After a long winter of hibernation, racing action roared back to life at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wis. on Saturday, May 5, as Plymouth Dirt Track Racing (PDTR) opened its 14th season of competition with a huge contingent of 107 cars in the pit area and an equally large crowd of fans in the stands eager to take in the first racing action of the season
The front row of the 25-lap Sprint Car A main featured two most successful drivers in the history of the Midwest Sprint Car Association as Schlafer lined up on the pole flanked by South Milwaukee’s Kurt Davis to his outside.
On the drop of the green flag, Schlafer used the preferred low groove to speed out to the early lead on the dry, slick racing surface followed by third starter John Krebsbach of Cascade. As Schlafer held a solid advantage at the point, Davis charged in to challenge Krebsbach for the runner-up spot on lap 8 and two laps later he secured the position with a low move in turn two.
By lap 12, Schlafer began to encounter lapped traffic, which allowed Davis to close the gap substantially. On lap 14, Davis charged in to mount a bid for the top spot as the leaders clung to fast line along the bottom of the track. Two laps later, the 2010 PDTR Sprint Car champion snuck under Schlafer in heavy lapped traffic to seize the top spot.
However, the move was negated when a caution flag flew for the stalled car of Glenbeulah’s Jim Melis in turn three. With scoring of the race reverting to the previously completed lap, Schlafer was reinstated as the race leader when the green flag flew again.
With an open track ahead of him, Schlafer solidly maintained the top spot over the final 10 laps on the way to his 20th career PDTR Sprint Car A-main victory and 49th overall MSA A-main triumph.
Davis, who tops the MSA all-time A-main victory list with 53, had to settle for second, Plymouth’s Justin Miller charged from the ninth starting spot to place third, former 410 Sprint Car driver Josh Walter of Plymouth scored a fourth-place showing in his return to regular PDTR 360 Sprint Car competition after starting eighth and fifth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend rounded out the top five.
HEAT 1
1, JIM MELIS. 2, KEVIN KARNTZ. 3, DOUG WONDRA. 4, DICK KAISER. 5,
MICHAEL YURMANOVICH. 6, TRAVIS ARENZ. 7, CHRIS FLICK. 8, SHANE
WENNINGER.
HEAT 2
1, AL SCHLAFER. 2, PAUL POKORSKI. 3, CHRIS CLAYTON. 4, BILL
TAYLOR. 5, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 6, AKRIGHT AUTO. 7, CHRIS LARSON.
8, EMILY PORTSCHY.
HEAT 3
1, JOHN KRESBACH. 2, DANNY SCHLAFER. 3, KURT DAVIS. 4, ADAM
MILLER. 5, KEN JAY FIEDLER. 6, SCOTT CONGER. 7, TYLER BRABANT.
HEAT 4
1, JOSH WALTER. 2, JUSTIN MILLER. 3, TONY WONDRA. 4, TIM HADDY.
5, LANCE FASSBENDER. 6, NICH MELIS. 7, WILL GERRITS.
B FEATURE
1, TRAVIS ARENZ. 2, LANCE FASSBENDER. 3, TYLER BRABANT. 4, WILL
GERRITS. 5, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 6, AKRIGHT AUTO. 7, MICHAEL
YURMANOVICH. 8, CHRIS FLICK. 9, EMILY PORTSCHY. 10, CHRIS
LARSON. 11, NICH MELIS. 12, SCOTT CONGER. 13, SHANE WENNINGER.
A FEATURE
1, DANNY SCHLAFER. 2, KURT DAVIS. 3, JUSTIN MILLER. 4, JOSH
WALTER. 5, KEVIN KARNTZ. 6, TIM HADDY. 7, AL SCHLAFER. 8, LANCE
FASSBENDER. 9, JOHN KRESBACH. 10, PAUL POKORSKI. 11, TRAVIS
ARENZ. 12, TYLER BRABANT. 13, CHRIS CLAYTON. 14, TONY WONDRA.
15, AKRIGHT AUTO. 16, DICK KAISER. 17, BILL TAYLOR. 18, DOUG
WONDRA. 19, KEN JAY FIEDLER. 20, ANTHONY KNIERIM. 21, JIM MELIS.
22, WILL GERRITS. (DNS).