Two of the most experienced drivers in the pit area lined up on the front row of the 25-lap Sprint Car A main as Jim Melis of Glenbeulah held the pole position with 2010 PDTR Sprint Car champion Kurt Davis lined up on the outside.
Melis got the jump on the drop of the green flag and held down the top spot along the low groove in the early going while Davis worked the high groove of the wide and smooth racing surface.
After hounding Melis along the cushion for several laps, Davis shot into the lead with a bold high move in turn one on lap 5. As 2017 PDTR Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh who started eighth, and Plymouth’s Josh Walter, who started fifth, dueled hard for fifth, the leaders began to encounter slower traffic on lap 10.
With lapped cars in the mix, Melis was able to close the gap on Davis using the high groove, while two-time PDTR Sprint Car champ Danny Schlafer of Sussex, who started third, moved in to make it a three-car battle up front.
Just as it appeared the action was going to get heated in lapped traffic, a red flag appeared on lap 11 when Doug Wondra and Robbie Pribnow collided on the frontstretch, sending Wondra flipping. Both drivers emerged uninjured.
On the restart, Schlafer made an aggressive move to power past Melis in second in turn two, while McMullen slipped past Walter to assume fourth on lap 12.
The final 14 laps clicked off quickly as the majority of the field held tight to the preferred high groove. Schlafer was able to close the gap slightly on Davis in the closing laps, but he was never able to mount a serious threat for the lead.
Davis went on to post his 20th career PDTR Sprint Car A-main victory and the 57th overall Midwest Sprint Car Association main event triumph of his long career. Schlafer finished second, Melis was third, McMullen placed fourth and Walter rounded out the top five.
HEAT 1
1, LANCE FASSBENDER. 2, JIM MELIS. 3, DANNY SCHLAFER. 4, TYLER
BRABANT. 5, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 6, BILL TAYLOR. 7, TYLER DAVIS. 8,
TIM HADDY. 9, TRAVIS ARENZ.
HEAT 2
1, ROBBIE PRIBNOW. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, KEVIN KARNTZ. 4,
JOSH WALTER. 5, TONY WONDRA. 6, DOUG WONDRA. 7, EMILY
PORTSCHY. 8, CHRIS LARSON. 9, BRANDON BERTH.
HEAT 3
1, PAUL POKORSKI. 2, AL SCHLAFER. 3, KURT DAVIS. 4, ADAM MILLER.
5, CHRIS CLAYTON. 6, JUSTIN MILLER. 7, NICH MELIS. 8, SCOTT
CONGER.
B FEATURE
1, TONY WONDRA. 2, CHRIS CLAYTON. 3, NICH MELIS. 4, SCOTT
CONGER. 5, TRAVIS ARENZ. 6, TIM HADDY. 7, BRANDON BERTH. 8,
CHRIS LARSON. 9, EMILY PORTSCHY. 10, TYLER DAVIS.
A FEATURE
1, KURT DAVIS. 2, DANNY SCHLAFER. 3, JIM MELIS. 4, BRANDON
MCMULLEN. 5, JOSH WALTER. 6, AL SCHLAFER. 7, KEVIN KARNTZ. 8,
JUSTIN MILLER. 9, PAUL POKORSKI. 10, ADAM MILLER. 11, BILL
TAYLOR. 12, LANCE FASSBENDER. 13, NICH MELIS. 14, ANTHONY
KNIERIM. 15, SCOTT CONGER. 16, TRAVIS ARENZ. 17, TYLER
BRABANT. 18, ROBBIE PRIBNOW. 19, TONY WONDRA. 20, DOUG
WONDRA. 21, TIM HADDY. 22, CHRIS CLAYTON.