Lance Fassbender of Burnett led the Sprint Car A main to the green flag from the pole position flanked by outside front row starter Paul Pokorski of West Bend. Fassbender bolted out to a solid cushion in the early stages of the race, building up a half straightaway lead over Wenninger by lap 5 on the predominately one-groove racing surface.
As the track began to take rubber, passing came at a very high premium. Fassbender caught up to the rear of the field on lap 8, which made things quite interesting for several laps as the leaders attempted to find a way by the lapped cars.
With Fassbender boxed in behind slower cars, Wenninger was able to close the gap considerably by lap 10. One lap later, Wenninger managed to dive past Fassbender entering turn one before powering into the lead exiting turn two.
Wenninger, who was steering his own 53 machine after wheeling the 51M Mayer Automotive car normally driven my Jim Melis on opening night, maintained control as he worked through heavy lapped traffic. On lap 14, the first caution of the race came out when Cascade’s Mitchell Yurmanovich and Robbie Pribnow of Lomira made contact in turn three.
After the restart, Wenninger maintained control and was just about to enter lapped traffic again when the second caution flag appeared on lap 18 for Fassbender, who slowed to a stop on the backstretch. After exiting to make repairs in the pits, Fassbender was able to rejoin the race at the rear of the field.
Wenninger, who missed most of the 2016 racing season after breaking two vertebrae in his back in an accident on June 11, held on over the final seven laps to record his second career PDTR Sprint Car A main victory over Brandon McMullen of Appleton, who placed second after starting sixth.
Pokorski wound up third, opening night A-main winner Tim Haddy of Waupun charged from the 11th starting spot to take fourth and 14th starter Kurt Davis of West Allis placed fifth.
HEAT 1
1, SCOTT CONGER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, DOUG WONDRA. 4,
KURT DAVIS. 5, JUSTIN MILLER. 6, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 7, JOHN
KRESBACH. 8, RYAN MAYR.
HEAT 2
1, SHANE WENNINGER. 2, LANCE FASSBENDER. 3, ROBBIE PRIBNOW.
4, AL SCHLAFER. 5, WILL GERRITS. 6, TYLER BRABANT. 7, TONY
WONDRA. 8, EMILY PORTSCHY.
HEAT 3
1, TIM HADDY. 2, PAUL POKORSKI. 3, CHRIS CLAYTON. 4, KEVIN
KARNTZ. 5, Bill Taylor. 6, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 7, MAYER AUTOMOTIVE.
(DNS).
HEAT 4
1, MICHAEL YURMANOVICH. 2, DANNY SCHLAFER. 3, DANNON
TESSMER. 4, NICH MELIS. 5, KEN JAY FIEDLER. 6, ANDREW
WESTPHAL. 7, AKRIGHT AUTO.
B FEATURE
1, JUSTIN MILLER. 2, Bill Taylor. 3, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 4, WILL
GERRITS. 5, JOSH TEUNISSEN. 6, ANDREW WESTPHAL. 7, TONY
WONDRA. 8, TYLER BRABANT. 9, RYAN MAYR. 10, KEVIN KARNTZ. 11,
JOHN KRESBACH. 12, EMILY PORTSCHY. 13, AKRIGHT AUTO.
A FEATURE
1, SHANE WENNINGER. 2, BRANDON MCMULLEN. 3, PAUL POKORSKI. 4,
TIM HADDY. 5, KURT DAVIS. 6, DANNON TESSMER. 7, JUSTIN MILLER.
8, CHRIS CLAYTON. 9, MAYER AUTOMOTIVE. 10, WILL GERRITS. 11,
KEN JAY FIEDLER. 12, DANNY SCHLAFER. 13, DOUG WONDRA. 14, AL
SCHLAFER. 15, NICH MELIS. 16, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 17, Bill Taylor. 18,
JOSH TEUNISSEN. 19, LANCE FASSBENDER. 20, ANDREW WESTPHAL.
21, MICHAEL YURMANOVICH. 22, ROBBIE PRIBNOW. 23, SCOTT
CONGER. (DNS).