By Mike Barrett
"Thanks Dad" said Andrew Morrisey in Victory Lane Friday night at Golden Sands Speedway. Andrew's dad stayed up virtually all night putting a new engine in a car that led every single lap of a 100 lap feature with a field of cars unmatched by any in the state this weekend. The unassuming young Deforest driver held off the likes of Steve Holzhausen and Chris Wimmer to put his name on the trophy of a prestigious Wisconsin Challenge Series Feature win. Morrisey started outside pole with Travis Sauter to the inside and wasted no time getting past Sauter. Travis may have led lap 1, but that was about it, as Andrew made it past quickly and led Chris Wimmer around the 1/3 mile for a few laps. Wimmer edged inside more than a few times, never really gaining an advantage, and settled in behind Morissey. Sauter looked fast at first, but faded a bit, and soon Holzhausen was gaining, and passed Wimmer on lap 32. For the next 68 laps Morrisey had Holzhausen directly behind him, often looking to the outside, but never even gaining a foot of racetrack. With about 9 laps to go, Holzhausen made a dash to the outside lane, but Morrisey's car was too strong to pass, and Holzhausen settled in for the runner up spot. Wimmer fended of Sauter and former WCS champ Nathan Haseleu for 3rd, Haseleu finished 4th, and Chris Weinkauf backed up his fast qualifying time with a 5th place run. Even though there were no lead changes, the racing mid-pack was fantastic, as Skylar Holzhausen and Jeff Weinfurter took provisionals to make the field, Weinfurter picked up 13 spots and Skylar 11, both showing great moves in traffic. Mark Eswein also showed off his short track skills, picking off 5 very good drivers for 7th. The familiar #25 paint scheme memorializing Larry Detjens was resplendent on Mark Mackesy's car, who qualified 7th and finished 21st.
The Wisconsin Sport Trucks visited once again, and Jake Boldig put on quite a show, qualifying 1st and smoking past the field in about two laps from his starting position in the rear to put a spanking on the rest of the Feature drivers. Jeff Looker and Sam Haven seemed fast, but no one could match Boldig's speed, and they finished 2nd and third, respectively. John Roeser took the May-prepared car to 4th and Todd Kostichka finished 5th.
4 Cylinder Stock class racers supported the big night of WCS racing, and their feature race ended in Victory Lane with one of the lighter moments of the night when Kelly Sankey drove into the Winner's spot only to find out that Frank Calabrese had won by about 300 feet. Kelly asked Frank "where where you?" and Frank replied "way ahead of you!" Kelley amiably left the victory area after it was explained to him that Frank indeed had won by a straightaway, Sankey had no idea that he had one more car to pass for the win, and said he will pay better attention next time. 3rd went to Travis Lepak, 4th place was Tim Anderson, and Lucas Betro placed 5th.
The Vintage Racers once again brought an amazing field of decades old restored racing splendor, Heinen of MN just barely beating Chris Loberg of Marshfield for their Feature.
The Cruisers finally got to race after rain delays kept them off track recently, and the Cruiser Stock Team of Kalata & Mcintee won their race, while the Cruiser Mod duo of Spritka and Berg continued their domination of the class with another win.
Next week Golden Sands Speedway hosts the
Werner Electric Night with the Motorcycle Climb to New Heights Trial Riders Demo - McCain Employee Night (SLM, SS, PS, Cruisers, (4CM (Double Feature)
Look for racing results at www.gssraces.com and Mike Barrett's Monday racing blog on www.gorapids.com.
