McMullen proves advantageous in securing second 2023 PDTR 360 Sprint Car victory
Abreu collects first All Stars-IRA Rayce Rudeen Foundation 410 Sprint Car race win
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 3, 2023 – Two-time Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh benefitted from race leader Justin Erickson’s late-race misfortune to earn his second Akright Auto PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory of the 2023 season in the 25-lap main event Saturday, June 3 at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.
In the fifth annual Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions Presented by Mobile 1 – Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series Rayce Ruden Foundation A-main, Rico Abreu of St. Helena, Calif. pocketed the $26,000-to-win first place prize in leading all 35 laps of the richest 410 Sprint Car race in the state of Wisconsin in 2023.
Polesitter Brandon McMullen jumped into the lead on the drop of the green flag of the 25-lap PDTR – Midwest Sprint Car Association main event with outside front row starter Justin Erickson of Plymouth in tow.
On lap 3, Erickson moved in to pressure McMullen for the top spot as the leaders began to catch the rear of the field. Two laps later, Erickson bolted underneath McMullen in heavy lapped traffic to assume the top spot in turn three on lap 5.
Erickson continued to set a torrid pace at the front of the field as he sliced his way through dense lapped traffic over the next 18 laps. On lap 17, fifth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend moved in to slip past McMullen to take over second along the preferred low groove.
As Karnitz and McMullen engaged in a heated back-and-forth duel for the runner-up spot, Erickson built up a half lap lead on lap 20. One lap later, McMullen regained the runner-up spot with a low move in turn two.
Two laps later, disaster struck for Erickson when contact with a lapped car sent him flipping on the frontstretch, which brought out a red flag on lap 23. Erickson’s misfortune saw McMullen regain the lead on the ensuing single-file restart.
McMullen held tight to the inside line with Karnitz trailing as the field took the white flag. However, a caution flag flew when 360 Sprint Car rookies Tristan Koenig of Van Dyne and T.J. Smith of Greenville made contact in turn four.
After a single-file green-white-checkered flag restart, McMullen maintained the top spot en route to his all-time division-leading 29th career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main triumph, 41st career Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car main event victory and second PDTR and third overall MSA 360 Sprint main event win of the 2023 season.
“Justin [Erickson] had a great car tonight,” McMullen said. “He was better than us. I’m not sure what happened to him, but it ended up working to our benefit. It was a challenging night and the feature was a pretty crazy race for us, but we’ll take it.”
Karnitz had to settle for second, Shane Wenninger of Kewaskum charged up from the ninth starting spot to finish third, 2008 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett placed fourth after starting third and Alex Pokorski of West Bend, who started seventh, rounded out the top five.
In the 35-lap All Star-IRA Rayce Rudeen Foundation 410 Sprint Car main event, Rico Abreu jumped into the lead from the pole with outside front row starter Brent Marks of Myerstown, Pa. emerging from an early-race duel with third starter Lachlan McHugh of Gold Coast Queensland, Australia to gain control of second on lap 4.
On lap 6, two-time defending Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions champion Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Ind., who started fourth, vaulted into third. Two laps later, the high-riding Abreu caught the back of the field and continued to ride the high groove through lapped traffic.
Abreu pasted his machine primarily to the extremely high cushion, which was just off of the outside retaining wall, over the next 18 laps before a red flag was displayed when 2022 IRA champion Jordan Goldesberry of Springfield, Ill. flipped on the frontstretch, after making contact with J.J. Hickle of Quilcene, Wash.
On the restart, Anthony Macri of Dillsburg, Pa., who started sixth, ducked under Marks to assume second as two of the leading members of the famed Pennsylvania Posse waged an intense battle for second with contact made between the two in turn two on slide job attempts from both drivers on consecutive laps.
Marks eventually emerged with the second spot. In the closing laps, Abreu adjusted his line to run the bottom of the track in turns one and two and the top in turns three and four, which proved to seal the victory as he went on to notch his 12thcareer Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions A-main triumph, fifth overall victory of the 2023 season and first Rayce Rudeen Foundation event win.
“The track was really technical,” Abreu said in victory lane. “We struggled at the beginning of the night and we just got better as we went. We had a lot of the best drivers in the country racing here tonight, so it was definitely tough. I tried to make consistent laps in the A main. I moved to the bottom a few times in traffic, but the pace was so slow down low that I felt I had to get back up to the top.
“Later on in the race, I went to running low in one and two and high in three and four and I think doing that is what won us the race,” he said. “I have to thank the Rudeen family for putting this event on and everyone for coming out and supporting it. Some of the best race fans in the country are right here in Wisconsin. I always enjoy coming back here to race.”
Marks finished second, former USAC Sprint Car, Midget and Silver Crown champion Chris Windom of Canton, Ill. moved up from the fifth starting spot to finish third, Macri placed fourth and Courtney rounded out the top five.
