By Jeff Pederson – Pedal Down Promotions
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 28, 2017 – After engine problems forced Paul Pokorski and his Pokorski Motorsports team to scratch from the previous two Midwest Sprint Car Association events, a doubleheader weekend of action produced decidedly mixed results at Spring Lake Speedway in Unity, Wisconsin and The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds.
On Friday, June 23, the Pokorski Motorsports team made the long trek north for its first visit to the Spring Lake Speedway where a strong field of 27 cars gathered for the MSA’s first race at the track since 2004.
The allure of seeing Sprint Cars take to the track for the first time in 13 years attracted an enthusiastic, capacity crowd to the recently upgraded Spring Lake Speedway facility, formerly known as Monster Hall Raceway.
“Friday night at Spring Lake Speedway was pretty awesome for the MSA as a club,” Pokorski said. “The track was nice, the people were great and the car count was excellent. I hope we will make another trip up there next year for sure.”
Pokorski started fifth in the third Sprint Car heat race at Spring Lake Speedway and powered past Josh Teunissen and Wayne Modjeski to take over third place, following a restart on lap 2.
The 25-year veteran then chased down Dick Kaiser and made an impressive pass in turn four on the final lap to notch a strong second-place finish.
Following the inversion, Pokorski lined up 11th in the 25-lap Sprint Car A main. After falling back to 14th on the start, Pokorski held his own as most of the field ran the low groove for the majority of the race.
A three-car incident in turn four on the final lap allowed Pokorski to gain three spots and finish the race in 11th place.
“We did fairly well and I was happy with the night at Spring Lake,” Pokorski said.
A return date for MSA at Spring Lake was tentatively scheduled on Friday, Aug. 25, but the two parties have agreed for forgo that date and will work on scheduling at least one and possibly multiple races at the facility in 2018.
Things did not go nearly as smoothly for the team the following night at The Plymouth Dirt Track.
After starting sixth in the first Plymouth Dirt Track Racing Sprint Car heat race, Pokorski wound up seventh to fall short of transferring to the A main through its heat.
Despite suffering a cracked header in the B main, Pokorski moved up from the eighth starting spot to finish fourth and earn a transfer spot to the A main.
“We missed the setup by a bunch in the heat race and didn’t do very well at all,” Pokorski said. “We had a header crack in the B, which didn’t really affect the performance of the car. It just made me nervous that something bigger was going wrong because I could hear the engine tone change.”
After replacing the header, Pokorski started 20th in the A main. While running 16th, Pokorski’s luck turned sour again when he was unable to avoid the spinning car of Kevin Karnitz in turn four. The resulting contact produced too much damage to the front end of the car to continue and Pokorski was scored 20th.
“In the A main we were just average and ran into a little misfortune when someone else lost control and spun in front of me,” Pokorski said. “I clipped them on the way by, messing up the front end of the car and ending our night.”
Aside from the misfortunate on the track Saturday night, the team also had to deal with mechanical problems on its tow vehicle, as well as the logistics of getting its primary engine, which had been causing problems for the team in recent weeks, back home from the team’s engine builder.
“The truck Paul uses for pulling the race car trailer barely made it to the track on Friday night at Spring Lake and could not make it all the way home,” Pokorski Motorsports Crew Chief Dave Schultz said. “Mike and Pam Emme brought Chuck Tuschl’s truck down to Plymouth on their way to Beaver Dam. Paul had his motor from our primary Maxim car in the back of his truck, which he had picked up from the engine builder on Friday on the way to Unity.
“We would like to thank Brandon McMullen for helping to move the motor from Paul’s truck to Chuck’s truck,” he said. “Paul then pulled the trailer home using Chuck’s truck. Paul’s wife, Lynn, drove their truck home and with not having to pull anything, it made it home.”
