(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 10, 2023 - In his 31st season of racing, Tony Wondra of Campbellsport showed that he is still going strong behind the wheel of a 360 Sprint Car, as he claimed his first 25-lap Akright Auto Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main victory of the 2023 season at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, June 10.
With the only Ford engine in the field, Tony Wondra outpowered polesitter Tristan Koenings of Van Dyne to grab the lead on the drop of the green flag in the 25-lap PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car main event as fourth starter Brandon Berth of Cascade moved into second and outside third row starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend used a strong start to catapult into third along the cushion.
On lap 10, Wondra began to work his way through thick lapped traffic, which allowed Berth to cut into the lead. Nine laps later, Berth used the inside groove to briefly go side-by-side with the cushion-riding Wondra.
However, Wondra quickly pulled away to regain a solid lead, while Karnitz charged in to wrestle second place away from Berth with a well-executed slide job in turn four on lap 23 with four-time MSA champion champ Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh, who started 10th, taking over third on lap 24.
Wondra, who began his racing career in the Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Winged Super Modified division at The Plymouth Dirt Track in 1993, went on to notch his third career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory, eighth overall Midwest Sprint Car Association main event triumph and his first MSA A-main win since Sept. 18, 2021 at Gravity Park Speedway in Chilton, Wis.
Karnitz placed second, McMullen finished third, Berth was fourth and 2011 MSA champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who start seventh, rounded out the top five.
Ben Schmidt was the top qualifier in the MSA-PDTR 360 Sprint Car division with a lap of 12.336 seconds.
The eighth MSA event of the 2023 campaign drew a field of 19 MSA-PDTR 360 Sprint Cars.
The MSA - PDTR 360 Sprint Cars will return to The Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday, June 17 with the Badger Midgets, Grand Nationals and B Mods also on the card.
Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with 360 Sprint Car and Badger Midgets qualifying set at 5:30 p.m. and racing scheduled to begin 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. 11-Tony Wondra [2]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [6]; 3. 98-Brandon McMullen [10]; 4. 22B-Brandon Berth [4]; 5. 35-Ben Schmidt [7]; 6. 7-Lance Fassbender [8]; 7. 4-Alex Pokorski [5]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien [12]; 9. 69S-TJ Smith [3]; 10. 66T-Tristan Koenings [1]; 11. 53-Shane Wenninger [13]; 12. 51-Chris Larson [14]; 13. 16-Anthony Knierim [9]; 14. 30-Doug Wondra [18]; 15. 69-Bill Taylor [15]; 16. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [11]; 17. 44-Hayden Johnson [19]; 18. 53A-Spyder Akright [16]; 19. 54-Randy Post [17]
Heat 1: 1. 16-Anthony Knierim [3]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth [4]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski [1]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien [2]; 5. 44-Hayden Johnson [7]; 6. 53A-Spyder Akright [5]; 7. 30-Doug Wondra [6]
Heat 2: 1. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [1]; 3. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [4]; 4. 69S-TJ Smith [5]; 5. 69-Bill Taylor [2]; 6. 53-Shane Wenninger [6]
Heat 3: 1. 98-Brandon McMullen [2]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [1]; 3. 11-Tony Wondra [3]; 4. 51-Chris Larson [4]; 5. 66T-Tristan Koenings [6]; 6. 54-Randy Post [5]
Qualifying 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Alex Pokorski, 12.467 [6]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien, 12.498 [5]; 3. 16-Anthony Knierim, 12.579 [1]; 4. 22B-Brandon Berth, 12.590 [2]; 5. 44-Hayden Johnson, 12.689 [7]; 6. 53A-Spyder Akright, 13.027 [4]; 7. 30-Doug Wondra, 13.195 [3]
Qualifying 2 (10 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.336 [5]; 2. 69-Bill Taylor, 12.561 [1]; 3. 7-Lance Fassbender, 12.566 [3]; 4. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 12.590 [6]; 5. 69S-TJ Smith, 12.816 [4]; 6. 53-Shane Wenninger, 12.944 [2]
Qualifying 3 (10 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 12.623 [6]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen, 12.709 [3]; 3. 11-Tony Wondra, 12.808 [2]; 4. 51-Chris Larson, 13.005 [4]; 5. 54-Randy Post, 13.281 [5]; 6. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 13.443 [1]
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