Jordan Goldesberry won the 12-lap All Star-IRA B main.
Tyler Courtney earned All Star-IRA 410 Sprint Car fast qualifier honors with a lap of 11.660 seconds around the third mile semi-banked clay oval.
Two-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee was the fastest qualifier in the PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car division with a lap of 12.693 seconds.
The fourth event of the 2023 PDTR campaign drew a total of 66 cars, including 41 All Star-IRA 410 Sprint Cars and 25 PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars.
The next race program at The Plymouth Dirt on Saturday, June 10 will feature the third race in the 2023 PDTR Super Six Late Model Series, along with the PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars, Grand Nationals and B Mods.
Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with Late Model and 360 Sprint Car 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. 98-Brandon McMullen [1]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [5]; 3. 53-Shane Wenninger [9]; 4. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 5. 4-Alex Pokorski [7]; 6. 20-Robbie Pribnow [4]; 7. 11-Tony Wondra [11]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien [13]; 9. 53A-Paul Pokorski [14]; 10. 66-Nick Daywalt [6]; 11. 22B-Brandon Berth [12]; 12. 2-Christopher Clayton [10]; 13. 6K-Kurt Davis [16]; 14. 51-Chris Larson [25]; 15. 69S-TJ Smith [22]; 16. 54-Randy Post [24]; 17. 30-Doug Wondra [21]; 18. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [17]; 19. 21H-TJ Haddy [19]; 20. 66T-Tristan Koenings [20]; 21. 3-Justin Erickson [2]; 22. 35-Ben Schmidt [8]; 23. 12P-JJ Pagel [15]; 24. 69-Bill Taylor [18]; 25. 92-Kevin Seidler [23]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Robbie Pribnow [1]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [2]; 3. 4-Alex Pokorski [4]; 4. 2-Christopher Clayton [5]; 5. 69-Bill Taylor [3]; 6. 12P-JJ Pagel [7]; 7. 30-Doug Wondra [6]; 8. 66T-Tristan Koenings [9]; 9. 51-Chris Larson [8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [1]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender [3]; 3. 11-Tony Wondra [2]; 4. 53-Shane Wenninger [5]; 5. 6K-Kurt Davis [4]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy [7]; 8. 54-Randy Post [8]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 66-Nick Daywalt [1]; 2. 3-Justin Erickson [2]; 3. 35-Ben Schmidt [3]; 4. 22B-Brandon Berth [4]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien [5]; 6. 53A-Paul Pokorski [7]; 7. 69S-TJ Smith [6]; 8. 92-Kevin Seidler [8]
Qualifying 1: 1. 4-Alex Pokorski, 12.907 [7]; 2. 69-Bill Taylor, 13.034 [4]; 3. 98-Brandon McMullen, 13.118 [6]; 4. 20-Robbie Pribnow, 13.149 [8]; 5. 2-Chris Clayton, 13.263 [9]; 6. 30-Doug Wondra, 13.564 [3]; 7. 12P-JJ Pagel, 13.659 [5]; 8. 51-Chris Larson, 13.892 [1]; 9. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 14.118 [2]
Qualifying 2: 1. 6K-Kurt Davis, 12.693 [1]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender, 12.976 [2]; 3. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.194 [3]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.225 [7]; 5. 53-Shane Wenninger, 13.265 [4]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 13.441 [6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy, 13.686 [5]; 8. 54-Randy Post [8]
Qualifying 3: 1. 22B-Brandon Berth, 12.735 [1]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.842 [8]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson, 12.897 [2]; 4. 66-Nick Daywalt, 12.957 [3]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.317 [7]; 6. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.471 [6]; 7. 53A-Paul Pokorski, 13.689 [4]; 8. 92-Kevin Seidler, 14.112 [5]
TEZOS ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – BUMPER TO BUMPER INTERSTATE RACING ASSOCIATION 410 SPRINT CARS
Tezos A Main (35 Laps): 1. 24R-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [2]; 3. 4-Chris Windom [5]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 6. 69K-Lance Dewease [15]; 7. 71-Buddy Kofoid [11]; 8. 25M-Lachlan McHugh [3]; 9. 26-Zeb Wise [16]; 10. 11-Cory Eliason [13]; 11. 1-Brenham Crouch [10]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 13. 45-Tim Shaffer [7]; 14. 70-Scotty Thiel [17]; 15. 17B-Bill Balog [9]; 16. 23-Russel Borland [19]; 17. 97-JJ Hickle [18]; 18. 49-Josh Schneiderman [8]; 19. 9P-Parker Price Miller [14]; 20. 25T-Travis Arenz [24]; 21. 10W-Mike Reinke [23]; 22. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [22]; 23. U2-Jack Vanderboom [20]; 24. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [21]; 25. 87A-Austin Hartmann [25]
