Schlafer started the Sprint Car A main event from the pole flanked by West Bend’s Paul Pokorski on the outside of the front row. Shortly after the initial drop of the green flag, Ben Schmidt of Howards Grove jumped the cushion and flipped his machine in turn one. He emerged uninjured.
Following a complete restart, Schlafer bolted out to the lead along the inside line while Pokorski settled into second along the high groove. On lap 2, the caution flag was displayed for a spin in turn four involved Dick Kaiser of Milwaukee and Shane Wenninger of Kewaskum.
When the race resumed, third starter Justin Miller of Plymouth ducked low to power past Pokorski into the runner-up spot on lap 5 before McMullen, who started ninth, worked past eight starter and 2010 PDTR Sprint Car champion and point leader Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee to gain the fourth spot on lap 8.
Schlafer encountered slow traffic on lap 11, which allowed Miller to cut the gap significantly. On lap 12, the low-riding Miller pulled ahead of Schlafer briefly. However, the hard-charging Schlafer battled back to regain the top spot on the following lap along the outside groove.
Meanwhile, McMullen was continuing his march to the front of the pack as he worked under Pokorski to seize third place with a low move on lap 12. By lap 18, Schlafer had built up a half-straightaway cushion over Miller. The third caution flag of the race then appeared on lap 19 for a spin in turn four involving Al Schlafer of Sussex and Shane Wenninger.
Following the restart, McMullen powered in to pass Miller for second on lap 20 and quickly set his sights on Schlafer as the laps wound down. McMullen utilized the extreme low line to gain on Schlafer, who held tight to the cushion over the final six circuits, to move into position to challenge for the lead.
On the final lap, McMullen pulled even with Schlafer in turn two. However, Schlafer got a big run in turns three and four to maintain the top spot heading to the finish line where he nipped McMullen by a few feet to notch his second PDTR A-main victory of the 2018 season, 21st PDTR Sprint Car A-main win of his career to tie Donny Goeden for the all-time lead in the 360 Sprint Car division at Plymouth and 50th career Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main triumph.
McMullen had to settle for second, Pokorski gained two spots over the final six laps to finish third, Miller was fourth and 10th starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend placed fifth.
HEAT 1
1, KEVIN KARNTZ. 2, JUSTIN MILLER. 3, KURT DAVIS. 4, AL SCHLAFER.
5, SHANE WENNINGER. 6, JOSH WALTER. 7, TIM HADDY.
HEAT 2
1, ADAM MILLER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, BEN SCHMIDT. 4, SCOTT
CONGER. 5, BILL TAYLOR. 6, TYLER BRABANT.
HEAT 3
1, TONY WONDRA. 2, TRAVIS ARENZ. 3, PAUL POKORSKI. 4, DANNY
SCHLAFER. 5, DICK KAISER. 6, CHRIS FLICK. 7, CHRIS CLAYTON.
A FEATURE
1, DANNY SCHLAFER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, PAUL POKORSKI. 4,
JUSTIN MILLER. 5, KEVIN KARNTZ. 6, KURT DAVIS. 7, TIM HADDY. 8,
TONY WONDRA. 9, BILL TAYLOR. 10, JOSH WALTER. 11, ADAM MILLER.
12, TRAVIS ARENZ. 13, TYLER BRABANT. 14, SHANE WENNINGER. 15,
SCOTT CONGER. 16, AL SCHLAFER. 17, CHRIS FLICK. 18, CHRIS
CLAYTON. 19, DICK KAISER. 20, BEN SCHMIDT. 21, JEREMY HUNT.