(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) April 26, 2025 – Two-time and defending Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car champion Ben Schmidt of Plymouth topped five-time track champion Donny Goeden of Kewaskum to fire up the 2025 season in victorious fashion in the 25-lap Akright Auto PDTR-Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car A main on a chilly spring evening at The Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday, April 26.
Jake Richards of Neshkoro won the 25-lap Oostburg Automotive Grand National main event.
Jim Zdroik of Hartford chalked up the win in the 25-lap Sheboygan Flooring B Mod A-main.
Adam Zellmer of Horicon racked up the A-main triumph in the 20-lap Midwest Legends Dirt Series main event.
Polesitter Brandon Berth of Cascade jumped into the lead on the opening circuit of the 360 Sprint Car headliner before back-to-back cautions involving Katelyn Krebsbach of Cascade and Joseph Hintz of Burnett bunched the field on lap 2.
On the restart, three-time PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Donny Goeden, who started outside the front row, bolted in to challenge Berth from the top spot. The two drivers battled side by side over the ensuing lap before Berth clipped an infield tire sending his car flipping in turn two on lap 3.
Former PDTR 360 Sprint Car champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett was also involved in the incident, which forced him to retire from the race on his first night back in his familiar No. 7 car after suffering serious burns last June.
Goeden, who began his racing career in the Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Winged Super Modified division at Plymouth in 1985, controlled the restart before Ben Schmidt, who started fourth, maneuvered past fifth starter T.J. Smith of Greenville and dove under Goeden to assume the lead exiting turn four on lap 4.
Schmidt fended off Goeden over the next two laps before the race was slowed for the fourth time for Eric Wilke of Genessee, who spun in turn three on lap 6.
Smith and Goeden exchanged second place on the restart, which helped Schmidt build up a half-straightaway cushion. On lap 11, Schmidt caught the rear of the field, which helped Goeden close in to pull even with the two-time PDTR 360 Sprint champion on lap 13 as the two Sprint Car stalwarts weaved their way through lapped traffic.
Schmidt successfully negotiated the slower traffic to stretch his lead to a full straightaway over the final 10 laps en route to his 26th career PDTR 360 Sprint Car A-main victory and 47th Midwest Sprint Car Association triumph. The victory pulled Schmidt into a tie for second on the all-time PDTR 360 Sprint A-main victory list with Kurt Davis of South Milwaukee.
Goeden, who owns 40 career A-main victories and five total track titles in Winged Super Modified (two) and 360 Sprint Car competition (three) at Plymouth, had to settle for second, sixth starter Kevin Karnitz of West Bend placed third, Smith wound up fourth and Clayton Rossmann of Wadsworth, Ill. charged from the 14th starting spot to place fifth.
“We went backward at the start,” Schmidt said. “It took a few laps for us to move forward. Then I was able to get past Donny after an early restart. It’s always good to finish ahead of a great driver like Donny. He’s been doing it really well for a long time here at Plymouth. To me, he’s the G.O.A.T. It feels good to be standing here in victory lane for the sponsors, crew and everyone that supports this team.”
The start of the Grand National main event was delayed by a six-car incident in turn three upon the drop of the original green flag. When the race got underway, polesitter Jake Richards bolted into the lead with fourth starter Jeff Richards of Montello sneaking into second.
After a yellow slowed the race on lap 4 for a spin involving 86-year-old two-time track champion Dick Hed of Plymouth, Jake Richards proved to be the class of the field over the final 21 circuits as he opened up a half-lap gap over Jeff Richards on lap 13 and cruised during the second half of the race to post his second career PDTR Grand National A-main triumph.
Jeff Richards finished second, Dustin Weiss of Iron Ridge drove up from the 13th starting position to place third, Jeff Steenbergen of Johnson Creek advanced 11 spots to take fourth and three-time PDTR Grand National champ Don Sorce Jr. of West Allis placed fifth after starting 16th.
Defending PDTR B Mod track champion Travis Schmidt of Plymouth took the lead of the B Mod main event from the pole with second starter Jim Zdroik of Hartford securing second.
Schmidt opened a solid lead in the first half of the race. However, contact with an infield tire while working through slower traffic forced him out of the race and handed the lead to Zdroik.
Zdroik held tight to the top spot over the final 12 circuits on the way to his first career PDTR B Mod A-main victory.
Geoff Zdroik of Rubicon, who started seventh, finished second, Vince Jung of Iron Ridge moved up from the ninth starting position to place third, 13th starter Cole Thomas of Franklin was fourth and eighth starter Brandon Knepprath of Boltonville wound up fifth.
