McMullen, Schumacher, Koenig capture PDTR A-main wins

By Jeff Pederson – Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) August 25, 2023 – After finishing in a season-ending points deadlock, Will Sorce of Franklin and 2010 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Grand National champion Brian Gilles of Plymouth wrapped up the 2023 season as co-champions in the PDTR Grand National division, while two-time PDTR B Mod champion Tim Warner of Malone erased a 20-point deficit in the final points event of the season to add a third division title to his collection, during an eventful 2023 PDTR Grand National and B Mod championship night racing program Friday, Aug. 25 at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.

Two-time Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh nailed down his third straight and fifth overall Akright Auto PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main victory of the 2023 campaign to remain on top of the division point standings by 14 points over 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Ben Schmidt of Plymouth with two events remaining in the season.

In the 20-lap Oostburg Automotive Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Grand National main event, Nick Schumacher of Eagle collected his first A-main victory of the 2023 season.

Elijah Koenig of Fox Lake notched his initial triumph of the 2023 campaign in the Next Step Insurance 20

-lap B Mod A-main victory of the 2023 campaign.

The scheduled 30-lap WABAM Dirt Kings Late Model Tour A main was cancelled due to rain.

The initial start of the Akright Auto PDTR – Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car A main was aborted when Katelyn Krebsbach of Cascade spun in turn two. Following a complete restart, outside front row starter Chris Larson of Franksville jumped into the lead in turn two on the opening lap with polesitter Brandon McMullen following in second.

On lap 2, McMullen dove low to secure the top spot exiting turn four. With McMullen in control at the front of the field, Ben Schmidt worked his way up from the seventh starting position to take third from fourth starter Alex Pokorski of West Bend on lap 9.

One lap later, Schmidt shot past Larson to gain the runner-up spot as McMullen began to work his way through slower traffic. Schmidt cut into McMullen’s lead as the laps wound down and was within sight of the top spot when the second and final caution flag of the race was displayed on lap 24 after Chris Clayton of Waldo spun in turn three.

Following a single-file restart, McMullen held off Schmidt’s challenge over the final two laps en route to his division-topping 32nd career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and 44th career MSA 360 Sprint main event triumph, along with his third consecutive and fifth overall PDTR A-main victory of the 2023 season.

Schmidt had to settle for second, Pokorski pulled off a final corner pass to finish third, Larson earned a career-best fourth place showing and rookie Tristan Koenings of Van Dyne, who started third, claimed a career-best fifth place finish.

Outside front row starter Donny Kulow of Plymouth grabbed the lead on the opening lap of the 20-lap PDTR Grand National A main with 2019 PDTR Grand National champ Tyler Kulow Plymouth, who started fourth, settling into second.

The first of three caution flags appeared on lap 2 when Vince Bartolotta of Muskego spun in turn two. On the restart, Tyler Kulow rode the high groove to sweep into the lead on lap 3 before the second caution flag flew when Seth Westimayer of Horicon spun in turn two.

Following the restart, Donny Kulow and 2008 PDTR Grand National champion Matt Yancey of Sheboygan, who started on the pole, waged a spirited duel for the top spot.

On lap 5, the third and final caution flag appeared when Bartolotta spun in turn four. When the race resumed Donny Kulow remained in the lead while Yancey, Tyler Kulow and Nick Schumacher, who started 10th, dueled in three-wide fashion for second.

Schumacher emerged in second place on lap 7 and quickly set his sights on the lead. On lap 9, Schumacher ventured up to the high groove to pressure Donny Kulow before taking control of the top spot in turn one on lap 10.

Eighth starter Justin Pearson of Horicon moved into second on lap 11 and worked the high line to cut the gap on Schumacher in the closing laps. Six laps later, Pearson moved in to pressure Schumacher for the lead starting on lap 17.

However, Schumacher successfully fended off Pearson’s challenge on the way to his second career PDTR Grand National A-main victory and first main event win of the 2023 season at The Plymouth Dirt Track.

Pearson wound up second, Will Sorce of Franklin moved up from the ninth starting spot to place third, Donny Kulow finished fourth and Brian Gilles, who started seventh, placed fifth.

Sorce and Gilles closed out the final Grand National points race program of the 2023 PDTR season tied at the top of the point standings with 855 points apiece to end up as division co-champions. It marked the first PDTR Grand National championship of Sorce’s career. Gilles claimed his second PDTR Grand National title and seventh overall Plymouth track championship (five Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Super Stock, two PDTR Grand National) to move into second on the track’s all-time track championship list behind Gary Laack, who has nine Plymouth track titles to his credit.

It is the first time two drivers have secured co-championship honors at The Plymouth Dirt Track since the 1995 season when Rick Hed and Tim Thompson shared the Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Hobby Stock track title.

Outside front row starter Steve Lorier of Sheboygan Falls grabbed the lead on the opening lap of the 20-lap PDTR B Mod main event with fourth starter Elijah Koenig trailing in second.

