By: Paul Reichert
October 5, 2025
It was not typical October weather for the 56th edition of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the LaCrosse Speedway, but the teams and race fans certainly were not complaining about the first rain-free Oktoberfest in about five years. The racing action on track was even hotter than the ‘Indian Summer’ weather we experienced all four days of competition. From the first green flag laps of racing on Thursday night until the final checkered flag on Sunday, the fans could not take their eyes off of the exciting and compelling racing action that the many divisions running put on. The major storylines entering the big 200 lap finale for the ASA Midwest Tour were the $40,000 Ultimate Challenge bonus on the line for Penn Sauter, and Andrew Morrissey looking to join a select few to win the Dick Trickle 99 and an Oktoberfest title in the same year. After those thrilling and competitive 200 laps, it would be Ty Majeski making history with Oktoberfest title number five to match the record set by the great Joe Shear.
The 200 lap Oktoberfest championship main event for the ASA Midwest Tour began with Ty Fredrickson (Northfield, MN) surging by Jeff Storm (Burlington, WI) to settle into the lead position in the early laps. Joe Valento (Scandia, MN) was fighting mechanical gremlins that slowed his car and brought out the yellow just four laps into the race. Fredrickson went right back to the lead on the restart, while Andrew Morrissey (DeForest, WI) powered around Storm to take over second. The best battle on the race track early on was between Ryan Farrell (Big Bend, WI) and Levon VanderGeest (Merrill, WI) for sixth which would go to Farrell. Casey Johnson (Edgerton, WI) tried to battle with VanderGeest over seventh with a championship on the line, but slipped up in turn two and fell back in front of his title rival Gabe Sommers (Plover, WI). Starting dead last with the $40,000 Ultimate Challenge bonus waiting for him if he won, Penn Sauter (DeForest, WI) cracked the top 15 just 28 laps into the big show. Lapped traffic was helping Fredrickson stretch out his lead over Morrissey as the drivers fighting for a championship had some work to do. Johnson was up to seventh place, while Sommers was struggling back in 11th place when the caution flew on lap 45. Braison Bennett (Larsen, WI) made contact with the turn two wall that forced him to stop on track. Morrissey stuck his nose under Fredrickson in turn one on the restart, and came out of turn two with the lead on lap 52. Strom had his hands full fighting off the likes of Johnson, Farrell and Michael Hinde (Hernando, FL) in a hotly contested fight over fourth. Sauter would make his way into the top ten by lap 56, but there was much racing left to do in his quest for that $40,000 bonus. Fredrickson began to reel back in Morrissey and try to make the battle for the lead the best fight on the race track. That battle for fourth got even tighter as Sauter took eight over from Sommers on lap 68 and saw that four-car fight get larger in his windshield. Things got a bit spread out with that battle as Storm kept a tight hold on fourth, but a fast closing Johnson would make quick work of ‘Stormy’ to take over fourth on lap 74. Sauter’s efforts to move forward were stymied by lapped traffic and the battle for sixth between Hinde and Farrell. Once Farrell finally charged by Hinde for sixth on lap 82, Sauter quickly got by Hinde to settle into seventh a lap later. Fredrickson closed back up on Morrissey and charged by the two-time Oktoberfest winner to settle back into the top spot on lap 85. Stormy began to fall back as he struggled to keep up with the torrid pace as Sauter found himself on the doorstep of the top five on lap 88. Ty Majeski (Seymour, WI) began to close the gap with Morrissey to challenge for second as the crossed flags were displayed. As the halfway competition caution was flown, Fredrickson held the lead with Morrissey still maintaining second over Majeski.
