McGrath outduels Casey to capture Plymouth Super Six Late Model Series thriller
Wondra captures PDTR 360 Sprint Car main event triumph in 31st season
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 10, 2023 – With a light mist falling on the multi-groove racing surface, 2014 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Late Model champion Mitch McGrath of Waukesha emerged from a heated duel with Terry Casey of New London to notch his first main event triumph of the 2023 PDTR season in the rain-shortened 25-lap 106.5 The Buzz Super Six Late Model Series A main at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, June 10.
In the non-stop 25-lap Akright Auto Plymouth Dirt Track Racing – Midwest Sprint Car Association main event, 31-year racing veteran Tony Wondra of Campbellsport collected his first A-main victory of the 2023 campaign in flag-to-flag fashion.
The Grand National and B Mod A-main events were cancelled due to rain.
After a spin by Bill Edler of Howards Grove drew a caution flag on the initial start, Terry Casey jumped into the lead on the opening lap of the scheduled 30-lap Super Six Late Model Series headliner with third starter Justin Ritchie of New London moving into second along the inside groove.
On lap three the second caution of the event appeared when five-time defending PDTR Late Model champion Justin Schmidt of Cleveland slowed along the back stretch.
Utilizing the outside lane Mitch McGrath, who started second, moved around Ritchie in turn four on lap 3 to take over second. Five laps later, four-time PDTR Late Model champion Brad Mueller of Random Lake ducked low to work past Ritchie into third, while sixth starter Taylor Scheffler of Waukesha assumed fourth one lap later.
As the high riding Casey approached the rear of the field, McGrath cut the gap along the inside line of the third-mile clay oval. With Casey mired in dense lapped traffic, McGrath used the low groove to pull even for the lead on lap 18.
The two highly successful veteran drivers mounted an intense battle over the next six laps, exchanging lanes multiple times in the closing laps. On lap 23, McGrath used a big run along the back stretch to move ahead of Casey in turn three.
However, Casey battled back to attempt a slide job in turns one and two, which saw him push high on the increasing wet track surface. As Casey moved up the track in turn two, McGrath ducked low to regain the top spot entering the back stretch.
McGrath held the top spot over the next two circuits until the third yellow flag was displayed on lap 26 when Andy Jones of Princeton, Minn. spun on the back stretch.
With the light rain shower making the racing surface too wet to resume the race, the yellow and checkered flags were displayed simultaneously to give McGrath his 14th career PDTR Late Model A-main victory worth $1,500, as he became the third different driver to claim a 2023 Super Six Late Model Series A-main victory in as many races.
Casey had to settle for second, Mueller placed third, Scheffler wound up fourth and seventh starter Jayme Zidar of Hales Corners finished fifth.
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 two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car 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 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who start seventh, rounded out the top five.
Turk Letizia of Milwaukee won the 12-lap Late Model B main.
Brad Mueller earned Late Model fast qualifier honors with a lap of 13.202 seconds around the third mile semi-banked clay oval.
Ben Schmidt was the top qualifier in the PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car division with a lap of 12.336 seconds.
The fifth event of the 2023 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Pit Stop Pizza, drew a total of 82 cars, including 24 Late Models, 22 Grand Nationals, 19 360 Sprint Cars and 17 B Mods.
The next race program at The Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday, June 17 will feature the second 2023 appearance from the Badger Midgets, along with the PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars, Grand Nationals and B Mods.
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.
