in turn three to bring out the first of two caution flags. On the restart, Schmidt attempted to slide his way past McMullen entering turn two, but the four-time Midwest Sprint Car Association champion fended off the challenge to maintain the lead.

On lap 4, 10^th starter Alex Pokorski of West Bend used the high line to pass sixth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend to claim fifth in the running order before working around polesitter Tony Wondra of Campbellsport to grab fourth.

Meanwhile, McMullen built up a full straight away lead over Schmidt by lap 7. One lap later, McMullen caught the rear of the field and began to negotiate slower traffic, which allowed Schmidt to cut the gap.

Schmidt worked the high line to reel in McMullen on lap 13 before the second and final caution flag appeared when Chris Larson of Franksville spun into the infield in turn three.

On the restart, 2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Lance Fassbender of Burnett, who started seventh, ducked under Schmidt to assume second before Pokorski moved past Schmidt on lap 15 to take over third.

Over the final 10 laps, McMullen weaved his way through dense lapped traffic with Fassbender and Pokorski following close behind as the groove moved to the bottom of the track as rubber built up on the racing surface.

McMullen successfully negotiated the slower cars on the way to his division-leading 28^th career PDTR 360 Sprint Car and 39^th career Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main triumph.

“We normally don’t start the year too well, so it feels good to get one out of the gate,” McMullen said. “I saw Lance [Fassbender] on the restart and knew I had to get going. The crew always gives me a great car and I couldn’t do this without them.”

McMullen dedicated the victory to late PDTR 360 Sprint Car competitor Cole Possi of Rock, Mich., who passed away in March.

“This win is for Cole Possi,” he said. “It’s terrible what happened to him. I wish he were here tonight racing with us tonight.”

Fassbender placed second, Pokorski finished a career-best third, Tyler Brabant of Waupun placed fourth after starting 12^th and eighth starter Will Gerrits of Waupun rounded out the top five.

Polesitter Dustin Weiss of Iron Ridge and second starter Brad Weiss of Cascade waged a heated side-by-side battle with the top spot for the first five laps of the 25-lap Grand National main event.

Dustin Weiss finally surged ahead in turn four on lap six before 2019 PDTR Grand National champion Tyler Kulow of Sheboygan, who started eighth, sixth starter Will Sorce and Weiss went three wide for second with Sorce grabbing the runner-up spot on lap 10.

Two laps later, Sorce worked the high groove to surge past Weiss into the lead, while seventh starter Justin Pearson of Horicon followed Sorce along the outside lane to take second on lap 13.

As Sorce settled into the middle groove of the third-mile clay oval, Pearson used a slightly higher line to try to reel in the leader. Pearson closed the gap momentarily on lap 20 before Sorce used some nifty moves in lapped traffic to pull away en route to his fifth career PDTR A-main triumph in the caution-free race.

Pearson took second, Donny Kulow of Plymouth, who started third, placed third, Dustin Weiss placed fourth and Brad Weiss completed the top five.

Polesitter Tim Sheppard bolted into the lead on the opening lap of the 25-lap B Mod main event as outside front row starter Marcus Hoeppner of Rubicon settled into second.

On lap five, 2022 PDTR B Mod champ Andy Welter of Cedarburg, who started fourth dueled with third starter Shane Long of Sheboygan Falls for third. By lap 8, Sheppard had built up a half-lap lead over Hoeppner.

Sheppard caught the rear of the field on lap 11 as ninth starter Barry Maas of Cascade worked his way into third on lap 14 using the high groove.

Over the final 11 laps, Sheppard continued to pull away from the field on the way to his second career PDTR B Mod A-main victory in the non-stop event.

Hoeppner finished second, seventh starter Travis Schmidt of Plymouth placed third, Long finished fourth and Steve Lorier of Sheboygan worked his way up from the 10^th starting spot to finish fifth.

Bill Taylor of Boltonville won the 12-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main.

Mitch McGrath of Waukesha was the top qualifier in the Late Model group qualifying session with a lap of 13.596 seconds.

Brandon McMullen turned the fastest overall lap in 360 Sprint Car group qualifying with a lap of 12.907 seconds.

The second event of the 2023 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by the city of Sheboygan Falls Fire Department, drew a total of 81 cars, including 17 Late Models, 28 360 Sprint Cars, 18 Grand Nationals and 18 B Mods.

The Plymouth Dirt Track will host an all-open wheel event on Saturday, May 20, featuring the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series, Plymouth Dirt Track Racing-Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Cars and Badger Midgets.

