Outside front row starter Kenjay Fiedler of Sheboygan Falls outpowered polesitter Jim Melis to grab the lead in the first corner of the opening lap of the 25-lap Sprint Car event. The first caution of the race appeared on lap 3 when Doug Wondra of Lomira, Nick Melis of Plymouth and Ryan Mayr of New Holstein collided in turn 3 sending Wondra flipping. The resulting damage forced Wondra and Melis to retire from the race, while Mayr was able to continue.
After the restart, Melis used the low groove to slip past Fiedler on lap 4. On the next lap, sixth starter Tyler Brabant of Waupun charged up to seize second on lap 5 and pressure Melis for the lead along the low line.
However, the cagey veteran switched his line and moved to the bottom of the track, which helped to turn back Brabant’s march to the front. Three laps later PDTR Sprint Car point leader Brandon McMullen, who started fourth, slipped past Brabant to assume second on lap 11 and quickly began to close the gap on Melis.
As the leaders encountered lapped traffic on lap 16, McMullen cut the gap even further. On the final lap, McMullen dove under Melis and two skilled racers dueled side by side to the finish line with Melis nipping McMullen by just .06 of a second to claim the 15th career PDTR Sprint Car A main victory and 18th Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main triumph of his career.
McMullen finished second, Brabant recorded a career-best third place showing, fifth starter Kurt Davis paced fourth and eighth starter Lance Fassbender of Burnett rounded out the top five.
HEAT 1
1, TYLER BRABANT. 2, MAYER AUTOMOTIVE. 3, DANNY SCHLAFER. 4,
NICH MELIS. 5, DOUG WONDRA. 6, CHRIS CLAYTON. 7, PAUL
POKORSKI. 8, SCOTT CONGER. 9, AL SCHLAFER.
HEAT 2
1, KURT DAVIS. 2, LANCE FASSBENDER. 3, TIM HADDY. 4, DANNON
TESSMER. 5, KEVIN KARNTZ. 6, WILL GERRITS. 7, TONY WONDRA. 8,
EMILY PORTSCHY. 9, RYAN MAYR.
HEAT 3
1, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 2, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 3, KEN JAY FIEDLER.
4, JUSTIN MILLER. 5, SHANE WENNINGER. 6, JOHN KRESBACH. 7, JOSH
TEUNISSEN. 8, JEREMY HUNT.
B FEATURE
1, SHANE WENNINGER. 2, PAUL POKORSKI. 3, WILL GERRITS. 4, TONY
WONDRA. 5, SCOTT CONGER. 6, RYAN MAYR. 7, EMILY PORTSCHY. 8,
AL SCHLAFER. 9, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 10, JEREMY HUNT.
A FEATURE
1, MAYER AUTOMOTIVE. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, TYLER BRABANT.
4, KURT DAVIS. 5, LANCE FASSBENDER. 6, DANNY SCHLAFER. 7, TIM
HADDY. 8, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 9, DANNON TESSMER. 10, JUSTIN
MILLER. 11, KEVIN KARNTZ. 12, WILL GERRITS. 13, JOHN KRESBACH.
14, TONY WONDRA. 15, SHANE WENNINGER. 16, CHRIS CLAYTON. 17,
PAUL POKORSKI. 18, SCOTT CONGER. 19, RYAN MAYR. 20, KEN JAY
FIEDLER. 21, NICH MELIS. 22, DOUG WONDRA.