McMullen storms to first PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main triumph of 2019

By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) August 31, 2019 – After coming up just short at The Plymouth Dirt Track on three occasions last year, retired three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart of Columbus, Ind. broke into the winners circle by edging eight-time series champion Bill Balog of Hartland in the 30-lap Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association A main during the Sheboygan County Fair in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, Aug. 31.

In the companion 25-lap Richard’s of Dunbar Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car A main, 2017 track champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh claimed his first main event victory of the 2019 season, after vaulting from third to first following a late-rate caution with just four laps remaining.

With a capacity crowd packing the stands on the third day of the 2019 Sheboygan County Fair, the 30-lap IRA A main got off to a rough start when Sheboygan’s Scotty Thiel flipped in turn two of the opening lap, while collecting two-time IRA champion Scotty Neizel of Beaver Dam. Thiel was done for the night, but Neitzel returned at the rear of the field after a trip to the work area.

After a complete restart, Tony Stewart jumped out to the lead in turn two of the opening lap from his outside front row starting spot with fourth starter Joey Moughan of Springfield, Illinois moving into second and polesitter Dave Uttech of Kenosha seizing third.

On lap three, Bill Balog, who started seventh, pulled off a slide job in turn two to take third from Uttech, while Stewart had built up a half-straightaway cushion over Moughan at the front of the field by lap 4.

One lap later, the second caution flag was displayed when Steve Meyer of Sheboygan Falls spun in turn one. On the restart, Balog executive another slide job to take over second in turn two on lap 5 and quickly set is sights on Stewart.

Stewart moved into heavy lapped traffic on lap 8, which allowed Balog to cut the gap dramatically. Over the next eight laps, Stewart and Balog weaved their way skillfully through thick lapped traffic before Balog made a bid for the lead on lap 17, which Stewart successfully held off.

Three laps later, Balog attempted to pull off a slide job for the lead in turn four, but the attempt fell short as Stewart used the high groove to power away from the current IRA point leader.

On lap 22, Joey Moughan looped his machine, which brought out the third and final caution flag of the event. Following the restart, Balog made another big run at Stewart. However, Stewart again held off the hard-charging Balog, who had defeated Stewart on the final lap on two different occasions at Plymouth last September, including an IRA event held on Sept. 1, 2018 during the Sheboygan County Fair.

After notching three consecutive second-place finishes in IRA action at The Plymouth Dirt Track last year, Stewart broke through to earn his ninth overall A-main victory of the 2019 season and second career IRA main event triumph, both of which have come at The Plymouth Dirt Track.

Balog had to settle for second, 2016 IRA champion Jeremy Schultz of Beaver Dam finished third after starting third, Uttech held on to place fourth, which was his first IRA top-five A-main showing of the 2019 season, and 11^th starter Mike Reinke of Howards Grove rounded out the top five.

Considering his string of second-place showings at Plymouth last September and after spinning out while leading an IRA event on Friday night at the Wilmot Raceway, Stewart was overjoyed with the win in victory lane.

“I love coming to this track,” Stewart said. “I’m glad I didn’t screw this one up like I did last night at Wilmot. This place is really cool. The fans are just great. I love it here.”

It was Stewart’s first A-main victory since recently switching to a Ford engine package.

“This is the eighth night we have run the Ford powerplant and the first victory we’ve had with it under the hood,” Stewart said. “Every time we hit the track we’ve been trying some different combinations with the engine and the car. I have to hand it to my crew – Ricky Warner, Jimmy Carr and Ayrton Olsen, for everything they’ve done to make this car so good. This win means the world to me. It’s great to get a win at this track and for it to be the first one using Ford power.”

After an uncharacteristic string of on-track incidents have plagued his efforts in the last three IRA events, Balog was pleased with the second-place performance.

“We were pretty good all night,” Balog said. “I got next to Tony a couple of times, but just couldn’t quite pull it off. It was good to finally get a good finish tonight after what’s been happening lately. We needed it.”

