Arenz, Letizia, Weber, Maas pedal to PDTR A-main triumphs
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) August 1, 2020 – On one of the most pleasant nights for racing of the 2020 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing season, three of the most polished veteran drivers in the pit area, as well as a rising star in the Sprint Car ranks rolled to A-main victories on Pedal Down Promotions Night at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis.
PDTR 360 Sprint Car point leader Travis Arenz of Sheboygan racked up his second A-main victory of the 2020 campaign in the 25-lap Kristine Hartmann Pleasant View Realty 360 Sprint Car main event. Milwaukee veteran Turk Letizia noted his first A-main victory in six years in the 25-lap Gasroots Project Late Model A main. Eighteen-year veteran Steven Weber of Plymouth claimed the victory in the 25-lap Klips N Tips Grand National A main and Cascade veteran Barry Maas earned his first career PDTR B Mod main event win in the 25-lap Cellcom B Mod A main.
In the 360 Sprint Car headliner, outside front row starter Tony Wondra of Campbellsport jumped into the lead on the drop of the green flag before Adam Miller of Plymouth flipped in turn four on the opening lap to bring out a red flag.
Following a complete restart, Wondra again grabbed the lead while two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee, who started third, moved into second with the fifth-starting Arenz bolting into third on the opening circuit.
While Wondra led, Arenz moved in to challenge the high-riding Davis along the low line on lap 4. On lap 5, Tyler Davis of South Milwaukee and Anthony Knierim of Franksville collided in turn two to bring out a caution.
On the restart, Jack Vanderboom of Dousman and Doug Wondra of Campbellsport got together in turn three, which sent Vanderboom flipping on lap 5.
Davis pulled off an impressive low move in turn four on lap 6 to wrestle the lead away from Wondra. Meanwhile, 2017 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh was using the high groove to vault into second from his sixth starting spot on lap 7.
McMullen continued to ride the high groove of the lightning fast track surface to pressure Davis for the top spot. On lap 9, McMullen surged ahead of Davis along the outside groove. McMullen maintained a solid cushion as the leaders encountered slower traffic on lap 13.
Two laps later, Arenz moved into second before Tyler Tischendorf of Waupaca spun in turn two on lap 16. On the restart, Arenz ducked underneath McMullen to assume the top spot on lap 17 exiting turn one.
After that, Arenz moved up to the high line and pulled away from McMullen, who worked both the bottom and top of the track in an attempt to reel in the leader over the next nine laps.
Just as the leaders were about to catch the back of the field, the checkered flag flew with Arenz claiming his third career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A main victory and ninth overall Midwest Sprint Car Association main event triumph.
McMullen wound up second, Davis was third, 2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett took fourth after starting eighth and 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Howards Grove charged up from his 16th starting spot to take fifth.
Polesitter Justin Ritchie of New London seized the lead in turn of the opening lap of the 25-lap Late Model A main. On lap 2, Letizia used a big run on the frontstretch to dive under Ritchie for the lead in turn one. As Letizia encountered lapped traffic on lap 8, Ritchie began to close.
On lap 12, Ritchie moved to withing striking distance in heavy lapped traffic before making contact with Letizia along the front stretch, which caused Ritchie to spin into the infield and bring out the first of four caution flags.
One lap later, Ted Dolhun Sr. of Franklin spun in turn two to bring out the second caution of the race. On the restart, two-time defending PDTR Late Model champion Justin Schmidt of Cleveland, who started fifth, moved in to challenge Letizia for the top spot along the low line on lap 14.
Meanwhile, the racing behind Letizia and Schmidt was hot and heavy as Mike Mullen of Seymour, who started ninth, and 2016 PDTR Late Model champ Tim Buhler of Greenbush, who started seventh, dueled side by side for third place on lap 21.
The third caution appeared on lap 22 when Mullen spun in turn three. On the restart, Ritchie, Eric Michaels of Cleveland and Charlie Schmidt of Cedar Grove collided exiting turn four to bring out the fourth and final caution.
On the restart, Letizia held strong to pull away from Schmidt over the final four laps en route to his third career PDTR Late Model A-main victory and first main event win at Plymouth since 2014.