Pit gates open at 2 p.m., followed by grandstand gates at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 5:30 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.

 

106.5 THE BUZZ SUPER SIX LATE MODEL SERIES

A Main (30 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [1]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [6]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie [3]; 4. 79-Jim Schmidt [9]; 5. 77-Bill Edler [2]; 6. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [11]; 7. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [7]; 8. 24-Turk Letizia [5]; 9. 54-Kevin Baldry [17]; 10. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [14]; 11. 57M-Eric Michaels [10]; 12. 99-Sawyer Specht [12]; 13. 19J-Justin Green [8]; 14. 97-Justin Schmidt [4]; 15. 22-Charlie Schmidt [13]; 16. 74-Mitch McGrath [16]; 17. (DNS) 5X-Chad Ludwigson

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [3]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [2]; 3. 79-Jim Schmidt [4]; 4. 22-Charlie Schmidt [1]; 5. 54-Kevin Baldry [6]; 6. (DNF) 55B-Joe Bongiorno [5]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77-Bill Edler [1]; 2. 24-Turk Letizia [3]; 3. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [4]; 4. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [2]; 5. 57M-Eric Michaels [5]; 6. (DNS) 5X-Chad Ludwigson

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Justin Ritchie [1]; 2. 97-Justin Schmidt [3]; 3. 19J-Justin Green [4]; 4. 99-Sawyer Specht [2]; 5. (DNS) 74-Mitch McGrath

Qualifying 1: 1. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 13.813; 2. 89-Brad Mueller, 13.919; 3. 22-Charlie Schmidt, 13.988; 4. 79-Jim Schmidt, 14.172; 5. 55B-Joe Bongiorno, 14.377; 6. 54-Kevin Baldry, 14.724

Qualifying 2: 1. 24-Turk Letizia, 13.692; 2. 9Z-Jayme Zidar, 13.828; 3. 77-Bill Edler, 13.908; 4. 9N-Tom Naeyaert, 14.054; 5. 57M-Eric Michaels, 14.768; 6. 5X-Chad Ludwigson, 14.768

Qualifying 3: 1. 74-Mitch McGrath, 13.596; 2. 99-Sawyer Specht, 13.825; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie, 13.899; 4. 97-Justin Schmidt, 14.006; 5. 19J-Justin Green, 14.455

 

AKRIGHT AUTO 360 SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 98-Brandon McMullen [4]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender [7]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski [10]; 4. 99B-Tyler Brabant [12]; 5. 21-Will Gerrits [8]; 6. 11-Tony Wondra [1]; 7. 35-Ben Schmidt [3]; 8. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [6]; 9. 53-Shane Wenninger [5]; 10. 69-Bill Taylor [18]; 11. 3-Justin Erickson [19]; 12. 1-Tommy Colburn [13]; 13. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [11]; 14. 2-Chris Clayton [2]; 15. 85J-Logan Julien [22]; 16. 53A-Spyder Akright [16]; 17. 69S-TJ Smith [15]; 18. 51-Chris Larson [9]; 19. 30-Doug Wondra [14]; 20. 54G-Scott Grissom [17]; 21. 12P-JJ Pagel [21]; 22. 22B-Brandon Berth [23]; 23. 66T-Tristan Koenings [20]

B Main: 1. 69-Bill Taylor [2]; 2. 3-Justin Erickson [4]; 3. 66T-Tristan Koenings [3]; 4. 12P-JJ Pagel [6]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien [10]; 6. 22B-Brandon Berth [7]; 7. 54G-Scott Grissom [1]; 8. 54-Randy Post [5]; 9. 21H-TJ Haddy [12]; 10. 5-Kevin Seidler [9]; 11. 38-Michael Klein [11]; 12. 39-Michael Decker [8]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 53-Shane Wenninger [2]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [4]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski [3]; 4. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [5]; 5. 3-Justin Erickson [1]; 6. 12P-JJ Pagel [6]; 7. 39-Michael Decker [7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Will Gerrits [4]; 2. 2-Chris Clayton [3]; 3. 69S-TJ Smith [6]; 4. 53A-Spyder Akright [2]; 5. 54G-Scott Grissom [1]; 6. 66T-Tristan Koenings [7]; 7. 5-Kevin Seidler [5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [3]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [4]; 3. 30-Doug Wondra [2]; 4. 51-Chris Larson [5]; 5. 69-Bill Taylor [1]; 6. 85J-Logan Julien [6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy [7]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Lance Fassbender [4]; 2. 11-Tony Wondra [1]; 3. 1-Tommy Colburn [1]; 4. 99B-Tyler Brabant [5]; 5. 22B-Brandon Berth [3]; 6. 54-Randy Post [6]; 7. 38-Michael Klein [7]

