By: Stephanie Johnson
(West Salem, WI – June 13, 2015) Saturday night, fans saw a lot of carnage at the La Crosse Speedway during the Wisconsin Lottery Smash-O-Rama. ANTS Complete Pest Control Hornets were racing for points.
Jeff Stumlin, Jake Schomers and Kris Berg brought home the checkers in the Hornet heat races.
The Hornet feature had 25 cars take the green flag. Tom Luethe took first place on lap 4. After a caution with 9 laps to go, fast moving Nate Towner came from 7th place, took the lead and never looked back. The current points leader, Patrick Thicke started 24th and made up 19 positions to finish 5th.
Motorcycle stuntmen Joey Beavers and Ryan Suchanek put on quite a show for the fans. They “walked the dog” and did power burnouts down the front stretch of the ¼ mile track. Both stuntmen are from the Fort Atkinson area. Suchanek is a world record holder for the fastest wheelie on ice two years in a row. Ryan broke his own record this year.
Smash-O-Rama fans were also thrilled by two Monster Trucks. Mechanical Mischief was powered by Jim Burns of Rockford IL and The Incinerator was powered by Ryan Rice of LaFayette IL. Both drivers did wheelies and other stunts down the front straight. Rice’s 1st time out, he put his black monster truck on its lid. This was the 1st time ever, a monster truck had rolled over during competition at the La Crosse Speedway. Our award winning safety crew, got Rice out of his truck and deemed him OK. They then rolled his truck back on its wheels and he drove it away. Later in the night both Burns and Rice came back out and put on another great show for the fans.
Taylor Dobbs won the roll over contest with 13 points. He had two complete rolls and a partial roll to take the title for the night.
A full sized swimming pool, filled with over 200 gallons of water, met its doom by the hands of Hornet driver, Matt Miller who hit it straight on and filled the infield with water.
ANTS Complete Pest Control Hornet drivers had 2 novelty races. They were the 2nd over the line race and the flag pole race. Brandon Lemoine and Tom Luethe won the 2nd over the line races while Rob Stanfield and Patrick Thicke won the flag pole races.
Stunt man of the night, Taylor Dobbs, drove his car through the steel wall and a trailer for the Trailer T-Bone.
Seven drivers participated in the Figure 8 boat race with Sparta’s Jacinda Pfaff coming out on top via a fan vote.
Saturday, June 20th is Old Dutch Foods night at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Join us for exciting racing from the Late Models, Sportsmen, Thunderstox, and Hornets. Also the Faster Pastors will race. For more information please call the Speedway office at (608) 786-1525 or visit www.lacrossespeedway.com.
LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a proud NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series – www.hometracks.nascar.com.
ANTS Complete Pest Control Hornets
Wisconsin Lottery 15 Feature (26 cars) — 1, Nate Towner, Trempeauleau; 2, Tom Luethe, West Salem; 3, Hunter Miller, West Salem; 4, Kris Berg, Ettrick; 5, Patrick Thicke, West Salem; 6, Jeff Stumlin, Holmen; 7, Brandon LeMoine, West Salem; 8, Kim Strom, West Salem; 9, Josh Viner, LaCrosse ; 10, Jake Schomers, LaCrescent, MN; 11, Garrett Thicke, West Salem; 12, Samantha Linnehan, Sparta; 13, Jim Thompson, Galesville; 14, Robert Stanfield, LaCrosse; 15, Matt Cornell, Unknown; 16, John Piotrowski, Black River Falls; 17, Paul Mahlum III, Holmen; 18, Cheyanne Williamson, La Crosse; 19, Matt Miller, La Crosse; 20, Jordan Freehill, La Crosse; 21, Fletcher Milene, Winona, MN; 22, John Clauson, Onalaska; 23, Jeff Von Ruden, Norwalk; 24, Jeff Thompson, Galesville; 25, John Towner, Trempeauleau; 26, Cheyanne Stanfield, Sparta.
Qualifying — 1, Patrick Thicke 16.077secs, 55.981 MPH; 2, Garrett Thicke 16.595secs, 54.233 MPH; 3, Tom Luethe 16.599, 54.220 MPH; 4, Nate Towner 16.878secs, 53.324 MPH; 5, Jeff Stumlin 16.924secs, 53.179 MPH; 6, Hunter Miller; 7, Brandon Lemoine; 8,Kris Berg; 9, Jeff Thompson; 10, Jake Schomers; 11, Josh Viner; 12, Josh Towner; 13, Jeff Von Ruden; 14, Jim Thompson; 15, John Clauson; 16, Rob Stanfield; 17, Kim Strom; 18, Cheyanne Stanfield; 19, Paul Mahlum III; 20, Jordan Freehill; 21, John Piotrowski; 22, Sammy Linnehan; 23, John Cornett; 24, Fletcher Milene; 25, Cheyanne Williamson
Heat 1 — 1, Jeff Stumlin; 2, Jeff Thompson; 3, Nate Towner; 4, Hunter Miller; 5, Kim Strom
Heat 2 — 1, Jake Schomers; 2, John Towner; 3, Josh Viner; 4, Tom Luethe; 5, Sammy Linnehan
Heat 3 — 1, Kris Berg; 2, Garrett Thicke; 3, Brandon Lemoine; 4, Jeff Von Ruden; 5, Jordan Freehill
2nd over the line race — Brandon Lemoine & Tom Luethe
Roll over Contest — 1, Taylor Dobbs 13pts; 2, Dan Osthoff 11pts; 3, John Clauson 6pts
Burnout Contest — 1, Ryan Suchanek; 2, Ryan Shafer
Flag Pole Race — Rob Stanfield & Patrick Thicke
Figure 8 Boat Race — Jacinda Pfaff