By: Kevin Ramsell and Paul Reichert
Another cloudy and cool day greeted the race fans on the final day of the 49th Oktoberfest Race Weekend. Rain in the morning tried to mess the day’s racing up, but thanks to the Air Titan and several dry hours we were able to get the entire program in. After an exciting Oktoberfest 200 on track, there was more excitement in post-race inspection. The top three were disqualified, giving Andrew Morrissey a long overdue Oktoberfest 200 win.
In the ARCA Midwest Tour season finale, both Ty Majeski and Johnny Sauter were the class of the field in the Oktoberfest 200. Both would swap the lead back and forth throughout much of the race. Majeski would get by Sauter with 44 laps to go and take the checkered flag. Goede was third with Morrissey in fourth and Paul Shafer Jr. rounding out the top five. After the race, in post-race inspection Majeski was disqualified by ARCA Midwest Tour tech officials for intake height. Sauter was disqualified for left side weight, and Goede failed inspection for an intake. Officials then inspected Morrissey and Shafer’s car, which both passed, and Morrissey was declared the official winner.
“I’m happy but I also feel bad for everybody that got tossed too, and I don’t know. This is my Daytona 500. This is pretty crazy, not the way I wanted to win but we will take it,” an emotional Morrissey said after officials declared him the winner. “I wasn’t sitting here hoping they each get DQ’d, I wouldn’t wish bad on anybody. I am just shocked more than anything I guess.”
Shafer was also surprised with official podium finish. “It’s pretty good huh,” Shafer said when he was asked about finishing second. “I will take it, it’s a lot easier to pass him here in the pits than it is on the track. I know our stuff wasn’t that good. It was tight on the track and we fought that all day. I couldn’t do it without my guys. They gave me a good legal piece, I can’t complain.” Jonathan Eilen officially finish third, Dalton Zehr was now scored in fourth and four-time Oktoberfest champion Travis Sauter rounded out the top five.
Zehr’s fourth place finish was enough to earn him the 2018 ARCA Midwest Tour championship, becoming the seventh different champion in the history of the Tour. The championship was a big accomplishment for Zehr and his team after repairing his car from an incident earlier in the weekend. “We wrecked in the Trickle race on Friday night where it tore the right side of the car off and wrecked the radiator,” Zehr said. “I have a great group of guys behind me to make it possible to be on the track the first thing the next morning. It has been a long weekend, but it paid off. It is pretty sweet.”
Iowa driver Brody Willett led the entire first segment of the JMcK 63. Willett would have to contend with the hard charging Jacob Goede and Steve Carlson throughout the race. Nick Egan would lead the first ten laps of the second segment. Wausau champ Brock Heinrich would get around Egan to take over the lead. Heinrich would eventually be caught and passed with five to go by Goede, who would claim the segment win. In the final segment, Carter Christenson would surge from his pole position to the lead. Carlson, Goede and Willett began to make their way through the field. Carlson was the first to catch Christenson for the lead just before halfway. Carlson would pull away from the field to score the final segment win. Goede finished second in the last segment, and he would claim the overall win in the JMck 63.
The Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series feature has been owned by Woody Poole for the past three years in a row. We thought he was calling it quits after last year’s victory. Poole returned to compete in the Vintage feature once again. Coming from mid-pack, Poole would charge to the front and run away with his fourth consecutive Vintage feature win.
Bill Prietzel is known as a successful driver in the Mid-American Stock Car Series. Now he is becoming successful in a modified. Prietzel used the outside groove to get around Kevin Seidler on lap five of the Modified feature. Dave Edwards would stick close to Prietzel for a few laps, but in the end Prietzel would drive away from the field and capture the checkered flag first.
Only one event remains on the 2018 schedule here at the LaCrosse Speedway. The final Street Drags event, the 300′ Bracket Nationals, takes place next Saturday October 13th. Gates open at 12:30, pracitce runs take place at 1:15, and the bracket racing starts at 2:00. Be sure to check out the Shine N Show contest, as well as the Burnout Contest.
For more information about LaCrosse Speedway or the 2018 schedule of events, please call the office at 608-786-1525 or visit lacrossespeedway.com. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
RESULTS
ARCA Midwest Tour: 1. Andrew Morrissey 200, 2. Paul Shafer Jr. 200, 3. Jonathan Eilen 200, 4. Dalton Zehr 200, 5. Travis Sauter 200, 6. Nick Murgic 200, 7. Nick Panitzke 200, 8. Dennis Prunty 200, 9. Michael Sauter 200, 10. Austin Nason 200, 11. Rich Bickle Jr. 200, 12. Casey Johnson 200, 13. Justin Mondeik 200, 14. Dan Fredrickson 199, 15.Jason Weinkauf 199, 16. Billy Mohn 198, 17. Erik Darnell 198, 18. Dillon Hammond 197, 19. Derek Kraus 197, 20. John Beale 197, 21 Jeff Holmgren Jr. 196., 22. Bubba Pollard 173, 23. Luke Fenhaus 132, 24. Chris Weinkauf 76, 25. Skylar Holzhausen 61, 26. Brent Kirchner 19, 27. John DeAngelis Jr. 4, 28. Ty Majeski DQ, 29. Johnny Sauter DQ, 30. Jacob Goede DQ
Big 8 JMcK 63
Segment #1: 1. Brody Willett, 2. Jacob Goede, 3. Steve Carlson
Segment #2: 1. Jacob Goede, 2. Brock Heinrich, 3. Steve Carlson
Segment #3: 1. Steve Carlson, 2. Jacob Goede, 3. Brody Willett
Overall: 1. Jacob Goede 5, 2. Steve Carlson 7, 3. Brody Willett 8, 4. John Baumeister Jr. 19, 5. Brock Heinrich 20, 6. Shane Morrissey 21, 7. Brian Back 26, 8. Carter Christenson 26, 9. Jason Stark 26, 10. Brent Edmunds 27, 11. Ryan Gutknecht 29, 12. Nick Egan 31, 13. Jon Reynolds Jr. 32, 14. Harley Jankowski 40, 15. Mark Greb 43
Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series
Feature: 1. Woody Poole, 2. Tom Reffner, 3. Billy Martin
Heat #1: 1. Justin Jessop, 2. Jim Olson, 3. Ralph Cottone
Heat #2: 1. Todd Korish, 2. Ken Lewis, 3., Tom Reffner
Modifieds
Feature: 1. Bill Prietzel, 2. Dave Edwards, 3. Rick Coppernoll, 4. Kevin Seidler, 5. Bill Tandetzke
Heat: 1. Bill Prietzel, 2. David Slack, 3. Bill Tandetzke