2011 Golden Sands Speedway Points Champions

2011 Golden Sands Speedway Track Champion Brian Weinfurter

2011 Golden Sands Speedway Rookie of the Year Natalie Decker

 Manternach led every one of the remaining laps, Davis chasing him, with Brian Weinfurter capping his championship year in 3rd, ahead of Kyle Davis and John Zuch. Hinner’s fast time was his one bright spot on this otherwise tough night.

Weinfurter would have to have atrocious luck to lose that lead, but then again anything can happen. The close call was Mat Raykowski, leading every lap of the Super Stock feature, and having his rear end gears explode as he took the white flag nearly a straightaway ahead of 2nd place Brian Weinfurter. The resulting fluid made racing impossible, and Raykowski was declared the winner. Since the caution was a fluid/debris problem, Raykowski retains the lead and the win, his 2nd this year. Dean Zakrzewski capitalized on his 2nd fast time in a row, and finished 3rd, Chris Brooks and Galen Manternach were 4th and 5th.

His team struggled with handling early, but was adjusted to some good speed in the feature. Most recent feature winner Brian Weinfurter started 8th, and managed to work ahead of everyone but Hinner. Dean Zakrzewski and Matt Raykowski raced side by side many laps, watching Hinner fade off in the distance. They finished 3rd and 4th, while John Zuch posted 5th. Zakrzewski had fast time.

It looked like Team Decker was ganging up on the competition when Claire, Paige and Natalie Decker were all in the top 5. Unfortunately Natalie suffered from contact with lapped traffic and dropped from 4th to 14th on the final lap. Paige finished 6th, behind fast timer Ryan Hinner. 3rd place Matt Ciesielski is having a good year, and 4th runner Galen Manternach was fast all night.

Matt Raykowski took his outside front row start at Golden Sands Speedway and made it pay off with a Super Stock win Friday night. Mitch Lyden tried to keep pace, but his car slipped in a couple of turns and Matt took the early lead and looked like a runaway winner. Natalie Decker cleared traffic and chased Matt down, but could not mount a challenge, and she watched from a close 2nd as Raykowski took his 1st win of the year at Plover.

The green laps ticked off quickly as fast timer Ryan Hinner raced along with Brian Weinfurter from mid-pack, each driver finding the going tough, until Hinner found a way to 4th place ahead of Weinfurter. Matt Ciesielski stayed in the top 5 the whole race, and 3rd was his by the end. The class will race for the 2nd week in a row next week.

Brian Weinfurter became the first repeat winner in the Super Stock class tonight, bolting past Dwayne Davis to speed away in the feature event. An earlier heat race incident damaged Weinfurter’s car, but both he and Matt Raykowski brought their machines back and raced in the main event.  Scott Hamel and Matt Raykowski struggled, but maintained 4th and 5th to garner needed points well into the year.

Ryan Hinner restarted last on lap 4 because of a caution caused when Natalie Decker piled into the rear of Hinner’s car, sending them both to the back. Ryan sliced through the field and made it to 3rd at the final lap, following Matt Ciesielski who was very close to Weinfurter’s rear quarter when the checkers flew.

Duwayne Davis began pole, but fell to the charging Weinfurter by lap 5, and was 5th by lap 10. Conversely, Ryan hinner starter 6th, backed up a bit in traffic, but quickly passed cars to appear in 3rd by lap 15. Weinfurter’s fast moves up front got him a big lead, and he held it to post a feature win a car length ahead of a surging Hinner. Matt Ciesielski motored around to 3rd, just ahead of Davis hanging on to 4th. Raykowski and Davis heated up the action at the end, with the top qualifier Raykowski rounding out the top 5.