After a spirited duel with Lorier, Koenig used the outside groove to power into the top spot in turn two on lap 5. On lap 8, with his eyes set firmly on securing another B Mod track title, Tim Warner, who started sixth, moved past Lorier into second in turn two on lap 8.

While Warner gradually reeled in Koenig during the second half of the race, seventh starter Travis Schmidt of Plymouth moved in to take third on lap 17. Warner cut the gap significantly on the final lap. However, Koenig held on to rack up his fourth career PDTR B Mod A-main victory and first main event triumph of the 2023 campaign at Plymouth.

Warner secured his third PDTR B Mod championship with a second place finish, Schmidt placed third, Lorier wound up fourth and eight starter Shane Long of Sheboygan Falls placed fifth.

After entering a car in 10 of the 11 PDTR Mod events held during the 2023 campaign, Warner came into the night 20 points behind PDTR B Mod points leader Barry Maas of Cascade. Warner used a heat race victory and a second place finish in the A main to edge Travis Schmidt by two points (863-861) in the chase for the 2023 title. Maas encountered a mechanical issue in heat race action, which prevented him from starting the A main and competing for a B Mod championship.

Brett Swedberg of Shawano was the WABAM Dirt Kings Late Model Tour fast qualifier with a lap of 13.691 seconds.

Brandon McMullen earned the Akright Auto PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car division fast qualifier award with a lap of 12.783 seconds.

The 15^th event of the 2023 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Kriete Truck Center, drew a total of 78 cars, including 25 WABAM Dirt Kings Tour Late Models, 21 PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars, 19 Grand Nationals and 13 B Mods.

The next Plymouth Dirt Track Racing program will take place during the 2023 Sheboygan County Fair on Saturday, Sept. 2, featuring an all-Sprint Car event with the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series and Plymouth Dirt Track Racing-Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Cars.

On-track action is scheduled to begin 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.

WABAM DIRT KINGS LATE MODEL TOUR

Klink Equipment Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Brett Swedberg [1]; 2. 74-Mitch McGrath [3]; 3. 81-Troy Springborn [2]; 4. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [6]; 5. 22-Charlie Schmidt [4]; 6. 55-Joe Bongiorno [5]; 7. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [7]; 8. 03-Kyle Raddant [9]; 9. 5-Lukas Postl [8]

Ken’s Sports Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 99M-Mike Mullen [2]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [1]; 3. 33E-Chris Engels [4]; 4. 99-Sawyer Specht [6]; 5. 21M-Shawn Miller [3]; 6. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [5]; 7. (DNS) 9Z-Jayme Zidar; 8. (DNS) 7-Joel Bennett

Wehrs Machine Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 15-Nick Anvelink [1]; 2. 42-Terry Casey [2]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie [3]; 4. 24-Turk Letizia [4]; 5. 25-Jared Siefert [6]; 6. 77-Bill Edler [5]; 7. (DNF) 66-Ron Berna [7]; 8. (DNF) 19J-Justin Green [8]

Klink Equipment Qualifying 1: 1. 3-Brett Swedberg, 13.691 [2]; 2. 81-Troy Springborn, 13.917 [3]; 3. 74-Mitch McGrath, 13.950 [8]; 4. 22-Charlie Schmidt, 13.972 [6]; 5. 55-Joe Bongiorno, 14.195 [4]; 6. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 14.227 [9]; 7. 24S-Jayden Schmidt, 14.430 [5]; 8. 5-Lukas Postl, 14.810 [7]; 9. (DQ) 03-Kyle Raddant, 14.141 [1]

Ken’s Sports Qualifying 2: 1. 89-Brad Mueller, 13.912 [3]; 2. 99M-Mike Mullen, 14.153 [6]; 3. 21M-Shawn Miller, 14.206 [4]; 4. 33E-Chris Engels, 14.400 [7]; 5. 9N-Tom Naeyaert, 14.459 [1]; 6. 99-Sawyer Specht, 14.529 [5]; 7. (DNS) 9Z-Jayme Zidar; 8. (DNS) 7-Joel Bennett

Wehrs Machine Qualifying 3: 1. 15-Nick Anvelink, 13.708 [7]; 2. 42-Terry Casey, 14.014 [4]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie, 14.120 [2]; 4. 24-Turk Letizia, 14.194 [5]; 5. 77-Bill Edler, 14.195 [8]; 6. 25-Jared Siefert, 14.421 [6]; 7. (DQ) 66-Ron Berna, 14.541 [1]; 8. (DQ) 19J-Justin Green, 17.107 [3]

