PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS
June 2, 2023 – Fourth-year competitor Alex Pokorski of West Bend continued his family’s winning tradition as he claimed his first career Akright Auto Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car Series A-main victory in the 20-lap Gib Wiser Classic main event at the Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway in Beaver Dam, Wis. on Friday, June 2.
Pokorski, who is currently in his second full season of MSA competition for the Spyder Akright-owned Akright Auto Racing Team, jumped into the lead of the MSA A main from the pole position.
By lap 4, Pokorski had built up a full straightaway cushion over the second place car of 14-year-old MSA rookie Logan Julien of Oconomowoc. Two laps later, Pokorski caught the rear of the field and began to weave his way through lapped traffic on the sprawling “horsepower” half-mile racing surface.
As Pokorski continued his command of the race, four-time MSA champion Brandon McMullen of Oshkosh, who started third, slipped past Julien to assume the runner-up spot.
McMullen briefly cut into Pokorski’s lead gap entering the second half of the race. However, Pokorski flipped the switch into overdrive in the closing stages of the race to open up a huge half-lap lead over McMullen on the way to his first career MSA main event win in the caution-free race.
Pokorski, whose father, Paul, earned the 2014 Midwest Sprint Car Association Masters Series championship and has recorded nine MSA 360 Sprint Car A-main victories among his 46 overall career main event triumphs, was thrilled to join his dad in the MSA A-main winner’s club.
“I had no idea how big of a lead I had or who was behind me,” Pokorski said. “It feels great to get this win. I feel like it is a big weight off my chest. I never really had an opportunity to race here before. I took about five laps last year and pulled off. I really like racing at this track. I enjoy the speed and, overall, it’s a fun track to race on.
“It’s cool to win an A main considering that my dad [Paul Pokorski] has won 46 of them,” he said. “I have a lot of work to do and will need to race a really long time to even think about that.”
McMullen finished second, fourth starter Robbie Pribnow of Lomira placed third in his second start of the 2023 season, Julien wound up a career-best fourth and 2011 MSA champ Ben Schmidt of Plymouth placed fifth after starting seventh.
“Qualifying really put us behind tonight and made it pretty difficult for us to get back into a position to win,” McMullen said. “Congratulations to Alex Pokorski and his team on their first A-main victory. They’ve been doing a really good job this year.”
“It is great to come back and be competitive right away,” Pribnow said. “We still have a ways to go to get past of the guys ahead of us, especially Brandon [McMullen], who is good everywhere. Congratulations to Alex Pokorski and his team for getting their first win.”
MSA eight-lap heat race victories went to Kevin Karnitz of West Bend and 2005 MSA champion Lance Fassbender of Burnett.
Robbie Pribnow registered the fastest overall MSA 360 Sprint Car qualifying lap of the night with a time of 19.679 seconds on the half-mile clay oval.
The fifth Akright Auto MSA 360 Sprint Car Series racing event of the 2023 campaign drew a field of 21 entrants to the Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway.
On Saturday, June 3, the MSA 360 Sprint Car teams will head to The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. to run in support of another Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions – Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association 410 Sprint Car challenge race, featuring the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation event.
Pit gates open at 2 p.m., followed by spectator gates at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 5:30 p.m. and qualifying and racing to follow.
The MSA tripleheader weekend closes on Sunday, June 4 with the series’ first of two scheduled 2023 appearances at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis., which will also include the Badger Midgets and Wisconsin WingLESS Sprint Cars.
Spectator gates open at 4 p.m. with open ceremonies at 6 p.m.
For more information on the 2023 Midwest Sprint Car Association season, visit www.msasprints.com or check out the Midwest Sprint Car Association Facebook page.
Akright Auto Midwest Sprint Car Association
Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway
Beaver Dam, Wis.
June 2, 2023
A Main (20 Laps): 1. 4-Alex Pokorski [1]; 2. 98-Brandon McMullen [3]; 3. 20-Rob Pribnow [4]; 4. 85J-Logan Julien [2]; 5. 35-Ben Schmidt [7]; 6. 6K-Kurt Davis [12]; 7. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [6]; 8. 11-Tony Wondra [11]; 9. 2-Chris Clayton [8]; 10. 3-Justin Erickson [20]; 11. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [9]; 12. 51-Chris Larson [13]; 13. 1-Tommy Colburn [17]; 14. 69-Bill Taylor [14]; 15. 12P-JJ Pagel [15]; 16. 66T-Tristan Koenings [18]; 17. 53A-Spyder Akright [21]; 18. 21H-TJ Haddy [19]; 19. 7-Lance Fassbender [5]; 20. 69S-TJ Smith [10]; 21. 92-Kevin Seidler [16]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [2]; 2. 35-Ben Schmidt [1]; 3. 85J-Logan Julien [4]; 4. 4-Alex Pokorski [6]; 5. 2-Chris Clayton [7]; 6. 69S-TJ Smith [8]; 7. 69-Bill Taylor [5]; 8. 51-Chris Larson [9]; 9. 12P-JJ Pagel [10]; 10. 92-Kevin Seidler [11]; 11. 3-Justin Erickson [3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Lance Fassbender [2]; 2. 20-Rob Pribnow [4]; 3. 98-Brandon McMullen [5]; 4. 11-Tony Wondra [3]; 5. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [6]; 6. 1-Tommy Colburn [1]; 7. 6K-Kurt Davis [7]; 8. 53A-Spyder Akright [10]; 9. 66T-Tristan Koenings [8]; 10. 21H-TJ Haddy [9]
Qualifying 1: 1. 85J-Logan Julien 19.855 [7]; 2. 3-Justin Erickson, 20.052 [1]; 3. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 20.112 [6]; 4. 35-Ben Schmidt, 20.139 [8]; 5. 69-Bill Taylor, 20.240 [9]; 6. 4-Alex Pokorski, 20.435 [3]; 7. 2-Chris Clayton, 20.625 [2]; 8. 69S-TJ Smith, 00:20.711 [4]; 9. 51-Chris Larson, 20.774 [10]; 10. 12P-JJ Pagel, 21.237 [11]; 11. 92-Kevin Seidler [5]
Qualifying 2: 1. 20-Rob Pribnow, 19.679 [6]; 2. 11-Tony Wondra, 19.998 [9]; 3. 7-Lance Fassbender, 20.010 [4]; 4. 1-Tommy Colburn, 20.095 [8]; 5. 98-Brandon McMullen, 20.133 [5]; 6. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 20.332 [7]; 7. 6K-Kurt Davis, 20.387 [2]; 8. 66T-Tristan Koenings, 20.434 [1]; 9. 21H-TJ Haddy, 20.600 [3]; 10. 53A-Spyder Akright, 21.542 [10]