(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) September 13, 2025 – Eyeing his second consecutive MMW Industrial Supply Midwest Sprint Car Association title, Ben Schmidt of Plymouth drove with some extra determination on the way to his sixth MSA A-main triumph of the 2025 campaign as part of the second night of the Fall Classic at Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, Wis., on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Front row starter Steven Ruh of New Holstein outdueled polesitter Tristan Furseth of Cambridge to lead the opening circuit of the 25-lap headliner. On lap 2, Schmidt, who started fourth, slipped past Furseth to take over the runner-up spot.
Three laps later, Schmidt tracked down Ruh and the two competitors dueled side by side for the next three laps before the 2011 and 2024 MSA champ used a slide job to surge ahead in turn four on lap 8.
While Schmidt bolted out to a half-lap lead, sixth starter T.J. Smith of Greenville moved in to challenge Ruh for second. However, Ruh held strong to maintain the position.
While Schmidt began to slice his way through the rear of the field, Kevin Karnitz of West Bend worked his way up from the eighth starting position to engage in a hard-fought three-car battle for the runner-up spot.
Smith claimed second on lap 21 before Karnitz captured it for good one lap later, exiting turn two.
Meanwhile, Schmidt cruised to his sixth MSA main event victory of the 2025 season and 52nd career MSA triumph in the caution-free race.
Schmidt’s victory moved him into a tie with Danny Schlafer of Sussex for second on the MSA’s all-time A-main wins list.
Karnitz placed second, Smith wound up third, Ruh placed an MSA career-best fourth, and Furseth rounded out the top five.
“We were set up to run on the outside, but we had to go where they weren’t and crawled the bottom to get the lead,” Schmidt said. “I thought maybe I should push it a little harder near the end, but I didn’t want to go too hard because the cushion in turn two was pretty big. Even though I didn’t have good luck at this place for many years in either the 410 or 360, I’ve always had a lot of fun coming down here.”
Schmidt, who came into the second MSA event of the season at Wilmot Raceway with a slim two-point lead over Kevin Karnitz of West Bend in the MSA standings, opened the night on a high note by topping the 14-car field in qualifying with a lap of 13.701 seconds around the three-eighths-mile semi-banked clay oval.
Heat race victories went to Katelyn Krebsbach of Johnsburg and Kevin Karnitz.
The MSA is set to close out the 2025 season at the annual Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis., on Saturday, Sept 27.
Spectator gates open at 4:30 p.m. with on-track action at 5 p.m.
For more information on the 2025 Midwest Sprint Car Association season, visit www.msasprints.com or check out the Midwest Sprint Car Association Facebook page.
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MMW Industrial Supply Midwest Sprint Car Association
Wilmot Raceway
Wilmot, Wis.
September 13, 2025
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 1-Ben Schmidt [4]; 2. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [8]; 3. 69S-TJ Smith [6]; 4. 46-Steven Ruh [2]; 5. 57-Tristan Furseth [1]; 6. 51-Chris Larson [5]; 7. 16-Anthony Knierim [3]; 8. 24X-Eric Wilke [12]; 9. 22B-Brandon Berth [10]; 10. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [7]; 11. 11-Tony Wondra [11]; 12. 33M-Josh Bilicki [9]; 13. 55S-Ryan Sawusch [13]; 14. (DNS) 69-Bill Taylor
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach [1]; 2. 69S-TJ Smith [3]; 3. 57-Tristan Furseth [2]; 4. 46-Steven Ruh [5]; 5. 33M-Josh Bilicki [7]; 6. 24X-Eric Wilke [4]; 7. 55S-Ryan Sawusch [6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 63K-Kevin Karnitz [1]; 2. 51-Chris Larson [3]; 3. 1-Ben Schmidt [4]; 4. 16-Anthony Knierim [5]; 5. 22B-Brandon Berth [6]; 6. 11-Tony Wondra [7]; 7. (DNF) 69-Bill Taylor [2]
Qualifying 1: 1. 69S-TJ Smith, 13.796 [1]; 2. 57-Tristan Furseth, 13.824 [2]; 3. 08-Katelyn Krebsbach, 14.011 [3]; 4. 33M-Josh Bilicki, 14.027 [4]; 5. 24X-Eric Wilke, 14.160 [7]; 6. 46-Steven Ruh, 14.361 [6]; 7. 55S-Ryan Sawusch, 14.724 [5]
Qualifying 2: 1. 1-Ben Schmidt, 13.701 [1]; 2. 51-Chris Larson, 13.897 [7]; 3. 69-Bill Taylor, 13.948 [5]; 4. 63K-Kevin Karnitz, 13.990 [6]; 5. 16-Anthony Knierim, 14.073 [2]; 6. 22B-Brandon Berth, 14.224 [4]; 7. 11-Tony Wondra, 14.744 [3]
- Jeff Pederson on Sep 14, 2025
- Article Date: 9/14/2025 by Jeff Pederson - Pedal Down Promotions