As the 200 lap ASA Midwest Tour season finale returned to action, Morrissey was shot out of a cannon to settle back into the number one spot. Sauter gave Johnson a shot to his rear bumper in his efforts to make it into the top five. Fredrickson and Majeski both worked together to catch back up to Morrissey, but neither could find a way to get around the black 39 machine. Morrissey began to open up a slight advantage over his closest pursuers, but Majeski worked the outside lane perfectly as he wrestled second away from Fredrickson on lap 126. While Majeski was battling hard with Morrissey over the lead, Sauter was struggling to hold onto sixth place with Hinde on his tail. Suddenly a part broke on Fredrickson’s car that sent him hard into the turn three wall to bring out another caution period on lap 132. The good news was Fredrickson was able to walk away from the first major crash of his young career. Morrissey and Majeski battled side-by-side on the restart, but VanderGeest spun in turn four to slow the action down again. Majeski powered around Morrissey on the outside on the restart to capture the lead as we approached the 50 laps left point. After losing fifth to Hinde, Sauter was able to power back by the Florida native to get back into the top five with 51 laps to go. Hinde would not give up on taking fifth position now held by Sauter as we reached the 50 laps to run mark. Johnson was looking for a way around Farrell to make it onto the podium and get that much closer to the top of the championship mountain. That would finally happen with 43 laps to go as Johnson moved up to third place. With 40 to go, Sauter got closer to the big bonus money as he dismissed Farrell from fourth. At the same time, Hinde still was not giving up on his fight with Sauter as he looked to match his third place effort in last year’s 200. Hinda got alongside Sauter and they put on one thrilling fight for fourth. Hinde finally found a way past Sauter to stake his claim to fourth with 30 laps remaining, and began to pull away from Sauter. While the racing continued at a breakneck pace, Majeski still maintained a sizable lead over Morrissey as we got close to the end. Majeski’s magical short track career makes even more history with his fifth Oktoberfest title, tying him with the great Joe Shear. A strong third place run by Casey Johnson helped him come from behind to lock up his fourth ASA Midwest Tour championship, and his first since 2022. Kody King (Clear Lake, IA) may have been the last car to finish the race, but it was a good enough effort to give him the Rookie of the Year crown.
Andrew Borntreger (Elroy, WI) shot past Ryan Manthei (Green Bay, WI) to lead at the start of the Gandrud Performance Cratetoberfest 602 Challenge feature. Brent Kirchner (Stoddard, WI) was fast in his heat race and it showed in the feature as he charged past Borntreger for the lead on lap two. Midwest Truck Series winner Nick Van (Kaukauna, WI) made his way through the field before catching and passing Krichner to move into the lead on lap seven. Eugene Gregorich III (Amherst, WI) found a way underneath Kirchner as they waged a great side-by-side battle for the number two position. Gregorich III got a better run out of turn four and powered past Kirchner to finally move into second place with nine laps left. Maxwell Schultz (Reedsville, WI) began to apply some pressure to Gregorich III for second, but a spin by Nick Quinnell (Arkdale, WI) in turn four brought out the caution and set up a four lap shootout. That yellow was a detriment to Van as Gregorich III powered around him down the back straight and into the lead on the restart. Van would not let Gregorich III get away that easy in the closing laps but Gregorich III stood his ground to claim the victory. After the race, Gregorich III got to draw the name of one of his fellow drivers to win a brand new 602 crate motor. The lucky winner of that motor was Brent Kirchner.
Roger Peterson (Canton, MI) piloting an old Marv Marzofka car led the opening laps of the Upper Midwest VIntage Racing Series feature. Kenny Hutchens (Black River Falls, WI) thought he was going to challenge for the lead, but had to deal with Sean Herzog (Wausau, WI). Suddenly former Oktoberfest champion Nathan Haseleu (Marshall, WI) was a freight train through the field as he shot past Peterson for the lead on lap six. After reaching the halfway mark of the race, soon Haseleu had the Dick Trickle tribute cars of former LaCrosse champion Todd Korish (Holmen, WI) and Rick Bickle, Jr. (Edgerton, WI) breathing down his tail pipes. Lapped traffic helped Haseleu pull away from Korish and Bickle, Jr. down the stretch to return to Oktoberfest victory lane for the first time in a number of years.
Thank you to all the race fans and teams that came from all over the country to be a part of the 56th annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend. Hopefully you are already making your plans and vacation requests for October 8, 9, 10 and 11 of 2026 to return for the 57th running of Oktoberfest. Thank you to our very loyal and supportive local race fans and teams that made the LaCrosse Speedway their place for excitement on Saturday nights during the 2025 racing season. Gregg McKarns, Chuck Deery, Austin Wells and Motorsports Management Services want to applaud our staff in the grandstands and in the pits, as well as the race officials in the pits and the tower for helping to put on the best racing program in the Midwest every Saturday night.