106.5 THE BUZZ SUPER SIX LATE MODEL SERIES
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 74-Mitch McGrath [2]; 2. 42-Terry Casey [1]; 3. 89-Brad Mueller [5]; 4. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [6]; 5. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [7]; 6. 70-Justin Ritchie [3]; 7. 22-Charlie Schmidt [12]; 8. 8R-Billy Rezutek [9]; 9. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [19]; 10. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [16]; 11. 173-Andy Jones [8]; 12. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [10]; 13. 24-Turk Letizia [17]; 14. 77-Bill Edler [11]; 15. 42N-Paul Niznik [18]; 16. 19J-Justin Green [14]; 17. 99-Sawyer Specht [15]; 18. 99M-Mike Mullen [4]; 19. 97-Justin Schmidt [13]; 20. 57M-Eric Michaels [20]
B Main (12 Laps): 1. 24-Turk Letizia [1]; 2. 42N-Paul Niznik [4]; 3. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [3]; 4. 57M-Eric Michaels [2]; 5. 54-Kevin Baldry [7]; 6. 5X-Chad Ludwigson [6]; 7. 44-Wayne Freimund [5]; 8. (DNS) 3-Brett Swedberg
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 74-Mitch McGrath [1]; 2. 9Z-Jayme Zidar [2]; 3. 77-Bill Edler [3]; 4. 55B-Joe Bongiorno [6]; 5. 99-Sawyer Specht [4]; 6. 19J-Justin Green [7]; 7. 44-Wayne Freimund [5]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Justin Ritchie [1]; 2. 99M-Mike Mullen [3]; 3. 173-Andy Jones [4]; 4. 8R-Billy Rezutek [6]; 5. 24-Turk Letizia [2]; 6. 24S-Jayden Schmidt [5]; 7. (DNF) 5X-Chad Ludwigson [7]; 8. (DNS) 3-Brett Swedberg
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 42-Terry Casey [2]; 2. 89-Brad Mueller [3]; 3. 22-Charlie Schmidt [1]; 4. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [8]; 5. 97-Justin Schmidt [5]; 6. 9N-Tom Naeyaert [4]; 7. 42N-Paul Niznik [6]; 8. 57M-Eric Michaels [9]; 9. (DNF) 54-Kevin Baldry [7]
Qualifying 1: 1. 77-Bill Edler, 14.182 [6]; 2. 9Z-Jayme Zidar, 14.207 [5]; 3. 74-Mitch McGrath, 14.332 [1]; 4. 99-Sawyer Specht, 14.344 [3]; 5. 44-Wayne Freimund, 15.264 [8]; 6. 55B-Joe Bongiorno, 15.383 [4]; 7. 70-Justin Ritchie, 36.986; 8. 54-Kevin Baldry, 37.404; 9. 3-Brett Swedberg, 37.404 [2]; 10. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 37.404 [7]
Qualifying 2: 1. 99M-Mike Mullen, 13.633 [5]; 2. 24-Turk Letizia, 13.662 [4]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie, 13.761 [1]; 4. 173-Andy Jones, 13.860 [8]; 5. 24S-Jayden Schmidt, 14.071 [7]; 6. 8R-Billy Rezutek, 14.435 [3]; 7. 19J-Justin Green, 14.504 [6]; 8. 54-Kevin Baldry, 14.509 [2]
Qualifying 3: 1. 89-Brad Mueller, 13.202 [5]; 2. 42-Terry Casey, 13.498 [7]; 3. 22-Charlie Schmidt, 13.559 [2]; 4. 9N-Tom Naeyaert, 13.781 [4]; 5. 97-Justin Schmidt, 13.858 [6]; 6. 42N-Paul Niznik, 13.930 [8]; 7. 5X-Chad Ludwigson, 14.095 [3]; 8. 57M-Eric Michaels, 14.821 [1]
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]
OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS
A Main (25 Laps): Rained Out
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Will Sorce [3]; 2. 13-Joshua Pierce [7]; 3. 5C-Collin Skindzeleski [1]; 4. 6-Dick Hed [2]; 5. 47-Nick Schumacher [5]; 6. 67-Jeff Storm [4]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 89-Matt Loehr [1]; 2. 80-Luke Scholten [3]; 3. 34-Steven Weber [2]; 4. 95-Donny Kulow [4]; 5. 19S-Aaron Stolp; 6. 55-Don Singer [6]; 7. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [5]; 8. 55X-Dylan Sveom [7]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 24K-Tyler Kulow [2]; 2. 72E-Chad Espen [4]; 3. 54-Matt Yancey [3]; 4. 53W-Dustin Weiss [5]; 5. 23-Matt Loehr [1]; 6. 41-Mark Haskins [6]; 7. 22-Randy Dent [7]
NEXT STEP INSURANCE B MODS
A Main (25 Laps): Rained Out
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22M-Barry Maas [2]; 2. 03W-Tim Warner [5]; 3. 66-Steve Lorier [3]; 4. 59S-Spencer Long [4]; 5. 17-Brandon Knepprath [1]; 6. 54-Michael Strean [6]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Travis Schmidt [3]; 2. 9L-Hunter Larson [5]; 3. 84-Mark Hoeppner [4]; 4. 19-Parker Glander [6]; 5. 25-Jim Fischer [2]; 6. (DNF) 29S-Tim Sheppard [1]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 17S-Shane Long [1]; 2. 73-Rory Welch [3]; 3. 70-Jonathon Baumann [4]; 4. 89R-Kolton Roehl [5]; 5. (DNF) 28-Rob Szemborski [2]
