Kendall tops Friday Night RAW!
Weinkauf and Bohmsach tag team champs!
By Amy Kolo

September 8, 2000; Plover, WI -  The 1st Annual Friday Night Raw Event at Golden Sands Speedway hosted a slew of drivers from all over the area. Local racers were nicked-named for the event. Some of the names included: Late Models, #29 Charlie “The Godfather” Schwoch, #77 Todd “ The Gun” Stapleman, and #27 Judd “Bam Bam” Brandl. Super Stock nicknames included: #24 Keith “The Roc” Bohmsach, #99 Jason “The Crusher” Kirsling, and #40 Shawn “The Sting” Stelzer. Fans had a hey day with the new names.

Prizes for the new Millennium!  In the left photo, The Millennium Safe was given away to a lucky fan, in addition to alot of cash some great prizes were in the safe. Shown here are track promoter-Craig Bassuener, Darrel Bassuener-track owner, Butch Hahn-safe winner, and Shela Bassuener-track owner.

Golden Sands Speedway also drew ten finalists for its Millennium Safe Giveaway. $100.00 had gone into the safe each week from Golden Sands, along with a prize from a local sponsor. $2,000.00 cash plus prizes totaling $2,000.00 where to be given away tonight. A huge congratulations goes out to Butch Hahn, the winner of the Millennium Safe. Fans also stayed after the feature event for a spectacular fireworks show. Golden Sands has received millions of comments on their fireworks show. Golden Sands hosts the best fireworks shows in the Central Wisconsin Area!

Tag Team champs! Jason Weinkauf (left) and Keith Bohmsach (right) received a bonus check from Craig Basseuner after winning the "Tag-Team" challenge.

The Friday Nite Raw featured “Tag Team Racing” which worked as follows: After the Super Stock feature, each driver then drew an envelope with a Late Model starting position. This would become the Super Stocks partner. The team who then finished with the least amount of points won the Tag Team bonus of $500.00. Points were award by finish, with one point being for first, two points for second, ect. If both partners won their feature events, they would then be awarded a $1,000.00 bonus. Hence starting the Battle Royal at Wisconsin’s # 1 Short Track.

Several first time appearances at Golden Sands Speedway this season included, Jeff Kendall, Tony Strupp, and Jerry Schneider. Each had a good deal of success. Strupp even took second in time, behind local driver, Mark Eswein.

Eswein, quick timer, opted to take the Hot n’ Now Ultimate Challenge which was $500.00 for this event.

The 75-lap feature event showed Kendall in the lead almost the entire distance. Even with Kendall in the lead, it appeared that Allen Check, Strupp, and Eswein had the fastest cars on the track. A caution flag came out right away by the second lap of the feature with Chris Wimmer and Joe Krzykowski.

At the start of the 75 lap Super Late Model headliner Jeremy Lepak (#40) and Jeff Kendall (#00) go wheel to wheel.   Kendall would jump into the lead and pace the entire distance taking the win.

Wimmer took the pits, as Krzykowski headed to the rear of the field. Kendall took the lead at the restart with local fast runner, Jeremy Lepak in the second position. Check, Weinkauf, and Strupp fought each other for top contentions. By lap 13, lapped traffic started coming into play. The leaders held onto their positions, as fast timer, Eswein started making his way up to the front of the field. Rookie driver, Judd Brandl also showed some very strong driving skills, as he stayed up within the top ten spots. Lepak started losing power and dropped back, giving the second spot to Check.

The fastest cars!  At different points during the Super Late Model feature, both Tony Strupp (#12) and Mark Eswein (#71) appeared to have the fastest car on the track.  Eswein was fast in the closing laps and claimed second place.  Strupp who moved up several sports during the mid-portion of the event recorded a fifth place finish.

