In the 30-lap Sprint Car A main, Chris Clayton of Waldo and Al Schlafer of Sussex were on the front row. As they charged into turn one, Clayton would be the leader. Past PDTR 360 Sprint Car champions Danny Schlafer of Sussex, Brandon McMullen of Plymouth and Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee were close behind the leader rounded out the top five competitors in the early going.
With Clayton setting a fast pace in front, the action behind him was intense. Davis and McMullen ran wing to wing before McMullen slipped ahead on the low side. Soon Karnitz would make his presence known by pressuring McMullen for second. By lap 11, Karnitz had secured the second spot just ahead of McMullen.
Meanwhile, 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Ben Schmidt of Howards Grove, who started ninth, showed off his driving skill running outside line into the top five. On lap 16, the leaders caught the back of the field with Clayton holding off Karnitz, but a nifty move in turn one would send Karnitz to the lead with McMullen and Danny Schlafer in tow.
The action was slowed when Clayton’s car and another made contact in turn two resulting in front-end damage to his car, which ended his night.
With the restart tightening the field, a multi-car crash took place entering turn three, after it appeared a car slowed with a mechanical issue and cars went in all directions. The car of Al Schalfer flipped end over end before stopping on its side. After a few minutes, the veteran would immerge from the car and appeared uninjured, although shaken up.
The final laps saw plenty of action behind Karnitz, as Schmidt, McMullen and Danny Schlafer would swap positions.
Karnitz held on to post his second career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and his third overall in Midwest Sprint Car Association competition. The victory was also the second in a row for Karnitz, who captured the most recent MSA A main at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie on Sunday, June 3. In victory lane, Karnitz gave credit to his pit crew for giving him the winning car.
Schmidt placed second, followed by McMullen in third, Danny Schlafer fourth and Davis, who rounded out the top five.
HEAT 1
1, TONY WONDRA. 2, KURT DAVIS. 3, JIM MELIS. 4, MICHAEL
YURMANOVICH. 5, DOUG WONDRA. 6, PAUL POKORSKI. 7, WILL
GERRITS.
HEAT 2
1, KEVIN KARNTZ. 2, KEN JAY FIEDLER. 3, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 4,
TYLER BRABANT. 5, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 6, CHRIS FLICK. 7, TRAVIS
ARENZ.
HEAT 3
1, JUSTIN MILLER. 2, AL SCHLAFER. 3, TIM HADDY. 4, DANNY
SCHLAFER. 5, WAYNE MODJESKI. 6, JOSH WALTER. 7, ADAM MILLER.
HEAT 4
1, BEN SCHMIDT. 2, CHRIS CLAYTON. 3, SCOTT CONGER. 4, LANCE
FASSBENDER. 5, BILL TAYLOR. 6, NICH MELIS. 7, EMILY PORTSCHY.
B FEATURE
1, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 2, BILL TAYLOR. 3, NICH MELIS. 4, PAUL
POKORSKI. 5, JOSH WALTER. 6, TRAVIS ARENZ. 7, TYLER BRABANT. 8,
WILL GERRITS. 9, EMILY PORTSCHY. 10, WAYNE MODJESKI. 11, CHRIS
FLICK. 12, ADAM MILLER. (DNS).
A FEATURE
1, KEVIN KARNTZ. 2, BEN SCHMIDT. 3, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 4, DANNY
SCHLAFER. 5, KURT DAVIS. 6, JUSTIN MILLER. 7, DOUG WONDRA. 8,
LANCE FASSBENDER. 9, BILL TAYLOR. 10, JOSH WALTER. 11, SCOTT
CONGER. 12, TRAVIS ARENZ. 13, PAUL POKORSKI. 14, TONY WONDRA.
15, NICH MELIS. 16, MICHAEL YURMANOVICH. 17, ANTHONY KNIERIM.
18, JIM MELIS. 19, CHRIS CLAYTON. 20, AL SCHLAFER. 21, TIM HADDY.
22, KEN JAY FIEDLER.