(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) August 5, 2023 – Twelve years after collecting his first Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car championship, Ben Schmidt of Plymouth continued his quest for a second division crown by racking up his seventh Akright Auto PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory of the 2023 season at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, Aug. 5.
Outside front row starter Brandon Berth of Cascade outpowered rookie polesitter Hayden Johnson of Campbellsport to grab the lead in turn one of the opening lap of the 25-lap PDTR-Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car A main, while sixth starter Ben Schmidt used the extreme outside groove to vault into third in turn two.
On lap 2, T.J. Smith of Greenville spun in turn two to bring out the first of two caution flags. On the restart, Schmidt wasted no time as he blasted his way around Berth in turn two on lap 3 to take over the top spot.
Schmidt built up a solid cushion at the head of the field over the next four laps before catching up to the back of the pack on lap 8, which allowed Berth to reduce the lead gap.
On lap 12, Berth closed to within striking distance of Schmidt, as the leaders weaved their way through thick lapped traffic on the well-manicured, multi-groove track surface. Berth continued to hound Schmidt over the next 12 circuits until the second and final caution flag was displayed on 24 when Chris Flick of Beaver Dam spun to a stop near the turn four wall.
Following a single-file green-white-checkered flag restart, Schmidt bolted away from Berth and the rest of the pack en route to his 22nd career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory, 41st career MSA 360 Sprint Car triumph, seventh A-main win of the 2023 PDTR 360 Sprint Car season and ninth over MSA main event win of his stellar 2023 campaign.
The win moved Schmidt, who captured the 2011 MSA 360 Sprint Car title, into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory list and into a tie for third on the all-time MSA 360 Sprint A-main win list with four-time MSA champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh.
“Hats off to the track prep crew tonight for giving us a great track to race on,” Schmidt said. “The track was fast and smooth and there was a nice cushion to run tonight.”
Berth wound up second, two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen charged up from the 14th starting spot to finish third, rookie Logan Julien of Oconomowoc placed fourth after starting seventh and fifth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend rounded out the top five.
Justin Erickson of Plymouth turned in the fast qualifier award in the Akright PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car division with a top lap of 12.674 seconds.
The 12th event of the 2023 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Racers Hall, drew 24 PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars.
The PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars will return to action on Saturday, Aug. 12 at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.
Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with qualifying at 5:30 p.m. and racing at 6 p.m.
The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds is located at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth, Wis. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
AKRIGHT AUTO PLYMOUTH DIRT TRACK RACING 360 SPRINT CARS
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt [6]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth [2]; 3. 98-Brandon McMullen [14]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien [7]; 5. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [5]; 6. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 7. 4-Alex Pokorski [17]; 8. 44-Hayden Johnson [1]; 9. 69-Bill Taylor [4]; 10. 30-Doug Wondra [9]; 11. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [16]; 12. 66-Nick Daywalt [12]; 13. 11-Tony Wondra [18]; 14. 51-Chris Larson [13]; 15. 66T-Tristan Koenings [19]; 16. 69S-TJ Smith [8]; 17. 12P-JJ Pagel [10]; 18. 54-Randy Post [15]; 19. 21H-TJ Haddy [21]; 20. 88-Chris Flick [11]; 21. 53A-Spyder Akright [20]; 22. 92-Kevin Seidler [22]; 23. (DNS) 53-Shane Wenninger; 24. (DNS) 3-Justin Erickson
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt [2]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth [3]; 3. 12P-JJ Pagel [1]; 4. 30-Doug Wondra [4]; 5. 66-Nick Daywalt [6]; 6. 66T-Tristan Koenings [5]; 7. 53A-Spyder Akright [7]; 8. (DNF) 92-Kevin Seidler [8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [1]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien [2]; 3. 69S-TJ Smith [4]; 4. 98-Brandon McMullen [3]; 5. 51-Chris Larson [6]; 6. 11-Tony Wondra [5]; 7. 4-Alex Pokorski [8]; 8. 21H-TJ Haddy [7]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 69-Bill Taylor [1]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 3. 44-Hayden Johnson [5]; 4. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [2]; 5. 88-Chris Flick [6]; 6. 54-Randy Post [7]; 7. (DNF) 53-Shane Wenninger [4]; 8. (DNS) 3-Justin Erickson
Qualifying 1: 1. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.394 [4]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt, 13.429 [5]; 3. 53A-Spyder Akright, 13.937 [8]; 4. 12P-JJ Pagel, 14.043 [2]; 5. 30-Doug Wondra, 14.189 [7]; 6. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 14.224 [6]; 7. 66-Nick Daywalt, 14.605 [3]; 8. 92-Kevin Seidler, 14.863 [1]
Qualifying 2: 1. 69S-TJ Smith, 12.794 [8]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen, 12.927 [7]; 3. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.093 [3]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.105 [4]; 5. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.201 [2]; 6. 51-Chris Larson, 13.215 [6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy, 13.294 [1]; 8. 4-Alex Pokorski, 13.294 [5]
Qualifying 3: 1. 3-Justin Erickson, 12.674 [1]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender, 12.743 [3]; 3. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 12.866 [8]; 4. 69-Bill Taylor, 12.893 [4]; 5. 53-Shane Wenninger, 12.988 [5]; 6. 44-Hayden Johnson, 13.000 [7]; 7. 88-Chris Flick, 13.400 [2]; 8. 54-Randy Post, 13.519 [6]