Clayton tallies second win, Schmidt bags third MSA title

Chris Clayton of Waldo (left photo) notched his second career MMW Industrial Supply 360 Sprint A-main victory and Ben Schmidt of Plymouth (right photo) secured his third career MSA 360 Sprint Car Series championship at the Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships at the Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, Sept. 27. - JW's Car and Raccing Photos

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) September 27, 2025 – Chris Clayton earned his second career 2025 MMW Industrial Supply Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and Ben Schmidt of Plymouth racked up his third overall and second career MSA series championship to close out the 2025 campaign at the eighth annual Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

After the initial start was negated when polesitter Chris Larson of Franksville spun in turn one, original outside front row starter Chris Clayton blasted into the lead on the drop of the green flag in the MSA 360 Sprint Car A main.

Clayton wasted no time in building up a solid lead along the inside lane of the third-mile semi-banked clay oval. Meanwhile, fifth starter Ben Schmidt mounted a charge to work his way into fourth on lap 3 and third on lap 4. Three laps later, Schmidt vaulted into second in his quest to capture the 2025 MSA season title.

The 13^th year competitor, who collected his first career MSA main event at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour, Wis. on Saturday, Sept. 6 went on to earn his second career MSA main event win.

“I like running the bottom,” Clayton said. “I really don’t run anywhere else. I just catfished around the bottom and it worked well tonight.”

Schmidt came home second to complete his third overall and second consecutive MSA title. Fourth starter Brandon Berth of Cascade wound up third, Tony Wondra of Campbellsport worked his way up from the ninth starting spot to place fourth, and third starter Billy Kreutz of Kiel completed the top five.

“The guys gave me another great car,” Schmidt said. “I wasn’t sure how the track was going to shape up. The car has been awesome all year. We had two motor DNFs, which kind of took us out of the Plymouth points. I want to congratulate Kevin [Karnitz] on his Plymouth championship. Last year, we had it locked up before the last night. This year, it was a little more exciting being separated by only four points. I hope you guys liked that little battle we had tonight.”

 Ben Schmidt claimed overall fast time honors in MSA 360 Sprint Car hot-lap-group qualifying in 12.511 seconds

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The final event of the 2025 MSA season drew 22 MSA 360 Sprint Cars.

MMW INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MIDWEST SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION SPRINT CARS

A Main (25 Laps): 1. 2-Chris Clayton [2]; 2. 1-Ben Schmidt [6]; 3. 22B-Brandon Berth [4]; 4. 11-Tony Wondra [9]; 5. 3BK-Billy Kreutz [3]; 6. 46-Steven Ruh [8]; 7. 27G-Donny Goeden [11]; 8. 33M-Shane Wenninger [10]; 9. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [5]; 10. 69-Bill Taylor [17]; 11. 16-Anthony Knierim [7]; 12. 69S-TJ Smith [12]; 13. 24X-Eric Wilke [14]; 14. 57-Tristan Furseth [15]; 15. 51-Chris Larson [1]; 16. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [18]; 17. 12P-JJ Pagel [13]; 18. 98M-Ron Malec [16]; 19. 59-Ethon Stear [21]; 20. 20R-Chad Stouthamer [20]; 21. 68P-Frank Perko [22]; 22. 55S-Ryan Sawusch [19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Steven Ruh[3]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth[4]; 3. 33M-Shane Wenninger[1]; 4. 24X-Eric Wilke[2]; 5. 12P-JJ Pagel[5]; 6. 98M-Ron Malec[6]; 7. 20R-Chad Stouthamer[8]; 8. 55S-Ryan Sawusch[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3BK-Billy Kreutz[1]; 2. 1-Ben Schmidt[4]; 3. 2-Chris Clayton[6]; 4. 51-Chris Larson[5]; 5. 69-Bill Taylor[2]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach[3]; 7. 59-Ethon Stear[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Anthony Knierim[2]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz[4]; 3. 11-Tony Wondra[1]; 4. 27G-Donny Goeden[3]; 5. 69S-TJ Smith[5]; 6. 57-Tristan Furseth[6]; 7. 68P-Frank Perko[7]

Qualifying 1: 1. 20R-Chad Stouthamer, 12.917[8]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth, 12.933[4]; 3. 46-Steven Ruh, 12.980[5]; 4. 24X-Eric Wilke, 13.019[6]; 5. 33M-Shane Wenninger, 13.108[7]; 6. 12P-JJ Pagel, 13.113[1]; 7. 98M-Ron Malec, 13.143[2]; 8. 55S-Ryan Sawusch, 13.731[3]

Qualifying 2: 1. 1-Ben Schmidt, 12.511[3]; 2. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 12.814[1]; 3. 69-Bill Taylor, 12.890[2]; 4. 3BK-Billy Kreutz, 12.899[6]; 5. 51-Chris Larson, 13.125[5]; 6. 2-Chris Clayton, 13.200 [4]; 7. 59-Ethon Stear, 13.220 [7]

Qualifying 3: 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 12.656 [6]; 2. 27G-Donny Goeden, 12.758 [2]; 3. 16-Anthony Knierim, 12.776 [4]; 4. 11-Tony Wondra, 12.941 [5]; 5. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.094 [1]; 6. 57-Tristan Furseth, 13.115 [3]; 7. 68P-Frank Perko, 13.291 [7]