Schultz, who won an IRA event at Wilmot Raceway the night before, was happy with his podium finish.

“We were hanging right with the leaders at the end, which was a positive for us,” Schultz said. “Overall, it was a good night for our team.”

Polesitter Kevin Karnitz jumped out to the lead on the opening circuit of the 25-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main with third starter Shane Wenninger of Kewaskum following into second. On lap 5, sixth starter Jim Melis of Glenbeulah used the high groove to move in to challenge the low-riding Wenninger for second.

By lap 8, Karnitz had built up a half-straightaway cushion over Wenninger. However, on the next lap, Melis finally surged ahead of Wenninger into second. Two laps later, Wenninger got a big run off the inside lane to regain the runner-up spot and close in on Karnitz.

As Karnitz began to negotiate slower traffic on lap 15, Wenninger moved in to close the gap on the leader. Wenninger attempted to wrestle the lead away from Karnitz by moving up to the high groove on lap 16.

However, heavy lapped traffic impeded Wenninger’s progress as 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Howards Grove, who started fifth, bolted in to take second from Wenninger along the high groove on lap 20 while three-time Midwest Sprint Car Association champion Brandon McMullen, who started eighth, followed into third on lap 21.

Schmidt appeared poised to launch himself into the lead along the high line on lap 22 before the lone caution of the race appeared on the same lap for Chris Clayton of Waldo, who spun in turn four.

On the restart, McMullen got a huge run along the high groove to vault past Schmidt into second and challenge Karnitz for the top spot on lap 23. One lap later, McMullen powered into the lead along the high groove entering turn three and held off Karnitz, who stayed in close quarters over the final circuit, to secure his 16^th career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and 22^nd career Midwest Sprint Car Association main event triumph.

Karnitz placed second, Schmidt wound up third, Wenninger placed fourth and Melis rounded out the top five.

Danny Schlafer of Sussex won the IRA B main behind the wheel of the Darrell Dodd-owned No. 11 car.

Tony Wondra won the first PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main and Tyler Davis of South Milwaukee earned the victory in the second PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main.

Bill Balog was the top IRA qualifier with a time of 11.601 on the third-mile clay oval.

The event drew a total of 60 Winged Sprint Cars, including 26 IRA 410 Sprint Cars and 34 PDTR 360 Sprint Cars.

JDL Automotive was the evening’s trophy sponsor and Professional Plating added extra purse money to the top three finishers in both the IRA 410 Sprint Car and PDTR 360 Sprint Car A mains.

The next race at The Plymouth Dirt Track will take place on Saturday, Sept. 14 featuring the Dirt Kings Late Model Tour, along with the PDTR 360 Sprints and the final points night of the 2019 season for the PDTR Grand National and B Mod divisions. Hot laps will start at 5:30 p.m. with racing beginning at 6 p.m.

Two events remain on the 2019 PDTR schedule, which concludes on Saturday, Sept. 28.

RICHARD’S OF DUNBAR 360 SPRINT CAR

Date of Race: August 31, 2019

HEAT 1

1, Will Gerrits 2, Paul Pokorski 3, Kurt Davis, 4, Jeremy Schultz 5, Scott Conger 6, Anthony Knierim 7, Sean Rayhall 8, Doug Wondra 9, Trevor Andrusko.

HEAT 2

1, Shane Wenninger 2, Brandon McMullen 3, Tyler Brabant 4, Travis Arenz 5, Jack Vanderboom 6, Tim Haddy 7, Mike Decker 8, Preston Ruh.

HEAT 3

1, Jim Melis 2, Chris Clayton 3, Justin Miller 4, Brandon Berth 5, Tony Wondra 6, Tyler Tischendorf 7, Al Schlafer 8, Blake Wondra.

HEAT 4

1, Kevin Karnitz 2, Ben Schmidt 3, Bill Taylor 4, Tyler Davis 5, Adam Miller 6, Josh Teunissen 7, Chris Larson 8, Mike Yurmanovich.