The Pokorski Motorsports team will race its back-up J&J car in PDTR competition this Saturday, July 1 at Plymouth. On Sunday, July 2, the team plans to test out the engine in its primary Maxim car during an Interstate Racing Association (IRA) Sprint Car event at the 141 Speedway in Francis Creek.
“The engine builder found nothing wrong with the motor in the Maxim, which we had been having trouble with at Angell Park on June 11th and then again at Plymouth the following Saturday,” Schultz said. “That means we will doing a lot of diagnosing of the engine during IRA event at 141. Hopefully, we can find the issue on Sunday night.”
The Pokorski Motorsports sponsors for the 2017 season include: Acme Armature Works Inc., Goeden’s Auto Body, Goodwin Racing Engines, Jens, Reinbold & Pfeffer Family Funeral Services & Crematory, Kettle Moraine Landscaping, Novak’s Service Center, Pedal Down Promotions, Christel Sign, Tisler Salvage Inc. and The Cawley Company.
For more information on Pokorski Motorsports, check out Pokorski Motorsports on Facebook or visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com.
Pokorski Motorsports Sponsor Showcase – Acme Armature Works Inc.
Pokorski Motorsports would like to welcome Acme Armature Works Inc. of Sheboygan as a new sponsor for the 2017 racing season.
Acme Armature Works Inc. debuted last September when Chad Bahrs purchased Sheboygan Armature Works. Located at 2727 North 21st St. in Sheboygan, Acme Armature Works specializes in electrical and servo motor repair and sales for industrial and commercial customers.
Bahrs, who resides in Elkhart Lake with his wife Jamie and three children, describes Acme Armature Works as a one-stop electrical apparatus service shop.
“We specialize in all types of electric motors, spindles, servo motors, and electro-mechanical devices for industrial, commercial and agricultural customers,” Bahrs said. “We are a factory-authorized warranty service center for a wide range of manufactures. We also offer value-added services such as an in-house machine shop, computerized precision dynamic balancing, vibration analysis, predictive/preventative maintenance, welding and light fabricating.”
When it comes to diagnosing problems, providing proper repair analysis and delivering top-notch service for servo motors, Acme’s repair team boasts over 100 years of combined experience working with a wide selection of complex motor systems.
“We specialize in fast, accurate repair, rewind and re-manufacture of all brands of servo motors,” Bahrs said. “During our repair process, every encoder or all feedback devices are checked for proper signals and alignment.”
Acme Armature Works is PDTA (Power Transmission Distributors Association) and EASA (Electrical Apparatus Service Association) certified. In addition, Acme recently earned the Recommended Practice for the Repair of Rotating Electrical Apparatus (ANSI/EASA AR100-2015) accreditation.
Bahrs says Acme’s ability to provide unique in-shop services sets it apart among its competition.
“I think the fact that we do balancing, machine work and welding in our shop sets us apart,” Bahrs said. “We have the ability to do blower wheel balancing, provide a wide range of machine work and weld cast iron, which you don’t see in every other shop.”
Acme Armature Works also sells many makes and models of electric and servo motors.
Pokorski Motorsports invites you to contact Acme Armature Works Inc. via email at info@acmearmature.com, by calling the 24-hour service line at 920-452-3389 or visiting www.acmearmature.com.
Pedal Down Promotions is a full-service public relations and media services company devoted to helping its clients effectively communicate with targeted audiences through press releases, newsletters, profile and feature articles, website and social media content development, printed media, editing and layout, graphic design and book publishing services.
For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
2017 Pokorski Motorsports Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, July 1 – Plymouth Dirt Track (MSA)
Sunday, July 2 – 141 Speedway in Francis Creek (IRA)
Friday, July 7 – Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway in Beaver Dam (MSA)
Saturday, July 8 – Plymouth Dirt Track (MSA)
2017 Pokorski Motorsports By The Numbers
Total Events – 8
MSA events – 8
IRA events – 0
A-Main Victories – 1
Top Five A-Main Finishes – 3
Top 10 A-Main Finishes – 3
Heat Race Victories – 0