Qualifying 1: 1. 98-Brandon McMullen, 12.907; 2. 4-Alex Pokorski, 12.930; 3. 53-Shane Wenninger, 13.284; 4. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.394; 5. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 13.529; 6. 12P-JJ Pagel, 13.576; 7. 39-Michael Decker, 13.617

Qualifying 2: 1. 21-Will Gerrits, 13.516; 2. 2-Chris Clayton, 13.566; 3. 53A-Spyder Akright, 13.669; 4. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.704; 5. 54G-Scott Grissom, 14.055; 6. 5-Kevin Seidler, 14.279; 7. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 14.280

Qualifying 3: 1. 35-Ben Schmidt, 13.307; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.438; 3. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.856; 4. 30-Doug Wondra, 14.032; 5. 69-Bill Taylor, 14.251; 6. 51-Chris Larson, 14.291; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy, 14.398

Qualifying 4: 1. 7-Lance Fassbender, 13.401; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.755; 3. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.806; 4. 1-Tommy Colburn, 13.836; 5. 99B-Tyler Brabant, 14.101; 6. 54-Randy Post, 14.372; 7. 38-Michael Klein, 15.931

 

OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 14X-Will Sorce [6]; 2. E85-Justin Pearson [5]; 3. 95-Donny Kulow [3]; 4. 53W-Dustin Weiss [1]; 5. 53B-Brad Weiss [2]; 6. 34-Steven Weber [4]; 7. 24K-Tyler Kulow [8]; 8. 89-Brian Gilles [7]; 9. 6-Dick Hed [11]; 10. 80-Luke Scholten [17]; 11. 23-Matt Loehr [15]; 12. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [9]; 13. 72E-Chad Espen [12]; 14. 5C-Collin Skindzeleski [10]; 15. 8-Nick Goeman [14]; 16. 55-Don Singer [16]; 17. 42S-Jackson Specht [18]; 18. 15-Derek Kaat [13]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 34-Steven Weber [1]; 2. 89-Brian Gilles [2]; 3. 53W-Dustin Weiss [5]; 4. 6-Dick Hed [4]; 5. 15-Derek Kaat [6]; 6. (DNF) 80-Luke Scholten [3]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Will Sorce [4]; 2. E85-Justin Pearson [6]; 3. 72E-Chad Espen [1]; 4. 24K-Tyler Kulow [5]; 5. 23-Matt Loehr [3]; 6. 55-Don Singer [2]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 95-Donny Kulow [1]; 2. 53B-Brad Weiss [3]; 3. 5C-Collin Skindzeleski [2]; 4. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [5]; 5. 8-Nick Goeman [4]; 6. 42S-Jackson Specht [6]

 

NEXT STEP INSURANCE B MODS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 29S-Tim Sheppard [1]; 2. 84-Mark Hoeppner [2]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt [7]; 4. 17S-Shane Long [3]; 5. 66-Steve Lorier [10]; 6. 22M-Barry Maas [9]; 7. 32Z-Andy Welter [4]; 8. 9L-Hunter Larson [6]; 9. 25-Jim Fischer [5]; 10. 29M-Ryan Mech [12]; 11. 59S-Spencer Long [16]; 12. 17-Brandon Knepprath [11]; 13. 5X-Tony Gates [15]; 14. 73-Rory Welch [14]; 15. 28-Rob Szemborski [13]; 16. 19-Parker Glander [18]; 17. 62-James Rautmann [8]; 18. (DNS) 54-Michael Stean

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 84-Mark Hoeppner [1]; 2. 9L-Hunter Larson [2]; 3. 25-Jim Fischer [5]; 4. 62-James Rautmann [6]; 5. 73-Rory Welch [3]; 6. 5X-Tony Gates [4]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 29S-Tim Sheppard [1]; 2. 3-Travis Schmidt [2]; 3. 22M-Barry Maas [3]; 4. 66-Steve Lorier [5]; 5. 28-Rob Szemborski [4]; 6. 19-Parker Glander [6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 32Z-Andy Welter [3]; 2. 17S-Shane Long [4]; 3. 29M-Ryan Mech [2]; 4. 17-Brandon Knepprath [5]; 5. 59S-Spencer Long [1]; 6. (DNS) 54-Michael Stean