B MAIN 1

1, Tony Wondra 2, Jack Vanderboom 3, Bill Taylor 4, Tyler Tischendorf 5, Josh Teunissen 6, Mike Decker 7, Doug Wondra 8, Trevor Andrusko 9, Mike Yurmanovich (DNS).

B MAIN 2

1, Tyler Davis 2, Tim Haddy 3, Anthony Knierim 4, Al Schlafer 5, Preston Ruh 6, Blake Wondra 7, Chris Larson 8, Sean Rayhall.

A MAIN

1, Brandon McMullen 2, Kevin Karnitz 3, Ben Schmidt 4, Shane Wenninger 5, Jim Melis 6, Kurt Davis 7, Tyler Brabant 8, Travis Arenz 9, Adam Miller 10, Will Gerrits 11, Tony Wondra 12, Paul Pokorski 13, Jack Vanderboom 14, Tyler Davis 15, Anthony Knierim 16, Brandon Berth 17, Scott Conger 18, Chris Clayton 19, Tim Haddy 20, Jeremy Schultz 21, Justin Miller 22, Bill Taylor.

 

BUMPER TO BUMPER INTERSTATE RACING ASSOCIATION

HEAT 1

1, Dave Uttech 2, Bill Balog 3, Jordan Goldesberry 4, Joey Moughan 5, Jereme Schroeder 6, Hunter Custer 7, Nick Matuszewski 8, Sean Rayhall 9, Bryce Schmitt.

HEAT 2

1, Jeremy Schultz 2, Tony Stewart 3, Jake Blackhurst 4, Ben Schmidt 5, Wayne Modjeski 6, Josh Walter 7, John Fahl 8, Brian Strane 9, Keith Fellner.

HEAT 3

1, Scott Neitzel 2, Mike Reinke 3, Scotty Thiel 4, Russel Borland 5, Steve Meyer 6, Kris Spitz 7, Danny Schlafer 8, Matt Wiese.

B MAIN

1, Danny Schlafer 2, Sean Rayhall 3, John Fahl 4, Brian Strane 5, Bryce Schmitt 6, Keith Fellner 7, Nick Matuszewski 8, Matt Wiese.

A MAIN

1, Tony Stewart 2, Bill Balog 3, Jeremy Schultz 4, Dave Uttech 5, Mike Reinke 6, Jake Blackhurst 7, Russel Borland 8, Jordan Goldesberry 9, Joey Moughan 10, Ben Schmidt 11, Wayne Modjeski 12, Kris Spitz 13, Scotty Neitzel 14, Josh Walter 15, Steve Meyer 16, Danny Schlafer 17, John Fahl 18, Hunter Custer 19, Sean Rayhall 20, Bryce Schmitt 21, Brian Strane 22, Keith Fellner 23, Jeremy Schroeder 24, Scotty Thiel.

Qualifying

1, Bill Balog 11.601; 2, Jake Blackhurst 11.658; 3, Scotty Thiel 11.723; 4, Joey Moughan 11.765; 5, Tony Stewart 11.769; 6, Steve Meyer 11.775; 7, Jordan Goldesberry 11.802; 8, Ben Schmidt 11.859; 9, Mike Reinke 11.892; 10, Dave Uttech 11.896; 11, Jeremy Schultz 11.915; 12, Scotty Neitzel 11.962; 13, Jereme Schroeder 11.975; 14, Josh Walter 12.041; 15, Danny Schlafer 12.156; 16, Hunter Custer 12.177; 17, Wayne Modjeski 12.185; 18, Kris Spitz 12.194; 19, Sean Rayhall 12.373; 20, John Fahl 12.430; 21, Russel Borland 12.449; 22, Nick Matuszewski 12.450; 23, Brian Strane 12.469; 24, Matt Wiese 12.507; 25, Bryce Schmitt 12.736; 26, Keith Fellner 12.838.