By: Paul Reichert
October 9, 2020
So far we have been blessed with ‘chamber of commerce’ weather at the 51st Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the La Crosse Speedway. The weather for day two felt like we were experiencing a summer Saturday night in West Salem. Another great crowd saw some great racing action not just from our local drivers, but the visitng drivers from across Wisconsin and the Midwest. We witnessed three first time segment winners in the Dick Trickle 99, but it would be veteran Dan Fredrickson capturing his fourth overall title. Steve Carlson and Nick Panitzke claimed the two final La Crosse Late Model features of the season while Nick Murgic locked up the season championship.
In the first segment of the Dick Trickle 99, Andrew Morrissey (DeForest, WI) was hounded for much of the race by Ty Majeski (Seymour, WI). A late race yellow with three laps to go bunched the field up. Morrissey drove away from Majeski on the restart and captured the win in the opening 33 laps. Chad Butz (Suamico, WI) showed the way to start the second 33 lap segment. Multi-time Trickle 99 winner Dan Fredrickson (Lakeville, MN) got around Paul Shafer, Jr. (Portage, IN) for second just past haflway. By that time Butz had pulled out to a quarter of a lap lead as he dominated the second segment and scored the win. Bryan Syer-Keske (Lakeville, MN) took the lead at the start of the final segment. Ryan Farrell (Big Bend, WI) caught Syer-Keske 12 laps into the race. Farrell tried several times to look inside, but could not complete the pass. The two made contact in turn four coming to halfway and it sent Farrell back to sixth. Casey Johnson (Edgerton, WI) dove under Syer-Keske in turn three with eight laps to go to take over the top spot. Andrew Morrissey tried to make a last lap lung at the win, but Johnson held on to win the final segment. As for the overall win, Dan Fredickson notched his fourth overall title by just one point ahead of Skylar Holzhausen.
Steve Carlson (West Salem, WI) outdueled son Mike to take the lead a lap into the first 20 lap LaCrosse Late Model Oktoberfest feature. After a brief caution period on lap four, Jacob Goede (Carver, MN) dove under Adam Degenhardt (Coon Valley, WI) to surge into third. Goede would catch up to Mike Carlson (West Salem, WI) and went low on him to settle into second on lap seven. Goede was slowly reeling in Steve Carlson over the next several laps. They were able to maneuver their way through the lap traffic. Once they cleared that lap traffic, Goede was not able to made any further dents in Carlson’s advantage. Carlson went unchallenged the rest of the way to capture the victory in the first feature. After the race, Carlson said “It has been a bit of a struggle for us during Oktoberfest, but we are not going to stop trying to win every time out.”
In the second 20 lap Oktoberfest LaCrosse Late Model feature, Devin Schmidt (Belle Plaine, MN) surged past Billy Mohn (Elko, MN) to take the early race lead. As Schmidt began to build up his advantage, two time track champ Nick Panitzke (Lonsdale, MN) made his presence known. Panitzke got around Mohn to move into second on lap seven. Over the next several laps, Panitzke began to slowly eat away at the lead that Schmidt had built up. With eight laps to go, Panitzke was right on the back bumper of Schmidt searching for a way around him. Panitzke dove to the inside of Schmidt entering turn one with four laps to go to capture his second checkered flag in as many days. After the race, Panitzke said “I am so proud of what my team accomplished in two days of racing with t he Late Models here at La Crosse.” Nick Murgic finished seventh but had already locked up the 2020 NASCAR Late Model championship. Thanks to finishing third in the last feature, Jacob Goede captured the ‘Festmaster’ championship for the best overall showing in the four features over the past two days.
In the Area Sportsmen feature, Sam Niles (Holmen, WI) held a comfortable lead over Adam Wiebusch (Shakopee, MN). With ten laps to go, Niles suddenly slowed down the back straight with a mechanical issue and Wiebusch was now in command of the race. A couple caution periods late in the going bunched up the field. Ron Vandermier, Jr. (Sheridan, IL) drove around Wiebusch with four laps to go and pulled away down the stretch to claim another win to add to his many Mid-American Stock Car Series wins.
Racing at the 51st Oktoberfest Race Weekend continues on Saturday, October 10 with ‘Championship Saturday’. The Big 8 Late Model Series, the Mid-American Stock Car Series and the Midwest Dash Series will all run their final races of the season and decide their 2020 season champions. The Midwest Truck Series moves from Friday to Saturday with special guest Joey Gase joining the regular truckers for his first ever time behind the wheel of a race truck. The ARCA Midwest Tour will run their preliminary events to set up the field for their big feature event on Sunday. Gates open at 2:15, qualifying begins at 2:25 and the first green flag flies at 5:00.
