Lepak and Kirsling score first victories of 2001 season at Golden Sands! By Amy Kolo

May 18, 2001; Plover, WI -  Ida's Tavern VIP Party brought a ton of new race fans out for a spectacular show. Congratulations to Casey Williams the Short Trax Jr. Fan Club Member of the Week and to Jenny Hansen winner of the River City Motors Kid's Gift Certificate. Wayne Glodowski got to try his luck in the Whirl-wind money machine for the "Fast Dash for Cash".

Not as many cars got to the low elevens this week. Almost all the cars in the dash had a time in the elevens. Greg Weinfurter screamed out fast time with an 11.902 and opted to take the Hot n' Now Ultimate Challenge which was up to $500.

Photo Highlights

Jeremy Lepak (#40) took the lead early in the Super Late Model main event and held on for his first feature win of the 2001 season. Greg Weinfurter (#13) cranked out a fast qualifying effort in the Super Late Model division, and later stormed to a third place finish in the feature event. Racin' Jason Kirsling (#99) found himself in the winner's circle after a solid performance. Keith Bohmsach (#24) earned fast qualifying honors and with a fifth place finish in the main event took over the point lead in the Super Stock division. Action was hot n' heavy at the start of the Super Stock dash.  Jim Cormack (#7) would go on to score the win. John Matthews (#98) had an outstanding evening in the Pure Stock division taking fast time honors and later finishing second in the main event.

Leroy Pettis took the early lead, but was soon overtaken by Jeremy Lepak. Lepak held on to the lead fending off Jeff Weinfurter and Todd Stapleman. Mark Eswein moved up to the top positions along with fast runner Scott Beyer. Jeff W. fell back as Stapleman and Eswein advanced positions. Eswein, Stapleman, and Jeff W. worked hard to get by Lepak but Lepak just had too much power. Eswein got around Stapleman for the second position right before the yellow came out sending tons of cars into the pits, for major and minor fixes.

Allen Check, Eugene Gregorich, Burton Brown, and Brandon Selle all needed some minor repairs. At the restart, Lepak held onto his lead with Eswein in second. Stapleman and Jeff W. were still in hot contention. Greg W. started maneuvering thru the pack, looking to take the Challenge monies home. Eswein didn't have enough power to get around a very fast Lepak. Greg W. started motoring fast and advanced up to the top positions quite quickly. By the fourth lap to go, Greg W. was already in the third position. If there were just a few more laps in the race Greg W., would have had a good chance getting around Lepak and Eswein for the win. With the four short laps to go, Lepak took the win, with Eswein in second and Greg W. in third.

Keith Bohmsach took the fast time this evening and opted to take the Mobil Link Super Stock Challenge, which was up to $250.

Merle Weinfurter, battling cancer, came out to race with the boys, after a short vacation. He took the lead early in the feature, but Randy Storlie stole it away. Weinfurter kept on it hard to stay in the top positions. Jim Cormack and Jason Kirsling maneuvered their way around Weinfurter; as Merle thought it best to take it a little easy. Storlie kept the lead, but Cormack and Kirsling were fighting hard to get by him. Kirsling managed to get around Cormack by lap 19. Mike Brooks started moving up looking for a top position. Bohmsach was stuck in the back behind slower traffic.

Just as in the Super Late Model feature, the fourth lap to go was the key for major position changes. Kirsling finally got around Storlie and took the lead. Brooks spun coming out of second and fell to the back of the pack on the white flag lap. Kirsling took the win, with Storlie in second, Cormack in third, and Sankey ended up taking the fourth position. Bohmsach finished fifth.

It was the Pure Stock's week to race. The Pure Stocks and the 4-Cylidners take turns racing week after week. John Matthews broke Jim Stratton's Pure Stock record with a 14.715. Craig Nigh, a former Cruiser racer started out in the lead, but Ryan Rossier, quickly passed him. Matt Small from Tomah, and John Matthews, both ended up passing Rossier.

Rossier gained his second position back from Matthews after two laps, but couldn't catch Small. Rossier got tangled in a collision with Hank Frasch with just three laps to go. Small held onto his lead, Matthews advanced into the second position, and Mark Flink moved into the third position. With lapped traffic and just two short laps to go, every one held onto their positions as they crossed the start/finish line.

The wild and crazy Cruisers showed up to race. There were roughly thirty-four cruiser cars that came out to race. Golden Sands divided everyone up into three races and let them go.

There were some great spin-outs that the driver were able to get out of and not even bring out a caution flag. The first race was won by Jack Szymkowiak and Rick Cizewski. The second race winners were John Van and Barry Drews. The third race winners were Jason and Peter Blenker in the "General Lee".

May 25th features WSPT/KROCK Night with 4-Cylinder racing.

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