By: Kevin Ramsell
West Salem, WI – Ty Majeski tied Joe Shear by winning his fifth ASA Midwest Tour Oktoberfest 200 at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI.
Casey Johnson finished third to claim his fourth ASAMT championship.
Majeski got by Andrew Morrissey on lap 144 and pulled away to the checkered flag.
This is his fifth Oktoberfest victory in the last nine years after he picked up his first victory in 2016.
“I guess it just means I’m getting old,” Majeski said with a smile. “Been doing this a while, and been blessed to do this a long time with a lot of great people and a lot of great race cars, and these are results. So just thankful to be in the position. I get to drive great trucks and great race cars every time I hit the racetrack and it’s truly a blessing and very thankful.”
Morrissey finished second after leading a good portion of the race. He was hoping to end his Oktoberfest weekend with another big victory after winning the Dick Trickle 99 on Friday night.
“No, it was a good weekend,” Morrissey said. “Yeah, just got a little too tight. Every race here we get really loose in the race and just tighten it up too much. We thought we freed it up enough at the break, and just wasn't enough, just kept getting tight, and just needed a little more, and they (Majeski) were that much better.”
Johnson claimed his fourth title with his third-place finish. He came into the season finale only four points behind defending two-time champion Gabe Sommers.
Sommers struggled and finished ninth, allowing Johnson to win the title by eight points.
“So, the goal was to get into third, so I raced Ryan Farrell for the spot, actually, once I got to him, let me go, and I can’t thank him enough for that,” Johnson recalled. “And then I honestly think I could have paced with Andrew a little bit. I don’t know what Ty was turning, but today wasn’t one of those days where you race hard.”
Michael Hinde finished fourth, with Penn Sauter finishing fifth.
Sauter, who was the fast qualifier, took the “Ultimate Challenge” and was looking at a $40,000 bonus from starting in the rear and getting the victory, but came up four spots short. Ty Fredrickson, who was an early leader, had a scary crash on lap 131 as something broke in his car, sending him sailing hard into the turn three wall. He was able to walk away from the crash.
Majeski, who had a busy week traveling from the fest down to Charlotte to finish eighth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, then coming back to Oktoberfest, credited his team for his victory.
“One of our best tracks, and just it all goes back to those guys,” Majeski said in victory lane. “They work really hard on these things week in and week out while I'm living my dream racing in NASCAR, and it’s so much fun running with these guys that really made my career.”
A replay of tonight’s event can be found on tracktv.com