For more information about the LaCrosse Speedway, please call the office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com. For the latest news, information and updates on the 51st Oktoberfest Race Weekend, be sure to check out oktoberfestraceweekend.com. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
Dick Trickle 99
Overall: 1. Dan Fredrickson (11), 2. Skylar Holzhausen (12), 3. Andrew Morrissey (13), 4. Casey Johnson (14), 5. Rich Bickle, Jr. (22), 6. Chad Butz (23), 7. Dalton Zehr (25), 8. Ty Majeski (i29), 9. Paul Shafer, Jr. (30), 10. Billy Mohn (32), 11. Austin Nason (32), 12. John DeAngelis, Jr. (35), 13. Justin Mondeik (35), 14. Jeff Storm (38), 15. Bryan Syer-Keske (41), 16. Ryan Farrell (41), 17. Jacob Goede (51), 18. Jonathan Eilen (51), 19. Derek Kraus (54), 20. Nick Murgic (57), 21. Dillon Hammond (73), 22. Gabe Sommers (87), 23. Bobby Kendall (91), 24. Jacob Nottestad (116)
Stubby: 1. Jason Weinkauf, 2. Michael Ostdiek, 3. Tim Springstroh, 4. Andy Monday, 5. Nick Barstad, 6. Jerry Mueller, 7. Matt Henderson, 8. Brock Heinrich, 9. Brady Bill, 10. Jesse Pokszyk, 11. Alex Stumpf, 12. R.J. Braun, 13. Dean LaPointe C-Feature: 1. Barstad, 2. LaPointe, 3. Heinrich, 4. Henderson, 5. Stumpf, 6. Braun, 7. Brad Tilton, 8. Brett Yackey, 9. Gregory Borchardt, 10. Harley Jankowski, 11. Nick Roehl
Last Chance Race #1: 1. DeAngelis, Jr., 2. Goede, 3. Mohn, 4. Mueller, 5. Monday, 6. Weinkauf, 7. Henderson, 8. Valento, 9. LaPointe, 10. Jankowski
Last Chance Race #2: 1. Nason, 2. Kraus, 3. Kendall, 4. Cornelius, 5. Springstroh, 6. Stumpf, 7. Braun, 8. Tilton, 9. Roehl
Last Chance Race #3: 1. Murgic, 2. Farrell, 3. Pokszyk, 4. Ostdiek, 5. Bill, 6. Barstad, 7. Heinrich, 8. Yackey, 9. Borchardt
Qualifying: 1. Holzhausen, 2. Morrissey, 3. Majeski, 4. Hammond, 5. Zehr, 6. Bickle, Jr., 7. Johnson, 8. Mondeik, 9. Storm, 10. Butz, 11., Sommers, 12. Eilen, 13. Shafer, Jr., 14. Frederickson, 15. Syer-Keske, 16. Goede, 17. Kendall, 18. Farrell, 19. Mohn, 20. Kraus, 21. Murgic, 22. DeAngelis, Jr., 23. Mason, 24. Pokszyk, 25. Mueller, 26. Nottestad, 27. Bill, 28. Monday, 29. Cornelius, 30. Ostdiek, 31. J. Weinkauf, 32. Springstroh, 33. Heinrich, 34. Henderson, 35. Braun, 36. Yackey, 37. Valento, 38. Stumpf, 39. Barstad, 40. LaPointe, 41. Tilton, 42. Borchardt, 43. Jankowski, 44. Roehl
Kwik Trip LaCrosse Late Models
Feature #1: 1. Steve Carlson, 2. Jacob Goede, 3. Nick Murgic, 4. Mike Carlson, 5. Adam Degenhardt, 6. Dean Cornelius, 7. Jerimy Wagner, 8. Nick Panitzke, 9. Ty Majeski, 10. Tony Leis, 11. Billy Mohn, 12. Devin Schmidt, 13. Brent Kirchner, 14. Nick Clements, 15. Steve Bachman, 16. Chris Marek, 17. Don Turner, 18. Michael Beamish, 19. Michael Haggar, 20. Steve Schultz, 21. Carter Christenson, 22. Jeff Partington, 23. Justin Mullikin, 24. Adam Oxborough, 25. Shaun Scheel, 26. Pete Carlson, 27. Ken Donais, 28. Ryan Kamish, 29. Grant Brown, 30. Stephen Scheel
