(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) May 20, 2023 – On a night when nothing but open wheel race cars took to The Plymouth Dirt Track third-mile clay oval in Plymouth, Wis., 31-year racing veteran Lance Fassbender of Burnett led all 25 laps on the way to his first Akright Auto Plymouth Dirt Track Racing – Midwest Sprint Car Association A-main victory of the 2023 season Saturday, May 20.
After starting on the pole of the 25-lap PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car A main, 2008 Plymouth Dirt Track Racing and 2005 Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender jumped into the lead on the drop of the green flag utilizing the preferred low groove, followed by 2011 PDTR 360 Sprint Car champ Ben Schmidt of Plymouth, who started third, in second.
On lap 3, fifth starter Alex Pokorski of West Bend slipped past the high-riding machine of two-time PDTR and five-time MSA 360 Sprint Car champion Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee, who started second, to move into third.
As Fassbender built up a solid lead in the early going, the first of third caution flags in the event appeared on lap six when two-time PDTR and MSA 360 Sprint Car champion Travis Arenz of Sheboygan Falls spun to a stop in turn two.
Following the restart, Pokorski maneuvered past Schmidt to assume second on lap 7. Fassbender caught the rear of the field on lap 12, which allowed Pokorski to cut the gap. While closing in on Fassbender for the lead, a potential career-best finish for Pokorski was derailed when he was collected after rookie T.J. Haddy of Waupun and Chris Larson of Franksville made contact in turn four.
Fassbender controlled the lead after the ensuing restart and built up a half-straight away cushion over Schmidt by lap 22. As the leaders closed in on slower traffic, the third and final caution flew when Kurt Davis hit the backstretch wall on lap 28.
Fassbender was not to be denied on the final restart as he cruised to his eighth career PDTR 360 Sprint A-main victory and 22nd career MSA 360 Sprint Car main event triumph.
Schmidt placed second, seventh starter Chris Clayton of Waldo finished a strong third, fourth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend took fourth and two-time PDTR and four-time MSA 360 Sprint Car champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh moved up from the eighth starting spot to round out the top five.
“I was actually glad to see that final caution come out because those lapped cars were going to be really hard to get around at the end,” Fassbender said.
Travis Arenz of Sheboygan Falls won the PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car B main.
Ben Schmidt earned top PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car qualifying honors with a lap of 13.331 seconds.
The third event of the 2023 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Hopf Farms, drew a total of 89 cars, including 27 PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars, 31 IRA 410 Sprint Cars and 31 Badger Midgets
After taking the Memorial Day weekend off, The Plymouth Dirt Track will host the Rayce Rudeen Foundation $26,000-to-win Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions-Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car Series event on Saturday, June 3. The PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Cars will also be on the card for the all-Sprint Car event.
Pit gates open at 2 p.m., followed by grandstand gates at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 5:30 p.m.
Advance tickets for the Rayce Rudeen Foundation event are available on My Race Pass.
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. 7-Lance Fassbender [1]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [3]; 3. 2-Chris Clayton [7]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [4]; 5. 98-Brandon McMullen [8]; 6. 11-Tim Haddy [10]; 7. 30-Doug Wondra [6]; 8. 66-Nick Daywalt [11]; 9. 53-Shane Wenninger [17]; 10. 22B-Brandon Berth [9]; 11. 69S-TJ Smith [18]; 12. 69-Bill Taylor [21]; 13. 85J-Logan Julien [13]; 14. 4-Alex Pokorski [5]; 15. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [19]; 16. 51-Chris Larson [20]; 17. 54G-Scott Grissom [14]; 18. 53A-Paul Pokorski [15]; 19. 6K-Kurt Davis [2]; 20. (DNF) 3-Justin Erickson [12]; 21. (DNF) 21H-TJ Haddy [22]; 22. (DNF) 25T-Travis Arenz [16]
B Main (10 Laps): 1. 25T-Travis Arenz [10]; 2. 53-Shane Wenninger [6]; 3. 69S-TJ Smith [3]; 4. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [1]; 5. 51-Chris Larson [2]; 6. 69-Bill Taylor [8]; 7. 1-Tommy Colburn [9]; 8. 5-Kevin Seidler [4]; 9. 66T-Tristan Koenings [7]; 10. 54-Randy Post [5]; 11. (DNS) 12P-JJ Pagel
Heat 1: 1. 98-Brandon McMullen [3]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender [1]; 3. 35-Ben Schmidt [4]; 4. 11-Tim Haddy [5]; 5. 3-Justin Erickson [7]; 6. 53-Shane Wenninger [2]; 7. 69S-TJ Smith [8]; 8. 69-Bill Taylor [6]; 9. 66T-Tristan Koenings [9]
Heat 2: 1. 30-Doug Wondra [1]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [2]; 3. 22B-Brandon Berth [3]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien [4]; 5. 66-Nick Daywalt [7]; 6. 51-Chris Larson [6]; 7. 5-Kevin Seidler [8]; 8. 1-Tommy Colburn [5]; 9. (DNS) 25T-Travis Arenz
Heat 3: 1. 2-Chris Clayton [1]; 2. 4-Alex Pokorski [3]; 3. 6K-Kurt Davis [4]; 4. 53A-Paul Pokorski [2]; 5. 54G-Scott Grissom [5]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy [9]; 8. 54-Randy Post [8]; 9. (DNF) 12P-JJ Pagel [7]
Qualifying 1 (10 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt, 13.331 [1]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen, 13.376 [7]; 3. 53-Shane Wenninger, 13.780 [4]; 4. 7-Lance Fassbender, 13.789 [5]; 5. 11-Tim Haddy, 13.813 [8]; 6. 69-Bill Taylor, 13.847 [3]; 7. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.879 [9]; 8. 69S-TJ Smith, 14.641 [6]; 9. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 14.733 [2]
Qualifying 2 (10 Laps): 1. 25T-Travis Arenz, 13.343 [6]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth, 13.527 [5]; 3. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.630 [1]; 4. 30-Doug Wondra, 13.678 [7]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.795 [3]; 6. 1-Tommy Colburn, 13.955 [8]; 7. 51-Chris Larson, 14.088 [4]; 8. 66-Nick Daywalt, 14.417 [2]; 9. 5-Kevin Seidler, 14.672 [9]
Qualifying 3 (10 Laps): 1. 6K-Kurt Davis, 13.349 [1]; 2. 4-Alex Pokorski, 13.540 [5]; 3. 53A-Paul Pokorski, 13.992 [7]; 4. 2-Chris Clayton, 14.378 [4]; 5. 54G-Scott Grissom, 14.385 [8]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 14.431 [3]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy, 14.790 [9]; 8. 12P-JJ Pagel, 14.793 [2]; 9. 54-Randy Post, 14.901 [6]
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