By Mike Barrett
"Lets Make a Deal" night at Golden Sands Speedway turned into "what can go wrong next" night, but the racing in 5 divisions was excellent throughout. Despite losing track lighting, a rollover, a mystery leaking Late Model, and other glitches, the Plover third-mile hosted a great crowd and a full pits of racers Friday night. Late Model Merril racer Chris Weinkauf again posted fast time, and started close enough to the front (7th) to see a great battle between his younger brother Jason and Mark Van as they went at it side by side for the first dozen laps. By the 13th lap Jason was leading by a nose, and cleared Van by the 15th lap. The halfway point was when it got interesting. Chris Weinkauf dispatched 5 other cars, and drove up to Jason to contend for the lead. Some really fast cars like Jeff Weinfurter and Jim Sauter Jr. literally moved other racers out of the way from time to time on their march to the front, as Jason and Chris showed the crowd some of the Midwest's best racing talent as they went lap after lap side by side. Lap 25 the weird stuff started to happen. On a restart Jeff Weinfurter and Sauter got together, with Sauter spinning. Since they had not run a lap as yet, all drivers restarted in their spots. The next attempt at a start saw Mark Mackesy get sideways and then hit hard by Mark Van, severely damaging both cars. Reports that a car was leaking was met by usual skepticism, attributed to mid-pack racers who wanted a caution. Finally, after track workers inspected most of the front runners, it was discovered that Dave Neitzke had a crack in his oil cooler. It took some time to clean the track, and the restart came with Jason Weinkauf leading Chris, Sauter, and Jeff Weinfurter. Then on lap 33 Frank Nitzke spun in turn 2 after getting forced into the higher groove. On the very same lap, a moment after the caution flew for Nitzke's spin, Sauter's sway bar broke, causing a flat tire and sending him into the dirt runoff of turn 4. As the caution flew, Weinfurter suffered a flat, and Sauter and Weinfurter's crews changed tires, and they raced back out just in time for the restart. Sauter's handling left him in the back, just behind Weinfurter. Jason Weinkauf still led, with Chris and Brandon Selle running strong in 3rd. Lap 38 Chris Weinkauf moved alongside and completed the pass on Jason while the white flag flew, leading the final lap to make it older brother 1, younger brother 2. Jason agreed that this second place run was "about as good as a win" behind his brother Chris. 20 cars started the feature, and the top 5 was filled out by Selle, Monte Gress, and Dorchester's Mike Olson in one of his best runs so far. The win for Chris Weinkauf was sweetened by the attendance of many of his Blenker Building Systems sponsor's employees in the Coca Cola Pavilion tonight.
The features started with the Super Stocks 14 cars strong. Roger Peterson and Duwayne Davis on the front row, and Peterson wasted no time taking the lead. By lap 5 Brian Weinfurter had caught Peterson, when Kyle Andrich and Kyle Davis brought out a yellow. 5 laps later Weinfurter had passed Peterson, and was being reeled in by Colin Reffner. Weinfurter used the advantage of the lead to reduce Reffner's chance at a pass, never allowing the younger racer a shot at getting alongside. Weinfurter led the final 20 laps, followed by Reffner, Peterson, Ryan Hinner and Dean Zakrzewski. Reffner's fast time kept him in the points lead, but it is quickly becoming a 2 car contest between Reffner and Weinfurter.
Pure Stockers made it an 18 car field after Brandon Fraaza and Max Goska ran 1st and 2nd in the B Main to race their way in. Jeffrey Gruber and Jake Capek started front row, and Capek soon outran Gruber, bringing Ben Capek with him. A quick caution on lap 4 when Hunter Cramer and Caleb Marzofka tangled reset the field, and Kyle Gennett took advantage to race his way up to Capek, with Ben Capek trying to fend off Jeff Nowak, who was visiting the track for his first time this year. Nowak got almost turned around by someone but saved it, and fought back to a 4th place finish as a "phantom car"; not scored because of rules differences. The official top 5 were Jake Capek, Kyle Gennett, Eric Buchholz, Michael Gwidt an a borrowed car from Mike Kasperek, and Ben Capek. Kyle Gennett's fast time almost earned him a sweep as he won the heat but finished 2nd in the feature.
4 Cylinder Stock racers are coming in large groups, and 21 took the green led by Kelly Sankey and Josh Klopotek. Sankey had a problem, and fell back quickly while Josh Klopotek and Adam Skibicki Rolled past to the front. Lap 1 was very exciting for Lucas Betro, who borrowed a Saturn race car from Golden Sands so he could race, only to get rolled over in turn 4. Betro exited the car with a bow, and a flourish, and the crowd cheered after seeing the young racer safely get out of the upside down car. Skibicki bolted after the restart, leading by a good bit until Kevin Burris got his fast qualifying car through the pack. Burris chased down Skibicki and led by lap 10, and kept Kyle Gennet behind him to win another feature.
The repeats continued when Adam Eckes notched fast time and the feature, beating Phil Malouf to the line. Scott Hoeft in his first visit was third, Scott Scholze 4th and Austin McKeever 5th . The 4 Cylinder Mods raced well early on, with great passing by drivers Dale Robinson, Eckes, Hoeft, Brandon Bender and Brad Conant. Phil Malouf's decent runs are keeping him in the points lead, but Eckes is gaining.
Cruisers roared into the night time when 20 cars took the green, and when the sheet metal stopped flying there was finally new names at the front. Kalata and McIntee won, leading Wheelock and Helbach across the line, Berg and Berg settling for 3rd.
Rollovers and freaky restarts, mystery leaks and costumes for the "Let's Make Deal" intermission merely continued the theme of "anything can happen" tonight. Fans will long be talking about the night the lights went out at Plover. Trackside lighting went dark a few laps into the Pure Stock Feature, and every driver did a fantastic job maintaining their line and speed, avoiding disaster. They were parked on track until the lights went back on, and racing continued after what I used to fondly call "the beer break".
