MAJESKI HEADLINES A NIGHT OF THRILLING FINISHES AT THE OKTOBERFEST RACE WEEKEND

By: Paul Reichert

October 8, 2021

 

Mother Nature did not play nice with the LaCrosse Speedway and rained out night one of the 52nd Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend.  She tried to mess things up earlier in the day but the skies finally broke and gave us a terrific night of racing.  A number of feature races saw some very close and nail biting finishes that brought the crowd to their feet.  The fans would rise to their feet as one LaCrosse Late Model feature was decided by a matter of inches.   Ty Majeski would put in a very strong effort and hold off both Casey Johnson and Dan Fredrickson to capture his second Dick Trickle 99 title.

 

Segment one of the 14th Annual Dick Trickle 99 saw Ty Majeski (Seymour, WI) pull away from Casey Johnson (Edgerton, WI) by a wide margin.  Despite a late race caution for a Johnny Sauter (Necedah, WI) spin with eight laps remaining, Majeski would be no match for Johnson as the four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion scored the win in the opening segment.  Jonathan Eilen (Hampton, MN) charged to the lead early in segment two but by lap nine he would be tracked down by Dalton Zehr (Port Orange, FL).  Both drivers got into a good tussle over the lead around the halfway mark before Zehr shot underneath Eilen to take over the lead.  Zehr pulled away over the final thirteen laps to capture the second segment.  Johnny Sauter would show the way at the start of the third and final segment with both of the Weinkauf brothers trying to keep pace with him.  Chris Weinkauf (Merrill, WI) began to close the distance on Sauter around the one-third mark.  Weinkauf got within a few car lengths of Sauter when the caution flew for a turn two spin with 13 laps remaining.  Weinkauf looked low on the restart but Sauter was quicker on the gas as he left Weinkauf in his wake.  Sauter would pull away down the stretch to see the checkered flag first in the last segment.  A first and a pair of fourth place efforts would net Ty Majeski his second Dick Trickle 99 title and become the second repeat champion of the only race with Dick Trickle’s ‘seal of approval’.

 

The first Oktoberfest 20 lap LaCrosse Late Model feature saw Nick Clements (West Salem, WI) and Brad Powell (LaCrosse, WI) get into their own tussle over the top spot as they pulled away from the field.  On a lap six restart Clements quickly got on the gas and pulled away from the pack.  Powell would have his hands full at halfway with the challenges of Adam Bendzick (Prior Lake, MN) and Jacob Goede (Carver, MN). Both drivers would power their way past Powell on lap 12 and began to eat away at Clements’ lead.  Bendzick and Goede would be right on the back bumper of Clements with five laps to go, and two laps later point leader Nick Murgic (Rosemount, MN) joined the fight for the win.  Entering turn one on the final lap, Bendzick dove low on Clements as the duo ran door handle to door handle.  Coming to the checkered flag Bendzick would just surge ahead of Clements to claim the victory by a mere one-one thousandth of a second and become feature winner #10 on the season.  After the race Bendzick said “That was the best feature I have raced in my life.  I have to thank Nick Panitzke for his help in setting up the car to come down here to Oktoberfest.”

 

In 20 lap LaCrosse Late Model feature #2, Steve Carlson (West Salem, WI) powered by Jacksion Lewis (Elko, MN) for the race lead.  Mike Carlson (West Salem, WI) also quickly got past Lewis and stuck right behind his father.  Soon the drivers running third through fifth, led by Adam Degenhardt (Coon Valley, WI) began to close the distance on the Carlson bunch.  Just past the mid-race mark Mike began to hunt again for a way by Steve to take over the race lead.  Nick Murgic would power by both Steve Bachman (Bangor, WI) and Degenhardt to move into third with six laps to go and started to catch the leading duo.  Steve began to inch further ahead of the battle over second to claim his third win of the year.  After the race Steve Carlson said “Mike was giving me all I could handle in that feature.  I just held the low line and gave Mike the high groove to get around me.”  Murgic’s third place run led to his second straight track championship along with the Festmaster Championship.  Mike Carlson’s runner-up effort would net him the 2021 Chase Championship.   

 

Joey Pontbriand charged by Jack Litshiem to take the lead at the start of the 25 lap Area Sportsmen feature.  Litshiem would be in a dogfight over second with Adam Wiebusch as Pontbriand opened up his advantage on the field.  Weibusch powered his way by Litshiem on the outside on lap six to take over second.  Jason Thoma was a rocket ship as he ran through the field like they were standing still.  Thoma surged by Wiebusch for second on lap nine and two laps later he made quick work of Pontbriand to assume command of the race.  Dillon Sellner took over second from Pontbriand a lap later and began to track down the race leader.  Sellner was on the back bumper of Thoma with ten laps remaining, and a few laps later both would have to negotiate through heavy lap traffic.  With five laps to go Sellner dove low to pull even with Thoma.  After a hot and heavy fight over the top spot Sellner finally shot past Thoma with two laps to go to become the new leader.  Sellner pulled away down the stretch to capture his first Oktoberfest feature win.

 

‘Championship Saturday’ headlines day three of the 52nd Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend on Saturday, October 9 with a plethora of series titles to be decided.  The Big 8 Late Model Series, the Mid-Am Racing Series and the Midwest Dash Series will all run their final points races of the year and crown champions for 2021.  Joining those series will be the Midwest Truck Series as they run their next to last race of the season.  The preliminaries for the ARCA Midwest Tour to set the field for their big 200 lap season finale on Sunday will also take place.  Fan gates open at 2:15, qualifying fires up at 2:25 and the race to decide championships starts at 5.  Be sure to visit oktoberfestraceweekend.com for the latest updates and news on the weekend.

 

For more information about LaCrosse Speedway or the 2021 schedule of events, please call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com.  LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.