(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 15, 2021 – On a cool and rainy evening that yielded lightning fast track conditions, 2018 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Justin Miller of Plymouth outdueled two-time PDTR 360 Sprint champ Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh through heavy lapped traffic to claim the A-main victory in the 25-lap Kristine Hartmann Pleasantview Realty 360 Sprint Car main event, while establishing a new track record in the process Saturday, May 15 at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis.
After Justin Miller led the 22-car 360 Sprint Car A-main field to the green flag from the pole position, outside front row starter Brandon McMullen powered around Miller to take the lead in turn two of the opening circuit along the high groove.
McMullen paced the field with Miller second, fourth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend in third and two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee, who started third, in fourth in the early stages of the race. The leaders hit lapped traffic on lap 7, which allowed Miller to cut the gap.
On lap 17, Miller ducked low to seize the top spot from McMullen in dense lapped traffic. Three laps later, Miller made slight contact with a lapped car in turn four, which allowed McMullen to regain the lead briefly along the inside groove.
However, Miller battled back to regain the top spot with a low move in turn three on lap 22 and fended off McMullen over the final three laps to secure his fourth career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and sixth overall Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main triumph in the caution-free race.
Miller completed the non-stop A-main race in five minutes and 31 seconds to set a new 25-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main track record. The previous record was set in 2016 by Kurt Davis.
McMullen finished second, Karnitz placed third, Davis was fourth and Travis Arenz of Sheboygan charged from the 16th starting spot to place fifth.
2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Howards Grove won the first 12-lap 360 Sprint Car B main and 2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Lance Fassbender of Burnett was victorious in the second 12-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main.
After the checkered flag flew in the 360 Sprint Car A main, Paul Pokorski of West Bend, in his first night behind the wheel of Spyder Akright’s 53A car, made hard contact with the turn one wall in an attempt to avoid contact with a rapidly slowly car directly ahead of him. Pokorski emerged from the badly damaged car uninjured.
PDTR action is scheduled to resume on Saturday, May 22 with action in the 360 Sprint Car, Late Model, Grand National and B Mod divisions
Grandstand gates open at 3:30 p.m. with hot laps at 4:30 p.m. racing at 5 p.m.
The new book “70 Years of Plymouth Dirt Track Racing” by Dennis Darovich of Sheboygan and George Baumann of Waupun, covering every season of racing at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis. from 1950 to 2020 will be available for purchase at every race during the 2021 PDTR season, as well as at the Sheboygan County Fair office during regular business hours and online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
KRISTINE HARTMANN PLEASANTVIEW REALTY 360 SPRINT CARS
HEAT 1
1, Kurt Davis 2, Blake Wondra 3, Tim Haddy 4, Mike Yurmanovich 5, Travis Arenz 6, Lance Fassbender 7, Doug Wondra 8, Josh Teunissen 9, Tyler Brabant.
HEAT 2
1, Brandon Berth 2, Justin Erickson 3, Tyler Tischendorf 4, Tony Wondra 5, Bill Taylor 6, Austin Hartmann 7, Tom Kreutz 8, Katelyn Krebsbach 9, Adam Miller.
HEAT 3
1, Brandon McMullen 2, Cole Possi 3, Preston Ruh 4, Paul Pokorski 5, Ben Schmidt 6, Matt Rechek 7, Will Gerrits 8, Jack Vanderboom.
HEAT 4
1, Justin Miller 2, Kevin Karnitz 3, Tyler Davis 4, Scott Conger 5, Nick Daywalt 6, Jason Johnson 7, Ken Schmick 8, Alex Pokorski.
B MAIN 1
1, Ben Schmidt 2, Will Gerrits 3, Scott Conger 4, Matt Rechek 5, Jack Vanderboom 6, Mike Yurmanovich 7, Jason Johnson 8, Ken Schmick 9, Josh Teunissen.
B Main 2
1, Lance Fassbender 2, Bill Taylor 3, Austin Hartmann 4, Tyler Brabant 5, Doug Wondra 6, Adam Miller 7, Alex Pokorski 8, Katelyn Krebsbach 9, Tom Kreutz.
A MAIN
1, Justin Miller 2, Brandon McMullen 3, Kevin Karnitz 4, Kurt Davis 5, Travis Arenz 6, Brandon Berth 7, Justin Erickson 8, Tyler Tischendorf 9, Lance Fassbender 10, Tyler Davis 11, Tony Wondra 12, Ben Schmidt 13, Blake Wondra 14, Tim Haddy 15, Paul Pokorski 16, Will Gerrits 17, Cole Possi 18, Nick Daywalt 19, Bill Taylor 20, Preston Ruh 21, Austin Hartmann 22, Scott Conger.