The 20-lap Midwest Legends Dirt Series main event was hindered by five yellow flags and one red flag in the first 10 laps.
Once the race settled into extended green flag action, polesitter Hayden Schmuhl of Beaver Dam held the lead in the closing laps before Zellmer worked his way up from the fifth starting spot to wrestle the lead away from Schmuhl in lapped traffic on lap 17.
Zellmer held on to secure the victory in the lone scheduled Midwest Legends Dirt Series event at The Plymouth Dirt Track in 2025. Alex Haese of Manitowoc claimed second after starting sixth, Schmuhl wound up third, Ryan Sullivan of Waupun worked his way up 10 spots to secure fourth and Cal Swenson of Hortonville took fifth after starting 11th.
Brandon Berth earned the overall PDTR-MSA 360 Sprint Car fast qualifier award with a quick lap of 12.926 seconds.
Dustin Weiss won the 12-lap Grand National B Main and Cole Thomas was victorious in the 12-lap B Mod B main.
The first event of the 2025 PDTR campaign, which was sponsored by Mayer Automotive, produced a packed pit area featuring 111 total entries, including 32 Grand Nationals, 30 B Mods, 26 Legends and 23 360 Sprint Cars.
The next PDTR racing program on Saturday, May 3 will showcase the 2025 Seubert Calf Ranches Super Six Late Model Series opener.
The PDTR 360 Sprint Cars, Grand Nationals and B Mods will also be in action.
Grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. with qualifying at 4:30 p.m. and racing to follow.
Weather information for all Plymouth Dirt Track Racing events will be posted on the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram pages, as well as the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing website – www.plymouthdtr.com.
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. 1-Ben Schmidt [4]; 2. 27G-Donny Goeden [2]; 3. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [6]; 4. 69S-TJ Smith [5]; 5. 09-Clayton Rossmann [14]; 6. 3-Justin Erickson [8]; 7. 69-Bill Taylor [11]; 8. 2-Chris Clayton [21]; 9. 14J-Joseph Hintz [3]; 10. 3BK-Billy Kreutz [13]; 11. 46-Steven Ruh [20]; 12. 57-Tristan Furseth [19]; 13. 16-Anthony Knierim [12]; 14. 55P-Brady Portschy [16]; 15. 11-Tony Wondra [9]; 16. 51-Chris Larson [17]; 17. 9C-Cole Stella [18]; 18. 30-Doug Wondra [22]; 19. 24X-Eric Wilke [10]; 20. 22B-Brandon Berth [1]; 21. 7-Lance Fassbender [7]; 22. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [15]; 23. (DNS) 5-Kevin Seidler
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ben Schmidt[1]; 2. 14J-Joseph Hintz[3]; 3. 24X-Eric Wilke[2]; 4. 69-Bill Taylor[4]; 5. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach[5]; 6. 51-Chris Larson[7]; 7. 9C-Cole Stella[8]; 8. 30-Doug Wondra[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 69S-TJ Smith[2]; 2. 7-Lance Fassbender[1]; 3. 27G-Donny Goeden[4]; 4. 3BK-Billy Kreutz[3]; 5. 09-Clayton Rossmann[5]; 6. 55P-Brady Portschy[7]; 7. 2-Chris Clayton[6]; 8. (DNS) 5-Kevin Seidler
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz[2]; 2. 22B-Brandon Berth[1]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson[3]; 4. 11-Tony Wondra[5]; 5. 16-Anthony Knierim[6]; 6. 46-Steven Ruh[4]; 7. 57-Tristan Furseth[7]
