Bill Taylor started on the pole flanked by Nich Melis of Plymouth. Taylor got the jump on the start and pulled out to a quarter-straightaway advantage over Melis by lap 4. Two laps later, 2017 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen brought out a red flag when he flipped his machine in turn two after making contact with Waldo’s Chris Clayton. McMullen was uninjured, but he was done for the night.
On the restart. 2010 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee, who started third, bolted past Melis to take over the runner-up spot, while seventh starter Tim Haddy of Waupun followed Davis into third place on lap 8. Davis was reeling in Taylor on the lightning fast and tacky, but treacherous third-mile clay oval when the second caution appeared on lap 9 when Plymouth’s Adam Miller spun in turn two.
Visiting IRA 410 Sprint Car Series racer Scotty Thiel, who started eighth, made his presence felt in a big way on the restart as he pushed his Randy Sippel-owned 39s machine up to the outside line to power into third place on lap 10.
Six laps later, Taylor caught the rear of the field, which caused him to alter his line slightly to negotiate slower traffic. Thiel had moved into striking distance when the third and final caution of the event appeared on lap 16 when Sheboygan’s Travis Arenz stopped in turn four.
On the final restart, Melis and Haddy dueled feverishly for third while Thiel reached into his bag of tricks to try everything he could to unseat Taylor from the lead. However, Taylor held strong to turn back Thiel’s challenges on the way to his first career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory.
Thiel had to settle for second, Haddy placed third, Melis was fourth and Davis rounded out the top five.
HEAT 1
1, DANNY SCHLAFER. 2, BILL TAYLOR. 3, LANCE FASSBENDER. 4,
ADAM MILLER. 5, BRANDON BERTH. 6, CHRIS LARSON. 7, BLAKE
WONDRA. 8, YURMANOVICH RACING. (DNS).
HEAT 2
1, TIM HADDY. 2, CHRIS CLAYTON. 3, KEVIN KARNTZ. 4, JUSTIN
MILLER. 5, WAYNE MODJESKI. 6, WILL GERRITS. 7, JUSTIN ERICKSON.
8, BRYCE SCHMITT.
HEAT 3
1, ROBBIE PRIBNOW. 2, KURT DAVIS. 3, DOUG WONDRA. 4, TYLER
BRABANT. 5, MIKE DECKER. 6, CHRIS FLICK. 7, TONY WONDRA. 8,
TYLER TISCHENDORF. (DNS).
HEAT 4
1, JOSH WALTER. 2, SHANE WENNINGER. 3, MAYER RACING. 4, TRAVIS
ARENZ. 5, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 6, PAUL POKORSKI. 7, TYLER DAVIS.
HEAT 5
1, SCOTTY THEIL. 2, SCOTT CONGER. 3, NICH MELIS. 4, JACK
VANDERBOOM. 5, AL SCHLAFER. 6, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 7, PRESTON
RUH.
B FEATURE
1, JUSTIN MILLER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, WAYNE MODJESKI. 4,
TYLER DAVIS. 5, CHRIS FLICK. 6, BRYCE SCHMITT. 7, BLAKE WONDRA.
8, JACK VANDERBOOM. 9, MIKE DECKER. 10, JUSTIN ERICKSON. 11,
YURMANOVICH RACING.
B FEATURE
1, TRAVIS ARENZ. 2, DOUG WONDRA. 3, AL SCHLAFER. 4, WILL
GERRITS. 5, BRANDON BERTH. 6, TONY WONDRA. 7, CHRIS LARSON. 8,
TYLER TISCHENDORF. 9, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 10, PRESTON RUH. 11,
PAUL POKORSKI.
A FEATURE
1, BILL TAYLOR. 2, SCOTTY THEIL. 3, TIM HADDY. 4, NICH MELIS. 5,
KURT DAVIS. 6, JOSH WALTER. 7, SHANE WENNINGER. 8, KEVIN
KARNTZ. 9, DANNY SCHLAFER. 10, JUSTIN MILLER. 11, LANCE
FASSBENDER. 12, TYLER BRABANT. 13, CHRIS CLAYTON. 14, ROBBIE
PRIBNOW. 15, MAYER RACING. 16, WAYNE MODJESKI. 17, ADAM
MILLER. 18, AL SCHLAFER. 19, SCOTT CONGER. 20, TRAVIS ARENZ.