Feature #2: 1. Panitzke, 2. Schmidt, 3. Goede, 4. Mohn, 5. Cornelius, 6. M. Carlson, 7. Murgic, 8. S. Carlson, 9. Kirchner, 10. Degenhardt, 11. Wagner, 12. Clements, 13. Marek, 14. Beamish, 15. Turner, 16. Haggar, 17. S. Schultz, 18. Mullikin, 19. G. Brown, 20. Christenson, 21. P. Carlson, 22. Bachman, 23. Partington, 24. Donais, 25. Sh. Scheel, 26. Leis, 27. Majeski, 28. St. Scheel, 29. Oxborough
Festmaster: 1. Goede (16), 2. Murgic (18), 3. M. Carlson (22), 4. Cornelius (23), 5. S. Carlson (25), 6. Schmidt (27), 7. Panitzke (28), 8. Mohn (29), 9. Wagner (33), 10. Degenhardt (38), 11. Clements (38), 12. KIrchner (50), 13. Leis (51), 14. Marek (61), 15. Turner (64), 16. Beamish (65), 17. Bachman (65), 18. Majeski (65), 19. Haggar (76), 20. Christenson (79), 21. S. Schultz (81), 22. P. Carlson (90), 23. Mullikin (92), 24. Oxborough (95), 25. Donais (97), 26. Partington (98)
B-Feature: 1. St. Scheel, 2. G. Brown, 3. Sh. Scheel, 4. Kamish, 5. P. Carlson, 6. Cole Thomas, 7. Chris Skrede, 8. Jonathan Eckelberg, 9. Adam Bendzick, 10. Ken Donais, 11. Tom Farra, 12. Rob Christen, 13. Billy Baumeister, 14. Andrew Schultz, 15. Jeff Sarver, 16. Jes Tenner, 17. Griffith McGrath
Area Sportsmen
Feature: 1. Ron Vandermier, Jr., 2. Adam Wiebusch, 3. Jason Thoma, 4. Scott Luck, 5. Jeff Thompson, 6. Tyler Sauter, 7. Dillon Sellner, 8. Dusty Mann, 9. Dale Lecus, Jr., 10. Bryce Blohm, 11. Taylor Dawson, 12. Chris Weber, 13. Johnny Robinson II, 14. Titus Helgistad, 15. Trevor Robinson, 16. Justin Berg, 17. Bob Fort, 18. Mark Challet, 19. Jack Litshiem, 20. Bill Schott, 21. Henry Vian, 22. Riley Zillmer, 23. Sam Niles, 24. Andrew Meyerhofer
B-Feature: 1. Dawson, 2. B. Schott, 3. Berg, 4. Meyerhofer, 5. Mark Challet, 6. Zillmer, 7. David Satorius, 8. Denny Schott, 9. Rob Curran, 10. Destiny Bullard
Odd Dash: 1. Niles, 2. LItshiem, 3. Helgistad, 4. T. Robinson, 5. Thompson, 6. Vandermier, Jr., 7. WeberEven Dash: 1. Sauter, 2. Sellner, 3. Luck, 4. Blohm, 5. Thoma, 6. Wiebusch, 7. Vian
Odd Qualifying Heat: 1. Fort, 2. J. Robinson II, 3. Meyerhofer, 4. B. Schott, 5. Zillmer, 6. Curran, 7. D. Schott
Even Qualifying Heat: 1. Mann, 2. Lecus, Jr., 3. Dawson, 4. Berg, 5. Challet, 6. Satorius, 7. Bullard
Qualifying: 1. Weber, 2. Luck, 3. Helgistad, 4. Sellner, 5. Thompson, 6. Thoma, 7. Litshiem, 8. Sauter, 9. Vandermier, Jr., 10. Wiebusch, 11. Niles, 12. Blohm, 13. T. Robinson, 14. Vian, 15. Fort, 16. Dawson, 17. J. Robinson II, 18. Lecus, Jr., 19. Meyerhofer, 20. Berg, 21. B. Schott, 22. Challet, 23. Zillmer, 24. Satorius, 25. D. Schott, 26. Bullard, 27. Hemmersbach, 28. Mann (DQ)