Qualifying 1: 1. 1-Ben Schmidt, 13.309[3]; 2. 24X-Eric Wilke, 13.979[7]; 3. 14J-Joseph Hintz, 14.010[1]; 4. 69-Bill Taylor, 14.132[6]; 5. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 14.181[5]; 6. 30-Doug Wondra, 14.321[4]; 7. 51-Chris Larson, 14.354[8]; 8. 9C-Cole Stella, 14.903[2]
Qualifying 2: 1. 7-Lance Fassbender, 13.077[4]; 2. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.114[6]; 3. 3BK-Billy Kreutz, 13.293[8]; 4. 27G-Donny Goeden, 13.337[3]; 5. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 13.387[7]; 6. 2-Chris Clayton, 13.431[1]; 7. 55P-Brady Portschy, 13.792[2]; 8. (DNS) 5-Kevin Seidler
Qualifying 3: 1. 22B-Brandon Berth, 12.926[2]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.014[4]; 3. 3-Justin Erickson, 13.166[1]; 4. 57-Tristan Furseth, 13.397[7]; 5. 46-Steven Ruh, 13.428[3]; 6. 11-Tony Wondra, 13.443[5]; 7. 16-Anthony Knierim, 13.465[6]
OOSTBURG AUTOMOTIVE GRAND NATIONALS
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 8R-Jake Richards [1]; 2. 10R-Jeff Richards [4]; 3. 53W-Dustin Weiss [13]; 4. 62S-Jeff Steenbergen [15]; 5. 99-Don Sorce Jr [16]; 6. 80-Luke Scholten [7]; 7. 0-Brett Wenzel [5]; 8. 13-Josh Pierce [14]; 9. 14X-Will Sorce [8]; 10. 23-Scott Kafka [20]; 11. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer [19]; 12. 95-Donny Kulow [18]; 13. 37-Ryan Minster [12]; 14. 6-Dick Hed [17]; 15. K9-Tyler Wilson [6]; 16. 35B-Ethan Beattie [2]; 17. 5R-Nate Ruh [3]; 18. 15-Derek Kaat [9]; 19. 84X-Marcus Hoeppner [10]; 20. 93-Mavrick Ruh [11]
B Main (12 Laps): 1. 53W-Dustin Weiss[6]; 2. 13-Joshua Pierce[1]; 3. 62S-Jeff Steenbergen[4]; 4. 99-Donald Sorce Jr[8]; 5. 24K-Tyler Kulow[2]; 6. 6-Dick Hed[13]; 7. 95-Donny Kulow[3]; 8. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer[14]; 9. 23-Scott Kafka[11]; 10. 72E-Chad Espen[12]; 11. 42-Jason Juech[9]; 12. 25M-Darren Meyer[5]; 13. 11-Dylan May[10]; 14. 84-Mark Hoeppner[7]; 15. 27-Greg Goschey[17]; 16. 25P-Jonathan Persha[15]; 17. (DNS) 53B-Brad Weiss; 18. (DNS) 52W-Jack Wiroll; 19. (DNS) 45-Trent Bogart; 20. (DNS) 89-Justin Miller
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Ryan Minster[2]; 2. K9-Tyler Wilson[1]; 3. 5R-Nate Ruh[4]; 4. 13-Josh Pierce[5]; 5. 25M-Darren Meyer[7]; 6. 42-Jason Juech[8]; 7. (DNF) 53B-Brad Weiss[3]; 8. (DNF) 89-Justin Miller[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Mavrick Ruh[2]; 2. 10R-Jeff Richards[3]; 3. 15-Derek Kaat[6]; 4. 24K-Tyler Kulow[1]; 5. 53W-Dustin Weiss[7]; 6. 11-Dylan May[4]; 7. 27-Greg Goschey[8]; 8. (DNF) 25P-Jonathan Persha[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Luke Scholten[2]; 2. 0-Brett Wenzel[4]; 3. 84X-Marcus Hoeppner[3]; 4. 95-Donny Kulow[7]; 5. 84-Mark Hoeppner[5]; 6. 23-Scott Kafka[6]; 7. (DNF) 6-Dick Hed[1]; 8. (DNF) 45-Trent Bogart[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14X-Will Sorce[6]; 2. 8R-Jake Richards[3]; 3. 35B-Ethan Beattie[4]; 4. 62S-Jeff Steenbergen[8]; 5. 99-Don Sorce Jr[2]; 6. 72E-Chad Espen[7]; 7. 5M-Jeff Muehlbauer[1]; 8. (DNF) 52W-Jack Wiroll[5]
SHEBOYGAN FLOORING B MODS
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 6Z-Jim Zdroik [2]; 2. 18Z-Geoff Zdroik [7]; 3. 67-Vince Jung [9]; 4. 91-Cole Thomas [13]; 5. 17-Brandon Knepprath [8]; 6. 66-Steve Lorier [15]; 7. 03W-Tim Warner [10]; 8. 89-Logan Brass [17]; 9. 73-Rory Welch [12]; 10. 3Z-Austin Zdroik [5]; 11. 33H-Barrett Hummelmeier [16]; 12. 67J-Dan Jung [3]; 13. 48B-Brad Keith [11]; 14. 99-Jordan Gracyalny [18]; 15. 14G-Craig Gessner [6]; 16. 4JR-Joel Seegert Jr [4]; 17. 3-Travis Schmidt [1]; 18. 29R-Ryan Kuehn [19]; 19. 48-Matt Urban [14]; 20. 69-Travis Kleindl [20]