Schmidt was second, four-time PDTR Late Model champ Brad Mueller of Random Lake, who started fourth, placed third, Buhler took fourth and 2017 PDTR B Mod champion Justin Green of Sheboygan Falls placed fifth in his first ever night behind the wheel of his father Glen Blanke’s 4B Late Model after starting 15th.
Outside front row starter Luke Scholten of Oostburg grabbed the lead on lap 1 with Steven Weber, who started on the pole, sliding into second. On lap 3, Weber pulled into challenge Scholten for the top spot before the first of two caution flags was displayed on lap 4 for a spin involving Dylan Struve of Plymouth.
Following the restart, Weber moved in to pressure Scholten for the top spot and he continued to hound the leader for the next 14 laps. After sizing Scholten up patiently lap after lap, Weber finally pounced entering turn one on lap 18 to seize the lead.
Two laps later, Weber hit lapped traffic, who allowed Scholten to stay in contention for the win. The second and final caution appeared on lap 20 when Paul Perronne stopped in turn one.
Following a single-file restart with five laps to go, Weber stayed tied to the inside lane of the track and fended off Scholten’s advances to notch his second career PDTR Grand National A-main victory.
Scholten placed second, two-time PDTR Grand National champion Don Sorce Jr. of West Allis finished third after starting sixth, Aaron Stolp of Milwaukee charged up from the 11th starting spot to place fourth and 2019 PDTR Grand National champ Tyler Kulow of Plymouth finished fifth after starting ninth.
In the 25-lap B Mod A main, rookie outside front row starter Trevor Frank of Sheboygan grabbed the lead from the start. The first of three cautions appeared on lap four when Steve Lorier of Sheboygan stopped in turn three.
On the restart, fourth starter Jesse Cullen of Chilton moved up from his fourth starting spot to take second with a move along the high line before polesitter Brandon Knepprath of Kewaskum battled back to challenge for the runner-up spot.
The second caution appeared on lap 10 when Patrick Hanson of Sheboygan Falls spun in turn four. Two laps later, defending PDTR B Mod champ Tim Warner of Fond du Lac and Cullen made contact, which sent Cullen spinning in turn four to bring out the third caution flag.
On lap 13, Maas, who started sixth, began to make his presence felt as he moved into second along the high groove. One lap later, Maas, who owns one career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory, worked the inside groove to work past Frank for the lead with a nifty low move in turn three.
Knepprath wasn’t finished though, as he worked around Frank and closed on Maas over the final circuits. On lap 23, Knepprath ducked under Maas and stayed within striking distance all the way to the checkered flag before Maas, a former Winged Super Modified racer at Plymouth, prevailed by a one-car margin to seize his first career PDTR B Mod A main victory.
Knepprath recorded a career-best second-place finish, Warner placed third, Frank equaled his career-best A-main finish by placing fourth and 11th starter Gary Glander of Sheboygan Falls placed fifth.
Jack Vanderboom won the 15-lap PDTR 360 Sprint Car B main.
The seventh PDTR racing program of the 2020 season drew a total of 80 cars, including 32 PDTR 360 Sprint Cars, 16 Late Models, 17 Grand Nationals and 15 B Mods.
The PDTR 360 Sprint Car, Late Model, Grand National and B Mod divisions will next be in action on Saturday, Aug. 8 at The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis.
Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with qualifying at 5:30 p.m. and racing at 6 p.m.
For all remaining 2020 PDTR races, Dennis Darovich of Sheboygan Falls will have his new book “RPM – The Golden Era of Plymouth Dirt Track Racing” for sale under the grandstand.
A portion of the money collected from the sale of the book will be donated to Plymouth Dirt Track Racing.
KRISTINE HARTMANN PLEASANTVIEW REALTY 360 SPRINT CARS
HEAT 1
1, Tony Wondra 2, Lance Fassbender 3, Anthony Knierim 4, Chris Clayton 5, Ben Schmidt 6, Jack Vanderboom 7, Mike Decker 8, Alex Pokorski.
HEAT 2
1, Shane Wenninger 2, Travis Arenz 3, Scott Conger 4, Justin Miller 5, Austin Hartmann 6, Scott Armstrong 7, Will Gerrits 8, Tyler Brabant.