AKRIGHT AUTO PLYMOUTH DIRT TRACK RACING 360 SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 98-Brandon McMullen [1]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [7]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski [4]; 4. 51-Chris Larson [2]; 5. 66T-Tristan Koenings [3]; 6. 7-Lance Fassbender [8]; 7. 69S-TJ Smith [5]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien [9]; 9. 22B-Brandon Berth [12]; 10. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [13]; 11. 11-Tony Wondra [11]; 12. 3-Justin Erickson [20]; 13. 53A-Paul Pokorski [14]; 14. 12P-JJ Pagel [16]; 15. 66-Nick Daywalt [18]; 16. 54-Randy Post [15]; 17. 69-Bill Taylor [17]; 18. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [6]; 19. 38-Jeffrey Neubert [21]; 20. 2-Chris Clayton [10]; 21. 21H-TJ Haddy [19]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 51-Chris Larson [2]; 2. 69S-TJ Smith [4]; 3. 35-Ben Schmidt [3]; 4. 53A-Paul Pokorski [1]; 5. 22B-Brandon Berth [5]; 6. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [7]; 7. 69-Bill Taylor [6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Alex Pokorski [2]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [4]; 3. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 4. 11-Tony Wondra [5]; 5. 66-Nick Daywalt [1]; 6. 54-Randy Post [6]; 7. 12P-JJ Pagel [7]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 66T-Tristan Koenings [2]; 2. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [4]; 3. 85J-Logan Julien [3]; 4. 2-Chris Clayton [5]; 5. 38-Jeffrey Neubert [7]; 6. (DNF) 3-Justin Erickson [1]; 7. (DNF) 21H-TJ Haddy [6]

Qualifying 1: 1. 69S-TJ Smith, 12.861 [4]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.866 [1]; 3. 51-Chris Larson, 12.932 [6]; 4. 53A-Paul Pokorski, 13.004[5]; 5. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.042 [7]; 6. 69-Bill Taylor, 13.045 [3]; 7. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.106 [2]

Qualifying 2: 1. 98-Brandon McMullen, 12.783 [2]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender, 12.914 [1]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski, 13.002 [3]; 4. 66-Nick Daywalt, 13.013 [4]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.277 [6]; 6. 54-Randy Post, 13.323 [5]; 7. 12P-JJ Pagel, 13.474 [7]

Qualifying 3: 1. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 12.923 [6]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.050 [3]; 3. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 13.306 [5]; 4. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.308 [4]; 5. 38-Jeffrey Neubert, 13.523 [7]; 6. 2-Chris Clayton, 13.565 [2]; 7. (DNS) 21H-TJ Haddy, 13.565

OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS

A Main: 1. 47-Nick Schumacher [10]; 2. E85-Justin Pearson [8]; 3. 14X-Will Sorce [9]; 4. 95-Donny Kulow [2]; 5. 89-Brian Gilles [7]; 6. 80-Luke Scholten [3]; 7. 24K-Tyler Kulow [4]; 8. 54-Matt Yancey [1]; 9. 23-Matt Loehr [12]; 10. 38S-Aaron Streblow [13]; 11. 34-Steven Weber [6]; 12. 14-Seth Westimayer [5]; 13. 87-Eric Lingford [18]; 14. 3-Jim Wirtz [11]; 15. 6-Dick Hed [16]; 16. 67-Jeff Storm [17]; 17. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [14]; 18. (DNS) 70JR-Jason Schilling; 19. (DNS) 70W-Steven Wirtz

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. E85-Justin Pearson [3]; 2. 80-Luke Scholten [1]; 3. 24K-Tyler Kulow [4]; 4. 95-Donny Kulow [5]; 5. 23-Matt Loehr [2]; 6. 3-Jim Wirtz [6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Seth Westimayer [1]; 2. 89-Brian Gilles [5]; 3. 54-Matt Yancey [2]; 4. 47-Nick Schumacher [3]; 5. 14X-Will Sorce [6]; 6. 38S-Aaron Streblow [4]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 34-Steven Weber [2]; 2. 87-Eric Lingford [6]; 3. 67-Jeff Storm [7]; 4. 70JR-Jason Schilling [5]; 5. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [1]; 6. (DNF) 70W-Steven Wirtz [3]; 7. (DNF) 6-Dick Hed [4]

NEXT STEP INSURANCE B MODS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 1K-Elijah Koenig [4]; 2. 03W-Tim Warner [6]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt [7]; 4. 66-Steve Lorier [2]; 5. 17S-Shane Long [8]; 6. 17-Brandon Knepprath [5]; 7. 73-Rory Welch [9]; 8. 59S-Spencer Long [11]; 9. 25-Jim Fischer [1]; 10. 19-Parker Glander [3]; 11. 117-Tom Barnharst [10]; 12. 54-Michael Strean [13]; 13. (DNS) 22M-Barry Maas

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 03W-Tim Warner [4]; 2. 66-Steve Lorier [2]; 3. 1K-Elijah Koenig [7]; 4. 17S-Shane Long [3]; 5. 3-Travis Schmidt [6]; 6. 73-Rory Welch [5]; 7. 117-Tom Barnharst [1]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 17-Brandon Knepprath [2]; 2. 19-Parker Glander [3]; 3. 25-Jim Fischer [1]; 4. (DNF) 59S-Spencer Long [4]; 5. (DNF) 22M-Barry Maas [6]; 6. (DNF) 54-Michael Strean [5]