5/11/2026
Golden Sands Speedway
John Beale victorious in the 59th Season Opener
John Beale victorious in the 59th Season Opener
Wisconsin Rapids, Wi, May 8th, 2026 - The rumble of Central Wisconsin's Power Playground came back to life after a long winter. With a full night of racing, 5 division took to the historic banked 1/3 mile. Super Late Models were the headlining division with Stone Innovations, Inc. Super Stocks, Zblewski Storage LLC 4-Cylinder Stocks and Chris' Towing, LLC 4-Cylinder Mods, and Front-Wheel Drive Sixers rounding out the night of excitement.
Super Late Models saw Rayce Haase edge the new-comer Jayde
n Johnson in a tight qualifying field. When the dust settled, 17 Super lates timed in for the season opener. Heat number 1 saw Frank Nitzke and Weston Marthaler set the pace, it was Nitzke that led most of the race with a last lap pass Mark Eswein was victorious in the heat. Heat two saw Wyatt Brooks and Jared DeBoer lead the field to green, early contact involving John Beale and Justin Mondeik saw Beale tapping out and taking the back of the field. The contact wasn't enough to dampen Mondeik's speed, half way through the heat saw Mondeik take the lead and he didnt look back taking the checkered flag in the second heat.
Feature time saw John Beale and Jayden Johnson bring the field to green after the qualifying re-draw. Beale took the lead on lap 41 and never looked back at the caution free race. Johnson hung on to second place, with Braisen Bennett, Rayce Haase and Jared DeBoer rounding out the top-five.
Stone Innovations, Inc. Super Stocks saw Adam Raykowski beat Rachel Kallas for fast time. Heat number 1 saw a familiar face, but in a different division victorious, Brian Plisch took heat number 1. Jason Stark wheeled his #48 machine to victory lane for heat number two. With the qualifying re-draw in the books Raykowski and Johnny Pyburn lead the field to green for 25 laps. Zach Blaes spun in the early laps brining out the pick-a-lane cone, with Stark taking the outside of Raykowski. A no-start caused the field to bunch up and try again, in the ensuing chaos, several cars sustained damage. Stark and Raykowski battled hard in the early laps, the hard battle saw Raykowski slide off the nose of Stark causing a spin, Stark took responsibility and took the tail of the field. Blenker and Raykowski brought the field to green, Brad Blenker jumped out to a large lead, a late race caution brought Raykowski and Stark door to door again. Another caution brought the cars to the green single-file, with Raykowski taking the checkered flag.
Chris' Towing, LLC 4-Cylinder mods had Tim Anderson edge Matt Berger by .034 for fast time. Heat #1 had a familiar face in victory lane Jim Lietz with his mustang. Heat #2 saw Matt Berger pass on the high side to drive his mustang to victory lane. Feature time saw Berger and Anderson pace the field. Berger put Anderson and the field in his rear view mirror and cruised to victory in the caution free feature.
Zblewski Storage LLC 4-Cylinder Stocks saw a new-comer Tyler Vincentich from Beloit beat the odds on favorite Eric Breitendfelt for the fast time honors. Heat #1 saw Justin Boykins edge Derek Zblewski out for the win. Heat #2 saw a familiar face make it to victory lane, Dawson Knutson bested Garret Strachota with a last lap pass for the win.
The Sixers saw a large surge in car count for the start of the 2026 season with 17 front-wheel drive sixers taking time. Jerry Bowen a familiar face at Golden Sands held of his good friend Jason Wanta for fast time honors. Heat #1 saw Ron McKibben and Rob Walloch bring the field to green, Pat Literski started deep in the field and sliced his way to the front to take home heat #1 victory. Heat #2 saw two familiar last names on the front row, Ghage Moore and Nick Wanta brought the field to green, with Ghage led the entire heat and took home the victory. The re-draw put Bowen and Jerryd Armagost on the front row for the big show, the big one happened early in the race and saw many cars spun in turn 4 facing the infield. The #90 of Curtis Hellickson took responsibility for the incident and took the rear of the field. The restart saw Jerry Bowen on the outside of Matt Moore, Literski experienced mechanical problems and had to pull off. Bowen and Ghage Moore kept pressure on Matt Moore, a spun car caused the front of the field to check up which brought the field to the tightest finish in GSS history, from 4th place Jason Wanta surged on the outside on the closing two laps to take the victory from Matt Moore by .010.
Golden Sands next event is this Friday May 15th with Pro-Late Models, Hobby Stocks, 4-Cylinder stocks and mods, and Warriors will be on hand. This will be the season opener for all divisions except the stocks and mods.
Don't miss any of the racing action, if your unable to attend Golden Sands in person, the track now streams races on gssraces.tv so you can get your racing fix!
Article Credit: Staff
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