WCS Memorial 100 (May 31st)
Chris Weinkauf served notice Memorial Day when he won the Wisconsin Challenge Series (WCS) 100 lap event by a big margin at Golden Sands Speedway. Chris posted fast time over a field of cars that included Steve Holzhausen and Jeremy Lepak, who raced closely for over 50 laps behind Weinkauf for 2nd and 3rd. Only 1 caution marred the race, when Eugene Gregorich and Jeff Weinfurter both spun early. Weinkauf started 11th and wasted no time getting to the front, leading after the 25th lap. Holzhausen's usual steady march to the front brought Lepak with him, and the two looked to be the only others capable of matching Weinkauf's speed. The Checkered lap saw Weinkauf clearing lapped traffic, leading by about a dozen car lengths, Holzhausen and Lepak nose to tail. Bryan Reffner and new standout Skylar Holzhausen maintained top 5 positions all race long to finish 4th and 5th. The race was a family affair, with Father and son Steve and Skylar finishing in the top 5, and Bryan Reffner and his nephew Colin also competing in the feature.
Wisconsin Sport trucks visited the Plover 1/3 mile, and Sam Haven seemed to have the field covered when he put up fast time, and easily won the heat, but Jeff Looker blasted out early, and held off Todd Kostichka for the win, relegating Haven to 3rd.
The 4 Cylinder classes thrilled the crowd with 3 wide passing, and Dan Broton capitalized on a front row start and a big lead to win his 1st feature of the year in the Stock class. Fast timer Keven Burris made it through the tough pack for 2nd, Adam Skibicki made it again to the top 3. Lucas Betro and Travis Lepak completed the top 5.
The Mod class saw Phil Malouf post fast time, and the Manitowish Waters racer pulled off the sweep with a heat and feature win. Brad Conant and Adam Eckes scramble through the field, for 2nd and 3rd, and Scott Scholze fought off Austin Mckeever for the 4th place spot.
Vintage racers arrived with various nifty cars, and Cliff Scheinoha's #74 coupe was a hot rod, easily out-qualifying and winning the night.
John Brown (John Boy) visited from the TV show Madhouse, and took a shot at breaking the track record, to no avail, but posted the only 11 second laps of the day. He entertained the crowd with a good-hearted start in the vintage race, amazingly lapping the field during the 10 lap event.
The cruisers raced a wild and woolly feature, and Berg and Berg continued their dominance, followed by Weelock and Helbach, and Ciesielski and Rodriguez.
Friday Night (May 28th)
Memorial Day weekend begins with a Friday of racing at Golden Sands Speedway. 4 Classes of racers came, the Pure Stocks represented by the most (26) followed closely by a great field of 22 4 Cylinder Mod entrants. The feature events began with the Super Stock group led by Duwayne Davis and Kyle Andrich. Andrich gamely tried to hold station in the outside lane, but the inner groove was a bit better today, and John Zuch, Roger Peterson and Brian Weinfurter quickly made their way forward using that lane. Andrich dragged a couple of drivers toward the back, stuck on the outside while others went to the front. Dean Zakrzewski and Scott Hamel had to avoid near 3-wide racing to reset themselves close to the top 10, while fast qualifier Colin Reffner and last week's feature winner Kyle Davis struggled to clear traffic. By lap 9 Weinfurter led the way, with Zuch a distant 2nd. Reffner seemed the best in the pack, picking off about 1 car per lap. Weinfurter cruised past lapped cars and maintained his lead while the #87 of Reffner and the #19 of Zakrzewski used every trick to get past others to get to the front 5. By lap 20 Reffner was 3rd, and passed Zuch for 2nd the next lap. Zakrzewski wound up 5th. Weinfurter's advance to the front past 6 cars was only bested by Reffner's passing of 7, although Zakrzewski probably passed 7 or 8 to get back up to 5th. Zuch's 3rd and Duwayne Davis' 2nd place were also well-driven, promising some great Super Stock shows at the Power Playground.
Pure Stockers came literally by the dozens to Golden Sands, and Kyle Gennett again blasted off an untouchably fast time and then rolled the dice for a 1 to start toward the front, to the dismay of most other racers. Cale Marzofka squirts out front at the start, but is quickly reeled in by Eric Bucholz and Mark Kalata. Kalata and Marzofka tangled in turn 3, sending both to the back, and Bucholz led Richard Dunn across for the restart. While Dunn lost spots to faster cars, Gennett, Jeff Gruber and Jake Capek put on a show of racing, while Hunter Cramer looked very solid mid-pack. By lap 13 of 20 Gennett was alongside Bucholz, and the pair split lapped traffic for a thrilling lap 15 pass for the lead. Bucholz tried hard to keep Gennett behind him, but Gennett kept the #16 stuck on the outside (as usual) and Bucholz inexplicably slowed and stopped in the infield on lap 18. Obvious mechanical problems tarnished an otherwise great start for Bucholz. Gennett cruised to an easy win from there, leading Jake Capek, Hunter Cramer, Ben Capek and Brent Weiland across the line.
4 Cylinders are poised to rival the Pure Stocks as the biggest class at Golden Sands, and the Stock class put on a fine battle, beginning with an early quick pass for the lead by Adam Skibicki. Josh Klopotek almost drove off the track early, trying to get past slower cars, but kept it off the fence. Kevin Burris simply put his car where the others weren't to get quickly to the lead just ahead of Lucas Betro. Burris drove like lapped traffic was not even there, and made it through in a thrilling way, restarting after a lap 12 caution packed the field back up. The last three laps had 2 lead changes, as Skibicki bumped past Burris and Burris re-took the lead on lap 14. Each used up the other just enough to get by, and Burris simply made his bump count by making the checkered lap his own. Kelley Sankey drove a heck of a race to finish 3rd, and Lucas Betro and Joachim Mangen were top 5 finishers in close racing.
The 4 Cylinder Mod class had the worst start of the night, but all drivers made it without major damage, although Scott Scholze and others were deep in the back by the time the dust cleared. Brad Conant and Adam Eckes peeled out front, leading a group the soon had fast-timer Phil Malouf in 3rd. The distance was too great for the very fast Malouf to make up in the few laps he had, but his third place finish was decent, leading Cole Yach and Dale Louze across for 4th and 5th.
Mini Van Mamas Melissa Linzmeier, Nikki Coulhurst and Bethany Carlton drove single-lap eliminations in their daily drivers, and Bethany out-drove the other ladies to take 1st.