Stock up your supplies, and prepare yourself and your house for another long freezing winter season coming very soon. While it will be nice to reflect on the 2025 season completed as the snow and wind blows around, we can always hope for bigger and better things to happen during the upcoming 2026 racing campaign. Visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com and make sure to like the track’s Facebook page to keep abreast of what to look forward to in 2026. As soon as we have a clear picture of what will be taking place during 2026, you can call the track office at 608-786-1525. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Regional race track, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
ASA Midwest Tour
Feature (200 laps): 1. Ty Majeski, 2. Andrew Morrissey, 3. Casey Johnson, 4. Michael Hinde, 5. Penn Sauter, 6. Ryan Farrell, 7. Nick Panitzke, 8. Dalton Zehr, 9. Gabe Sommers, 10. Derek Kraus, 11. Brock Heinrich, 12. Levon VanderGeest, 13. Jeff Storm, 14. Justin Mondeik, 15. Matthew Henderson, 16. RIley Stenjem, 17. Max Kahler, 18. Mitch Haver, 19. Ridge Oien, 20. Kody King, 21. Kendrick Kreyer, 22. Jacob Goede, 23. Ty Fredrickson, 24. Bryce Miller, 25. Jerad deBoer, 26. Joseph Scholze, 27. Braison Bennett, 28. Chad Butz, 29. Joe Valento
Gandrud Performance 602 Cratetoberfest Challenge
Feature (25 laps): 1. Eugene Gregorich III, 2. Nick Van, 3. Brad Warthan, 4. John DeAngelis, Jr., 5. Maxwell Schultz, 6. Brent Kirchner, 7. Ethan Rose, 8. Brian Back, 9. James Swan, 10. Charlie Bates, 11. Nick Quinnell, 12. Andrew Borntreger, 13. Kyle Wahlgren, 14. Wyatt Kraiss, 15. Bob Fort, 16. Jacob Lodermeier, 17. Eric Wisz, 18. Ryan Manthei, 19. Adam Hansen, 20. Jordan DeVoy, 21. Joey Miller
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Maxwell Schultz, 2. John DeAngelis, Jr., 3. Nick Van, 4. Eugene Gregorich III, 5. Brad Warthan, 6. Ethan Rose, 7. Brian Back, 8. James Swan
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Brent Kirchner, 2. Nick Quinnell, 3. Bob Fort, 4. Adam Hansen, 5. Andrew Borntreger, 6. Kyle Wahlgren, 7. Charlie Bates, 8. Jordan DeVoy, 9. Ryan Manthei
Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. Bill Schott, 2. Wyatt Kraiss, 3. Jacob Lodermeier, 4. Eric Wisz, 5. Austin Schott, 6. Scott Kingswan, 7. Joey Miller
Qualifying: 1. Ethan Rose 19.957, 2. Brian Back 20.006, 3. Brad Warthan 20.062, 4. Eugene Gregorich III 20.165, 5. John DeAngelis, Jr. 20.179, 6. Nick Van 20.209, 7. Maxwell Schultz 20.476, 8. James Swan 20.684, 9. Jordan DeVoy 20.711, 10. Charlie Bates 20.877, 11. Brent Kirchner 20.912, 12. Kyle Wahlgren 20.941, 13. Andrew Borntreger 21.426, 14. Ryan Manthei 21.434, 15. Adam Hansen 21.436, 16. Bob Fort 21.473, 17. Nick Quinnell 21.560, 18. Wyatt Kraiss 21.748, 19. Jacob Lodermeier 21.902, 20. Eric Wisz 22.576, 21. Austin Schott 23.155, 22. Joey Miller 23.297, 23. Bill Schott 23.491, 24. Scott Kingswan 24.306, 25. Charlies Vian, Jr. NO TIME
Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series
Feature (15 laps): 1. Nathan Haseleu, 2. Todd Korish, 3. Rich Bickle, Jr. 4. Jerimy Wagner, 5. Jason Stark, 6. Roger Peterson, 7. Kenny Hutchens, 8. Larry DeVito, 9. Tracey Prissel, 10. Eric Melchior, 11. Mick Breckenridge, 12. Landon Lockington, 13. Shawn Johnson, 14. Sean Herzog, 15. Ralph Cottone
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Kenny Hutchens, 2. Sean Herzog, 3. Roger Peterson, 4. John Osterman, 5. Ralph Cottone, 6. Mike Breckenridge, 7. Landon Lockington, 8. Shawn Johnson
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Rick Bickle, Jr., 2. Todd Korish, 3. Jerimy Wagner, 4. Jason Stark, 5. Nathan Haseleu, 6. Larry DeVito, 7. Tracey Prissel, 8. Tom Gille, 9. Eric Melchior