Local teen has strong showing at Daytona Bike Week

Daytona Bike Week was a great way for Matthew Guenther to start his 2016 racing season.

The a 16-year-old sophomore at Triad High School made three podium appearances at the five-day amateur racing event, which was held March 4-8 at three tracks in two Southern states.

The event started with an All Star Race, then it was four days of flat track racing — three days of half-mile races and two days of short-track races. The tracks were Oglethorpe Speedway in Savannah, Ga., AMA Flat Track in Daytona, Fla., and Volusia Speedway in De Leon Springs, Fla.

The event started with a half-mile race on March 4 at Oglethorpe Speedway. It was a rough start for Guenther, who has been racing since age 7; it was the first time in his racing career he did not make the main event.

With that race behind him, he went on to finish third on the Daytona Flat Track for 201-250 class, and he secured two more podiums on the Volusia Speedway Flat Track — second place for the 201-250 class and a third-place finish for the 250 Modified class.

At the end, Guenther secured overall placements in both his racing classes. In the 201-250 class, he finished third overall, and in the 250 Modified class, he finished fourth. These results were combined totals from each race for the five days.

Prior to the series, Guenther had the opportunity, on March, 3 to attend Ride Academy. The training took place at Oglethorpe Speedway, and the training was taught by professional/expert riders that included Kenny Coolbeth, Brad Baker, Jared Mees, Mike Hacker, Ryan Wells, Cody Johncox, and Tristan Avery. This training teaches riders how to go faster, with focus on body position, steering and control. The training helped Guenther prior to racing the half-miles during the series of racing.

Daytona Bike Week is the latest in a long list of competitive racing for Guenther. He began racing TT with District 18. Since then, he has competed in District 17 and 18 races, Steve Nace Amateur Series and All Star Series, Amateur Nationals and Winter Indoors.

Guenther is the son of Jill and Keith Singleton of St. Jacob, and Matt Guenther and Shelli Groshans of Collinsville. He has many area sponsors, who he would like to thank for their support.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Local teen has strong showing at Daytona Bike Week."