Eswein had moved up around rookie driver, Brandl and looked at Weinkauf for his position. More and more lapped traffic started coming into play. The lapped traffic advanced Kendall in his lead, and mixed up the top ten. Eswein made his way around Weinkauf by lap 47, and started working on Strupp. Another causation came out by lap 52 between Krzykowski and The Gun Stapleman. The caution then tightened up the field, putting second place runner, Check, right on Kendall’s bumper, but Kendall moved on with the lead, as Check took a couple of laps to get his car up to speed. Eswein kept working on Strupp and finally passed him by the 60th lap.

A fast learner!  Jeff Kendall (#00) who made his first appearance at Golden Sands Speedway this year adapted quickly to the high banked third mile paved oval.  Kendall would jump from the pole to pace the entire 75 laps of the Super Late Model feature, fending off a late challenge by 2000 track champion Mark Eswein for the win.

Now it was Check in Eswein’s view. With a few maneuvering tactics, Eswein over powered Check by the 65th lap and tried to catch Kendall. Eswein wanted the win and the bonus money for the night, but Kendall had to many car lengths ahead of the pack. Weinkauf moved ahead and passed Strupp on the checkered. With a total of 75 laps and only two short cautions, Kendall raised the victor, with Eswein in second, Check in third, Weinkauf in fourth, and Strupp in fifth. Rookie driver, Judd Brandl finished sixth. Congratulations to all drivers on an excellent race.

The exclamation point on a fine season for Super Stock point champion Keith Bohmsach (#24) was a victory in feature race action this evening.

A couple of pure stock drivers joined the field for the Super Stock main event. Matt Pyburn, Jared Back and the 2000 Champion Brad Scholze all tested the water running with the Super Stocks. Pyburn who almost made the show by qualifying finished second in the Last Chance to advance to the main. Back won his heat race. Rumors talk of Pyburn and Scholze putting together Super Stocks for the 2001 season.

Jason “The Crusher” Kirsling took the fast time for the evening and opted to take the Letter Perfect Challenge, which was $150.00 for the evening.

A caution came out right away on the first lap of the 40-lap main event, sending Wes Coon out for the race and a couple of other drivers to the pits. At the restart Cary Lyons held onto the lead, with Alan Sankey and Randy Storlie right up front. The Super stock race saw Keith Bohmsach, Randy Storlie, and Kirsling continue their string of impressive runs for the season.

Keith Bohmsach sets up Mike Brooks (#22) for a pass on his way to victory in the Super Stock main event.  In addition to his win in this race, Bohmsach was teamed up with Jason Weinkauf in the Late Model division in the "Tag Team" challenge and both Bohmsach and Weinkauf won an additional $250 for their efforts.

Storlie ended up passing Lyons by the ninth lap with a caution coming out between Matt Raykowski, Jason Kirsling and Jim Cormack. With Kirsling already up close to the front of the pack, he now had to start in the rear of the field again. Storlie took the lead once again. Mike Doughty tried his best to get around Lyons for the lead, but lost some power and positions coming around the bend, this gave way to Bohmsach to finally get around and start trying to steal all the top positions. Kirsling putting on a heck of a show was quickly moving up the pack for the second time, passing cars left and right.

Cale Laessig (#01) who has proven to be a tough competitor when he appears at Golden Sands Speedway didn't fare to well this evening as he had an encounter with the wall during the Super Stock feature event.

Kirsling passed the most cars in the event by starting in the rear of the field for fast time, and then being sent to the back of the pack for being involved in a caution. With a little more than half way, Bohmsach was already in the second spot looking at taking the lead away from Storlie. With just twelve short laps to go, Bohmsach took the lead. Lapped traffic started coming into play, but kept out of the way of the top contenders. Kirsling showed up right in the front of the pack finishing fifth place. A very great run. Bohmsach took the win, with Storlie in second, Lyons in third, and Gary Wosick in fourth.

Things don't always go as planned! Charlie Schwock (#29) sits on the racetrack along with the cars of Steve Gress (#4) and Terry Korth (#17) after an incident during a Super Late Model preliminary event.

The tag-team bonus went to Jason Weinkauf and Keith Bohmsach. Congratulations to both drivers for an excellent show.

Don’t miss Golden Sands last event for the 2000 season, the Night of Devastation. Friday, September 15, 2000.

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