Classic Ink USA B Main (12 Laps): 1. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [1]; 2. 29C-Hunter Custer [3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [4]; 4. 10W-Mike Reinke [5]; 5. 25T-Travis Arenz [9]; 6. 87A-Austin Hartmann [11]; 7. 26R-Preston Ruh [14]; 8. 28M-Conner Morrell [7]; 9. 4K-Kris Spitz [6]; 10. 24-Scott Conger [15]; 11. 2W-Scott Neitzel [13]; 12. 21-Will Gerrits [18]; 13. 10V-Kurt Davis [10]; 14. 99-Tyler Brabant [17]; 15. 16-Anthony Knierim [16]; 16. 68-Dave Uttech [2]; 17. 29-Sye Lynch [8]; 18. 39V-William Huck [20]; 19. 88-Chris Flick [19]; 20. (DNS) 79-Blake Nimee; 21. (DNS) 25-Danny Schlafer
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps): 1. 24R-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [3]; 3. 25M-Lachlan McHugh [4]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [7]; 5. 4-Chris Windom [9]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri [8]; 7. 45-Tim Shaffer [6]; 8. 49-Josh Schneiderman [2]; 9. 17B-Bill Balog [5]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Josh Schneiderman [3]; 2. 1-Brenham Crouch [1]; 3. 45-Tim Shaffer [4]; 4. 97-JJ Hickle [6]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech [2]; 6. 28M-Conner Morrell [5]; 7. 26R-Preston Ruh [8]; 8. 99-Tyler Brabant [7]; 9. 39V-William Huck [9]
CSI Shocks Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 2. 11-Cory Eliason [5]; 3. 69K-Lance Dewease [2]; 4. U2-Jack Vanderboom [7]; 5. 29C-Hunter Custer [3]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [1]; 7. 87A-Austin Hartmann [6]; 8. 21-Will Gerrits [8]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25M-Lachlan McHugh [1]; 2. 71-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 3. 19-Brent Marks [4]; 4. 23-Russel Borland [3]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz [5]; 6. 10V-Kurt Davis [6]; 7. 24-Scott Conger [7]; 8. 88-Chris Flick [8]
Kistler Racing Products Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Chris Windom [3]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 3. 26-Zeb Wise [1]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [5]; 6. 29-Sye Lynch [6]; 7. 79-Blake Nimee [7]; 8. 16-Anthony Knierim [8]
Mobile 1 Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 9P-Parker Price Miller [2]; 3. 70-Scotty Thiel [3]; 4. 24R-Rico Abreu [4]; 5. 10W-Mike Reinke [5]; 6. 25T-Travis Arenz [6]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel [7]; 8. (DNS) 25-Danny Schlafer
Hercules Tire Qualifying: 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 11.660 [15]; 2. 45-Tim Shaffer, 11.732 [1]; 3. 19-Brent Marks, 11.762 [19]; 4. 25M-Lachlan McHugh, 11.909 [22]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri, 11.910 [30]; 6. 1-Brenham Crouch, 11.924 [2]; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 11.940 [10]; 8. 68-Dave Uttech, 11.948 [4]; 9. 69K-Lance Dewease, 11.959 [13]; 10. 26-Zeb Wise, 11.961 [29]; 11. 71-Buddy Kofoid, 11.967 [25]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 11.976 [28]; 13. 24R-Rico Abreu, 11.978 [34]; 14. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 11.990 [3]; 15. 4-Chris Windom, 11.998 [31]; 16. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.000 [37]; 17. 29C-Hunter Custer, 12.012 [17]; 18. 28M-Conner Morrell, 12.026 [5]; 19. 97-JJ Hickle, 12.048 [8]; 20. 11-Cory Eliason, 12.110 [12]; 21. 23-Russel Borland, 12.126 [18]; 22. 9P-Parker Price Miller, 12.168 [36]; 23. 70-Scotty Thiel, 12.194 [40]; 24. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 12.195 [16]; 25. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 12.236 [33]; 26. 29-Sye Lynch, 12.246 [32]; 27. 10W-Mike Reinke, 12.288 [39]; 28. 79-Blake Nimee, 12.350 [26]; 29. 16-Anthony Knierim, 12.364 [27]; 30. 4K-Kris Spitz, 12.367 [23]; 31. U2-Jack Vanderboom, 12.430 [11]; 32. 25T-Travis Arenz, 12.552 [35]; 33. 10V-Kurt Davis, 12.617 [20]; 34. 99-Tyler Brabant, 12.668 [9]; 35. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 12.680 [41]; 36. 26R-Preston Ruh, 12.708 [6]; 37. 24-Scott Conger, 12.769 [21]; 38. 21-Will Gerrits, 12.849 [14]; 39. 88-Chris Flick, 13.020 [24]; 40. 39V-William Huck, 13.991 [7]; 41. 25-Danny Schlafer, 59.999 [38]