B Main (12 Laps): 1. 91-Cole Thomas[1]; 2. 48-Matt Urban[5]; 3. 66-Steve Lorier[8]; 4. 33H-Barrett Hummelmeier[4]; 5. 89-Logan Brass[2]; 6. 99-Jordan Gracyalny[7]; 7. 29R-Ryan Kuehn[3]; 8. 69-Travis Kleindl[6]; 9. 59S-Spencer Long[16]; 10. 19-Parker Glander[11]; 11. 12D-Chris Gilson[12]; 12. 31W-Kelan Wolfe[15]; 13. 11B-Brad Buckman[13]; 14. 1X-Ryan Spoehr[14]; 15. XV-Don Marquart[9]; 16. 26-Ryan Pafford[10]; 17. 85B-Kevin Braaksma[18]; 18. (DNS) 55K-Kyle Dimmick
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18Z-Geoff Zdroik[2]; 2. 6Z-Jim Zdroik[3]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt[6]; 4. 91-Cole Thomas[1]; 5. 48-Matt Urban[4]; 6. XV-Don Marquart[7]; 7. 55K-Kyle Dimmick[8]; 8. 31W-Kelan Wolfe[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14G-Craig Gessner[1]; 2. 67-Vince Jung[4]; 3. 3Z-Austin Zdroik[6]; 4. 89-Logan Brass[5]; 5. 69-Travis Kleindl[3]; 6. 26-Ryan Pafford[7]; 7. 85B-Kevin Braaksma[8]; 8. 59S-Spencer Long[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 67J-Dan Jung[5]; 2. 4JR-Joel Seegert Jr[1]; 3. 17-Brandon Knepprath[3]; 4. 29R-Ryan Kuehn[2]; 5. 99-Jordan Gracyalny[6]; 6. 19-Parker Glander[4]; 7. (DNF) 11B-Brad Buckman[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 03W-Tim Warner[1]; 2. 48B-Brad Keith[3]; 3. 73-Rory Welch[2]; 4. 33H-Barrett Hummelmeier[5]; 5. 66-Steve Lorier[7]; 6. 12D-Chris Gilson[4]; 7. 1X-Ryan Spoehr[6]
106.5 THE BUZZ MIDWEST LEGENDS DIRT SERIES
A Main (20 Laps): 1. 117-Adam Zellmer [4]; 2. 76-Alex Haese [6]; 3. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl [1]; 4. 95-Ryan Sullivan [14]; 5. 19X-Cal Swenson [11]; 6. 87-Dallas Ross [10]; 7. 49-Ayden Erickson[5]; 8. 99-Rob Maule[17]; 9. 54-Nate Werner[18]; 10. 47V-Dominic Van Riper [2]; 11. 51F-Tim Franz [16]; 12. 14T-Talyn Neuman [3]; 13. 78-Carson Grob [23]; 14. 37M-Daniel Mech [20]; 15. 17F-Faith Zellmer Schultz [12]; 16. 80-Art Hahn [7]; 17. 33S-Mike Swenson [15]; 18. 7-Lilly Fassbender [9]; 19. 9D9-Mackenzie Maule [26]; 20. 53-Caleb DeYoung [19]; 21. 27-Russell Loof [24]; 22. 5K-Keith Carey [25]; 23. 80L-Jacob Loof [21]; 24. (DNF) 51S-Charlie Spoonmore [13]; 25. (DNF) 4C-Connor Carey [8]; 26. (DNF) 00B-Oliver O’Brion [22]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 47V-Dominic Van Riper[2]; 2. 14T-Talyn Neuman[3]; 3. 76-Alex Haese[1]; 4. 87-Dallas Ross[4]; 5. 51S-Charlie Spoonmore[7]; 6. 51F-Tim Franz[5]; 7. 78-Carson Grob[9]; 8. 5K-Keith Carey[8]; 9. 80L-Jacob Loof[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Art Hahn[2]; 2. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl[4]; 3. 49-Ayden Erickson[3]; 4. 19X-Cal Swenson[5]; 5. 95-Ryan Sullivan[6]; 6. 99-Rob Maule[7]; 7. 53-Caleb DeYoung[9]; 8. 37M-Daniel Mech[8]; 9. 00B-Oliver O’Brion[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 117-Adam Zellmer[1]; 2. 7-Lilly Fassbender[4]; 3. 4C-Connor Carey[3]; 4. 17F-Faith Zellmer Schultz[2]; 5. 33S-Mike Swenson[6]; 6. 54-Nate Werner[5]; 7. 27-Russell Loof[8]; 8. 9D9-Mackenzie Maule[7]
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