HEAT 3
1, Brandon McMullen 2, Justin Erickson 3, Doug Wondra 4, Tyler Davis 5, Preston Ruh 6, Kevin Karnitz 7, Kevin Seidler 8, Mike MacFarlane.
B MAIN
1, Jack Vanderboom 2, Kevin Karnitz 3, Brandon Berth 4, Josh Teunissen 5, Tyler Tischendorf 6, Tim Haddy 7, Austin Hartmann 8, Preston Ruh 9, Mike Decker 10, Alex Pokorski 11, Scott Armstrong 12, Blake Wondra 13, Kevin Seidler 14, Mike MacFarlane 15, Will Gerrits (DNS) 16, Tyler Brabant (DNS).
A MAIN
1, Travis Arenz 2, Brandon McMullen 3, Kurt Davis 4, Lance Fassbender 5, Ben Schmidt 6, Tony Wondra 7, Justin Miller 8, Justin Erickson 9, Brandon Berth 10, Kevin Karnitz 11, Bill Taylor 12, Scott Conger 13, Chris Clayton 14, Tim Haddy 15, Josh Teunissen 16, Tyler Tischendorf 17, Shane Wenninger 18, Doug Wondra 19, Tyler Davis 20, Anthony Knierim 21, Jack Vanderboom 22, Adam Miller.
GASROOT PROJECT LATE MODELS
HEAT 1
1, Brad Mueller 2, Joe Bongiorno 3, Justin Schmidt 4, Eric Michaels 5, Ted Dolhun Sr. 6, Sawyer Specht 7, Chad Ludwigson 8, Donny Singer.
HEAT 2
1, Turk Letizia 2, Justin Ritchie 3, Charlie Schmidt 4, Tim Buhler 5, Mike Mullen 6, Jared Siefert 7, Kevin Baldry 8, Justin Green.
A MAIN’
1, Turk Letizia 2, Justin Schmidt 3, Brad Mueller 4, Tim Buhler 5, Justin Green 6, Ted Dolhun Sr. 7, Charlie Schmidt 8, Eric Michaels 9, Eric Michaels, 10, Joe Bongiorno 11, Sawyer Specht 12, Justin Ritchie 13, Kevin Baldry 14, Chad Ludwigson 15, Jared Siefert 16, Mike Mullen.
KLIPS N TIPS GRAND NATIONAL
HEAT 1
1, Don Sorce Jr. 2, Brad Weiss 3, Derek Kaat 4, Jeff Muehlbauer 5, Tyler Kulow 6, Jim Rohrbeck 7, Dave Holm 8, Dick Hed 9, Paul Perronne.
HEAT 2
1, Steven Wirtz 2, Luke Scholten 3, Steven Weber 4, Donny Kulow 5, Aaron Stolp 6, Matt Yancey 7, Dylan Struve 8, Who Racing.
A MAIN
1, Steven Weber 2, Luke Scholten 3, Don Sorce Jr. 4, Aaron Stolp 5, Tyler Kulow 6, Steven Wirtz 7, Jeff Muehlbauer 8, Dick Hed 9, Matt Yancey 10, Donny Kulow 11, Who Racing 12, Dylan Struve 13, Jim Rohrbeck 14, Brad Weiss 15, Paul Perronne 16, Dave Holm 17, Derek Kaat.
CELLCOM B MOD
HEAT 1
1, Jason Schilling 2, Tim Warner 3, James Rautmann 4, Jesse Cullen 5, Trevor Frank 6, Jonathan Hitsman 7, Patrick Hanson 8, Jim Fischer.
HEAT 2
1, Phil Campanella 2, Barry Maas 3, Steve Lorier 4, Rory Welch 5, Brandon Knepprath 6, Gary Glander 7, Donny Singer.
A MAIN
1, Barry Maas 2, Brandon Knepprath 3, Tim Warner 4, Trevor Frank 5, Gary Glander 6, Jason Schilling 7, Jesse Cullen 8, Jonathan Hitsman 9, Donny Singer 10, Rory Welch 11, Patrick Hanson 12, James Rautmann 13, Phil Campanella 14, Steve Lorier 15, Jim Fischer.